CG Lighting/Compositing Reel

CONTACT INFO: ollie.y.yao@gmail.com | ollieyao.com

1. Zootopia 2 Effects Animation & Effects Apprenticeship

Created at Walt Disney Animation Studios. All shots animated in Houdini, and rendered with Hyperion. During my apprenticeship I tried effects with many different techniques, including fire, water, snow, rigid body dynamics, cloth, soft bodies, and smoke, and was responsible for lighting each of my shots as well.

2. Caterpillar’s Day Out

Modeled in Maya, fur simulation done in Houdini with Vellum, then exported back into Maya for render with Redshift. The project was inspired by a Dr. Seuss look, but rendered in 3D. Fur simulation is something I’ve been meaning to tackle for a while - the pipeline is difficult to figure out at first but once I got it ironed out everything went pretty smoothly!

3. Rainy Day

Created in Houdini, rendered with Solaris and Karma. I wanted to tackle photorealism with a simpler simulation I'd be able to polish, and so I chose to do raindrops beading on a window. Raindrops were created with POP simulations, with additional splashes generated using FLIP fluids. This project marked my first foray into Solaris, Karma, and USD workflow, something I'm very excited to learn more about in the future! Window sill was modeled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter. Responsible for lighting on this shot as well!

4. Pixar Undergraduate Program - Lighting

Created at Pixar Animation Studios. I participated in the Pixar Undergraduate Program in 2021, one of our assignments was to light the titular character from Luca, using a movie stills as reference. Luca's head shape proved tricky to light as he doesn't have strong facial planes, but it was a fun challenge to take on!

5. We Are Chrome For Developers:

Created at HOPR Studios. I was responsible for set modeling, shading, and lighting throughout the short. Additionally, I was responsible for the UI design for the computer screen, as well as the designs on the corkboard. The project was rendered in Redshift.

6. "Twin Sparks" Short Film

Twin Sparks is Heather Yun and I's SVA senior thesis film set to come out in Spring 2023! I've always been inspired by stylized 3D, and am super excited show off all I've learned about the medium in this film! I'm responsible for the shading, lighting, and FX in this shot, which was done in a combination of Houdini, Blender, and Nuke. Animation is done by my thesis partner Heather. Learn more here! https://www.ollieyao.com/twin-sparks

Music is "I Lost All My Eggs" by Shawn Wasabi.