A Short Film By Oliver Gray

Documentation

PART 1: Mountain Daydream

Scene Breakdown (in semi-sequential order as shown in film):

N.B. : citations/links for all of the external sources that were used in the piece (i.e. anything that I didn’t specifically make myself) are listed in the ‘References’ section

Scene #1 — Fantasy Forest

Scene Overview (All Elements)

Scene Overview (All Elements)

Scene Overview (Just Foreground Elements)

Scene Overview (Just Foreground Elements)

Modeling The Initial Terrain

Modeling The Initial Terrain

Tweaking Foreground Terrain + Positioning Camera

Tweaking Foreground Terrain + Positioning Camera

Added Trees

As with the rest of the plant models, the trees were distributed via several Mash networks using instancers

Added Flowers

Added Rocks, Twigs, Shrubs and Other Elements to the Forest's Central Pathway

Added Rocks, Twigs, Shrubs and Other Elements to the Forest's Central Pathway

Added Deer Geometry + Animated The Deer

Added Deer Geometry + Animated The Deer

Added Final Touches To Scene w/ More Realistic, High-Poly Props

Added Final Touches To Scene w/ More Realistic, High-Poly Props

Highpoly props for logs/trunks/etc. were obtained via kitbash nature asset pack

Modeling Background Terrain

Modeling Background Terrain

Repeating Same Process For Laying Out Environment of the Background Terrain

Repeating Same Process For Laying Out Environment of the Background Terrain

(via instanced Mash networks primarily)

Texturing The Flowers Procedurally

Texturing The Flowers Procedurally

Texturing the First Deer

Texturing the First Deer

Texturing the Second Deer

Texturing the Second Deer

Adding Textures To The First Set Of Trees

Adding Textures To The First Set Of Trees

Adding Textures To The Second Set Of Trees

Adding Textures To The Second Set Of Trees

Initial Test Render, Added Atmospheric Volume To The Scene

Initial Test Render, Added Atmospheric Volume To The Scene

Initial Rough Render #2 W/ Trees

Initial Rough Render #2 W/ Trees

Initial Rough Render #3 W/ Flowers

Initial Rough Render #3 W/ Flowers

Final Render #1

Final Render #1

Final Render #2

Final Render #2

Final Render #3

Final Render #3

Final Render #4

Final Render #4

Scene #2 — Sunset Mountain Vista

Scene Overview

Sculpting The Terrain With Texture Deformers

Sculpting The Terrain With Texture Deformers

Adding The Mountain Terrain To The Core Scene

Adding The Mountain Terrain To The Core Scene

Adding The Foreground Terrain

Adding The Foreground Terrain

Adding The Ruins

Adding The Ruins

Ruin Models Obtained Via Kitbash Assets

Adding The PaintFX Trees

Adding The PaintFX Trees

Adding The Instanced Paint FX Grass Via A Mash Network Distribution Node

Adding The Instanced Paint FX Grass Via A Mash Network Distribution Node

Overview Of Mash Network's Instanced Distribution Network And Falloff Objects

Overview Of Mash Network's Instanced Distribution Network And Falloff Objects

Adding The Character To The Scene

Adding The Character To The Scene

Initial Test Playblast

Texturing The Terrain Via An Arnold Mixed-Shader Network

Texturing The Terrain Via An Arnold Mixed-Shader Network

Adding An HDRI Backplate

Adding An HDRI Backplate

Adding Ai Atmospheric Fog (To Be Composited In Post Using Multi-Channel EXR AOVS)

Adding Ai Atmospheric Fog (To Be Composited In Post Using Multi-Channel EXR AOVS)

Adding Sunrise Effect Via Arnold's Atmospheric Volume Node

Adding Sunrise Effect Via Arnold's Atmospheric Volume Node

Test Rendering The Ai Toon Shaders With The Atmospheric Volume Effect

Test Rendering The Ai Toon Shaders With The Atmospheric Volume Effect

Test Rendering The Scene Without The Instanced Grass Repro Mesh

Test Rendering The Scene Without The Instanced Grass Repro Mesh

Putting It All Together

Putting It All Together

Test Render #1

Test Render #2

Final Playblast Before Rendering Everything

Final Render #1

Final Render #1

Final Render #2

Final Render #2

Final Render #3

Final Render #3

Final Render #4

Final Render #4

You can see the ‘crumbling’ effect here, where the mountains start to fall away, which was created, again, using Mash!

Playblast Showing Mountain 'Crumbling' Effect (Which Was Added Only Recently)

Scene Documentation—Part 3

Scene Documentation—Part 2