Final Piece

Distance Calculator from alek.castelain on Vimeo.

Maya Python plugin, introducing a custom command for calculating distance between objects.

Thesis

Writing a Plugin

UDK Exporter now with FAOGEN support.

UDK with AO

udk exporter now with FAOGEN handling my ambient occlusion generation.

Houdini Tool

My goal was to learn Houdini, and I can say that while I do have a better understanding of it. I have barely scratched the surface of how awesome this program is. As sort of a test I decided to create a tool to allow me to 'damage' objects. It is very similar to the basic break functionality of Houdini or Maya, but it creates a lot of the attributes based on the size of the imported object. It starts with allowing the user to visual what the damage might look like on a box, then scales up to match when the user imports a custom object. Allows the user to switch between a sphere, grid, or even a custom object to damage the base object with. It was a really educational project and while the tool and the UI are decent, there is definitely more to learn.

Houdini Tool from alek.castelain on Vimeo.

UDK exporter

UDK exporter has made some progress. Found it doesn't handle multiple textures on a single object. Want to also add the functionality to change the destination folder on the fly, rather than just the first time you run the tool. But it seems to be working well inside the pipeline.

Summer

Summer Portfolio Pieces

• First Piece
• BFT game piece
• Crow's Nest model
• Large tower with various bits of wood and rope holding it together
• Low/medium poly game asset
• Second Piece
• Expanding on existing script
• Dynamic facial rigger
• Adding regional creation options (ex: eyebrows, mouth, etc)
• Thesis
• C ++
• Plugin development for Maya
• Converting and polishing 'UDK exporter' script
• Script is python and prepares and exports UDK
• Thesis focus is on documenting converting python to C++

Previous Reel

My current demo reel. Highlights include:

• facial rigging tool
• texture picking tool
• xml based character generator
• low poly assets for Battle Fortress Tortoise
• low poly characters for First Edition
• Undergraduate work

Facial Rigger

This tool was created to allow a more dynamic way to rig faces. It works on the Epic facial animation system, at least in theory. The tool allows users to paint areas of the model they wish to have bones and control attached to, it also allows loading of a blend shape library via XML, and a final custom blend shape to be layered in. It could use some expanding to allow for more finite control.

XML Character Generator

By using an XML sheet that points to the various object files and textures, the user is presented with a menu. The menu allows them to quickly pick various components and styles of a base mesh, before combining them into a useable model.

Texture Picker

Here is my texture picker. It allows the user to load a folder full of images and drop them onto a model easily and quickly.