Author: Chieh-Hsi Ma

After I collected the characters and props completed by the team members, and also the scenes, I did the final lighting and light correction for all the scenes, including 14 shots and three main scenes. This is a very difficult process because it is necessary to ensure that each shot all have good light sources. High-saturated colour lights, purple-blue, and even green lights are important elements of cyberpunk. I must add spotlights, surface light sources, billboard lights, and even houses in addition to the basic HDRI. The indoor light source in order to perfectly present the style of a neon city.

To achieve the desired effect, I adjusted multiple lighting parameters in Maya, including light angle, sample, attenuation, etc… And it is necessary to do three-point lighting on the character because the lights in the environment may not be able to illuminate the character, so it needs to be strengthened with an additional surface light source.

This is the difference between before and after the lighting of all scenes. The left is before, and the right is after.

I am responsible for making the main street’s textures containing elements such as skyscrapers, bridges, roads, etc. I use Maya’s ai-standard surface material and textures to make a more realistic night city. In addition, I also added more Nodes to add texture details and colour adjustments. In addition, to create the level of the scene, I also made the close-range material more detailed, using 2K or 4K textures and the noise node of Maya to present the roughness of the cement and present different reflections after the lighting.

I used texture maps from several websites like Poly Haven, Poliigon, and also Quixel Bridge. Those have higher quality, including streets, houses, and concrete. As for the glass material, I use the transmission node of the material to adjust the transparency and the colour of the glasses.

I used Color correction to adjust the colour tone and exposure of the texture or an alpha texture to create a holographic effect.

For the fog, I used the ai atmosphere volume in the Maya environment to make the basic fog and match it with lights to present the effect of light diffusion.

This week we started to build our scene. We set up the corresponding scenes according to the storyboard and added materials and lights. I found assets (FREE 3D Asset Kit: Neo City – KitBash3D) on the Internet and decided to use them. The model building scene contains high-rise buildings and shops, which allows us to create a city faster. We refer to the previous reference to implement our ideas in the weekly group meeting and implement them. In addition to the main building, Roos also placed many billboards and trash cans and added some props, which made the scene more harmonious.

In addition, we also considered the number of faces. To reduce the additional load of the computer, I added fog to the background to make the distance appear perspective and more layered. There are three scenes, including the city night scene in the first shot, the main street, and the alley.

These are the references we use:

This part is mainly produced by 2D animators Li and Phoebe, and Roos is responsible for integrating the story content. I also provide suggestions on the story and characters. The story describes a main character who was originally a policeman—the story of the accidental discovery of the portal.

In the storyboard, Li conceived the colour tone and camera movement, mainly using highly saturated lighting to present the characteristics of cyberpunk and give us a more precise direction for the story’s development.

In the part of the character, Phoebe drew the concept map of the character, which combines the structure of a human and robot and adds elements of cyberpunk, including mechanical arms, smart glasses and so on. In addition, the clothing and colour tone are also determined, and our unique characters are designed.

For 3D characters, Fan is responsible for modelling and character textures and also rigging.

This week I was lucky to find members who want to work on a sci-fi theme together. After discussing it, we decided to do cyberpunk art-style works. This is an extensive range. I collected a lot of elements and scenes about cyberpunk. Because I am responsible for integrating and setting environments, I refer to many games. And movies like classics like Cyberpunk 2077 or Blade Runner 2049. The idea I provided to the team members was the lonely atmosphere in the neon city, just like the core of cyberpunk, ‘high-tech low life’, and added the concept of Ayahuasca, using high-tech and combining ancient wisdom and customs sum. When people create highly developed technology, they need to reflect on the meaning of their lives.

Making a 3D animation includes Pre-production, Production and Post-production, and the structure of our group consists of the majors mentioned above. We come from different backgrounds, including 2D animation, 3D animation and visual effects. This is a perfect combination because a relatively large project requires various team members and a professional division of labour. For example, 2D artists can draw concept art, and VFX artists can produce remarkable effects and colour correction. To make the division of labour more smooth, we have a relatively precise division of work, such as storyboard, character concept design, character 3D modelling and textures, dynamic capture, compositing and other projects. Ultimately, I chose to make texture maps, lighting and compositing because I am studying VFX and have more experience in 3D texture production, so I am responsible for making scene maps and lighting.

The following are my references:

The following is our division of labor and credicts:

• Jesse – Environment, Lighting, Compositing
• Roos – Environment, 3D props, 3D animation assistance, Rendering
• Lee – Storyboard, 2D animator
• Phoebe – Character concept art, 2D animator
• Eddie – Environment, Rendering, Sounds
• Masi – Character animation
• Fan – Character model/texture, Rigging, Sounds

This semester we will conduct a five-character cross-department group project. This is the first group project since we entered this department. In the first week of class, we got more than ten different themes on Padlet projects of interest. The instructor encourages everyone to get out of their comfort zone, cooperate with people from other departments, and share their personal website and showreel on the website. In addition, I have always been fascinated by science fiction themes, especially cyberpunk. So I chose to add a new category and started browsing other people’s works and profiles to find potential partners. After a week, we will divide into groups and submit the list of team members for this project.

This is a theme I want to try to make, combining oriental elements and science fiction.