Karin LaPadula Home 3D Environments: architectural/ Organic Concept Art & Illustration TEXTURE SETS & wIREFRAMES 3D Scientific Visualization Social GAMe ART / Flash aNIMATION Resume & Demo Reel

3D  Environments:  architectural & Organic *   Karin LaPadula


Temple Ruins, a level which I designed, modeled, textured, and lit.  Independent project.   Click here to see the Texture Set. Tools:  Maya, Photoshop, Mental Ray.  Beacon, a 3D environment I designed, modeled, textured, and lit for my 2010 calendar.   16,000 faces.  To see a fly-through animation of this level, check out my demo reel.  Click here to see Wireframes and Texture Sets.   Tools:  Maya, ZBrush on gnarled trees wrapped around the pillars, Photoshop, Mental Ray for lighting. 
Godfather2, Electronic Arts:   This is one of several buildings I modeled and textured for GF2.  The texture set and model components were a team effort, as we used modular construction methods and shared parts.  I designed and built the building, and created new custom textures from the base textures.    Tools:  Maya, Photoshop, in-house art pipelines tools.  Abandoned building for which I created textures and UVed; originally  for texture test.  I rebuilt the original model into "industrial deco" for posting here.  The building bricks were made with four different textures which tile with each other, creating a non-tiled look.  The original model (not shown here) was created by another artist.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.
Spystation,  which I designed and built for independent project.  Spystation is actually low to medium in poly count, and gets it's atmosphere from materials and lighting (with inspiration from the 1950s!).  There are 4000 faces in the entire scene.   Texture Sets & Wireframes. .  Spystation interior view.  There are approximately 3000 faces in this viewpoint, and 4000 faces in the entire scene.  To see a fly-through, check out my demo reel.

Interior of buildng and exterior natural landscape for Reptile Bridge Martian environment.  I created the entire scene, and was aiming for an alien look.  I'm still designing the exterior structures.   Work is for independent game proposal group.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop.

Reptile Bridge, created in 3D from my own concept for an independent group putting together a game proposal.  The game takes place on Mars, so it the scene had to look "Martian".   I'm currently working on a building of similar visual style (see left).  Tools:  ZBrush and Maya for modeling and textures, Photoshop and ZBrush for textures.  See concept sketch.
What portfolio is complete without a dungeon?  I built everything in the shot except the floor texture.  An EA concept artist created the initial concept drawing.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop. Forza2 Motorsport, Microsoft Game Studios:  I created every aspect of the shot:   Design, modeling, texture creation, lighting, composition, skydome painting.  I painted many of the skydomes in the game.  The trees have between 400-800 faces.  Tools:  3D Max, Deep Paint 3D, Photoshop.    

Forza2 Motorsport, Microsoft Game Studios:  I created every aspect of the shot:   Design, modeling, texture creation, lighting, composition, skydome painting.  Tools:  3D Max, Deep Paint 3D, Photoshop.

 Forza2 Motorsport, Microsoft:   I painted this skydome, and many of the other skies in Forza2.  I built the fences, small tents, all the trees except the one with the grey trunk.  I created the grass textures as well.  Tools:  3D Max, Deep Paint 3D, Photoshop.
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 later used ZBrush to create this in 3D.  See demo reel for a 2D animation of the waterfall.   See low res version.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush. Mechwarriror4  Vengeance:  Older work.  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.  

Godfather2:  Cuban building, street view, I created for Godfather2; 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.  This scene shows how atmospheric the in-game lighting is. 

Low resolution SOCOM archway building, I created for Sony Playstation Home game lobby.  I made the low res textures and used normal maps to give the surfaces more depth.  I also optimized the building geometry from high to low res.   (The high res geometry was built by another artist.)  The texture set is all 256 or less; four textures used total.  Click here to see the Wireframe.  Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.

Biodome, a scene I created for my yearly calendar.  I later added 3D vegetation for the final calendar image.   Tools:  Maya, Photoshop. 

Biodome, early version.  I later added 3D vegetation for the final calendar image (left).   Tools:  Maya, Photoshop. 

Curio, for independent project.  Tools:  3D Max, Photoshop. Alien Homeworld; independent project.  The gate was modeled in ZBrush and rendered as a bitmap for this low poly scene.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop.

Portal, for independent project.  Check out my demo reel to see the progression from desert to portal.  Tools:  Maya, ZBrush. 

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

Bone Matrix, concept I modeled, textured, and lit for Eveo (3D molecular environments and biomedical animations).  3D modeled bones give the impression of a microscopic view of bones with osteoporosis.   For more, visit my 3D Scientific Visualization page. Tools:  Maya, Photoshop.

Mental Ray render showing a library of shaders I developed for animations for Eveo, a biomedical media company.  I created hybrid shaders - combinations of painted textures and procedurals, used in conjunction with my favorite - the Sampler Info node with the facing ratio on.  Another Eveo team member built the 3D models.

3D Environments:  architectural and Organic

For more 3D environments with fly-throughs and animations:   Demo reel

For texture sets and wireframes of the above:  Texture Sets & Wireframes.

For additional stills of my 3D environments, check out the More Page
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, Stratogon Entertainment, and Electronic Arts.  Before that, I built 3D terrains, vehicles, and special effects for networked military simulators for Lockheed, on the pioneering SIMNET project.  I've also created 3D molecular worlds, concept art, shaders, and lighting for animation for Eveo. 

I created all elements of the scenes here, except in the four cases where I gave credit to other team members for their contributions to parts of the scenes .

Game art credits:  6 shipped next gen titles; 2 game lobbies; 1 social/casual game:

  • At Electronic Arts:   Godfather2 (PS3).

  • At Microsoft Game Studios:  Forza2 Motorsports, Mechwarrior4: Vengeance, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (XBox360 and PC).  

  • At Amaze Entertainment:  Lord of the Rings Tactics (PSP).

  • For Sony PlayStation Home/Millions of Us:   3D lobbies for Far Cry2 and SOCOM (PS3).

  • For Stratogon Entertainment:  3D environments for casual/social gaming site, Jasmine Club (Web).

Additional work for Eveo; 3D concept art and shaders for biomedical animations.

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 2010 Karin LaPadula / Escapist Imagery. All Rights Reserved.