Pixar's RenderMan "Rustic Cabin" Art Challenge

Pixar's RenderMan team is holding a texturing and lighting competition, which closes on May 22, 2019, called the "Rustic Cabin" Art Challenge, in which competing artists were provided a scene by the Pixar team. Our objective was to tell a story through textures and lighting.

In my composition, I used the Pixar film UP to tie into the Rustic Cabin set. I felt Russell's (UP's main character) Boy Scout persona would fit and connect well with the UP story by saying this cabin shared memories of Russell's, proud, grandmother. We were allowed to add in our own small 3D models if it helped support the story, so I built a variety of small props that belonged to Russell in the film UP.

In my design, I did comprehensive research on 1950s and 60s graphics and advertisements to get ideas and make my own unique graphics for some of the shelf items.

The Disney fan in me; also included several Easter egg pieces throughout the creation, which gives solid nods to Pixar and Disney works.

This is the final image which was composited in Nuke

This is a closer look at my Nuke comp.

I used a total of 10 lights in my scene. One of those was a volumetric light which was rendered separately.

This is the Cryptomatte for compositing used in Nuke.

Using the new render settings, I created a gray shader override to focus on creating lighting rig that delivered a compelling story and focus on what was important.

A quickl look at my scene shot and lights.

I photographed original 1950s Disney books from my personal library to add some fun but subtle Easter eggs in the scene.

Luxo Jr textured with some fun lighting.

The Luxo Jr 3D model is another prop I created to help support my story.

3D modeled "UP" themed Mickey ears!

Disneyland Mickey ears wireframe.

This climbing rope was pretty tricky to model at least to make it look almost exactly like the prop from the film UP with only a few images for reference.

Russell loves to wear hats to Disneyland including Mickey's Sorcerer hat!

Watch out! Grandma has some dynamite on her shelf, and it's over the fireplace!!

The lantern was a fun model to texture.

More shelf items...

Silver's Rum? Yes, another Disney Easter egg.

Shelf items starting to come together.

This 1950's inspired box that I designed was another Disney nod to the adventurous Davy Crockett.

Who knew Walt Disney really has his own Chili recipe? Well he did and perhaps if he canned and sold it maybe he'd like the label I created for this project!

I 3D modeled canned peaches and wieners to help support my story. The jars were models by the Pixar team. This is before texturing.

Early look dev for rifles.

Lot's of research looking at old labels from the 1950's and 60s to come up with inspiration for my own designs as seen in this image.

These baked beans were for another canned goods label that went on a shelf in the scene.

I used Bullet in Maya to achieve the simulated and natural look of all the beans laying on each other.

Fran's Hamburgers. Graphic work created in Maya and Adobe Illustrator.

I created stylized canned 3D burger patties so I could project the rendered image on one of my canned goods.

Early texture work on grandma's chair.