Ilya Novikov

I haven't been active here for a while. Mostly been on LinkedIn as my main social for work and craft. Currently working on a fan art VFX project. Only character models and the environment are not mine — everything else (textures, FX, sequence, animation) is my own craft.

#unrealengine #vfx #techart

Wrapped the term with a #Python tool for #UnrealEngine! It converts lightmap textures into SDFs to build masks for clean cel-shaded facial shadows — no vertex normals needed💫
Artists fine-tune in Photoshop🎨, plugin does the rest💪
Excited for use in future projects!🚀

#technicalart #stylized #anime

Exploring cel-shaded face shadows like in "Hi-Fi Rush" and anime games. Turns out it's a mix of layered SDFs – moon phase style. I'm using Render Targets, Jump Flood and Python scripting – hoping the character won't look haunted 😅

#unrealengine #python #technicalart #stylized #anime

The true "Most Anticipated Game" for me🤩. Wonderful announcement. Can't wait to hear more from Hideki Kamiya-san and his team.
#okami

A Good Song Never Dies - Fan-made Music Video, Ilja Ilmar Novikov Group project exercise for the MSc Technical Art & Visual Effects course at Abertay University. The task was to produce a music video with a song of our choice in two weeks as a team of eight peop...

"Good Song Never Dies" by Saint Motel; Fan-made music video.
Here is a link to my ArtStation post.
CGI Cinematographer and Tech Artist on this team project, merging live action and virtual production on set - Colour Grading, B-Rolls, Lighting, you name it
www.artstation.com/artwork/Gvv3YB

"Copy Flash" (Not much of a unique name, I know...)

Based on "Summer Time Rendering" anime where evil creatures take over the appearance of their victims. Put a spin on it aka "Destiny 2" and "Apex Legends" finisher ability with a dynamic level sequencing blending the gameplay and scripted action

And yes, it can still bake meshes with outlines. Animations work naturally with the skeletal meshes as the method only adds up the polygons in a most old-fashioned way of inverted hulls and enables quick iteration tests of different outline thicknesses

Next on our list - "UE Stylization Tool".
That's a fun "dissertation project fellow" of mine. Initially started as a tool for baking meshes with an inverted hull outline later expanded into a full-fledged tool for the application of various comic-book-inspired post-processing techniques

Inspired by the likes of "Okami" and "Spirit of the North", this project opened the doors for me to pursue stylized graphics. Eventually, our team was grateful to receive a place as DARE Academy finalists and showcased the demo at EGX London 2023🤩

Starting from the most influential and oldest piece in my VFX & Tech Art journey - "Paper Trails".
This cosy-horror narrative-adventure game lets you explore the life of a former wolf now living a new life as its last prey within a story-book visual "drawn" with pencil strokes.

I shouldn't limit this post to just still images and shall add some more to descriptions

An invaluable collection of starter packs for both seasoned and young game developers. Let's all build a perfect place for likeminded people supporting the industry together🥰

Hi! I'm Ilya, a VFX & Tech Artist student. Passionate for post-process techniques, level sequencing and VFX in stylized games for gameplay and cinematic scenes.

Here are some examples of my work from games and tools creation to VFX work, and even music video production.
#ue5 #vfx #techart #gamedev