No need to mention that all those renderings and short animations are done nearly 100 percent by myself. I like to be my own director because it’s based on my own idea. There are mostly small but cute projects. I like to push my extreme ideas to the limit with out any time pressure and therefore i can go more into the detail. I always try out new technologie where I can carry over the generated know-how to my job world. Some projects are developed over years because I got busy in between.
Fish (Fuelop)
Another unity shot. Found no better way than to call it ‘fuelop’. It may be described as some weird sci fi object which looks somehow like fish.
I aim to do some rigging and animation later on but for now, I just stick with this moody version of fog and glowing eyes. Just tried to create some ambience with HDRI filled plane lights.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- finished: Dec 2016
Shapes (Caleidoscope)
There is no further information.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Illustrator, Photoshop
- finished: Nov 2016
Dragon (lLowpoly)
I wanted to do something different and just as a balance to all my other images. So, I decided to model a low-poly landscape with a dragon. I tried to finish the image quickly and it was a good break from all the other projects which I usually handle over weeks. Given that the surface is so simple, I tried to play a little bit with the materials and put in a certain paper structure.
Since I watched ‘Lord of the Rings’, I had this moody scene in my mind. I tried to depict this mood. I wanted to play with lights and glow. Most of the modeling was done by me except some assets were downloaded from tf3dm as free models and heavily modified.
Overall, great fun and less work for a timeless look.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Sep 2016
Invasion (Spektralizzer)
Another image I was developing over years on and off with a Sci-Fi content. Many details should look like functional and plausible although there was no deeper meaning other than parts of a weapon since the beginning. I created some weird abstract objects which belong in the genre of my beloved collection of movies like Star Wars, Matrix, Blade Runner etc.
In terms of the technique, I just love hard surface – once more most of the objects are done with standard poly-modelling technique but also with great help of Neil Blevins wire scripts.
I tried to put in a lot of nice glow and follow the rules of the golden ration in terms of compositing. The depth of field is good but I’m still not one hundred percent happy since it’s done in comp. My preferred color is violet which I tried to bring in and give a certain variation with the tones.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Sep 2016
Truck (Mad Max)
This project was all just about modelling: Very detailed object to show off with all my skills.
The inspiration came not only from mad max but also from a low poly game model I found online. Nevertheless, I changed the design massively and made a high poly model out of it which doesn’t have much to do any more with the inspiration. I tried to model as clean as possible and the rest was done by the smoothing algorithm.
The Shading-Lighting-Rendering is kept simple, just the model had to stay in focus: I just shaded it in a basic way and gave some objects like for instance the floor a little bit an advanced material to enhance details.
On top of that: a warm and a cold light, more like an evening mood of an HDRI since the floor gives the impression of a desert. Of course, my beloved color is again violet and even here, I was drawn into using it without even realizing it.
I tried to render the cars from all sides and some closeup-shots but just to grasp all the details: please check the High-Res. A friend of mine is also selling this truck online, in case you wish to have this model: just drop me a line.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Sep 2016
Glider (Delta)
One of the shots I’m quite proud of as it pushes me further as an individual. I tried to bring in some new workflow on hard surface models. Kind of basic poly modeling in max, nothing too fancy or detailed. The whole model is based on advanced mapping methods by Neil Blevins and goes along with no unwrapping. Just a bunch of tricks with ambient occlusion or falloff-blending. I tried to achieve a quite future proof shot and used a bunch of high res textures which I had to prepare heavily.
You probably could tell that I got influenced a lot by HR GIGER and Star Wars.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Dec 2014
Blood Cells, DNA, Spores (Medical Exp.)
There is no further information atm.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop, After Effects
- Finished: Sep 2014
Batmobile (Batman)
Of course, not an Oscar-winning piece, but another flawless work which was done in 2 -3 evenings. This frontal shot should likely be taken as a mood shot since there is not much to explore after a while. Enjoy it quickly; I hope it gives u some fun to look at it.
By the way, I scouted for the model on tf3dm. Nevertheless, I had to optimize the base model a little bit so that it’s more honest to the acclaimed original version. Would love to give more on the shading when time permits. I also tried to make the smoke completely in 3D.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Apr 2014
Landscape (Scattered)
Just a bunch of abstract images. I created them because there was some fashion trend going on in the internet, initially started by Gregg Mill. The idea is fairly simple: there are abstract shapes scattered on single points of an average image, those shapes take after the color and height of the base image. As the camera is put quite close to the area in a low angle, these abstract landscapes are formed.
Overall, it was briefly my technical playground. I just tried to bring in some Swissness in one of those images: I created one image looking like a scenery of Swiss mountains with a lake. There is also some subtle Vray Fog here and there which requires a bit more time to render.
I had a good time experimenting with Forrest Pack (I was able to make nonlinear scaling) but I still hold on to Multiscatter with friendlier interface.
- Programs: 3ds Max (Forrest Pack and Pflow), Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Oct 2015
Techfish (Studio)
Just some simple but also weird experiment on sculpting and lighting rendering. Since I hate fish, I ended up modeling one of them into a modern submarine drive engine (aka aquarium for cyber fish.
Probably don’t need to go on and on about this detailed model. The sculpting is pretty bad, one of my first tries.There would be more details inside, but I better stop this project right here and right now. By the way, There is an interesting backside also, don’t forget to check it.
I kind of like this warm light, so I couldn’t do something else than this mood.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Mar 2014
Rudolf (Turntable)
Let me introduce u to Rudolf, a German (cuz the name sounds so German, huh?) angry and foreheaded robot. I developed this robot based on tiny Lego design but made my own 40 cm tall and high detailed version of this super toy. There is a lot to discover, for instance a small backpack on the backside or delicate hand grenade.
Since the robot is pretty cubic, there was a good possibility to use camera projection mapping as a texture method, big thanks to Neil Blevins for this. However, it was quite a bunch of work to set up all the layers with dirt, decals, bumps and wild edges. Thus, it took me longer to render. Nevertheless, I hope it‘s worth it and please have a look at least on either the sill or the animation.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop, After Effects
- Finished: Oct 2015
Robby (Scene)
This project is kind of the first one I developed in Bangkok. Once I got this cute and battery powered robot as a gift, I just had to model it in 3D. I just wanted to give the certain dignity to this beautiful robot with the movie projection on its belly.
I tried to match the composition on the picture I took before. I just wanted to test my shading and lighting so much into a dark mood. The only funny technical aspect here is, that I once didn’t use any HDRI at all, just worked with tons of plane lights as light source or reflection bouncer.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: March 2014
Spider (plugged)
This is probably my most complicated project so far which I developed over a long time with some breaks in between. No need to mention: the entire image is full cg.
The image composition is a mix of some consisting and own idea: I built the background after some reference image while the fly and the spider came to my head later. To be honest, I bought the spider but gave it some fur style, posing and shading on my own.
I know the image contains a lot of similar effects but I tried to go on a molecular level and brought in even some dust on the metal plugs – just enjoy it in the high res please.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Dec 2014
Planet (Wabenmaster)
This rotten planet hasn’t greeted any humans for a long time. Maybe u wanna visit it one day. I tried to set it up as moody backlight shot like in the cinema.
The project simply started out of pure ennui. I just modeled this hexagonal shape and tried to keep that concept over the whole detailed planet. Many people would solve this challenge with some stock based kitbash sets or even greeble – but no, absolutely every extrusion was handmade. Just give me a handshake for that, please. Kidding. Anyway, there is a more detailed version in the animation because I took it to the next level for the company I work for in Bangkok.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop, After Effects
- Finished: March 2013
Cupcake (Scene)
This project contains a moody and taste chocolate scenery. In the beginning, a very interesting reference about chocolate in the web caught my eyes–then many ideas came together. I wanted to push it to some advanced RnD-Project, the latest and faster Corona Renderer is heavily involved with its scatter technologies.
Given that it’s a pretty simple scene, I strived for outstanding details like scattered hair on the carpet or some micro splotches here and there. With all the love and attention to details, I hope it turned out quite well to balance out my portfolio since I find myself, more often than not, surrender to my passion and get lost in the world of Sci-Fi.
Clearly, I couldn’t bring myself to decide which asset should rule in this shot, so I made two versions with different DOF. This could be a fancy base to develop some smooth animation later on.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Corona, Photoshop
- finished: Oct 2015
Chess-Set (Louis Vuitton)
Hey, this imagejust gives u a fast visual feedback since it comes with flashy highlights and heavy reflections. This shortly-developed project is based on a quick idea which I had in my spare free time: Just some fancy chess set in the typical style of Louis Vuitton – of course with the highly protected LV pattern and some delicate diamonds.
From the technical side, I can say this is another project where I modeled the base figures long before I tried to pull off a photorealistic shading and lighting. I was using grants multi coated metal technique for shading though nowadays I would use the famous GGX. However, since this material is quite elaborated and the final image was done in 7K: it took enough time to render you could go on holidays.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: Jan 2015
Lightsaber (Return of the Jedi)
Since I’m a Star Wars junkie: to model this object was almost a duty, right? Typical for SW Hard Surface objects, there is a lot of reference stuff to find in the web. I put a lot work into details (pipes anyone?) and lighting because the object is merely simple. I tried to put in some subtle smoke and depth of field in comp.
Anyway, this image took part on a competition on hamster, all about weapons. Though I didn’t snatch the title, I am proud of this small piece of work.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- Finished: March 2014
Letters (Ursabet)
Just have a look at this timeless CG nerd selfie, completely based on letters. There is my Swiss name ‘urs’ in the center which means bear in Latin. So here comes Urs + Alphabet = Ursabet. There is not much to say because there is no deeper meaning behind this typographical experiment.
Actually, this was my first test with the great Corona Renderer for max. I wanted to test this upcoming unbiased Rendering Engine and I could reach my goal of creating a moody macroshot quite fast.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Corona, photoshop
- Finished: March 2014
F1-Racer (Lego)
My love for toys and macro works is endless. And here we are: after some lessons on shading with Grant Warwick, I tried to put what I learned into practice. At first, I aimed for a simple render shot first of typical glossy Lego plastic – but ended up with some advanced animation project.
I got the rough basic model on turbosquid in a hot deal. So far – so good. Although the bastard seemed to be ready-to-go, I gotta put in a lot of work again and again. Just to make it nice and smooth, I had to go over every piece and used some material trick to smoothen the edges.
The animation was done in FULL HD and the rendered still in 7K, just go and get some finger smudges on the big resolution – this is just so me. And last but not least, the animation was a sweet challenge since it’s still a new genre to me: every piece was hand animated and I had fun finding some decent camera moves.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop, After Effects
- Finished: Nov 2014
Ice (My Canada)
Another project which contains some interesting RND. In this project, I did first some RND tests on ice shading in the company before I tried to put it on a suitable sujet. It’s somehow a typical-Daniel project with hard surface and some macro ambience.
It’s quite common that glossy refractions require massive render times. So you probably don’t wanna know how long it rendered on my old CPU buddy next to me in beloved 7K. Just so many days - simply a record.
I tried to put in some simple effort on this more cartoonish ice: some bubbles here and there or some frost appearing on the edges. Don’t know whether it helps, decide for yourself.
- Programs: 3ds Max, Vray, Photoshop
- finished: Jun 2014