A 3D short animation about a free diver exploring an underwater ecosystem completely modeled and animated by me.

CHARACTER

The main character was inspired by a Venezuelan world-class free diver and record-holder, Carlos Coste. Free diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on divers' ability to hold their breath until resurfacing rather than on the use of a breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.

In the story, the diver is a marine biologist and an apnea enthusiast. He started his training in 2001 and so far his personal record is -97m. The 3D model of the character was based on the following sketch: 

STORYBOARD

3D MODELING

Rigging of the main character was a fairly complicated process mainly due design decision made during the construction of the mesh. To be more specific, using a shell modifier to give volume to the clothes incremented the number of vertices that needed rigging by a factor of 2. In other words, you spend twice the time rigging the character.

ANIMATION

Before starting animating my character (and other beings), I created a set of poses in order to ease process: two different horizontal swimming motion poses, two different vertical floating poses, and the neutral pose. Those poses lived in the negative frames of the timeline, not affecting my main animation, for quick access when I wanted to used them. Every time one of these poses was needed I simply selected the whole character and copied the keyframes into the desired slot of time; most of the time with some slight adjustments to make look more natural instead of a repetitive “mechanic” motion. 

FINAL RENDER

PROJECT SUMMARY

Owner – Self
Status – Completed
Team – 
Time Length –  4 weeks
Methodology – 

PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION

Role – 3D Modeler
Responsibilities – 
3D Models
Animations
Cameras & Lights

METHODS & TECHNIQUES

Sketch
Storyboard
Organic Modeling
Rigging
3 Point Light System
Animated Cameras
Particle Systems
Pose by Pose Animation

TECHNOLOGIES

3DS Max
Illustrator
Photoshop
Premiere Pro