This portfolio is visually focused, showing the skills of scene design, character design, animation and game engine
In the pipeline, I be using Maya, Blender, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Unity and Unreal Game Engine
Boyang Zhang (Brian) BA(Honors) Animation: Game art University of the Arts London London communication college b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk bzhang0706@163.com
For the design of the portal, I drew on the concept of space stations and interstellar teleportation from a number of science fiction films. like in many movies, at the centre of the portal is a partic amounts of energy. At the periphery of the portal is a ring of thrusters to help keep the portal above the city.
After I figured out the concept of the portal structure, I started to block out the portal in Maya. I was very happy with the result of the block out, it clearly reflected the concept in the silhouette. In the process of refining the surface of the portal, I thought it would look like a spaceship from a sci-fi movie, with a complex structure, pipes and cables all over the surface of the spaceship. This concept was inspired by the Star Wars Death Star. In Zbrush, I created a mechanical-style texture on the surface of the low poly model by using the Bump map. I think it really stands out the advanced technological level.
Radial distortion post process
Silhouette
The fastest way to shuttle to the universe. Humans established colonies in the universe through portals
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
Wireframe
Textured
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
Topology Mesh makes real-time rendering more smoothly. In textureing, the baking of the two layers of materials retains the details of the opening of the portal.
Light and environmental fog creates the Tyndall effect, adding a layer of mystery to the environment
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
The spaceship is about to cross the porvtal
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
This is a concept study to help me to define the feeling forgotten and abandoned of the scene. In the value drawing, I am trying to put lots of fog in the scene. It works really well as it showing the silence of the city.
In order to start building the city, I planned a map of the city. In the map I planned the locations of cities, fields and portals. Drawing the map allowed me to better combine the background story with the location of the scene, and it also speeded up the progress of my city building.
In order to make this portal more realistic and eye-catching, I made some visual effects of electric arcs. By making a moving UV luminescent material in Unreal, the arc has been lit and disappeared. Then through Unreal's Niagara special effects system, different luminous arcs are combined. Through deep learning of materials and Unreal, I made the effect of arc flickering.
I also added exploding sparks and a teleportation aura to the portal via particle effects. And a post-pressing volume is added around the portal, making a radio distortion to the view, creating a feeling of squeezed space near the portal.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
In order to improve the sense of presence of the environment, I tried 360-degree rendering, so that the player's vision is surrounded by the entire scene. 360 rendering uses the camera plug-in in Unreal. The principle is to make the camera render images in six directions and stitch them together to form a panoramic photo. In the panoramic 360-degree video test, I realized that the biggest difference between 360-degree VR video and traditional video is that I will not be able to control the player's perspective. This has to require minimizing the objects in the scene to make it easier for players to find the visual focus. For this test, I set up simple movement of the spaceship to try and guide the player's line of sight.
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
Reference
Sketchs
In this character design, I need to make a concrete monster for VR video to express a depressed, angry, emotion. As a manifestation of negative emotions, I designed it as a humanoid monster. Combining crows, bats, and Cthulhu, through these dark, frightening elements to embody the fear of negative emotions.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Silhouette
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
When modeling, I try to go for creepy textures on the surface of the model. The grotesqueness of the monster is reflected through the broken skin and exposed organs, and it also expresses negative emotions. The monster erodes people's will like a zombie.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
In order to achieve more natural and organic movements for the monster in the animation, motion capture was adopted during the production process. This allowed the actors' performances to imbue the monster with unique characteristics. However, an unexpected challenge arose because the skeleton of the human body did not align with that of the monster. Consequently, the motion capture data for the lower limbs could not be directly applied to the monster. To address this issue, the legs were reanimated through the use of animation layers in Maya, while the upper body animation was retained.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
In this project, I made a design of a character based on the League of Legends universe. During the design process for this character, I explored the history of the League of Legends universe. In the end I decided I was going to make a dragon character that lives in Ixtal. I collected some references for League of Legends characters and animal characters. Based on these I created some silhouettes.
For the clothing, I referred to the clothing of the Ixtal residents in League of Legends. There are some luminous patterns composed of circles and geometric shapes on their clothing and body. This may be due to the magic they use or a tribal style. I also applied this element to the character's clothing to make the character more in line with the characteristics of the inhabitants of Ixtal.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game
Silhouette Ixtal Clothing from League of Legends
Creatures Reference
However, I was still not satisfied with the current character costume design. I wanted to make the character that looks more like a tribe living in the forest and wearing light armour and hand-held melee weapons. Thus, he looks more like a warrior rather than a Magic Mage. So I redesigned the costumes for the characters. To make him look less of a melee character, I reduced his body protection and removed the weapons above, as he uses magic to help himself through the jungle.
Maya rigging process
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
I am designing a recorder based on Edison's first phonograph invented in 1877. The recorder will be set in Renaissance Italy in the 15th century, a time of scientific advancement and knowledgeseeking. I chose to make a recorder because although it was once a popular device, it has now been replaced by modern recording technology. I want to bring it back to an era without the ability to store sound to demonstrate the wonder of sound recording.
To achieve the conversion of forward and reverse gears, I referred to car and boat gearboxes. Two horizontally placed gears and one vertically placed gear, along with a middle metal slider, facilitate the switch between forward and reverse rotation. The slider connects to the transmission shaft and locks different opposing gears to achieve forward and reverse rotation. Inspired by old-fashioned tape machines, the button controls an iron lever that shifts or pauses the gear by moving left and right.
This will be a two-channel recorder and is driven by a clockwork for power. The sound is transmitted from the horn to the needle and converted to a waveform engraved on a graphite turntable to record the sound. The recorder can reverse the turntable and repeat the recorded content by switching the rotation direction of the gear set. During the research, I learned that there is one thing in the clockwork gear set that is even as important as clockwork. It is the governor. It uses the air resistance generated when rotating to prevent the clockwork from being too tight and causing the speed to be over fast. This push me to add the governor to my design
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
For the exterior of the recorder, I referenced some medieval buildings and musical instruments.
I like the luxurious Baroque architecture of the Middle Ages. This style is widely used in interior decoration and furniture. The dynamic patterns and symmetrical design make the buildings and furniture look very magnificent and exquisite.
During the research, I found that in the medieval Baroque decoration, architects used a lot of acanthus leaf to decorate buildings. This plant has tenacious vitality, so the ancient Greeks believed that the acanthus was a symbol of life and eternity. This match the style that I am looking of the recorder, because the recorder used to store information, which is the embodiment of eternity. So I designed the pattern on the outside of the box based on the acanthus.
For the engraving on the casing of the recorder, I drew the pattern in Adobe Illustrator and exported it as a vector graphic, and generated a mesh in Maya use the vector graphic.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
The gear of the recorder is inspired by the structure of the clock, so I refer to the material of the clock when applying the texture. I found that they use a lot of gold when making the watch to make the watch as luxurious as possible. And only screws and a few fixing structurevs use other metals. When I applying texture, I also tried using some brass instead of gold to satisfy the possibility of making this device in the past.
After designing the exterior decoration, I began to refocus on the internal mechanic structure. I want to make the structure of the gear look more concise and reasonable.
In order to make it more realistic, I refer to the mechanical structure of some medieval clocks. I found that most gears are hollowed out in the clock. And the gear is fixed in the different level in the air through the metal arm. I redesign the gear structure and used Boolean to hollow out some gears. This makes the entire gear set look lighter. And I use the empty space as storage space for recording turntable. I cancelled the push- button design and replaced it with a slider-like switch. This saves a lot of space and at the same time makes the structure simple
For the wooden box, I referenced some medieval musical instruments. I want it looks retro. So I kept the original colour of the wood. But I don’t want it to look too ancient, so I used gold for the decoration on the surface of the box. I want the wood to look as smooth as possible like the piano surface. So I reduce the roughness of the wood to make it reflect more light.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Operation Oasis is a real-time strategy simulation game that aims to control desertification and promote afforestation. Drawing inspiration from literature related to China’s desertification control and afforestation projects, the game transforms real-world challenges into engaging gameplay. By playing the game, players can experience the difficulties of desertification control and learn about the different types of plants used in the process, as well as China’s desertification control technology. The ultimate goal of the game is to spread awareness about desertification and contribute to environmental protection. This game has been award Second prize in the NTU Global Digital Art competition and Tencent Youth Game Designer Challenge 2021 Environmental Protection Track Excellence Award.
Shot from Unity, shows the asset scene.
Including varieties of plants and their different states, props, buildings and terrain.
As a 3D and technical artist in the team, I created over 60 modes and animations, including buildings, plants, and terrains, and polished them ready for the Unity game engine.
Get inspiration from the real experience of Chinese desert land governance. The plants that players can grow are grass, shrubs, and trees. In the demo version, each category contains three plants, totaling nine plants. Each plant contains 3 states, respectively, Health, Dry and Death.
In the game, players can also upgrade technology, build reservoirs, and tarmac to increase the amount of water and plant more plants. The ultimate goal of the player is to reduce the desertification index to 0
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Gameplay screenshot
Artificial rainfall using helicopters
Gameplay screenshot
Disaster system, heat waves make plants dry state
Watch Game Demo and introdaction video
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
Shot from Unity, shows the animation state and parameters in Animator
Shot from Unity, shows the animation time line
Through the state of the Animator Parameters, the Animation Clip will loop through the four states. To achieve the opening and closing of weather effects
Through Animation I can record the status of the Game Object and set the keyframes. For example, turn on the particle effects, adjust the parameters of post-processing, and play the sound. By recording these keyframes. I made the effects of different weather
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art-Rainning
Snowing-
-Sandstorm
Heatwave-
Tencent Youth Game Designer
Challenge 2021 Environmental Protection Track Excellence Award
Award Second prize in NTU Global Digital Art competition
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
I collaborated with postgraduate students from UCL on a project that focused on immersive storytelling. Our objective was to use VR technology to assist a person suffering from memory loss to recount her true story. To enhance the immersive experience, we adopt VR interaction video as the media to tell her story. As a member of the team, I was responsible for designing and implementing various game functions and interactions, as well as creating 3D character animations. Ultimately, our efforts were rewarded with gratitude and appreciation from the protagonist of the story.
Shot from Maya, shows the clips used in Time Editor
Shot from Maya Time Editor, Shows the multi layer animation created using clips
In this project, I am responsible for the animation of Jana and other characters in the scene. During the production process, I learned how to stitch and adjust the existing animation materials. Make multi-layer animations and bake them together with Maya Time Editor
Character models and animations from MixAmo. Through Time Editor I fuse animation clips together and create adjustment layers to adjust them to meet the requirements of the script. After the adjustment is complete, I bake the animation together and export to Unity. Set the animator and playback conditions for it.
BA(Honors) Animation: Game artShot from hospital scene
Jana asks doctor about her condition
Shot from hullucination scene
Jana found after surgery that she often loses her memory.
Watch VR perspective recording
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
I’m also responsible for stitching together animations and resources in the scene. Scene jump, interactive point trigger, animation playback, matching sound track, etc.
For interaction points, I use Box Collider as Tigger to detect the player’s collision. When a collision occurs, the script will set the boolean parameters in the animator to ‘true’, so that the animator meets the conditions for jumping the next segment.
Shot from Unity, shows the animation state and parameters in Animator
Shot from Unity, shows the Box collider and the detector script for it
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art
Boyang
I hope my portfolio demonstrate my expertise in 3D modelling as well as game engine. Here is a showreel that provides a more comprehensive overview of my recent work from 2020 up to the present time.
Boyang Zhang (Brian) | b.zhang0420202@arts.ac.uk / bzhang0706@163.com
Portal project with 360 rendering Video: https://vimeo.com/816074754
Monster Character mocap: https://vimeo.com/820269458
Operation Oasis Game Trailer: https://vimeo.com/820287320
Beyong the fog VR project (Record from VR headset): https://vimeo.com/816076439
Showreel: https://vimeo.com/714037288
BA(Honors) Animation: Game art