Kirilo- In the render view
lighting, incandescence sim, Arnold rendering, compositing
Kirilo is a 2D-3D hybrid film, meaning 2D and 3D animation interact with each other and are layered on one another in the compositing stage.
As technical director of this film, it was my responsibility to organize and execute a rendering pipeline.
While lighting is an art, there is additionally the art of time and file management. By lighting environments as they exist alone, each set could then be faster lit in each individual shot, and lighting consistency was maintained.
In order to successfully composite all the work created by my team, lighting had to be done to intentionally blend with the 2D assets, Rendering AOV passes and layering individually rendered objects in a given shot facilitated a seamless 2D compositing experience.
The Cave- security vs fear
The cave is the home of our main characters. The goal of the cave is communicate a warm, welcoming, and familiar place where our characters begin. However, the story quickly crescendoes as Carlitos enters the scene, and comfort becomes fear.
The Cave- Fire Simulation
The fire-pit in the cave was created using fluid simulation in Maya. By simulating gravity as +Y, the fluid flowed upward rather than downward, and behaved much like smoke.
In order to make the simulation look like fire, the renderable output was set to incandescence rather than a solid surface color. This enabled the movement and color ramp to illuminate the surrounding geometry, much like a flame would.
The Boat- Night: secrecy & intensity
At this stage in the film, the main characters are entrapped by hunters with violent intentions, and must find a way to escape in the darkness of the night. The feelings of intensity were achieved by not using a sky dome and rather lighting shots with dim blue highlights for the effect of moonlight reflecting off the ocean.
The Beach- Sunrise: relief & joy
At last, the family makes it safely to the shore as the sun beings to rise. The final scene is a moment of peace, relief, hope, and togetherness, To achieve this a soft orange light that gradients into pink and soft purple illuminates the space. The texture maps on the sand create reflections back onto the crabs to create a soft glow from underneath, and ties the emotion of comfort directly to being back on land.
