P003 → Erin Calla Watson- “Nymph”

Erin Calla Watson’s solo exhibition “Nymph” @ Erlich Stienberg Gallery included three large-scale digital-born prints onto mirrors. The project included an homage to a series of children's books by Dare Wright called “Edith and the Bears”.

TLDR(final images):

Mantle

Ferry

Bedroom

[Breakdown]
Project Overview:
Created three large-format renderings based on reference images for 300dpi print. Due to double reflections in the final display, we rendered at 150dpi to reduce overhead while preserving visual fidelity. Tiling and compositing were handled using Houdini’s Copernicus and USD.

Mantle Scene:
The first and most detailed shot. Some areas were intentionally simplified, as the client was open to slight stylization over strict photorealism.

Most of the scene was modeled from scratch.
(Exceptions: plant, lamp, and fire basket)
Wall tile texture authored in COPs using Megascans grunge maps.
Fireplace floor uses a Megascans tile material.
Final image was rendered in tiles and stitched using Copernicus.

viewport capture of basic layout with wireframe

Tile Rendering with USD and TOPS:

Goal: Automate high-resolution tile rendering using Solaris + Redshift via USD.
Output: 9-tile stitched render @ 6900×9000 px, rendered locally via TOPs.
Why: Enables scalable asset rendering without GPU memory constraints, using modular tile stitching via Copernicus.

1. Basic TOPS graph setup

2. Render node setup in Solaris

3. Parameter view of USD render rop reading in @tile attribute from TOPS

4. Graph View of the image stitching process using the contact sheet node in copernicus

Final Rendering tile visualization

Dynamic Book System:

One of the early challenges was achieving a sense of motion in the books. I developed a lightweight custom system that produces dynamic, animatable books suitable for export and reuse.

Used simple procedural box modelling to define book forms.
Built a minimal posing rig for control using APEX.
Simulated cascading pages using Vellum Brush on hair strands.
Extruded strands into page geometry after sim.
Exported as USD and cached as a standalone asset.

See the video below for a demo of the system in action.

Ferry Bow Shot:

A relatively straightforward shot focused on atmosphere and efficiency. Modeled key elements and leaned on depth of field and volumetrics to maintain a cinematic quality without heavy asset overhead.

Modeled a section of the ferry’s bow.
Used VDB workflows to sculpt deteriorated welds and brazing on the railing.
Background skyline built from public NYC city data.
World Trade Center model sourced from Sketchfab:
TitanicKyle’s WTC Model
Depth of field and volumetric scattering used to obscure low-detail background geometry.

Reference Photo

Clay Render w/wireframe

Final Look

Bedroom Shot:
This was the most technically complex shot, requiring multiple interacting simulations and careful resource management. Three separate hair systems had to collide with each other and surrounding props.

Managed collisions between hair systems, scissors, books, and the ottoman.
Simulated bedspread and pillows from scratch using Vellum.
Initial version used brute-force strand rendering, leading to long render times at 150 DPI.
Later optimized by replacing strands with curve-based hair geometry for the carpet—visually similar but much lighter.
This new method allows for efficient, custom fiber generation using curves instead of arbitrary geo.

See the demo below for a closer look at the updated workflow.

Reference Photo

viewport wireframe
Bedroom

Final Look

Rug Setup Demo:
Goal: Create believable rugs from flat, simple shapes using procedural noises and masking.

Exhibition Photos:

Adam Gerber