The alley project started with an small blocking stage, to get this stage working I searched many reference images for the alley and the components of the same. Once the blocking was done, the next stage of the project was making an up-res of the main structures, they were divided in front_main_building, front_side_building, back_side_building and background_building.
The whole modeling process took place in Maya, I used the reference editor to load each asset on a main scene, I worked every single part of the alley in sepparated files. For the rendering I used renderman, and applied some basic materials to get some light and AO on the surfaces. This is a render from the Front_Side_Building.
I often changed the light source to check how every detail of the building was going. I also created some additional props for giving some realism to the structure, these props where vents, pipes, holders, windows, lights and bridges.
Background_Building up-res
This is the final render from the main camera and having all the details fully added to each structure.
An small closeup of the props that I made for each building, everything was completely modeled from scratch and it's lifesize scale.
This is an small playblast, similar to the blocking but with the buildings in high resolution.
The next step was creating the main props that populated the main scene, some of them as part of the buildings and others located on the streets. I choose 5 main props, a food stand, AC, street lamps, some neon lights and a ATM, my choise for the general design was them to look futuristic, cyberpunk style.
I did a profound reference check to get the style that I wanted, mostly on concept art for games and some independet pieces I found on pinterest and google.
The Fan was created by the end of the prop stage, I decided to add one more to go with the guidelines of the first blocking.
As a final stage for the project, the props were added to the main scene, I gave some surfaces normal_maps to add a touch of realism, I added the light for the neon signs and the street lamps, and modeled some small props to give more popution to the scene. I added basic materials to the glass of the windows and the holo screen of the ATM and created a cloth simulation to cover some street stands of fruits. All of it was rendered in Renderman and created in Maya. The normal maps I used were not created by me, I got them from google image search.
I downloaded an HDRI light from the website HDRI Haven to give this night sensation, and created some rectangle lights around the scene to iluminate certain places.
The complete project took me eleven weeks to complete, this is a final look of the main scene with all the elements included.
