SCAD X The Mill -Revision

Pitch Revision

After the project pitch was done on Tuesday, our team received a few comments and suggestions. The majority of the suggestions were directed towards enhancing our character, the Tuk Tuk.

• Show where the vehicle is. Maybe a shot like the Indiana Jones map montage might be a fun way to tell where the Tuk Tuk has been and will be.

• Consider focusing on the weight of the particles, especially in shot 2 with a close-up shot of the particles.

• Try adding exaggerated animations to show the nature of the vehicle better.

  • Consider recruiting an animator to help with that.

• What if the vehicle carries boxes with souvenirs? Those can fall off or show shaking in the back of the vehicle.

• Consider putting a driver in the seat to show the hand or silhouette. Look into MetaHuman.

• Recommend using UE5 for digital matte painting. Plenty of resources in Unreal Marketplace.

Based on the suggestion of our mentors, our team agreed to revisit our storyboard.

Shots 3 and 4 were replaced, each with visuals that our mentor recommended. This was not only for enhancing our story, but to help Zach save some FX work as Dee would be responsible for the RBD simulations for the boxes.

Modeling

Me and Dee started to tweak the model early on, so we could hand the model to Zach - so he could start rigging the vehicle with Houdini. Although good enough, we had a few details with the acquired 3D model.

• Certain areas are faceted.

• Few details are different from the original vehicle.

• The geometries need to be re-grouped to be rigged.

• Unused geometry.

• Details are missing on the front-wheel area. We will have a close-up shot, so it is important to polish it.

I was responsible for task 1~4, and for handing over the model to Dee for task 5.

Re-grouping

I organized the model into parts that are structurally separate. This would help our FX artist when he rigs the model in Houdini.

Changing Details

I tweaked the geometry in the front of the vehicle to match its original design.

This is the image reference.

Smoothening Surface

The model had a few visible hard edges on the area we would be showing on camera. I used the 'smooth' feature in Maya for polishing the geometry and tweaked the shape manually to make it seamless.

Recruitment

Our team reached out to different artists to help with our project. We were in need of a sound designer and an animator. After considering the timeline of our team, we each pitched our project to other artists who showed interest. As a result, 1 sound designer and 1 animator decided to join our team.

We provided each of them with our schedule and made sure we agreed with the deadline. Our team will continue to stay in touch for any updates, and provide resources as soon as possible when they are ready.