Adam Kugler - Professional CG Gallery
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logo Project - April 2011
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just a fast project for rebranding and testing out new techniques. Click on a logo for a high res image.
More to come soon.
Medium: Maya
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Demo Reel - November 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For my graduation Demo Reel from Full Sail University, I wanted to emulate Blizzard's and Blur's hyper-real cinematic feel.
The minute-long short was done in 5 months from beginning to end, and used 286,207 unique images for the final composite.
Medium: Maya, Nuke
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Having learned about the entire pipeline during my education at Full Sail University, I wanted to force myself through every role to understand the problems that arise from production, and how to overcome them. Though my predominant focus was Visual Effects, I also took on the role of rigger, modeler, lighter, and compositor. Several scripts were also required to complete this reel. Most of them were written in Python, and used for nearly every role of the production team.
Though most of the tasks for the reel were in my hands, I could not have done it without the help of several individuals. Aaron Hamman undoubtedly was responsible for a large part of the success of this reel, being responsible for the environment, as well as shading and texturing the sorceress model. Dan Riebold was responsible for the cat animation; Sorceress animation was split between Dave Jones and Adrian Frank. Jonathan Lewis was resposible for the foley work, and Matt Streit assisted with some of the cat modeling. James Morrison helped it all get off the ground with his styleframe assistance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crusader - June 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'Crusader' was a project for Aaron Hamman's demo reel from Full Sail University. Aaron modeled and textured the scene, while I rigged both characters.
The crusader model had 1200+ pieces of geometry, the warhorse model had 800+.
Medium: Maya
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A major difficulty for rigging any full suit of armor is the blending of individual plates with general rotation. Most of my solutions for this dealt with expression based rotation that would take a fraction of, for example the shoulder rotation, and have each plate inherit a specific amount of that rotation, giving a smooth fall-off to each metal piece. A cautionary note to anyone attempting to model a full suit of armor with the intention to animate it: Make sure there is room for each plate to move; tight-fitting armor is very aesthetic, but ask yourself if a model could swing a sword in it. Aaron's model began very form-fitting, but a few tweaks here and there allowed more space for rotation and motion.
While the crusader is completely rigged and could be animated, the warhorse was only rigged for pose because of time constraints. If you look closely, you will notice a dense positioning of joints in the head, torso and hooves of the warhorse. The reason for this is that the rig needed to be done in one night, and given those limitations, I set up a joint and control system that would work with one click of the smooth bind button, eliminating as much of the weight painting process as possible. In 6 short hours, I had a working posable model that fulfilled the project's needs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Below are some renders and screenshots that you can view in high res.
|
|
|
|
|
|
   
|
|
|
|
   
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mocap/FK/IK Automatic Rig Script - April 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Malcolm Thomas Gustave www.ikfk.com an Associate Course Director for the Motion Capture class at Full Sail hired me as a 'Student Artist' to work with him and other staff members for special projects.
My task was to create a script that would use a bound character with a mocap skeleton and using a clickable GUI:
* Construct a full set of control curves, FK and IK.
* Allow for animation ontop of mocap data.
* Turn off mocap data for any appendage.
* Be able to turn off COG translation to aid cloth simulation.
* Provide an easy ability to plug in a deformation rig ontop.
* Work on any character with a similar setup.
Medium: Maya, Python
|
|
|
|
Using Python, I wrote a script that created multiple duplicate rigs, each representing a specific function (original mocap, default pose, fk, ik, etc). Through a series of expressions and direct connections, each rig translates data down the chain to the bind rig. The completed script ended up being about 2000 lines of code.
The first character this script was used on was "Fantastic Amazing Guy," modeled by Ray Figueroa. I'll be posting a Screen Flow presentation for the script when I find the time to. Until then, if you have any questions regarding my methods and thought processes, feel free to contact me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Minstrel Cycle - November 2007
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My first freelance project was to do background animation for a rock opera group called 'The Minstrel Cycle'
www.minstrelopera.com
Wayne Zank, founder of the project, hired me to do 45 minutes of background animation and 90 minutes of lighting direction for his debut show. The band plays a hybrid genre of rock, folk, troubador, and new age music while narrating the journey of life.
I was contacted on very short notice about this project; Wayne needed everything to be completed in a month's time.
The Jester's Clock shown to the right was a centerpiece for the show, signifying the inevitable cycle of life. Ciro Marcetti provided the original concept art for the clock, which I then built, textured, and animated in 3d. Several variations of the clock were also used for different parts of the show, including a full roller-coaster-style fly through of the clock in motion.
Medium: 3ds MAX, Photoshop
|
|
|
|
In addition to the clock, I created a ship floating in fog covered water, slowly fading into night with the moon rising over the horizon (song: Old Ships).
I also created an extremely long scrolling banner in five seperate color schemes that changed from da'Vinci-style parchment to blueprint to psychadelic.(song: Mastermind). My rendered ocean was created using multipe sine wave deformers stacked ontop of each other at varying wave lengths and angles. The ship was animated from its COG on all three axis similarly at varing wave lengths, which gave it a natural uneven rocking motion. 3ds Max's environment fog was animated from day to night.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Below are some renders and screenshots that you can view in high res.
|
|
|
|
|
|
   
|
|
|
|
   
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
