This is the section of Yankee Stadium; I created in Maya for the MLB 2K series of video games.

Modeling involved creating: the stadium, outside environment, field, props, color/normal maps, UV work, shadow volumes, and light glows; the crowd, sky, and blimp were modeled & animated by other artists. In addition to modeling/texture work (on a per stadium basis, which would change from year to year), I was also responsible for: collecting reference, lighting, optimizing, animating pause menu cameras, integrating into the proprietary Take2 shading system, and placement of: collision detection, non-interactive characters, animated props, jumbotrons, lense flares, foul poles, updateable advertisements, and field shadow casting. I’m probably leaving out several things, but you get the idea.

Because sports titles are created in less than a year, there isn’t enough time to recreate all of the major league stadiums from scratch. Instead, we retro-fitted the original Xbox 3D models (I also worked on) by improving the lighting/shaders, and remodeling essential areas of the stadium. Each year we would recreate marquee areas of the larger market stadiums and update the look to reflect changes in the real life environments.

I modeled the area past the outfield wall in Yankee Stadium for the 2K6 edition of the series. Areas of the stadium that are seen in the pitching and batting cameras are the highest priority; this area is seen while batting. The back wall was modeled completely from scratch, but had to be modified (at a slight cost of accuracy) to fit the footprint of the stadium, and integrate the fixed size of the ads. I created the iconic arches on top of the stadium through alpha mapped textures, normal maps, and geometry (to take advantage of the “next-gen” lighting engine). For this area of the stadium, I modeled and textured: bullpen areas, staircases, benches, protective netting gear, new buildings, flagpoles, trees, garden areas, plaques, exits, port-a-potty’s, trashcans, jumbotrons, walls, coolers, and other assorted props.