My name is Yulia Loova, and I spend most of my time as a VFX Artist.
However, I am also a multidisciplinary specialist—I am knowledgeable about every stage of the CG pipeline.
— Sculpting (Zbrush) — Retopology and UV Unwrapping (Maya) — Advanced Skeleton Rigging — Animation Retargeting (Houdini) — VFX and Compositing (Houdini, Nuke, After Effect) — Process Optimization (pipeline management across software) — Assembly in Unreal Engine
— VAGUR [full-CG pipeline]
Vagur—an ancient entity that subsists on the oil spewing from the earth’s depths due to its «wild dance.»
Demonstration of blend shapes on character facial expressions
lowpoly grayshade
In this project, a 3D character was developed, around whose legend a cinematic was subsequently conceptualized and created.Zbrush, Maya, Adobe Substance Painter
Cinematic excerpts
— Mutated Mermaid [Sculpting]
A long, hideous mermaid tail—a metaphorical image of a burden weighing down on the heroine’s shoulders. It is cumbersome and heavy, restricting and impeding her, like shackled legs.
Sculpting (Zbrush), retopology, and UV mapping (Maya)
— TechArt [Retopology and UV]
Facial, hand, and foot retopology
One of the longest and most meticulous processes is preparing the model for baking prior to texturing. The low-poly model must be divided into individual parts so that they do not leave artifacts on each other.
To seamlessly bake the lips and mouth cavity, the character’s mouth needs to be open.
highpoly → lowpoly without detailing → projection
To achieve this, you can use the projection function in ZBrush to transfer the high-poly detail to the low-poly mesh, even when the mouth is open.
UV map for a scuba diver, working with Vertex Color for convenient masking
Crowd retopology
— Lycan [full-CG pipeline]
Sculpting, retopology, and rigging LYCAN
The character was being prepared for the grooming phase: from sculpting to animation.Animation with Mixamo, retargeting onto the lican’s custom skeleton in Houdini FX.
Retargeting animations and groom demonstrations
