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Oh Crab! (2024)
Winner of Best Animated Film and Best Sound Design for BUTTE Film Festival (2024)
Nominated for Best Editing at BUTTE Film Festival (2024)
Official Selection of SHORT SHORT FEST (2024)
Official Selection for LIFT-OFF GLOBAL NETWORK FILM FESTIVAL (2024)
by Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen, Batu Alpas and Karina Zhou
'Oh Crab!' is the second 3D-animated short at the California College of the Arts by +1 Studios. This short is about a disgruntled old fisherman who's an amputee, then one day he comes across a little crab who is also missing an arm. Seeing himself in this cute crab, he decided to rehabilitate it.
3D Animation Development
Here is a breakdown of one of shots I had the pleasure of animating. I completed the animation, lighting, camera, FX and compositing for the shot. Also, special thanks to Patricia Kavanaugh, Ron Smith, and Jeff Croke for providing tips and critique!
Blocking Pass
Spline Pass
Spline Pass 2
Final Animation + FX, Render & Comp
3D Rigging Development
For our film, I was responsible for 3D creature rigging. Below is our Crab's 3D rig, incorporating details needed to animate an arthropod. Textures and model were by Karina Zhou.
3D Environment Look-Development
These are our current render tests, tuning in the style and atmosphere of the world. I rendered these in Arnold Maya and composited with Founder's Nuke. As well as simulation tests for ocean-boat physics.
3D Asset Look-Development
These are some of the props and the main boat 3D Set that I textured for the short in Substance Painter. Models shown were by William Zhou Larsen
animation - Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen, Batu Alpas and Karina Zhou
character design - Karina Zhou
technical directors - Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen
modelling - William Zhou Larsen, Karina Zhou
rigging - Batu Alpas, Lewi Thute
texturing - lewi thute, William Zhou Larsen, Karina Zhou
visual development - Lewi Thute, Karina Zhou, Batu Alpas
camera and lighting - Lewi Thute, Batu Alpas
compositing - Lewi Thute
Production Log
Here's a BTS look into our production - Sponsored by the CAPL program at CCA!
Mugshot (2023)
by Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen and Batu Alpas
'mugshot' is our Fall 2023 3D animated short completed at the California College of the Arts. This short follows Mug as he goes to get a haircut from a questionable barber...
3D Animation Process
Here is the progression of one of the shots I worked on in this short.
blocking pass 1
blocking pass 2
clean-up
final
3D Asset and Environment Look-Development
These are some of the props textured and environment development focusing on a stylized painterly aesthetic.
Props were given a hard brushstroke aesthetic by painting over brushstrokes to the mesh's normal map, creating rough edges that interact with lights.
These are early test renders I made exploring a 3D environment rendered in a painterly style. Hand-painted backgrounds are then projection mapped onto 3D geometry to get that unique brush stroke look.
3D Character Design
This is the character model sheet for Mug and the final textured turnarounds
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animation - lewi thute, william zhou larsen, batu alpas
character design - lewi thute, batu alpas
technical director - lewi thute
modelling - william zhou larsen
rigging - batu alpas, lewi thute
texturing - lewi thute, william zhou larsen
visual development - lewi thute, batu alpas
camera and lighting - lewi thute
BURNOUT (2025)
by Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen, Batu Alpas and Karina Zhou
'BURNOUT' is a 3D-animated senior thesis short by +1 Studios, at CCA. In a class-divided dystopia, a young mechanic must navigate between her dreams of grandeur and a terminal illness by entering a deadly racing competition.
3D Animation Development
Here is a breakdown of one of the many shots I had the pleasure of animating. I completed the shot's animation, lighting, camera and compositing. Also, special thanks to Anna Firth, Patricia Kavanaugh and MonteQue Ruffin for critique and feedback.
Blocking Pass
Polish Pass
Spline Pass
Final
3D Rigging Development
For this film, I spearheaded our rigging department. Created a human rig for Baby Azel, a close-up Azel arm rig, a bio-mechanical bipedal rig, and various mechanical vehicle rigs. I also worked as our technical artist- patching rig bugs and adding additional features to my own rigs as well as enhancing Batu Alpas' Azel and Father character rig.
Lighting and Rendering Development
I was the Lead Lighting and Render artist, supervising all final colours and renders for the film, working closely with the colour script to bring the colour progression to life.
Compositing Development
As the lead 3D compositor for this film, I was responsible for overseeing the integration of all visual elements across every shot. Utilizing an EXR file pipeline in Nuke, I ensured a cohesive final look by compositing CG renders, lighting passes, and environmental elements with precision.
Story Development
For this film, myself and Karina Zhou were the storyboard artists turning our script into images that worked as a blueprint for our visual storytelling
Animators - Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen, Karina Zhou, Batu Alpas, and Sebastian Ospina
Technical Directors - Lewi Thute, William Zhou Larsen
Technical Artists - Lewi Thute, Batu Alpas
Visual development - Karina Zhou, Batu Alpas, William Zhou Larsen
Story Artist - Lewi Thute, Karina Zhou
Colour Scripts - Gabriela Venegas, Karina Zhou
Illustrators - Vincent Truong, Cara Juan
Character Design - Karina Zhou, Batu Alpas
Modelling - William Zhou Larsen, Karina Zhou
Texturing - William Zhou Larsen, Karina Zhou
Technical Artists and Rigging - Lewi Thute, Batu Alpas
3D Layouts - Lewi Thute
3D Lighting - Lewi Thute, Karina Zhou, William Zhou Larsen, Batu Alpas
3D Compositing - Lewi Thute
Editing - Lewi Thute, Batu Alpas
Sound Design - Batu Alpas, Lewi Thute
Voice Actors - Furdeuce Mused, Maxwell Leung
Composer - Jess Larsen
Essem 3 (2023)
This is an abstract stop-motion animated short film for CCA's Stop-Motion Class. Being inspired by silhouette art and replacement animation. Made with DragonFrame and After Effects.
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