Mia Laplanche
grooming and character
TEDDY RASTA GROOM
AND CLOTH SIMULATION
Responsible for Hair Groom, Hair Simulation, Clothes Modeling, Clothes Simulations, Look Development
MAY 2025
HOUDINI
MAYA
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Given base teddy bear model I created the concept of a Rastafarian teddy bear, I modeled the t-shirt and hat render meshes saving the non extruded low poly versions of the two to create a simcage to be used when the clothes would be simulated with the animated body as the collider. The necklace is simmed to the animated bear as well using a point deform from a simple simcage behaving like cloth using vellum configure cloth and vellum solver. All other accessories are point deformed to the animated skin.
The hair gen required an extremely high resample within the node to allow for the level of detail present with the coils and the frizz. The groom and simulation of the hair required a lot of hand altered elements to get it to simulate and collide with surrounding objects at the desired quality
Music by popular Tiktok artist Macka B's medical Monday series:
Smoke simulation by Tananchai Dutsadeekun
Faux Locs Character groom
Responsible for Hair Groom, accessories modeling, and Look Development
MARCH 2025
MAYA XGEN
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
I wanted to experiment with some black hairstyles, and considering the parameters of XGen I found that faux locs would be a really fun project, specifically crochet faux locs which give the hair a boho esque look. The half up half down shorter hairstyle is inspired by mini twists since shorter faux locs are less common. I wanted to make sure to include well laid edges as well. This is a style that the character got done around 3 weeks ago so we see a relative amount of frizz around the roots and ends. I took inspiration from Mel from Arcane’s locs for the stylization of the hair and the hair cuffs but added 4 different types of hair cuffs to add more variety to the design
The character is meant to convey very “clean girl” with stylized realism as a texture style.
Haitian grandma
character groom
Responsible for all; Hair Groom, Character Sculpt, Retopology, Accessories Modeling, and Look Development
MARCH 2025
MAYA XGEN
ZBRUSH
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Grandma character with her hair in cornrows. The cornrows are very messy as she usually wears a headwrap this means there are many fly aways, the parting is unclear but present, and from a far you can’t really tell its cornrows. They aren’t necessarily meant to be seen. She’s wearing at home clothes, traditional Haitian home dress called Siam. She has her handy sandal ready to throw it once you start acting out of line.
The textures are inspired by Haitian painter Oldson Jean Louis, painterly but imitating his “chaudiere” painting which was rendered with a more dry brush to give speceled effect.
FUrballs
Responsible for all; Hair Groom, Hair Simulation, Look Development
APRIL 2025
HOUDINI
A project to explore different hair and fur textures ranging from curly human afro puff type hair, synthetic wool, leopard print, etc. All look development done in Houdini COPS and/or coded in Houdini's coding language VEX with a wrangle node. Soft body simulation done with vellum configure cloth, vellum pressure constraint, and vellum solver. Hair simulation done with guide grooms, guide deforms, guide simulation and hair gen, with a multitude of various nodes to define each hair strand
Haitian grandma CHaracter Sculpt
Concept Art, Sculpting, Retopology, and Posing done by Mia Laplanche, Autorig from Mixamo
NOVEMBER 2024
ZBRUSH
AUTODESK MAYA
MIXAMO
A Grandmother character holding her slipper in her hand, waiting for you to give her a reason to throw it. She is wearing traditional Haitian home clothes, her hair in a headscarf, but not skimping with her gold jewelry hoop earrings, bracelets, and necklace.
She was retopologized with animation ready edge loops and topology ready to be rigged and textured.
Using an autorig from Mixamo, most weight paints had to be adjusted considering the proportions of the character
LOOK DEVELOPMENT
Haitian Tap Tap
Concept, Look Development, and Lighting done by Mia Laplanche
JANUARY 2025
AUTODESK MAYA
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
An exploration on Look Development, I chose to texture a van to be a Haitian Tap tap, the vibrant and colorful public transportation found in Haiti. This Tap taps are often filled with patterns, portraits, quotes, scripts, etc all in celebration of Haitian culture. I opted to add elements of my relationship with Haiti.
“Ayiti Pap Peri” a popular slogan all Haitians know meaning Haiti will not perish considering all the political and environmental turmoil the country has faced. “Epi Das It!” a common Haitian phrase translating to “And then that’s it”, a Haitian’s comical way of saying “Period!”. “L’union fait la force”, the words that appear in the Haitian coat of arms meaning Union creates strength which is the basis of the Haitian revolution and independence. “Anmwey” is how a Haitian screams or expresses shock, coming from the French “a moi” which means “to me” in English, not very translatable. “Lekol, Legliz, Lakay” the 3 main places you will find a Haitian person, “School, Church, Home”, if you’re anywhere else but those places you’re going to get in trouble. “Gonaïves, Duchity, Pestel, Jacmel, Jeremie, Delmas 31” all Haitian cities of significance to me, where my parents were born and cities we’ve visited.
These buses also often feature paintings of the artist’s favorite celebrities. I opted to replace that with a paintings of my grandparents on the side and my grandma on the back. This a typical way to honor your family and those closest you. I also included painted details of Haitian beaches and mountains, Cola Couronne, which my favorite Haitian soda, the Haitian coat of arms, and the Haitian flag on the hearts at the bottom. Various different elements beautifully displayed in order to showcase Haiti’s vibrant and colorful culture
"DEJEUNER HAITIEN"
HAITIAN LUNCH
RAW VS. COOKED
Responsible for Everything
NOVEMBER 2024
AUTODESK MAYA
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
An exploration of Look Development for organic materials going through chemical changes like going from a raw state to being cooked. This is a continuation of "La Sal A Manje" putting a close up on Haitian staples, Pate Kode, Griot, Banane Peze, Piliz, and Poulet nan Sos.
Voodoo doll dragon
Concept, Look Development, and Lighting done by Mia Laplanche
FEBRUARY 2025
AUTODESK MAYA
MAYA XGEN
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
The look development for this piece is meant to be a voodoo doll dragon. Someone has beef with this dragon character and had to make a voodoo doll of the dragon to inflict misfortune upon them. This was made to look very rough and ready with stray straw sticking out, frayed burlap, patches of felt where there wasn’t enough burlap to use, missing buttons, and pins all over where the heart area should be. A lot of wear and tear. The piece is meant to achieve the look of itchy, stained burlap, soft felt, and fraying everywhere. This is a very worn, well hated (instead of well loved) doll.
Accomplished through a series of different XGen descriptions with the main one being a low density groom on the entire body, high density for felt, thicker strands combed for frayed burlap and escaping straw
"Cafetiere"
New vs. USed
Responsible for Everything
NOVEMBER 2024
AUTODESK MAYA
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
An exploration of Look Development for inorganic materials going through chemical changes like oxidation, rust, burns, etc. A cafetiere is a traditional coffee maker you will find in most Haitian households, the scene above is a cafetiere sat a top a stove in a kitchen featuring a steam simulation accomplished in Maya for the used version.
ENVIRONMENTS
"La sal a manje"
Papita's dining room
Concept Art, Modeling, Texturing, Look Development, Simulations, and Lighting done by Mia Laplanche
MARCH 2024
AUTODESK MAYA
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Based on my Grandma, or as we called her, Papita, and the dining room in Haiti that hosted us for countless lunches and dinners when we came to visit. A room full of warmth and delicious Haitian staples such as Griot, Banane Peze, Legume, Poulet nan Sos, Pate Kode, etc all represented above.
Music Credit:
Martelly, Michel. "Dènye Okazyon". Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjMCERi3Zc&ab_channel=MichelMartelly-Topic
"PAIN QUOTIDIEN"
Texturing Supervisor, Simulation Supervisor
MAY 2024
AUTODESK MAYA
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Pain Quotidien is a student short film completed in 8 weeks during our time studying abroad in southern France.
Short Synoposis:
An uptight boy has his morning up ended when an energetic stray decides to steal his freshly bought baguette.
Responsibilities:
Responsible for Character Modeling: The Stray with animation ready topology and Supervising Prop and Environment Modeling
Responsible for Texturing: The Stray, The Baguette, Interior and Exterior of Bakery, Various Bakery Props and Supervising all Texturing
Responsible for Rigging the Baguette
Responsible for Concept for Props and Assets
Responsible for Steam Simulations and Supervising nCloth Simulations