Category: 3D Computer Animation Fundamental

Content:

In this summary report, as the workflows for steps 1-4 have been detailed in my previous weekly blogs, I will not elaborate on them here. I will include the links at the end of each section for reference. And also could click the menu to open the blog:

1. Initial Research and Inspiration:

This phase involves gathering references, write the concept and settings of the boss character, and research the environment styles to get more inspiration.

Story concept:

I wanted to create a short film around the themes of balance, plunder and power cycles. While I don’t tell the story directly through dialogue, I want to use character design and storyboards to convey the setting and storyline. In the initial conception, I centered my creation on the guardian of the forest, and the protagonist as an outsider broke the peace of the forest. His or her goal is to seize the power of the Spirit of nature in order to save the people of the homeland. However, the protagonist will pay the price at the end.

Theme:

In the beginning of research, I want to explore the subtle balance of the forces of nature, and human interference with natural harmony how can lead to disastrous consequences. But as the story progresses, I feel that the whole story is more like a discussion of fate, the cycle of power and plunder.

1. Benefits under the temptation of blindly follow:

in my story, I want to explore a kind of be manipulated and the price of ignorance. The protagonist’s journey is to save his or her hometown, but as the story progresses, he or she comes to realize that actions are actually serving a higher god. This ignorance causes the protagonist to become a tool in the conspiracy of others and to pay the price for blind faith.

2. Unconscious Destruction:

I also want to use the protagonist’s story to show a form of unconscious destruction. The protagonist initially acts with the intention of bringing redemption, but due to incomplete information and distorted guidance, their act of redemption ends up making things worse. For example, when they use their power to save their hometown, it brings even more destruction. What I hope to express through this is that, when we pursue good intentions, if we lack an understanding of the truth or are misled by false information, the result can often be the opposite of what we hoped for.

3. The Nature of Power:

Furthermore, I want to explore the nature of power. In the story, power is neither absolutely good nor evil, nor does it represent true redemption. Instead, it is a resource that is plundered and controlled. The cycle of this power reflects both the balance and destruction of the natural ecosystem, while also mirroring humanity’s eternal desire for control and survival. Through this theme, I hope to guide the audience to reflect on the cost of power and how our thirst for it influences our relationship with both ourselves and the environment.

Therefore, through these themes, I hope to present a dangerous world filled with contradictions and conspiracies. As the protagonist pursues power or redemption, they gradually uncover the hidden manipulation and costs behind it.

Week 1: Research for project 1 – UE5

Week 2: Research and initial concept design for project 1 – UE5

Inspiration:

•Dark fantasy themes Games

– Dark Souls

– Elden Rings

•Chinese myth –“Kua Fu Chasing the Sun”

Traditional stories interpret nature

in themes of balance and power

•LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS – JIBARO

•Outsiders and Predators vs. Native cultures and resources

•Princess Mononoke

– great power can lead to consequences like exploitation and backlash

When I started this project, I was thinking about how to bring elements from some of my favorite works into my own work. For example, games like Dark Souls, with their dark fantasy themes, inspired me a lot. I really admire the way they tell deep and symbolic stories. On the other hand, the Chinese myth of ‘Kuafu Chasing the Sun’ showed me how traditional stories interpret nature, which made me interested in themes of balance and power. Moreover, works like Jibaro gives me inspiration of the story between Outsiders and Predators with Native cultures and resources. Additionally, works like Princess Mononoke made me think about how great power can lead to consequences like exploitation and backlash. These inspirations together shaped the worldview I want to express.

2. Sketches, Timeline, and Storyboarding:

Week 3: Initial crafting and Storyboard development of Project 1 – UE5

In this part, I draw sketches of the scenes and boss, planning the timeline of the whole process, and developing the storyboard for each shot.

Timeline:

Storyboard:

The format and narrative style of the short film:

I plan to create a short film consisting of five shots. These shots will resemble CG trailers or promotional videos from games and will present the story in fragments of memories, alternating between the past and the present. Through this non-linear narrative approach, I aim to let the audience gradually piece together the background of the entire story.

However, due to time constraints, I will only be able to produce the shot where the protagonist meets the boss.

Background of the story

It is a world of desolation and brokenness, where gods fight each other for power but refuse to fulfill their responsibilities. In this forest, the Spirit of Nature was once the guardian, controlling two complementary forces – life and death. These two powers balanced each other and maintained the eco-system of the forest. However, many years ago, a mysterious god seriously injured the Spirit of Nature and took away its power over death. Since then, the balance between life and death has been changed, and the ecology of this forest has become unbalanced.

Life became too abundant to come to an end. The creatures can’t die, including humans and animals, after a long period of time, their minds and intelligences are gradually blurred and reduced to the existence of chaotic consciousness.

The protagonist is an outsider from a faraway land, and in order to save the people of his or her homeland, he (or she) follows the guidance to the forest in an attempt to seize the power of life controlled by the Spirit of Nature. However, the protagonist is unaware of the limitations of this power, and unaware that his mission is in fact an elaborate deception designed by a higher god. He is just a pawn, driven and seduced by an unknown force, and is forced to collect the remaining power of the Spirit of Nature.

I focused the short film on the boss, which is a character full of tragedy. Despite its incredible power, it can’t escape the fate of being manipulated and utilized by the higher gods. Realizing this, the boss chooses to banish itself, sitting alone in the depths of a cave at the edge of the forest, waiting for those who seek its power to come and defeat it.

In the short film, the protagonist is shown from the point of view of the camera, becoming the observer of the narrative. In the storyline beyond this short film, the protagonist will also explore and fight, gradually realizing the true intentions and meaning of those “guides”, and take this power to challenge the higher gods who try to manipulate him or her.

3. Boss Model Creation:

In this part, I craft the 3D model of the boss, including sculpting, cutting uvs, texturing, and rigging.

Summary of my work flow:

Also, you can view detail pictures and process in the blogs below:

Week 4: Create a mid-level model of the boss – Project 1 – UE5

Week 5: High model of boss Project 1 – UE5

Week 6: Make materials Project 1 – UE5

Week 7: Rigging the model Project 1 – UE5

4. UE5 Scene Setup:

In this step, I Built the environment in UE5, including placing assets, arranging the scene layout, and setting up the basic world-building elements such as terrain, objects, and structures.

Week 8: Make the scene of animation – Project 1 – UE5

Week 9: Polishing the scene and make the sculpture – Project 1 – UE5

5. Lighting, Camera Placement, and Narrative:

In this part, I Adjusted the lighting setup to create the appropriate mood for the scene, positioning the camera to guide the viewer’s focus, and I try to make the composition supports the story and narrative progression.(Although there is no dialogue, I want to reflect my background and narrative through some scenes, and I will also write some scenes scripts that I have to abandon due to time reasons in this part)

Week 10: Render first version and second version of the demo – Project 1 – UE5

Week 11: Render third version of the demo – Project 1 – UE5

Llighting:

In the corridor area, it was too dark, so I added three rectangle lights to make the rocks brighter.

6. Final Output Video – Week 12:

Final render shot compositing:

Presentation – Week 12:

Content and Task:

• Set up the camera angles for the corridor-to-wide-shot sequence.
• Make adjustments to the previously captured shots and render them again.
• Edit the footage and synchronize it with suitable music.

Version 3.1:

In this shot, there are a few issues:

1. Due to texture streaming, the visuals suddenly became blurry at certain moments during rendering.
2. The corridor scene is overly dark, making it difficult to see the surrounding environment. I think I need to add some faint lighting to slightly illuminate the structure.

Version 3.2:

Version 3.3:

In version 3.3, I adjusted the atmosphere of the scene, the fog, and added lighting to the corridor.

Then, I merged the two shots, edited them, and added background music.

Demo with background music:

Then, I discussed the demo with my teacher and received very helpful feedback and insights, which I will implement before the final submission:

1. The camera has a moment of acceleration when moving through the corridor, which looks a bit abrupt. I need to adjust the camera’s curve.

2. When entering the cave, the eyes transition from a dark environment to a well-lit one, which might be uncomfortable at first. I can adjust the exposure and focal length to achieve this effect, similar to James Turrell’s works.

3. In the wide shot, I should focus more on the statue, with the boss appearing as a black silhouette in the background. Since there will be a close-up of the boss later, I need to add more lighting details to the statue so that the viewer’s attention isn’t distracted by the light from the cave entrance, and I can reference how to use the light to create contrast and focus from some art works from Caravaggio’s paintings.

4. For the close-up shot of the boss, I can add more detail to the base, such as scattered rocks and grass.

5. When the boss opens its eyes, I will lower the brightness of the rocks behind it, allowing the light from its eyes to have a subtle color influence on the environment.

Content and Task

• Place the cemera
• Color grading
• Render the firest version of the video

The first version of the shot

I discussed this shot with my teacher and received very helpful feedback:

1. The pacing of the shot is a bit slow.
2. The focus has issues.
3. When the camera passes through the statue, there is clipping, which affects the visual experience.
4. While the boss is lit, there are no shadows on the ground, which feels inconsistent.
5. The boss’s animation, where it turns its head and opens its eyes simultaneously, makes it hard for the audience to identify the primary movement.

I also identified some issues myself, such as:

1. Due to the volumetric fog, the dark areas in the distance appear too gray and lack sufficient depth, resulting in weak overall contrast between light and shadow in the scene.
2. When the boss sits cross-legged, the leg model deforms noticeably. I need to adjust this using blend shapes.
3. The sky behind the boss looks too plain, and the entire scene, including the animation, feels overly static. To enhance the sense of depth and introduce some dynamism, I plan to add birds and distant snowy mountains.

After the modification, I rendered the second version:

Due to the backstory, this boss has been meditating in the cave ever since its power over death was stolen. It neither resists nor continues to fulfill its original duties. Originally, the balance between life and death attracted many explorers to this forest. However, with the power of death taken away, the power of life is left unchecked. Under its influence, the forest’s inhabitants and all living beings cannot experience a proper death.

The protagonist, as the challenger and corrector, is actually being used by a higher deity. Since they cannot directly compel the boss to resume its duties, they tempt the protagonist with the boss’s remaining powers, essentially turning the protagonist into a collector. This power exerts a slow, irreversible influence on the area within a certain radius centered on its wielder. Rather than functioning as a power, iy seems like a moving curse.

According to the setting, after seizing the power of life, the protagonist begins to question whether they are truly walking a path of his or her own choosing.

In this scene, I want to convey the boss’s sense of abandonment and its inevitable “eaten”.

So, this isn’t exactly a highly optimistic worldview, and the boss, as a deity, isn’t as unattainable as one might imagine. It’s merely another piece on the chessboard. Perhaps influenced by Souls-like games, I often enjoy creating worlds that aren’t entirely bright or hopeful. This boss isn’t a noble god; it’s simply a being with extraordinary power, coveted by various forces, reduced to a mere pawn in their schemes. Thus, it remains in this desolate cavern, awaiting the one who will eventually claim its life.

Since the overall scene is very dark, the boss lacks sufficient lighting, leading to a loss of detail. To address this, I separated the scene models and lighting into Channel 1 and placed the boss model and its lighting into Channel 2. Additionally, I positioned around eight area lights around the boss to create dynamic lighting effects.

I aim to create the impression that when the boss opens its eyes, the light from its eyes illuminates its face. Furthermore, as the boss awakens, its body will emit a glowing energy effect.

Content and Task:

• Use ZBrush to create the statue model and textures, then import them into the scene.
• Continue build the scene

Craft the sculpture:

Continue build the scene:

Content and Task:

• Set up the white-box model for the scene, determining the camera position and the overall layout of the scene.
• Replace the polygons with FAB assets, add environmental fog, and finalize the lighting setup.

Create a sketch of the scene layout：

I initially built the sketch in the classroom, but the classroom computer doesn’t have C4D, so I had to use Maya instead. While Maya is good for general modeling, it’s not as efficient for quickly setting up large scenes compared to C4D. This is because if the scale is set too large, parts of the model get hidden and become invisible.

Then, I imported the Maya scene into C4D and continued adjusting the layout. I enabled the camera’s rule-of-thirds grid, which helped me better position the objects.

In the overall scene, I made some adjustments based on the sketch. I wanted to capture the moment where the protagonist walks through a corridor and then reaches the cave, so I added a narrow corridor. As seen, the scene consists of several sections: the farthest and highest point is where the boss sits, followed by a ruined staircase. In front of the staircase is a body of water, along with statues and columns. For the foreground, I plan to add some grass and rocks.

Import into UE5:

Then I use data smith to import the scene and camera position into UE5. And strat to build the scene:

Content and Task:

During this week, I need to rig the model of this character.

Since the model is not only asymmetrical but also has a high polycount, and the hole in the chest complicates weight painting, I will first use a plugin to reduce the polycount, retopologize the model, and remove the chest structure, replacing it with a flat surface.

Place the rig

Create cage(deform – cage – create) as a second low model for the low model. This allows the weights to be copied onto the lower module later.

Since the generated cage is too thick and overlaps around the fingers, I need to adjust its size. Then copy the weight of cage to our low modle.

Paint and adjust the weight:

Copy the weight in low model to the model with more ploygons, and adjust the weight.

Use blend shape to make the eyelid close

I encountered a serious issue: when sitting cross-legged, the thigh area stretches too much and twists, creating a very odd appearance. I need to switch from classic linear to dual quaternion and then use blend shape with smooth to adjust the shape of the model.

Content and task:

This week, I imported the model into sp to bake the high mold and paint the material.

Bake the model:

Materials of the boss:

Since recording the screen while painting the textures causes lag and the model has a high polycount, I will take screenshots to showcase the final result and the overall texture workflow.

The image above shows the texture I painted for the first time, which has a matte finish but looks rather monotonous. Therefore, I decided to incorporate a mix of organic and inorganic elements. I made some adjustments:

Balancing the added elements during painting is crucial because certain textures and bumps can alter the original sculpted structure. However, I had to make some compromises in this process to ensure the details enhance the model without overwhelming or distorting the sculpted form.

When painting the head’s texture, I need to consider various factors. According to the boss’s backstory, as a deity that has been sitting still for centuries, its body will have dust accumulated in the crevices, and the entire body has a rough texture. Considering the humid environment of the cave, moss would grow on it, and the surface of its body would have a layer of damp moisture. Therefore, I added these effects to reflect those conditions.

Since no natural creature is perfectly symmetrical, I’ve kept symmetry off both in the design and texture painting. This irregularity adds to the realism.

For the chest, I want to create a layered structure on the right side, with elements like veins or organic features attaching to it. On the left side, I plan to paint textures resembling rock and glowing jade.

For the abdomen and arms, I want to maintain a texture that combines hardness like rock or wood, with patterns resembling tree bark and subtle bumps to emphasize its organic, yet rugged, nature.

Content and task:

To ensure a reasonable timeline, I need to allocate time for rigging, animation, scene creation, rendering, and editing. Therefore, I should aim to spend one week on creating the high-poly model and sculpting the details. This week will be dedicated entirely to detailing the sculpt.

First part of detail:

I used subdivision and projection to ensure the model’s polycount is appropriate. Later, I will bake the high-poly details onto the base model, but that will be part of the work in Substance Painter.

The creation of details is mainly divided into two parts.

The first part involves sculpting the primary details, such as the flowing lines and muscle definition.

Second part of detail:

The second part focuses on the skin details, including its rough texture, scales, wrinkles, and rock-like cracks. I will use various brushes to create these features.

The second part of the detailing, along with UV unwrapping and base color painting, can be found in the following video.

I want to add some details to its horns, such as making the outer shell appear rock-like and hard. Over time, due to wear and tear, cracks will form, and some of the worn-out shell will expose the jade-like material beneath.

The next step is to export the first level model, which is the baked model, and use rizomuv to cut the uv, which you can also see in the video

Use RizomUV to cut uv

For the body, since I’ve combined the head, arms, and torso into a single model, I need to use UDIM to ensure the texture resolution is maintained properly.

Use Zbrush paint base color

Then, I continue using ZBrush to paint the base colors because ZBrush’s masking tools are more effective than those in Substance Painter. I’ll complete the base color in ZBrush, export it, and then import the base color into Substance Painter for further work.

Content and Task:

• Make a boss model and determine the proportions of the limbs
• Determine muscle direction
• Definite silhouette
• Engrave the details of the chest

In the head sculpt, I want to convey a sense of both danger and gentleness. Its silhouette might resemble that of a deer, but the details will deviate from this impression.

Around the mouth, I want to sculpt an emaciated and dry appearance, as if the skin is clinging tightly to the bones. Additionally, I want to create the impression of vines growing beneath the skin.

For the overall body, I aim for a more slender and lean design, suggesting that it doesn’t rely on strength or muscle to win battles.

Due to the story setting (though this won’t be shown in the video), this boss possesses the powers of both life and death. However, the power of death was taken away many years ago, leaving an unhealed scar on its chest. Therefore, I want to sculpt some details that convey the sensation of flesh growing on a hard surface. It resembles a fusion of organic matter, rock, and jade.

I aim to highlight its divine nature, showing that while it has formidable healing abilities and powers, it still bears permanent scars and can experience pain. At this stage, I noticed that its chest and muscles appear somewhat soft, so in the final polishing stage, I plan to make the edges look sharper.

I noticed that I started sculpting the back muscles relatively early, but because of the need to use Dynamesh, the details were lost. I’ll pay more attention to this in future work to avoid wasting unnecessary time. Since this time I started creating after not using the software for six months, many of the repetitive tasks could have been avoided with better planning.

For example, in a proper workflow, I should finalize the shapes of the fingers, toes, and all other parts before moving on to detailing the head and chest. However, I couldn’t help but start with those details first.

However, I often find myself getting lost in the process of refining the shape. This stage, which lies between rough sketching and detailing, tends to feel tedious. I often can’t help but dive into detailing a specific area instead of focusing on the overall form.

My weekly reflection:

Sculpting the mid-level model is a painful process because it’s extremely tedious. I can’t immediately see the final result, which makes the entire workflow feel endlessly long. I ended up remaking the legs three times.

The first attempt aimed to create a treant-like feel, with legs resembling a structure made of branches. However, when considering the integration of the legs with the body, I realized they were too thin to properly support its weight. So, I redid the legs.

The second attempt followed an animal-like structure, including bent knees and heels. But I had to reconsider this because the character needs to sit cross-legged, and I also needed to factor in the later rigging work. This led to the third version of the legs, where I switched to a human skeletal structure to make the subsequent work less troublesome.

I had to make some compromises, such as removing the branch-like structures extending from the hip area. I was worried they might clip through the body when the character sits cross-legged.