LEGO Heist

An assignment in photorealism. This scene was initially created in the real world with LEGOs. After completing the assigned photorealism work, the project was brought to life in augmented reality.

Software used: Maya, Arnold, Cinema 4D, Unity, Vuforia, Photoshop and After Effects

THE PROCESS

In order to get an accurate representation of the LEGO pieces, it was important to photograph each important piece in the scene. The images were brought into Maya and used to throughout the modeling process.

In order get the detail of the LEGO characters onto the 3D models, a flatbed scanner was used to scan each piece that had artwork. From there, the scans were cleaned in Photoshop and then UV mapped to the models in Maya.

REAL PHOTO

After photographing the pieces indivually, the scene was built in the real world. Getting the image to look and feel right took a lot of work. The scene was reset several times and different lighting environments were tested. The scene was also photographed with several professional lenses on a Canon 7D Mark II. The lenses used were a 35mm f/1.4, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8. Surprisingly enough, the best result came with a phone camera because of its ability to use macro and get a lower vantage point. 

MODELING

Each of the key compenents of the scene was modeled in its own scene. The photos taken of each piece were used as image planes as a reference for modeling.

After finishing modeling each key component, the scene was composed. There was a lot of back and forth in getting the 3D camera's perspective, depth-of-field and lighting right. Small spot lights were used throughout the scene to add subtle rim lighting. 

The materials also took some tweaking. Small imperfections were added into the pieces to make it more believable. Noise was also used in the materials.

RENDER RESULT

The rendering was done in Maya with Arnold.  

FINAL RESULT

Edited with Lightroom and Photoshop.

STYLIZED VERSION

After completing the required portion of the assignment, an additional stylized version was made for fun. This image was rerendered with directional lights using red and blue hues and then brought into Lightroom, Photoshop and After Effects to achieve this final result.

AUGMENTED REALITY

Later on, the project came to life in AR. The piece was exported from Maya to Cinema 4D via fbx files. The animations and dynamic simulations were all done in Cinema 4D. From there, the sequence was baked and brought into Unity for use in AR. 

The materials were all reapplied in Unity and Vuforia was used for the AR component. With Vuforia, a target was used to trigger the animation. The target was hidden with geometry to make the scene feel more organic. 

© CHAD COOPER 2022