Category: FMP

Final and summarize

basic idea

Dawnbringer is an animation centered on a mysterious entity responsible for unlocking the dawn, symbolizing the transition from night to day. I set the story in a world shrouded in the mystery of eternal night. The story revolves around the arrival of a unique existence-the dawnbringer, who brings the first ray of light and heralds the arrival of dawn. The dawnbringer in this story symbolizes change and external forces in change. The house that transmits light symbolizes inner faith. The story weaves themes of renewal, hope, and the natural cycle of time.

Reflection

I think the basic idea of the story is very captivating. I want to explore the thematic and visual potential within this project. For this animation, I thought a lot about how dawnbringer can visually and narratively represent change. I thought about actions, appearance and the interactions with the world. Then I choose the change of the sky to show dawnbringer’s influence.

For the visual style, I choose stylized. I think stylized animation offers more potential on this project because it is fantasy theme. Through stylization, I can highlight the feature of the object I want to present. For the creation of stylized 3D art, a good understanding of the work flow is necessary. In order to achieve that, I learned a lot through different platforms such as Art station and 80 level. There’s multiple ways to create the ideal stylized effect, it is important to find the suitable way. After thinking about using substance designer to create the texture, I choose the ZBrush to Substance Painter workflow because it is more suitable for me.

Rendering and lighting is crucial for this animation as well. I always make sure the light goes well with the environment. I also used a lot of foliage and fog to achieve the mysterious feeling I want. Also the interplay of light and shadow is important as well, I want to use the transformation of the environment to narrate the arrival of the dawnbringer.

Overall, I used my opportunity to explore this theme through animation. By carefully crafting the narrative and using 3D workflow. I want to create an animation that conveys its theme.

Final animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy3r9UE4mN4

BGM: “DREAMCATCHER” by Onycs 

Showreel

Development log

Editing

I apply cuts, transition, effects and adjust the duration I need for each clip. Then I edit the color correction and contrast of each sequence. It is always important to adjust the exposure, contrast, saturation and other colour settings to achieve the desired look. After exporting, I always review my video to make sure everything looks and sounds as I expected.

3D storyboard

What I learned from past weeks of works:

pay attention to the lighting and colour grading. The gradual lightening of sky can be a beautiful way to show the transition from night to dawn. In the post-production, colour grading can be used to enhance the visual impact of transition. Also it is important to consider the camera interacts with the objects in the scene. Here I use slow gentle movement to enhance the feeling of clam. The duration of each shot and pacing of the transition can greatly affect the mood as well. A slow transition might convey a more reflective or peaceful mood, while a quicker transition imply a more dramatic change. To keep consistency in style with each scene is important as well.

Scene 6

This shot is a transition from night to dawn, and the next shot does the same thing. I wanted to use the shot of grass gently swaying in the wind to express the calm dawn after dark night.

Scene 7

Tree gently swaying in the wind as the day goes light.

Scene 8

The dawnbringer looks at the surrounding as the day goes to light, then she disappeared because her mission is done.

Scene 9

The house looking peaceful and harmony under the sun.

Scene 4-5 making the path of the light

In this scene, I made a light path generator using spline, emitter and tracer to create the path of the light. I didn’t use particle to create the trace because matrix is lighter to run on the software. With force field like turbulence, I can easily control it and get the effect I want.

The creation of cloud

I place the generator above the chimney because this is where the light goes away. For the cloud’s texture I used technique I learned from Unreal Engine texturing. For the normal map, I used a blurry round shape. For the base map and alpha map, I create the image with the free resource I find online. In this way, the cloud blends better with the sky.

Cloud texture map

Scene 2

The second scene is mainly to reflect the arrival of dawnbringer. I set different keyframes in the power and colour of the light tag to reflect the changing sky colour with the arrival of the dawnbringer. The arrival of dawnbringer also indicates that the light in the house will be taken away. The lights in the house taken away here symbolize exchange and transform. Use inner light from the house to welcome the dawn of the outside world and illuminate the world.

Night

Red sky-symbolize the difficulty of change

 The red sky is a symbolization of the difficulty in changing and the courage to change.

Keyframe on the light

Scene 3

In the third scene the dawnbringer finally arrived. I carefully adjust the light and the background graphic to fit in the atmosphere and show the influence dawnbringer has on the environment.

For the appearance of dawnbringer, I mostly use low-angle shot. Low-angle shot has two main benefits:

1. In terms of composition, it can effectively highlight the subject in the picture and purify the environment and background.

2. To show a sense of power and control.

Scene 1

The first scene is very important for this animation because it is the introduction. I wanted the architecture to be in a misty night, surrounded by various vegetation and grass. I wanted the whole scene to have a natural and mysterious atmosphere, paving the way for the arrival of dawnbringer later.

Overall, when it comes to making the environment, it is always good to think and plan the asset you need in a scene. Think about what you need to make the scene have depth and layer. From stuff in nature (fog, tree, cloud and mountain) to human made objects, it is beneficial to make a good use of them.

Close up of the wood texture and components of the rooftop

Different angle of the scene

Close up of windows and walls

Close up of house

Components of the scene

▼Character modelling

It is necessary to have a lots of reference and concept art when making stylized model. In this way it is easier for the artist to have base body proportions well-defined.

First thing to do when making a sculpture is always to make a nice block out. Then it is ok to start experiment the details on how to get the style right. Also it is also important to keep the intensity of the brushes low so the artist can have a better control of the detail. Crafting your own brushes and alphas is a good way to speed up the sculpting process as well, in the future I will look more into it.

After finishing the sculpture in ZBrush, I took the model to Maya for a better topology. A good topology can benefit the multiple sides (texturing, rigging, animating and rendering) on the creation of a character.

▼Creating texture

For the texture of this character’s face, I emphasized the outline of the eyeliner to show the character’s unfathomable temperament. I also emphasized the blush under the eyes. For the character’s overall texture, I tried to make it as translucent and deep as possible. For the material of the clothing, I used a gradient transparent design so that it doesn’t feel so oppressive around the neck. I also used a image of starry night for the costume’s print to reflect her identity that is inseparable from day and night.

▼Creating cloth

For the creation of the cloth, firstly I made a model in the shape of a veil and increase the polygon counts so the simulation goes well. Then I add a cloth tag on the plane. I set part of the points to fix points, so only the area close to the edge of the cloth is influenced by the force field (the wind). Then I add wind field, friction and turbulence to adjust the movement of the cloth. In the end, I baked the object as alembic, so the PC doesn’t have to recalculate every time when rendering.

▼Final character visual

Reference:

Trim sheet 2

After I learned about how to use UV mapping to maximize the efficiency of a trim sheet, I think it is a very smart approach. Especially in game development where texture memory and performance are crucial. Though I’m not doing a real-time rendered project, I still think trim sheets are a great way to add detail to a model without increasing the polygon count.

To maximize the trim sheet, I align edges with the trim sheet elements. Straightening UV edge is not normal, but here it is important to do it. In this way UV edges can align with the straight lines on the trim sheet, maximizing texture usage and reducing waste. Also, I will scale and arrange UVs to make the most out of the trim sheet. I will scale up parts of the UVs that will use more detailed parts of the trim sheet, such as the larger part (the door frame and the beam)

When there is tiling and repeating elements in the model. I will stack them on top of each other, so the texture can apply well. By effectively using UV mapping with trim sheets, I think it is easier to create detailed models that are also performance-friendly.

▼Use UV to maximise the trim sheet

Model Display:

▼Topology:

▼White model

▼Textured model

Trim sheet 1

Trim sheet creation

“Trim sheets are textures which tile in the Horizontal (U) or Vertical (V) direction. They are used to quickly add detail to an asset with otherwise simple geometry as they generally consist of multiple trim elements which can be UV mapped onto an asset to add the illusion of a higher level of detail which is not present on the model.”

To create a trim sheet, first thing I need to do is to plan the section for each part in photoshop. Then I move the plane to Maya so I can create a base model for me to sculpt and bake later.

Then I import the low poly model in ZBrush to sculpt the high poly model. When it comes to the sculpting of stylized model, it is important to exaggerate the feature and keep it minimal. In this way the texture can have a nice, clean presentation.

After sculpting the model in ZBrush, I baked the high poly model on low poly model and textured it substance designer.

The Advantage of using trim sheets

The benefit of using trim sheets is that the artist only need to use one texture for a large collection of assets. In this way the artist can reduce the memory required to save and load texture.

“In general throughout a scene you will have multiple dozens of assets. Each of these assets will have their own texture sets, if we assume each asset has its own texture set that’s 3 textures for each asset in the scene on average. Clearly this would result in a lot of textures, as an example 12 assets would result in 36 textures, comparatively with a trim sheet you could potentially texture all of those assets with 3 textures.”

▼Texturing in substance painter

First texture:

Improved texture:

UV for the Environment

UVs are coordinates that helps to wrap a 2D texture onto a 3D mode. Before unwrapping, I like to consider how the model will be used and viewed. So I can play on where to cut the seam and how much texture space each part of the model should occupy.

Maya is the best software I used so far for UV unwrapping. The tools in Maya are very easy to use. I can move, scale and rotate UV shells very easily. The sewing and cutting tool are very useful for to adjust how the texture unwrap as well. Tools like “Unfold” and “Straighten UV” are very useful for spread the UV for the shape I want as well. Optimize tool can help me make efficient use of the texture space. I scale up UVs for areas that need more detail and scale down less important areas. For the UV that require more detail, I scale it up as much as possible to maximize texture resolution. Normally, there shouldn’t be any overlapping and flipped UVs. But for the technique I’m going to use later, it is necessary to have a few overlapping ones.

UV mapping can be a meticulous process, but it is necessary for high-quality texturing. I have to take my time to refine and check my UV, as this will greatly influence the final appearance of the textured model.