Spirit Street

Spirit Street is a project that I completed with a team for my Creating Digital Environments class (VIST 372).

Monica Arce - Modeling & Surfacing

Hansen Han - Rendering

Me - Modeling, Surfacing, & Project Management

Valeria Saleh - Modeling & Surfacing

Miranda Avila-Alvarado - Modeling & Surfacing

Christabel Garza - Modeling & Surfacing

The objective of this project was to learn how to use USD workflows in Houdini to render a scene! We were heavily inspired by the stylized look of Spirited Away and wanted to translate the 2D elements of the film into a 3D stylized space!

I decided to break up tasks for each person by giving each person a building to work on. Since there were 5 buildings and 5 modelers/surfacers, it worked out fairly nicely! The only issue was the ability to match styles. Therefore, we had a meeting beforehand and decided which tools we were going to use and how we would go about our painting techniques. But naturally, each person will always have a different brushstroke style. But we decided to embrace the differences that remained after finishing the buildings!

I was entrusted with the green building on the left. Modeling the details on the front was definitely the hardest part.

I decided to only paint the front because any other work would have not been visible in the final render. Every single detail is hand-painted, including any grunge, highlights, shadows, etc. No other maps were used but base color. I really enjoyed painting the stained glass windows, specifically!

Here is the final product…

Tada!!! I can speak for all of us when I say that we are proud of how it turned out. The scene felt homey, whole, and filled with each of our personal styles. The most rewarding part of the project wasn't even making the asset; it was working with my teammates!