Tiny Captain's Journey
Exploring Retro Toys: Pop-Pop Boat
This piece is a charming digital artwork that transports viewers back to the joyous simplicity of playing with pop-pop boats. The pop-pop boat takes centre stage in multiple serene aquatic settings, from a tranquil pond to open waters evoking a soft, dreamlike atmosphere.
Each detail of the pop-pop boat is meticulously crafted, from its colourful design to the dynamic ripple effects it creates in a virtual pond simulation. The boats glide gracefully, emitting bubbles that reverberates on the water's surface, evoking a sense of nostalgia and wonder.
Employing a blend of digital artistry and imaginative storytelling, this project invites viewers to rekindle their fond memories of simpler times.
Lighting
To achieve the beauty of caustics in the open water there are many methods that can be utilised when recreating in CGI. However, as caustics is computationally heavy when rendering using a gobo on the light can be utilise to create similar lighting with a fraction of the cost. To integrate the pop-pop boat to the scene we can output a height field the ripples create on the surface of the water and modify the caustic image. Using interactive compositing techniques inside Houdini we could visualise the distortion applied on the caustic image and dial in value to achieve the look that was envisioned.
Technical Explorations
