NIKKI MORRIS
Character Animator | 3D Artist
Reel Breakdown PDF
A 3D animation based on an interpreted scene from Darren Shan's The Book Thief, the second book in his Demonata series. The main character in the book, Art, sees fragments of light than can be combined to form a portal. He does this by accident and allows a demon to briefly come through. Art follows it in the book, but I have the character stay. The pictures are screenshots of past projects of my SLR class, and the big painting is a screenshot of a project I was working on in a different class at the time. Ray rig is by CGTarian, Creature rig by Kurt and Oyvind. Frames, chair, fireplace, book, mug are free through sketchfab.
A 3D animation that incorporates an audio clip from the show
The Office where Dwight Schrute talks about bringing a spud gun to his workplace. This animation has the character show the spud gun instead, includes secondary actions with finger taps, resting the spud gun on his lap, and shows weight behind dropping it into his hand. The end frame was a funny thought to show that he is actually "deranged". The rig is Thep by SquigglyRigs, the desk, chair, and plants are free through sketchfab.
A 3D pantomime animation about a character accidentally cutting off the tip of his thumb while peeling a potato. The rig has stretching attributes, so the stretching was used to exaggerate the reaction of cutting off part of his thumb. The rig is Teddy by kader Ali-Hadef, the chair model is free through sketchfab.
A 3D animation study of a person using elevated platforms and walls to attack their target with a sword. Models are free through sketchfab, rig is Azri by GameAnim.
A 3D animation study of a person swinging around a staff-like weapon while performing martial arts style moves. Models are free through sketchfab, rig is Azri by GameAnim.
A fully rendered 3D scene using Pixar's Renderman for Maya. The thought behind this scene was "even though we were able to colonize Mars, Maya still finds a way to crash," thus leading to the character destroying the area around her. There are 2 easter eggs in the scene; an Among Us crew-mate figure and the bottle and can labels referencing to an older project. Models are free through sketchfab. The rig is Ystra by Christoph Schoch
The progression and fully rendered images of a train based on the Claud Hamilton steam engine rendered with Pixar's RenderMan. Following references of multiple real-life variations of the train, I modeled, UV'd, and textured the model myself. The real-life version usually has the letters "LNER" on the coal car and the name "Claud Hamilton" on the engine, but I took the creative liberty of using "LIAR" and "Fraud Hamilton" because it is not an accurate recreation.
The progression and fully rendered images of a LEGO Mini-figure Maya rig rendered with Pixar's RenderMan. Using the original patent drawings made by Jens Nygaard Knudsen in 1979, I modeled, UV'd, and textured the rig myself based on the original mini-figure design, though with a modern LEGO face.
A fully rendered 3D animation rendered with Pixar's RenderMan for Maya. It captures the desolate feeling of Mars with empty hills and dying machinery. The animation includes a rolling dust cloud, flickering helmet light, and scattered equipment with NASA's Odyssey Mars satellite flying overhead. Glove models are free through NASA's 3D models website, other models are free through sketchfab. Martian sky HDRI provided through Adobe.
A 3D animation capturing the main character's frustration of working in his workshop, then admonishing a little robot ready to extinguish his creator the moment they think he's on fire. The audio is a clip from Iron Man (2008). Tools, watch, fire extinguisher, masks models are free through sketchfab. Ray rig by CGTarian, robot rig provided by Willie Williams.
A 3D animation focused of the face of the character. This was a practice of lip-syncing, so it was paired with a segment of the song Arcade by Duncan Laurence. The rig is Thep by SquigglyRigs.