100% : PLAYING INSIDE A BOX (Part II)

Perspex Box Crystal

The purpose of this series was to show organic objects in a sterile environment. The contrast between the two – the natural and the unnatural – also play with the idea of blurring the boundaries between what is photographic and what has been computer generated.
The fibrous two mushrooms that are sitting on a pile of dirt pose a stark contrast to the backlit cube, giving it a photographic but surreal feel. Click on the image to zoom 100% to look at it into detail.

Perspex Box Mushroom Close up
Perspex Box Mushroom Close up

The porous texture of the mushroom has also been created by empirical observation of the real ones. Below are some of the images we looked at as reference to make the CG version.

research MUSHROOM

After researching the shape and texture of the organic matter, we modeled the objects in ZBrush and then rendered the whole thing in Maya. We decided not to add the strange veil that this type of mushroom creates as, ironically, it looked fake once placed in our perspex box. We then fine tuned the image in Photoshop. To see some screenshots of the work-in-progress please check our previous post.

 CREDITS

Idea & Concept: Christoph Bolten
CGI Artist: Richard Jenkinson and Simon Watts
Post-Artist: Pepe Alram and Riikka Eiro

Posted by Alessandra