Avatar: Fire and ash
Joao Felipe De Martini
-Senior Modeling & Texturing Artist
-Environment Artist
windtrader gondolas
The Wind Trader gondolas are both vessel and village. A Tlalim convoy typically has five to eight of these structures, each crewed by 20 to 30 Na’vi, flying between continents and trading with other tribes along the way. I worked with our production designer and set lead to bring the gondola structures together, modeling and texturing the support beams that form the bones of these massive vehicles and the ropes that tie them together. As the set evolved, I also built a wide range of props and helped flesh out the interior levels.
Support Beams and Ropes
Modeled and textured the support beams that form the structural skeleton of the gondolas.
Modeled and textured the ropes that lash the beams together.
Props and Set Dressing
Modeled and textured props used throughout the set, including vases, decorations, baskets, tarps, carpets, and nets, updating them as the set iterated.
Interior Levels
Contributed to fleshing out and laying out the gondolas’ multiple interior levels.
MEtkayina Commons
The Commons is the main gathering space in Metkayina village. It needed to feel lived-in and sacred at the same time, while fitting naturally into the massive tree roots and nature around it. I was one of a team of five or more artists on the set. I built and refined the bamboo framing reused across its structures, created fabric and garments using large texture sheets for repeatable use, dressed the roots and surrounding environment, and built the props that fill the space.
Bamboo Framing and Fabric
Built and refined the bamboo framing reused throughout the Commons structures.
Created fabric and garments using large, repeatable texture sheets for efficient reuse across the set.
Structure and Straps
Made sure the Commons was structurally convincing, anchored by straps tied into the surrounding environment.
Helped develop the final look of the large straps that hold up structures throughout the village.
Walkways
Modeled and refined the walkway used in Lo’ak’s emotional scenes.
Environment and Props
Dressed the roots and surrounding environment so the Commons sat naturally in the landscape.
Modeled and textured baskets and vases to dress the Commons area.
gondola raid and ash navi
The gondola raid is an aerial ambush in which the Mangkwan raiders, led by Varang, attack the Wind Traders’ floating airships. Two other artists and I under the supervision of our creatures lead created alternate skins and body paints for the raiding Ash Na’vi and their ikran. That work became the Ash People’s look for the rest of the film. I also did extensive modeling and texturing on the scene’s hero props, including Varang’s headdress and Neytiri’s visors.
Skins and Body Paint
Created alternate skins and body paints for the raiding Ash Na’vi, which carried through the rest of the film.
Developed matching ash skins and paint for the raiders’ ikran, also used throughout the film.
Hero Props
Modeled and textured Varang’s headdress, a signature piece for the film’s main antagonist.
Modeled and textured Neytiri’s visors.
Ash village
The Ash Village is home to the Mangkwan clan, built in the ashes of a dead Hometree by a people who have abandoned Eywa. Working with our set lead, production designer, and environments supervisor, I helped build out the yurts the Ash Na’vi live in and modeled and textured assets throughout the scene. My biggest contribution was Varang’s yurt, which I worked on extensively inside and out.
Varang’s Yurt
Designed and refined the entrance to Varang’s home, making sure it worked with the animation.
Helped lay out the interior, and modeled and textured props to populate it.
Beaded Curtain
Designed, modeled, and textured the beaded curtain Varang pushes aside as she steps out of her home.
Village Yurts and Assets
Helped build out the yurts throughout the village.
Modeled and textured assets across the scene as needed.
Hero Prop: Wainfleet’s Sniper Rifle
Modeled Wainfleet’s sniper rifle, working directly with our production designer.
factory ship
The Factory Ship is a massive industrial Small-Waterplane-Area Twin Hull (SWATH) vessel the RDA introduces in this film to scale up its whaling operation. Over several years, I was one of a small core team of three artists who built it, working with our production designer, environments supervisor, and set lead. My work spanned nearly every part of the ship: hull and exterior, bridge, interiors, materials, lighting, and the ship’s final destruction.
Rear Ramp
Solely responsible for designing, modeling, and texturing the ramp at the back of the ship, working directly under our production designer.
Destruction Sequence
Concepted and modeled how the ship and its front sections break apart as it’s pulled into the vortex in the film’s final act.
Hull and Exterior
Modeled and textured the hull, including its logos and its hull and stern details, plus the landing pad, cranes, and life rafts.
Built the exterior balconies and the windows leading out to them.
Remodeled the back of the ship multiple times, adding and removing balconies and stairs as the design evolved.
Bridge
Modeled and textured the bridge exterior, and helped lay out the bridge and its balconies so they fit properly on the ship.
Helped lay out the consoles inside the bridge, and modeled and textured the consoles, walls, and pillars.
Crew Level and Interiors
Modeled and textured the top floor of the crew level, including its pipes and handrails.
Helped lay out, model, and texture interior sections where key scenes take place.
Materials and Lighting
Created reusable metal textures used throughout the vessel.
Did nighttime lighting passes on the ship’s scenes.
seawasp
For this film, the director wanted the entire Seawasp scaled down by 20% while keeping its cockpit the same size. The change broke our existing models. Working with our production designer and environments supervisor, I was the artist tasked with rebuilding the vehicle’s model and textures to absorb the change while keeping its design and flow as consistent as possible.
The Challenge
Shrinking the vehicle by 20% around a full-size cockpit threw off the proportions and fit of the existing model.
Rebuild
Remodeled and retextured the Seawasp to accommodate the new scale, resolving every conflict the change created.
Design Consistency
Kept the vehicle’s design language and flow intact, so the updated Seawasp reads as the same craft audiences already know.
Bridgehead - ash settlement
In this film, Bridgehead is finished and fully operational. Working with our set lead, environments supervisor, and production designer, I created buildings and dressed the environment to sell it as a polluted mega factory city. After the humans ally with the Mangkwan clan, they build an ash settlement inside Bridgehead where the clan stays with Quaritch, and I also modeled and textured tents and props for that settlement.
Bridgehead City
Created buildings for the completed city.
Dressed the environment to build its polluted, industrial mega factory look.
Ash Settlement
Modeled and textured the tents of the Mangkwan settlement inside Bridgehead.
Modeled and textured props to populate the settlement.
burning villages
We were tasked with creating alternate water tribe villages that the humans visit while hunting for Jake and his family, burning each one down when the villagers can’t tell them where he is. Working with our environment lead, I designed, modeled, textured, and dressed assets for these quickly built environments.
Village Structures
Designed, modeled, and textured marui and tents for the villages.
Decorations and Set Dressing
Created decorations and dressed the villages to make each one feel distinct and lived-in.
Layout
Laid out sections of the villages alongside our environment lead.
Metkayina raid
The RDA discovers where Jake’s village is and launches a raid. For this sequence, I worked with our environments supervisor to refine the model and textures of the ship’s interior, where Quaritch and his soldiers launch out on their ikran. Several of the Ash Na’vi skins I created appear in the raid, and I handled texture variants for hero weapons.
Ship Interior
Refined the model and textures of the ship’s interior, where Quaritch and his soldiers launch out on their ikran.
Hero Weapons
Created the texture variant for Varang’s gun.
Created Ash People variants of the human weapons.
Ash Na’vi
Several of the Ash Na’vi skins and body paints I developed appear in the raid.
neytiris ambush
To rescue Jake, Neytiri sneaks into the Mangkwan camp and ambushes Varang as she sleeps. Working with our environments supervisor, I contributed across the whole sequence: Varang’s yurt inside and out, the props that fill it, the surrounding camp, and the buildings behind Neytiri’s escape.
Varang’s Yurt
Worked on the exterior and interior of Varang’s yurt.
Modeled and textured her bed and other assets inside the yurt.
Refined the flap Neytiri sneaks through, the structural beams she climbs over while escaping, and the texture of the surrounding cloth.
Camp
Modeled, textured, and set dressed the crates throughout the camp.
Helped model and texture the camp’s yurts.
Background Buildings
Modeled and textured the buildings seen behind Neytiri as she escapes.
Remodeled the hero building in the final image to a higher fidelity, tightening the design and making the textures more realistic.
Costume
Modeled and textured her costume pants.
neytiri flying through pipes
During her escape, Neytiri flies through a maze-like obstacle course, dodging pipes and squeezing through narrow crevices. I modeled and textured assets, assembled modular asset clusters, and created reusable metal textures for the set. For the final stretch, working with our environments supervisor, I was solely responsible for the layout, modeling, and texturing of the last opening and the room she bursts out into.
Final Opening and Exit Room
Solely responsible for the layout, modeling, and texturing of the last opening in the obstacle course.
Built the room Neytiri flies out into as the shot cuts to her exit.
Asset Clusters
Modeled and textured assets, and assembled them into modular clusters used throughout the set.
Materials
Created reusable metal textures applied to assets across the set.
jake escape
While Neytiri is causing a distraction, Jake finds his own way to escape. The Jake escape sequence used a lot of the buildings and textures I created to populate and do the layout for the set. I worked with the set lead to adjust layout here and there. Modeling and texturing and populating pipe clusters. Populating the set with buildings and elements that fit the location such as vehicles, cages, supplies etc.
Damage Look Dev
Modeled and textured the crashing Seawasp, developing how its damage progressed at each stage of the crash.
Wreckage Layout
Laid out the crashed pieces across the landing pad so the aftermath read believably.
Set Dressing
Dressed the Seadragon’s landing pad for the scene.
payakan search
Payakan has been rejected by the other tulkun for fighting to help save Jake and his family, so Lo’ak searches for and defends his outcast tulkun brother. Working with our costumes lead and environments supervisor, I was solely responsible for two key pieces of this scene: the background rocks and the seaweed crown Lo’ak wears.
Background Rocks
Solely responsible for modeling, texturing, and laying out the background rocks.
Seaweed Crown
Solely responsible for the hero modeling of the seaweed crown Lo’ak wears.
matriarch costume
Near the end of the film, a pivotal tulkun council brings younger Metkayina and Omatikaya warriors face to face with the tulkun elders and the 330-foot Matriarch. Working with the concept artists and our creatures lead, I was one of two artists creating costume pieces for the Matriarch and the other tulkun elders.
Costume Pieces
Modeled and textured the leather straps and clothing wrapped around the bodies of the Matriarch and the elders.
Textures and Tattoos
Updated and refined textures for the elders and their tattoos over many passes.
Ta’nok face detail
Ta’nok is the sole survivor of Payakan’s clan, brutally mutilated and found by Payakan when he went searching for them after being shunned for fighting. She carries multiple harpoons embedded in her skin, heavy scarring, and missing chunks of her fin and tail. She’s brought before the council to show why they had to fight. They didn’t choose to. Working extensively with our creatures lead and concept artists, I developed Ta’nok’s model, textures, and tattoos through several iterations, including the extensive scarring that tells her story.
Model and Textures
Updated Ta’nok’s model and textures through several iterations alongside our concept artists and creatures lead.
Tattoos
Developed and refined her tattoos, updating them alongside each pass on the model and textures.
Scarring and Damage
Modeled and textured her extensive scarring and the details of her wounds.
neytiri costumes and scars
Neytiri is struck by Varang’s arrow early in the film and goes through a long healing process. Working with our costumes lead, I handled all of her facial scarring and modeled and textured her costumes throughout that recovery. I also textured many of Neytiri’s skins across the production.
Scar Progression
Created all of Neytiri’s facial scarring, detailing its progression through her healing across the entire production.
Built the scar textures from concept art and reference photos of the production’s real makeup tests.
Costumes
Modeled and textured her costumes throughout the healing process.
Makeup Look Dev
Look-developed how her battle makeup smears across her face in the scene where she cries and wipes it away.
Skins
Textured many of Neytiri’s skins throughout the production.
ambulance vehicle
When Spider is loaded into the RDA’s ambulance, it’s a vehicle I helped rebuild for this film. Working with our environments supervisor and production designer, I remodeled and retextured it, reworking the rear and adding new details to the front.
Model Update
Updated the vehicle’s model for this film.
Reworked the rear of the vehicle.
Added new design elements to the front.
Textures
Redid the vehicle’s texturing from the ground up.
Village border rocks
I was solely responsible for modeling, texturing, and placing the giant rocks that surround Metkayina village. Each set of rocks was designed around how it would read on camera, from silhouettes against the sunset to compositions built for isolation.
Sunset Silhouettes
Shaped the background rocks in the sunset shots to create an interesting silhouette against the evening sky.
Loak’s Search Scene
Designed the rocks to convey the scale of the set and to frame the solitary, isolating shots compositionally.
Ownership
Handled modeling, texturing, and layout placement for every rock from start to finish.
fractal reef
Fractal Reef sits on the outskirts of Metkayina village: a striking cluster of geometric, fractal-shaped rocks with small tide pools layering up toward the top. Our team struggled to get this model from one piece of software into another until I found a solution that unblocked us. I also did texture work to help develop the look of the rock structures.
Pipeline Solution
The model was built in fractal-generation software, and the export was so massive that bringing it into other software was nearly impossible. I solved this by routing it through 3ds Max, which handles higher polycounts and has procedural modifiers that reduce polygon count, giving the team models they could actually work with.
Rock Look Dev
Adjusted shader textures and settings to find the right frequency of detail for the rock and how worn its edges and corners should be.
