all images © by Matthew Aaron Ficken 2012

3D ANIMATION PORTFOLIO

Below are several captures of my most recent character build, Eden.  As my first journey into high-resolution polygon modelling, I've learned a sizeable amount of standard practices and tricks to not only complete the sculpt, but keep a clean mesh.  She is seen below with 3D mesh hair, but I am in the process of testing fiber mesh and possibly using that as the final element.  Meanwhile, the body is being rigged for animation, and blend shapes are being prepped for expressions.  Low resolution meshes have been exported to Maya, where I have applied displacement maps and modifiers to replicate the HD sculpt.

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This is my thesis project from RMCAD.  The idea of the shot was to provide a dark and eerie scene where the main character realizes that his home has been broken into before moving into the rest of the short.
I actually spent a fair amount of time working with Maya's hair simulator figuring out how to shape, color, and achieve the desired simulation.  Everything was modeled, textured, rigged and animated in Maya.

This is one of the assignments in my Motion Studies class.  We were to take an
existing sound clip in a foreign language and use it as the focus of a lip sync.
  Here Generi spouts a cryptic Japanese clip.

This is a quick test of the nCloth simulation for Eden's Sky Cloak in order to make sure the fabric has the right weight and furls in the desired fashion.  Later she'll have similar motion in her dress and hair.

3D MODEL AND TEXTURES

Below are several screen shots of an early Maya character I built a few years past.  She was the first of many to be included in the episodic chapters of 'First War'.