This week, we focused on the design phase of the monster and mech battle, which is the most crucial part of our entire piece. I edited the basic battle scenes, choosing fight sequences from Pacific Rim 1 and the battle between Iron Man and Hulk as references.
At the same time, I completed the connection of various parts of the monster’s body, refined the texture effects of the arms, and also sculpted the palms.
This week, I completed the basic sculpting of the monster model, merging elements from my two design sketches. At this stage, I was only carving out the basic overall shape.
I’m currently not quite satisfied with its silhouette,So, the next day, I finished the head.
On the third day, I finally modified the silhouette of the character. I adjusted his arms to be even larger, increasing the tension and presence of the character. With a pair of huge arms and a terrifying face, I hope to make this character a memorable part of our short film. I referred to the muscle structure of many bodybuilders, ensuring that, visually, even though his form doesn’t conform to that of a normal human, it still remains logically coherent.
I exaggerated certain muscle groups to give a more powerful appearance.
Additionally, I changed the pose to an A-POSE, which was more helpful in shaping the model.
In terms of the mech’s design, my initial idea was to equip it with a melee weapon. However, after considering everyone’s suggestions, I decided to give it a hand cannon. The weapon is deployed by retracting the palm, revealing a cannon mechanism in the wrist area. This will be the mech’s most important weapon.
This week, JIAWEI and I made initial progress on the arm transformation. I created all the transformation models in ZBrush, and then transferred all the models to JIAWEI, who will adjust the rhythm and produce a better animation effect. Since this was our first attempt at such a transformation, the models we created for the first time ultimately couldn’t be used, LOL.
Regarding the arm transformation, my design involves three stages of change. The human arm is at Level 0. It then transforms progressively to Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3.
Level_0 is the most basic form, representing the doctor’s arm in its normal state.
Level_1 shows slight muscular growth following an injection.
Level_2 resembles the state of a bodybuilder.
Level_3 is the final stage of transformation, where the arm becomes deformed and swollen due to the effects of the serum.
These morphing models are all made in Zbrush while I can pass them into MAYA.
My initial design concept was a giant monster. My first inspiration came from the Tank zombie character in Left 4 Dead, but I didn’t want it to look too much like a zombie.
After all, our setting involves a biological weapon, so I wanted to reduce the zombie elements and enhance the biological feel. Additionally, after receiving feedback from our team members and considering the time cost, I realized I should aim to create a symmetrical character. Therefore, I decided to give this character two huge arms. Its body would stand 3-4 meters tall, even taller than the Hulk.
Consequently, I drew two versions of sketches as the basis for my design.
According to my original storyline, Dr. Parvis has just completed his epic battle with Mr. K and is now leaving the research institute in a very weakened state. His body still shows residual traces of his transformation. At this point, he is distinctly different from a normal human, with his skin bearing traces of both human and monster. His clothes are tattered and made up of scraps he gathered from deceased soldiers (wrapped around his body).
In this part of the story, Dr. Parvis will be running wildly through the desert, so I designed a cloak for him to shield against the desert winds and sands. This particular look was also inspired by Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal in Iron Man 1.
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.
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.
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.
This week George gave me some feedback on my reference and sketches and he suggested that I adjust the position of the camera in the animation. In the meantime, I have completed a basic blocking on this animation.
In the first week of the term George will be teaching us how to produce a realistic but more exaggerated and animated camera performance.
I referenced a clip on the blibli website of a man eating an ice-cream and dropping it on the floor, thinking no one would notice, but it was recorded on camera. As it was overly long, I used part of it as a reference for my actions.
This collaboration is Star Trees, but it’s more about the bunny than the story. I think my team members are more like the main characters and we have been going through all sorts of difficulties over the past 5 weeks, from the very first and most painful stage of writing the script. From the first and most painful stage of script writing, to the iterative style and character design stages, to the final output and rendering stages. Each stage had its own set of difficulties and problems, but we overcame them all.
My role in the group was mainly character design and basic house design. For me, character design is one of my favourite and most frustrating aspects of every project, it determines the lower limit of a story and raises the upper limit of the story. My first design was not as good as I wanted it to be, but we were able to communicate and make adjustments in a short period of time to get a satisfactory character. I am grateful for the trust and support I received from my team members and enjoyed working with my character and scene team members.
Finally, I really enjoyed working with the group and hope that I will have more opportunities to work on 3D modules in the next collaboration.
This week we started experimenting with importing animations into UE for rendering. However, we had some problems during this time and our files did not open properly on the school computers. Whenever we open a file, the computer crashes. We have changed many computers but have not been able to solve this problem. This also affected our progress considerably. Fortunately, Jixuan and Kaiyue were able to contact the classroom staff and with his help, we were able to get the rendering to work.