Dax Lafleur

creature fx / FX Artist

Reel 2015

Dec 13, 2014 •

New reel with more footage plus Guardians of the Galaxy!

0:05-0:10

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX

Responsible for look dev on Rocket prison costume, cloth & fur simulation and cleanup, and character finaling for Groot.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
0:10-0:14

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

Responsible for grooming of Clu 2.0, hair simulation, and character finaling.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair Tools
0:14-0:17

Green Lantern

FX TD

I assisted in look dev for the ring construct glow effect on the jets and harness apparatus, then particle simulation.

Tools: Houdini
0:17-0:19

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

I was responsible for grooming the Tron hero character and hair simulation for each shot.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair Tools
0:19-0:22

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

I assisted in optimizing the workflow for hair and character finaling in the CFX department. I simulated the fur for Rocket and animated the whisker interaction by hand with in-house tools.

I was also responsible for the cloth simulation and fur cleanup.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
0:22-0:24

The Amazing Spider-Man

Cloth & Hair TD

Responsible for muscle simulation for the Lizard, and character finaling to either clean up or enhance the muscles.

Tools: Maya
0:24-0:26

G-Force

Cloth & Hair TD

I was responsible for fur simulation and character cleanup for both hero characters.

Tools: Maya
0:26-0:29

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

Responsible for cloth and hair simulation for both hero characters. Heavy character finaling was needed for both characters as well to enhance or clean up the character profiles.

Tools: Maya, Xgen
0:29-0:34

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Cloth and fur simulation on Rocket, with heavy fur cleanup needed on the fur/cloth interaction.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
0:34-0:37

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Responsible for the vine simulation and heavy character cleanup for Groot. His plates of bark required extensive finaling to fix interpenetrations and enhance performance.

Tools: Maya
0:37-0:40

Green Lantern

FX TD

One of the only shots I worked on the actual suit FX, which was just one layer of the overall look.

Tools: Houdini
0:40-0:45

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

I groomed the hero character Clu 2.0 and simulated the hair for this shot using proprietary tools.

Tools: Maya
0:45-0:46

The Amazing Spider-Man

Cloth & Hair TD

Not much needed on this one, just some muscle simulation to enhance the character profile.

Tools: Maya
0:46-0:49

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Responsible for cloth and fur simulation, then character cleanup to fix fur and cloth interaction.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
0:49-0:51

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

I groomed the hero character of Tron, then simulated his hair for this shot. Some cleanup was needed, but it was minor.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair Tools
0:51-0:55

Beowulf

Cloth & Hair TD

I was responsible for the cloth and hair simulation for the characters for this portion of the shot.

Extensive cleanup was needed to fix interpenetrations of props, tweak their performance as needed, then finaling to clean up the cloth and armor.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Cloth & Hair
0:55-0:56

Green Lantern

FX TD

Responsible for simulating the ring construct energy effect in Houdini. Also helped look dev the effect over the course of the show.

Tools: Houdini
0:56-0:57

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

I simulated the cloth and hair for all characters, and heavy finaling was needed to clean up the cloth and hair interpenetrations.

Sculpting was required as well to clean up the character profiles.

Tools: Maya, Xgen
0:57-0:59

The Amazing Spider-Man

Cloth & Hair TD

Responsible for muscle simulation on the Lizard to enhance his performance.

Tools: Maya, nCloth
0:59-1:00

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

Responsible for hero character groom and hair simulation.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair Tools
1:00-1:01

Green Lantern

FX TD

In the next two shots, I simulated the particle effects for the ring constructs such as the chainsaw, chain mail, and Sinestro's sword.

Tools: Houdini
1:01-1:05

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

Lots of character finaling was required due to the rigid nature of Ralph's suit armor.

Tools: Maya
1:07-1:10

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

Lots of character finaling was required due to the rigid nature of Ralph's suit armor.

Tools: Maya
1:11-1:13

G-Force

Cloth & Hair TD

Responsible for fur simulation and character finaling to clean up prop/fur interaction.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
1:14-1:18

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

I was responsible for the overall hair groom for Clu 2.0, and simulation for a large chunk of shots on this film.

The tools were proprietary, with the grooming tools similar to Shave & a Haircut.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair
1:18-1:22

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

I simulated the cloth and hair for Vanellope, with a lot of finaling and sculpting required to clean up her costume.

Little touches are added in each shot, like how her bangs are falling, the profile of the bow in her hair, and even the drawstrings on her hoodie.

Tools: Maya, Xgen
1:25-1:30

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

This shot is pretty straight forward, yet it had to be done more than any other shot in the film I think.

'Monstrous dude' needed sculpting to enhance his muscles, then cloth simulation on his prison costume, with finaling required to clean up his overall profile.

Tools: Maya, nCloth
1:30-1:34

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

Responsible for character finaling and cleanup of 'bug'.

Tools: Maya
1:35-1:37

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Responsible for cloth simulation for Rocket's prison costume, with fur simulation and cleanup required as well.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
1:37-1:40

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

Responsible for cloth and hair simulation for Ralph, with heavy finaling required to enhance his performance and clean up overall costume.

Each finger tip is sculpted to add weight, lots of sculpting overall to clean up his silhouette.

Tools: Maya, nCloth, xGen
1:42-1:45

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Lots of finaling was needed to clean up Groot's bark plates and vines. The vines were nCloth simulations, and the plates of bark were interpenetrating everywhere.

Tools: Maya, nCloth
1:49-1:51

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Lots of finaling was needed to clean up Groot's bark plates and vines. The vines were nCloth simulations, and the plates of bark were interpenetrating everywhere.

Tools: Maya, nCloth
1:53-1:54

Green Lantern

FX TD

Responsible for simulating particle FX for the ring constructs on his tether, ring, ropes, and ran some utility work for other elements of the suit to assist other FX artists on the overall suit effect.

Tools: Houdini
1:54-1:57

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

Hair grooming and simulation for Clu 2.0

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair
2:00-2:01

Green Lantern

FX TD

Responsible for simulating particle FX for the ring constructs like his tethers, harness, ring, ropes, and jets.

Tools: Houdini
2:05-2:09

FX TD

Responsible for simulating particle FX for the ring constructs of boots and the chain.

Tools: Houdini
2:09-2:11

G-Force

Cloth & Hair TD

I simulated the fur for all hero characters, and finaling was needed to clean up interpenetrations, but also the character interaction.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools
2:11-2:14

Wreck-It Ralph

Technical Animator

I simulated the cloth and hair for Vanellope, with sculpting required to clean up her overall silhouette.

Tools: Maya, nCloth, xGen
2:16-2:19

Green Lantern

FX TD

I was responsible for the particle FX of the ring constructs 'building' themselves.

Tools: Houdini
2:19-2:25

TRON: Legacy

Hair TD

I was responsible for grooming Clu 2.0, and simulating his hair in shots as well.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair Tools
2:25-2:28

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

This was an easy hair simulation shot, I just wanted Star Lord on my demo reel!

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Hair Tools
2:28-2:29

Green Lantern

FX TD

I simulated the particle FX for the shield ring construct and the bullets using Houdini.

Tools: Houdini
2:30-2:31

Guardians of the Galaxy

Creature FX TD

Responsible for fur simulation with character finaling required to clean up fur and costume interpenetrations.

Tools: Maya, Proprietary Fur Tools

Comments (2)

Suzi Little
Awesome work, Dax! Loved Guardians, too! Rocket is real!!

133 months ago
Dax Lafleur
Thanks so much Suzi! Loved the movie and very proud!

133 months ago

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