Karin LaPadula Home 3D Environments: Urban/Organic Concept Art Paintings & Drawings Photography Resume & Demo Reel

3D  Environments:  Urban & Organic *   Karin LaPadula


1) Forza2 Motorsport:  Trees, vegetation, fences, buildings, and skydome models and textures I created for Xbox 360 title, in game; Microsoft Game Studios.  Tools:  3D Max, Deep Paint 3D, Photoshop. 2) Godfather2:  Gritty Cuban building I created for Godfather2; in game, release date 2009; Electronic Arts.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.  This is one of several buildings I modeled and textured for GF2.  The texture set and some of the model components were a team effort; I created the base textures of all wall treatments.  The palm trees were modeled by another team member. 
3) New!  Beacon, a 3D environment I designed, built, and lit everything in this level for unannounced game project; in progress.  A fly-thu of this will be included on my demo reel and posted on Sunday July 5.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush on gnarled trees, Photoshop.  4) Alternate view of Beacon.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop.
5) Spystation,  which I designed and built, for independent project.  Spystation gets it's atmosphere from materials and lighting, with inspiration from the 1950s.  Texture Sets & Wireframes. .  6) Spystation interior view.  Texture Sets & Wireframes.

7)  Biodome, a piece I created for my yearly calendar.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop.

8)  Biodome before I opened up the doors and added the vegetation and an outer landscape.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop. 

9)  Through My Fingers, created with Maya and ZBrush; originally a concept created in 2D for Mechwarrior5 at Microsoft.   Technology caught up with the concept when I used ZBrush to create this.   See original concept.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush.  . 10) SOCOM low res textures I created for game lobby for Sony PlayStation Home.  I reduced the original hi res building to low res.  The textures were all 256 or smaller, and only five different textures were used.   The high resolution version of the building was built by another team member.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop. 

11) SOCOM game lobby interior for Sony PlayStation Home/Millions of Us:  I created and lit all of the assets in the scene.    The original game lobby version has canvas siding rather than glass; the monitors will have live video playing rather than bitmaps.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.

 12) Godfather2:  Cuban building, street view, I created for Godfather2; in game, release date 2009; Electronic Arts.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.  This is one of several buildings I modeled and textured for GF2.  The texture set and some of the model components were a team effort; I created the base textures of all wall treatments.  The maximum sizes for building textures were 512s

13) Forza2, in game.  I painted many of the Forza2 skydomes, including this one.  I also built all the trees with the brown trunks, and painted the terrain and fence textures.  Another team member built the trees with the grey trunks.   Tools:  3D Max, Deep Paint 3D, Photoshop.

 14) Forza2 Motorsport:   I painted the skydome, and built the fences, small tents, all the trees except the one with the grey trunk.  In game.

15) Alien Homeworld Palace, for independent project.  This is a very low poly building.  See a close up of the doors with its in wire frame here.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop.

16) What portfolio is complete without a dungeon?  I created this one for a EA "test", before I was hired to work on Godfather2 at EA.  Tools: Maya, Photoshop.

17) Landscape I created for Mythica, a MMOG, showing the overall lay of the level.  The texture set was a team effort; another team member sculpted the background mountains.  I sculpted all land detail, applied the textures, and created the water textures..  Mythica was cancelled 6 months prior to shipping, but the environment team rocked!

18) Another landscape I created for Mythica MMOG.   Our in-house level editor enabled real-time terrain sculpting, the mixing of different textures with different alphas, and the stacking of many texture layers.  It was the best level editor ever!  Tools:  Maya, propriety level editor.

19) Mechwarriror4  Vengeance:  Alpine level, in game;  Microsoft Game Studios.  I created all natural elements of the alpine and swamp levels in the game, including the skies.   The  team won PC Magazine's Sci-Fi Game of the year. Tools:  3D Max, Photoshop, in-house level editors.

20) Another alpine level I built for Mechwarrior4.  Tools:  3D Max, Photoshop, in-house level editors.
21) Index page from a casual/social gaming website for Stratogon Entertainment.  Each door is a link to other places on the site.  A departure from my usual realistic/fantasy style, I created all of the 3D art for the website, Jasmine Club.  The colors and style needed to appeal to girls ages 8-16.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.  More Jasmine Club work.

22) "Curio" created for independent project.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.

3D Environments:  Urban and Organic

Designing, modeling, texturing, and lighting 3D environments with atmosphere and edge is my passion.  I've been creating 3D virtual worlds for games and animation since 1999 at companies like Microsoft Game Studios, Amaze Entertainment, and Electronic Arts.  Before that, I built 3D terrains, vehicles, and special effects for networked simulators for Lockheed, on the pioneering SIMNET project (funded by DARPA).  I've also created 3D worlds which exist on the molecular level for Eveo, Inc.

My work is built to specification according to the technical capabilities and limitations of the game engine or animation render.  I've built environments to run on the PC, XBox, XBox360, PSP, and PS3 platforms.

I created all elements of the scenes here, except in the cases where I gave credit to other team members for their contributions. (2, 10, 15, 17)

I use Maya, ZBrush, and sometimes Max to create 3D environments, depending on the project. For 3D natural landscapes, I use heightmap level editors and ZBrush.  For textures, I use Photoshop and ZBrush, and collect much of my own photographic texture source.  My favorite genres/styles to work in are sci-fi, fantasy, and industrial, all with a realistic bent. 

At Microsoft Game Studios, I created 3D environments for four shipped AAA titles; including Forza2 Motorsport, Mechwarrior4, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator.  Screenshots from some of the in-game assets I created for these games are above:  Forza2 (1, 13, 14);  Mechwarrior4 Vegeance (19, 20).     I also created terrain environment for the MMOPRG Mythica, which was cancelled, but the terrain team rocked!  (17, 18) 

#10 and #11 are from the work I did for the Sony PlayStation Home game lobby for SOCOM.

Spystation, Biodome, Alien Homeworld, and Curio I built for independent projects and are original concepts, as is the majority of my work.  I'm always working on improving my lighting and shader skills so as to push the technology toward art.  (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 22) . 

I created all of the 3D art of the casual gaming website, Jasmine Club.  Publish date:  2009 (21).   The style for the site was a departure from my usual more realistic style.  More Jasmine Club work.

My digital art has been shown in fine art galleries, computer conferences Siggraph and Eurographics, has been published in industry magazines, is in several private collections. 

For more project information, see Resume & Demo Reel

Email:  karin at escapistimagery dot com

 

Copyright 2009 Karin LaPadula / Escapist Imagery. All Rights Reserved.