Microbes
Living microbes as though seen under an electron microscope.
Responsibilities: Modeler, Surfacing Artist, Cloth and Fur Artist
Tools: Maya and Nuke
Modeling of microbes and cell wall in Maya using basic primitives. Application and simulation of nCloth and dynamic fields with cell wall pin restrained and the microbes constrained to a container. Application and simulation of fur system on pill shaped microbes to represent cilia. Animated displacement of surfaces for microbes and cell wall to provide membrane movement effect.
Creation of ambient surface shaders with fresnel effect to achieve electron microscope aesthetic.
Rendered in layers for ambient, reflection, fresnel, fur fresnel base and tip, occlusion, and mattes for the cilia and microbes.
Layers composited in Nuke for fine tuning fresnel effects and color correction.
Due to the nature of the project, displacement could not be baked to the geometry. The effect of a moving membrane required the displacement to occur naturally at the time of render. This prevented the fur system from detaching from the surface of the pill shaped microbes as they moved though their displacement. nCloth was used instead of rigid body dynamics to avoid an overly explosive reaction on impact between microbes.