Polar Bear & Seal

Polar Bear and Seal | Breakdown
VSFX721 – Project 3 Procedural Animation
Name : Victor Lin
Date : 03/10/2020
Houdini Version 18.0.287

Rendering Statistics
renderer – mantra
average render time – 6.1 minutes
image resolution – 1920 x 1080
number of lights – 2 (sun & skylight)
geometry complexity – approx 6,042 polys

Sampling
noise value – 0.01
pixel samples -4 x 4
min/max rays – 8 / 32
diffuse – 1
reflection – 1

Project Description :
I found this cute toy online using the keyword “automata.” It’s a polar bear sitting
on ice, trying to grab the fish from a seal’s mouth. This toy was design for 3D
printing, so when I found the related files, there are pictures of seprate parts of
the toys and the .stl files. I used them as references to model and eventually
created this little animation.

Technical Guide •
I started by creating the gears and then using boxes to begin modeling the polar bear and seal.
The biggest challenge for me besides finding out the ways to constraint my gears and models,
is modeling everything in Houdini. This definately is beyond my confort zone, even with low poly
models, it sill took quite a long to build.

The project involved rendering the animation using mantra renderer, with an average render time of 6.1 minutes at an image resolution of 1920 x 1080. I used two lights – a sun and skylight – to light up the scene and give it a realistic feel. The geometry complexity of the scene was approximately 6,042 polys. I also had to pay attention to the sampling, with a noise value of 0.01 and pixel samples of 4 x 4. The minimum and maximum rays were set at 8 and 32, respectively, with diffuse and reflection set at 1.

In conclusion, creating the polar bear and seal procedural animation was a challenging yet fulfilling project. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me hone my skills in Houdini. I look forward to taking on more exciting projects like this in the future.

In addition to the technical aspects of the project, I also had to pay close attention to the details of the polar bear and seal models. I started by creating the gears for the toy, which served as the foundation for the animation. Then, I used boxes to begin modeling the polar bear and seal.

One of the biggest challenges I faced in this project was finding ways to constrain the gears and models in Houdini. Since the project required low poly models, it was essential to ensure that everything was modeled precisely to avoid any glitches or errors in the animation.

To create the realistic movement of the polar bear and seal, I used a combination of keyframe animation and procedural animation techniques. The keyframe animation allowed me to animate the movement of the individual parts of the toy, while the procedural animation techniques helped to create the fluid movement of the polar bear and seal.

Overall, the polar bear and seal procedural animation was an exciting and challenging project that allowed me to showcase my skills in 3D VFX and Digital Composition. By combining my technical expertise with creative problem-solving skills, I was able to bring a cute toy to life and create a stunning animation. I hope that this article has given you some insight into the technical and creative aspects of the project and has inspired you to take on challenging projects of your own.