3D Modeling & Animation

2025-2026

Planning & Storyboard

I decided to chose the prompt for the wizard's study in my PBM project. My "character" for this project is the glowing crystal ball. It uses slightly foggy blue coloring that makes it look mysterious. However, it also looks somewhat important because of how it is raised up on a golden stand. This cutscene is able to tell a story because using smart camera movement and lighting choices, you get the feeling that this place is mysterious and something odd is happening.

Not too many of the objects in my scene will need extra attention and nothing will have to be rigged. I will have to make the crystal ball and the stand separate for instance, so I can animate them differently. I will also make multiple potion (and maybe paper) varieties, so that everything in the scene doesn't just look the exact same. I may have some trouble with making the rug on the floor, since I'm not yet sure how I would texture that.

The key object in my scene, being the crystal ball, is in the center of the room. It's the object seems to kick off all of the weird happenings. The papers are scattered around the room, so that they all pick up and whirl around in different spots. Since my room is circular, it works well with the papers floating around the crystal ball in a circle. My cameras are placed at points that give emphasis to specific moments. For example, Cam 2 in my floor plan is meant to slowly zoom into the crystal ball to emphasize it.

Asset & Prop Design

Crystal ball and stand
Round table
Telescope
Book stack
Wooden chest
Potions
Big chair with hat
Rug on floor
Papers

Artifact 1

Design and Planning

The concept for my character was originally a crystal ball that would start mysteriously floating and glowing. I chose this because I thought it matched my prompt with something strange and magical happening for seemingly no reason. I think it fits well because of how it looks.

Modeling and UV Techniques

When modeling, being able to use Edit Poly well is what saved me. I wanted the bendy looking supports on the base. I didn't know how I was going to do that at first, but I was able to manipulate the polygons on the top and bottom of the two boxes and make them bend.

Texturing and Materials

My choice of PBR materials makes the model look realistic, especially the stand. It's metallic and looks like something that could be made out of a very shiny, finished metal in real life.

Reflection

I'm very proud of this model, but what I'm most proud of is probably the materials. Although somewhat simple, only one material for each item, I think they look very good. The crystal ball especially looks nice because of the way it's slightly transparent and you can see the golden color of the stand underneath. This character will be used through my whole PBM and is the center of the animation that I will make.