WEEK 3
WEEK 5

SCAD x NYC – Week 4

My progress during the 10-week collaboration with Harbor Picture Company, Electrical Theatre Collective, and Calling All Talent.

(Most recent progress at the top)

WEEK 4 – TO-DO (INDIVIDUAL):

  • Shot 2 (Embroidery):
    • Fix the movement of the thread
    • Fix clipping issues with cloth
    • Add movement to the cloth
    • Optimize for export
    • Export for look-dev + lighting
  • Shot 4 (Cloth Transition):
    • FX Development
    • Vellum simulation 
    • Export for look-dev + lighting 

WEEK 4 – TO-DO (TEAM):

  • Create cameras for new shots + refine cameras for original shots
  • Export FX from Houdini to Maya
  • Materials to every shot
  • Lighting to every shot
  • First pass – compositing (all shots)

February 2, 2026

Shot 4 – Cloth (Updated)

Shot 4 Progress:

 

Notes:

  • Simple shader + lighting applied, while we are running into some issues with the renderfarm
  • After our first version of the video, our team felt that having the shots on simpler, solid colored background, rather than the room improved the flow much more
  • Updated shot 4 without bed collider, with solid color background, and slower movement
  • Continue working on behavior of cloth

February 1, 2026

Shot List Update

We have decided to cut Shot 3, which is the wide shot of the embroidery because we felt that it flows between without it as long as the embroidery is visible in later shots (shots 4 and 5), which we plan to implement with textures next week.

February 1, 2026

With the SCAD buildings being closed due to the snow this weekend, I wasn’t able to get as far as I’d liked with my FX shots, but I made a little bit of progress and tried to experiement with ways to make the thread in shot 2 more realistic.

Shot 2 – Embroidery (Updated)

Shot 2 Progress:

 

 

Notes/ To-Do:

  • I think that the addition of the twisted string will make the thread feel much more realistic with Ella’s shader and lighting applied
  • Fix jittering movement
  • Make movement more randomized + interesting
  • Add groom/fuzz
  • Add more randomization in look
  • Decrease thickness slightly
Render Test with simple shaders applied
  • Added movement to the cloth
    • I will need to lower this a little so that the framing of the embroidery doesn’t change a lot
    • I may remove this
  • I adjusted the distance from which the string is coming from, but I will keep experimenting with that to make the movement better

Adding Twists to the Thread:

  • I used Claude AI to help me create a twisting pattern from pre-existing line (the original curve used in the embroidery)
  • Control over number of twists, number of strings, overall size of thread, size of individual strings

 

  •  Scale control mask with a ramp

January 29, 2026

Shot 2 – Embroidery

Shot 2 Progress:

  • Tests with embroidery of the logo
    • N for Nuage
  • Test 1 (Notes):
    • Quick test to cut together a preliminary video with our new shots
    • The string width here was too thin and the high geometry count made it difficult to work with in Maya
    • Need to work on optimizing this
  • Test 2 (Notes):
    • Optimized version with lower thread count + thicker threads
    • I think the thread width should be slightly smaller (in between test 1 and test 2)
    • Export of background embroidery (other half of “N”) caused some crashes because of a lot of overlapping geometry
    • Fix export issue
    • Make movement of thread more interesting
  • Letter Embroidery:
    •  Font node to create the logo
    •  Convert Line to get outlines
    • Create points on each line and connect
    • Polywire for line thickness
    • The issue with the crashing in maya was coming from the resample node, which was creating new primitives on top of each other
    • I fixed this by using a fuse node to make sure any overlapping points were merged, which also significantly brought down the poly count!

Jan 28, 2026

Shot 4 – Cloth

Test 1:

Notes:

  • Background will be the the room that is in front of the bed
  • Will test out version where the movement starts from the camera
  • It feels a little jarring having the cloth come towards the camera
  • Try turning down gravity + turn up drag to fall slower and more elegantly

 

Test 2:

Notes:

  • My team and I like this camera angle much better because it feels less jarring
  • Add friction to the bed
  • Turn down gravity + turn up drag for slower, more elegant falling

Jan 27, 2026

Shot 3 – Embroidery Wide

  • Testing embroidery as a logo vs. border
  • Our team liked the combination of both, similar to the pillowcase reference from Boll & Branch

Jan 27, 2026

Post-Review Discussion

Updated Shot List:

  • Shot 1:
    • Weaving (Macro)
  • Shot 2:
    • Embroidery (Macro)
  • Shot 3:
    • Embroidery + Cloth Waving (Medium)
  • Shot 4:
    • Cloth Transition onto bed
  • Shot 5:
    • Pillows falling (Close Up)
  • Shot 6:
    • Comforter falling at the foot of the bed (Close Up)
  • Shot 7:
    • Bedroom (Wide)
    • Live action + CG integration with actor

Team Discussion:

  • After hearing mentor feedback, we discussed splitting up the final shot with the bed assembly into multiple close up shots of the individual parts of the bed to make it feel less dragged on at the end
  • We also will make it more clear what role the embroidery plays in the product (by adding it into the textures of the sheet and pillow cases in shots 4 and 5)
  • The embroidery will be of the logo (N for Nuage) and we will experiment with the idea of having a border with embroidery
  • We also will replace the the current bed in the final shot (that has the simulated comforter) with a sculpted comforter to art direct its comfy feeling

Updated References:

IMG_6203
https://www.bollandbranch.com/collections/signature-collection-ladder-stitch/?srsltid=AfmBOorFPRo-tRCCEAue50tpGMzK351Gd6IkDS5aTASt0uWb4NpG7zbl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVLEp76w90

Feedback – Week 4 Review

Feedback from Mentors:

  • Hailey:
    • The gold embroidery from Shot 2 is not visible in any other shots, making it unclear why we have that shot
    • Shot 3 – The sheet going off screen feels unnecessary since it doesn’t come back in
    • Shot 3 – Consider having a better transition that interacts with the bedroom ( like the puffing up of a sheet when a person places it onto the bed)
    • Shot 4 – The sheets look like they’re on a curtain rod
  • Beck:
    • Softer attachments with constraints
  • Kyle:
    • Shot 1 – Match the lighting and softness of the reference more
    • Shot 4 – Shot feels too long
    • Shot 4 – The bed feels too messy rather than comfy
    • Shot 4 – Shot 4 – Have a back up plan without the live action human
    • Shot 4 – Make the lighting warmer
    • Shot 4 – Add a lens flare and camera move from the window
  • Joleen:
    • Shot 2 – Zoom out or cut to a more zoomed out shot with the embroidery to reveal the pattern/ logo (it’s not reading right now)
  • Heather:
    • Shot 4 – feels very long