Completed: 2012
My Involvement: All aspects
Materials/Software: Maya, After Effects, Photoshop
Description:
This 3D model (created in Maya) is based on the North CarolinaStateUniversity mascot known as “Tuffy”. According to NC State communications, Tuffy is a federally registered trademark used to “promote brand awareness and fan support.” To design the model, I referenced the most common logo design featuring Tuffy which is typically used for branding purposes. The challenging part of the project was figuring out how to take the flat, 2D version of Tuffy and translate it into a three dimensional object. To accomplish this task, I began envisioning the possible proportions of Tuffy’s body by sketching out three dimensional forms from multiple points of view. Since Tuffy is a wolf, I also referenced pictures of real wolves to give me a better idea about the structure of their bodies. Even though Tuffy has cartoonish and exaggerated human features, using reference images of real wolves helped me understand how I should construct the final model. Once I was happy with the design, I began modeling based on my character sketches from top, side, and front orthographic views. The final model was constructed using a planar modeling technique that followed a progression from simple to more complex forms.
