Introduction

The aims of this lesson were to explore the role of Look Development in 3D modelling and to model a potted plant in Maya.

What is Look Development?

Look Development or Lookdev is the process of designing and developing the final look of a 3D model. It is a process in a production that continues from pre-production until the end of production – the main focus being consistency.

This requires good knowledge of texturing, topology, shaders and lighting in 3D software.

In our Lookdev sessions, we will analyse materials and design images as well as using textures to create a supported look.

Lookdev Example

Below is an example of lookdev by an artist named Julen Urrutia. You can see some of the stages of design, before the final textured, shaded and rendered artwork at the bottom.

Using Lookdev to model a potted plant.

Here is a mood board that I made in photoshop to conceptualize different designs for my plant, as well as to come up with ideas for plant pots I could use, and different combinations between different types of plant and pot.

As you can see, the pot I created is most similar to the potted cactus in the top left of the mood board.

I took inspiration from the tall plants with thin stems and wide leaves on my mood board for the plant I made in Maya.

The pot is a cylinder that I extruded and created divisions on to create a rim.

The soil is a circular polyplane which I added a texture deformer to. I set the deformer to a fractal texture, and then decreased the amplitude to create the small bumps that look like soil.

The leaves are polyplanes which I edited the vertices of to create a leaf shape. I then duplicated them, scaled and moved them along the stem to create the look I wanted. The stem is also a cylinder which I scaled and extruded.

Conclusion

Over all, I can see how the techniques I used to create the plant could be used in my own work. Previously, I had no idea how I would make a plant in Maya, and now I have learned some techniques that I could use.