AS PART OF THE MOVING MEDITATIONS VFX COMPETITION.

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I created a 3D Day to Night Timelapse scene that incorporates a chosen motion-captured animation loop retargeted onto my own custom-built 3D character model, and integrated into a modelled 3D environment of my design.

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The Project

 

The project's core objective was to create a cinematic render submission that stands out and tells a story visually. In my submission, I decided to try something I had not done before I thought it would be interesting to have the environment moving around the character timelapse while the character's movements play in real-time.  

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What I Did

​I was responsible for conceptualising and creating the 3D environment, modelling the 3D character, the various props, and the assets that feature. I began working out a way to create a timelapse skyline so that the sunlight would rise and fall from day to night. In order to create that effect I keyframed an HDRI environment image to rotate around a single axis and automated the hue of the light to shift from orange to blue from dusk to dawn so as the HDRI rotated 360 degrees the light source that would move across the scene as though going from day to night. It was necessary to keep the visibility of the rotating HDRI hidden to sell the effect convincingly, I inserted some video footage of clouds moving into my 3D scene it was lined up with the angle of the camera at a distance to create a parallax effect. I sped up the cloud footage to create the timelapse look and also controlled the fade in and out as well as the hue colour shifts to match the light of HDRI. I think this workflow proved significantly effective in creating the passage of time.

I then had to create the effect that everything in the city environment was changing and progressing through the day so I keyframed moving objects such as the train to cycle along a path at random intervals to create the illusion of motion in the timelapse. I also automated signs to cycle around quickly and building lights to turn on and off accordingly.

I modelled the V Bot character loosely inspired by "Johnny 5" from the 80s film "Short Circuit" to help add a science-fiction element to the environment of the scene.

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The End Result

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My submission was successfully completed and showcased on YouTube as part of an online worldwide 3D art challenge, my submission was featured in What 24 YEARS of Communal 3D Art looks like it currently has over 410,411 views on YouTube.