Category: Project

Once I solidified the concept for my FMP, I moved on to storyboarding and previsualisation. This stage wasn’t tied to exact dates, but it took place early in my summer break. I spent around two weeks on previs, working scene by scene to understand how the pacing, camera movements, and transitions would work.

The storyboards helped me map out the key beats:

• The animator working late at night
• The moment he falls asleep
• The Maya character coming alive
• The teleportation into Unreal Engine
• The Blender character encounter
• The beginning of their rivalry

Creating previs during the summer gave me a strong roadmap before diving into full production. It wasn’t perfect, but it allowed me to experiment freely with ideas, spacing, and scene layout without worrying about detailed visuals yet.

Previs

At the same time, I started collecting references for character design. Since I wanted my main Maya character to be semi-realistic with stylised hair, I studied characters from games like Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry, and even some anime-inspired 3D works. I also experimented with the Ahoge plugin to generate realistic hair without using XGen, but I ultimately rejected it because I didn’t like the final result. So I stuck with a stylised hair approach.

Moodboard

For the Blender character, I chose Ramon Arango’s “Mars” rig, and for the animator I used the “Mireuk” rig by the same artist. These rigs fit the aesthetic and saved me time so I could focus my efforts on creating my hero character from scratch.

This stage helped me clearly see the visual style, pacing, and character interactions of the entire film before modelling even began.

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.