Idea & Planning
For my Final Major Project, my initial idea came from a question I kept asking myself during my summer break: “What if the rivalry between 3D software like Blender and Maya could be turned into a short film?” I’ve always seen the online debates between artists using different software, so I thought it would be fun and creative to turn that into an actual narrative.
At first, the idea was very vague. I imagined a Maya character coming alive inside the software and then somehow teleporting into Unreal Engine, where he encounters a Blender character. They would end up getting into a sort of friendly-but-intense combat, symbolising the rivalry but also the creativity shared between digital artists.
During the first week of my summer break, I spent time thinking about how I could make this concept more engaging. Since I’m a night owl and often fall asleep at my desk while working, a stronger idea came to me: what if the short film starts with an animator (me) working late at night, who then falls asleep in the chair? Once he falls asleep, the Maya character he was working on suddenly comes to life. This instantly made the story more personal and grounded.
To bring the idea to life, I began planning the characters, the environments, and how the transition from Maya to Unreal Engine would work visually. I also planned which parts I would create from scratch and which ones I would use pre-rigged models for. My main Maya character would be completely original, sculpted and designed by me, while the Blender character and the animator would use pre-rigged models I found online.
Before moving into any production step, I created moodboards using references from Pinterest and ArtStation. These helped me shape the overall tone—somewhere between realistic and stylised, similar to Final Fantasy or Devil May Cry. I wanted realistic body proportions and skin textures, but with anime-inspired stylised hair.
This idea development phase helped me turn a simple thought into a fully structured concept, and it gave me a clear direction for the rest of the project.