Day in the life of a Robot Noodle Chef

Oh HEY! This is the Final project that I did at university, my goal was to make a 5 minute long short film, that would incorporate some ideas that Id had over the last 3 years doing my animation degree. It would also allow me to try new ways of making artwork, In this project I was able to use both SideFX's Houdini and a Rokoko motion capture suit for the first time, which allowed me to realise my vision in my favourite program Blender.

This story was Inspired a LOT by Alvin Zhou's "Day in the Life of" series which includes some of the best cinematography and composition that I've ever seen and just fell in love with the style. So please watch, enjoy (I hope), and feel free to check out some of the behind the scenes stuff I've put in the post. Thanks for checking it out!!!!

Final Product

The logo for the restaurant that I made, using the design my illustrator made

A small cameo from another project that I felt would fit into the project. That was made by and inspired by one of my favourite photos by William Eggleston.

Making the kitchen

Filling it with stuff and making it look not bad

Softbody Physics Workflow

Project: Creating piles of rice bags for shelves and the floor.

Process:

Object Placement
Arranged all rice bag models in Blender to achieve the desired layout.
Export to Houdini
Exported the layout for advanced simulation work.
Remeshing
Simplified the mesh for optimal physics calculations.
Softbody Physics
Applied softbody physics to simulate realistic behavior.
- Tweaked bend and stretch capacity for accurate material response.
Deformation
Deformed the high-poly models using the simulated low-poly versions.

Result:
Realistic and dynamic rice bag arrangements, adding authenticity to the environment.

Remeshing and Inspirations

What is Remeshing?

Remeshing simplifies the geometry of objects by creating evenly distributed vertices across the surface. This step is essential for ensuring stable and efficient simulations, especially when working with softbody physics.

Why Does It Need Remeshing?

Enhanced Accuracy: Evenly spaced vertices ensure smooth deformations, making simulations more realistic. Without this, simulations can become uneven or distorted.
Optimized Performance: Simplified meshes reduce computational demands, allowing for faster simulations and minimizing the risk of crashes. This is crucial when working with multiple objects or complex setups.

Inspirations

The approach was inspired by techniques used in the creation of the kitchen set for Ratatouille. By applying these methods, I achieved lifelike interactions between objects, such as rice bags and vegetables, that feel natural and grounded in their environment.

Link to that paper is here: https://graphics.pixar.com/library/AnyoneCanCook/paper.pdf

Making the Exterior

My design for the exterior of the restuarant was inspired by a restaurant in my town called “The Waffle house“, no relation to the american chain. I had been going there since I was a kid and wanted to recreate the cozy, feel that place has. And that started with the Exterior of the building. I modelled the restaurant and a rough interior. Then filled out the rest of the scene with photoscans of buidings to create a closed in, claustrophic feel to the city. That this small cozy warm restaurant taking focus in the frame eliviates.