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Project| LexiConquest | 2010 Drexel Senior Project | Senior Year

Description| Tin Woodsman, from Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz, makes an appearance as one of the playable characters in LexiConquest, a trading card game adventure created with a brand new design for Drexel University’s 2010 Digital Media Senior Project. When his trading card is scanned into the game, corresponding animations are played for each action that occurs within the physical card game.

Software| Maya, Mental Ray (including Mental Ray metal materials), Nuke, Photoshop, UV Layout

Responsibilities| For LexiConquest I served as Project Leader, overseeing the entire production of the character elements. In specific terms of Tin Woodsman, I was responsible for character design and concept art, modeling, texturing, animation, lighting, associated particle effects and compositing. Some textures, including those for his gloves, were painted in Photoshop, while the variety of metals that compose his body were developed using Mental Ray architectural render materials.

Other Credits| LexiConqest Team: Michael Ambrozaitis (Rig Artist for Tin Woodsman), Hessam Shahriari, Lauren Shields, Tracy Kapp, Jason Miraglia

See also | Tin Woodsman Showcase | Concept Art

Project| LexiConquest | 2010 Drexel Senior Project | Senior Year

Description| Like Tin Woodsman, Billy Pilgrim (from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five) is one of the playable characters in LexiConquest, also designed from the ground-up to sport a “video game character”-like look that would appeal to gamers. He’s accompanied by a Tralfalmadoran, the alien race that abducts Billy within the novel.  One of the main points of LexiConquest was to entice an interest in literature, and Billy’s presences suggests that the concept can be expanded into more mature, heavy novels such as Slaughterhouse Five. Also like Tin Woodsman, Billy has a host of animations that play when is card is utilized.

Software| Maya, Mental Ray, Nuke, Photoshop, UV Layout, Mudbox, Shave and a Haircut

Responsibilities| Again, I built Billy from the ground up, from sketches and concept art to fully rigged model, which I animated and lit for the various required animations (rendered using Mental Ray). Billy’s model features a complete facial rig for emotions and lip-sync. Additionally, Billy Pilgrim’s model includes hair I developed with Joe Alter’s Shave and a Haircut, an advanced hair system plug-in for Maya.

Other Credits| LexiConqest Team: Michael Ambrozaitis, Hessam Shahriari, Lauren Shields, Tracy Kapp, Jason Miraglia

See Also | Billy Pilgrim Showcase | Concept Art

Project| Headache | Advanced Animation | Fall 2009

Description| Advanced Animation is a 10-week class in which groups of students are responsible for the entire pipeline of a short animation. From this, the short “Headache” was created, a short animation that follows the exploits of Chet Broski — a telekinetic who wakes up after a long night of partying with an intense headache and has to deal with the repercussions of the combination of psychic abilities and hangovers.

Software| Maya, Renderman, Nuke, Photoshop, UV Layout, Mudbox, Shave and a Haircut

Responsibilities| I developed Chet, and was responsible for much of the modeling and texturing associated with the project, including the apartment environment and the Chet Broski model. Another big endeavor was the role of “Hair TD,” and developed Chet’s hair using Joe Alter’s Shave and a Haircut. Additionally, I partook in various other aspects of the short’s production, including lighting with Bob Piscopo and animation with Jacob Fradkin.

Other Credits | Jacob Fradkin (Modeling, Lead Animation, Cloth), Bob Piscopo (Rigging, Animation), Hessam Shariari (Animation, Cloth)

See Also | Headache Animation