Category: FMP

Due to the animation part of our project not being able to enter the normal production process this week, I had to adjust my plan. I completed the modeling of the soldier character first and handed it over to JIAWEI for character rigging. Meanwhile, we are recording some motions in the motion capture studio, hoping that this can alleviate some of the pressure on our animation production.

Regarding the soldier model, I initially created the basic volume in Maya and then retopologized the character’s mesh.

After that, I imported the low-poly model into ZBrush for detailed sculpting. Finally, I proceeded to Substance Painter for texture painting, which is the workflow I am most familiar with.

Regarding the other characters in this project, we will be using Unreal Engine’s MetaHuman facial capture technology for some of our characters. I have simply created two versions of our protagonist’s appearance, preparing for the modeling of the doctor character later on.

• Young Doctor

• Old Doctor

I finished the whole script this week and it now contains a lot of what the group wanted to produce. We’re adding a heavy mech that’s controlled by a female pilot. There’s also a Doctor Who to Monster transformation.

Since we need to make a lot of scenes, I found a lot of references for the group to refer to.

Reference view of the corridor, the red boxes are the elements that need special attention.

And my teammate Gavin wanted to add a little monster character, and I am responsible for providing the 2D design for it. Gavin will handle the modeling and animation of this character. So now, I need to find a suitable place for this character in the storyline. After discussion and consideration, I decided to make this character a pet of the doctor, which became monstrous due to a failed experiment.

Also this week, I drew the storyboard for the first chapter of our story. In this chapter, I mainly want to immediately convey to the audience the prominent status of the doctor in the laboratory, to create a rich contrast with the later plot. Hence, I placed the doctor in the very center of the scene to emphasize his uniqueness in the lab. However, I designed the entire room to be made of glass. Every action of the doctor in this space is under constant surveillance.

This setup highlights the doctor’s unique status, but also his awkward position of having lost sovereignty, fitting with the storyline of Dr. Parvis’s contractual relationship with the research institute. The characters around him, besides assisting with experiments, also serve a surveillance role. Such a design is meant to make the protagonist feel like he is in a prison, setting the stage for his eventual departure from this environment.

The story begins with the doctor, despondent due to a failed experiment, looking at his pet’s collar. Assistant Kris enters and starts a conversation with the doctor, thus unfolding the entire story.”

This week I’ve been approached by some of the team members I’ve been working with to continue working together on the final project. I told them my story and they unanimously decided to go with the second story. So we’re going to make a story about a lab, a doctor, and a monster.

As I am the creator of the story, I will be in charge of the whole project. I finished the basic plot framework this week.
The protagonist, Dr Parvis, has to sign a contract with a research institute in order to pay for his daughter’s high medical expenses. To create a biological weapon for them. However, he is not allowed to leave the lab after completing the experiment, so he has to use some special means to leave the lab.

In the meantime, this week we’re going to go over the basics of the mission. I’m in charge of the script, all the character designs and the models and textures.

We have standardised our production style. We decided to use a realistic style for this project.
In order to control the overall art style and effect, I found some reference images for the direction of the production.