VFX 420 Toys
- E P
- Dec 11, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 9
Day 1 - Class 1: January 6th, 2026
During Day 1 of my process, I started the setup by creating a geo-dome.
The next step of my set-up was matching the camera angle to the cube as best as I could.
Day 2 - Class 2: January 8th, 2026
To start off my progress for day 2, I tried matching the angle of the light source to that of the plate. The initial setup had the light coming from the left side of the cube and it needed to be rotated to light from behind the cube.
I found it difficult to properly mimic the light angle and intensity when working with a grey cube. So, I changed the texture of the block to help mimic the wood on the plate. Here I noticed crisp dark shadows that did not achieve nearly the effect I was looking for. Additionally, I ran into issues where the camera image plane would not render. I tried moving and scaling the geo dome to reveal the image plane but was unsuccessful. I ultimately realized my error was having the geo dome set to primary visibility and was able to move on from there.
Here, I created a more accurate lighting setup to that of the plate. However, I found the cube in the plate was being largely lit by bounce light. So, I made the decision to add a ground plane to finalize the lighting for now.
By adding the ground plane, not only was I able to mimic the same bounce light, I was also able to start lining up the shadow with the clean plate. This is where I stopped on day 2.
Day 3 - Class 3: January 12th, 2026
Here, I changed the ground plane to a shadow matte. I then further refined the light set up
to align with the shadow of the cube in the plate.
Day 4- Class 4: January 14th, 2026
During this period, I realized all of my images were set to an incorrect color space meaning my lighting was slightly too cool then it should be. The images below show me messing around with lighting and seeing how I can make changes to the indirect light and chair leg shadow in nuke.
Day 5 - Class 5: January 21st 2026
As I kept moving things into Nuke, I realized I do not have a shadow plate for my setup. So, I went into photoshop and made a shadow plate myself.
These pictures depict my experimentation with the shadow mattes now that I have a proper shadow plate. I explored how the shadow varied depending on where the light was coming from as well as how to make the cast shadow from the leg look more accurate to the reference shot.
Day 6 - Class 6: Postponded
Today, I was finalizing my animation using my assets. I used textures from these two packs on Fab and modeled the toys in the shot. I substituted the grew all I was using as a test in with my new toy assets. I am happy with where I finished off however I do have a couple changes I would like feedback on for a potential resubmission.
To start, I am not as happy with the shadow being cast from the leg of the chair. I had problems making it appear as dark as it needed to be. I attempts moving things in maya as well as creating a ashadow matte from the leg, but it was creating a weird inaccurate overlapping effect. Therefore, I would like to receive some advice moving forward.
Additionally, I had an issue rendering my greyball animation pass where I unintentionally rendered the image plane in the camera. I did not have time to re-render, and would like to do a new, better render for my final submission.
Below I have included the textures and assets I used in my scene as well as the photo assets we were provided in class including the clean plate, greyball, and cube.
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