3D Modeling & Animation

Career & Employability Skills.

My work as a 3D artist is fueled by a love for vibrant colors, playful designs, and storytelling that connects with people on an emotional level. I’m deeply inspired by animated movies and shows by their ability to light up a room, shift the mood, and draw people in with compelling characters and worlds. My animations aim to capture that same magic, blending lively visuals with meaningful stories that audiences can enjoy and relate to. I love using bold colors and lively designs to draw viewers in, while crafting stories that explore both the light and complex sides of life. Whether I’m designing a character or animating a short scene, my goal is to leave an impact on something viewers can feel, not just see.

Artifact One

In Artifact One, I encountered various challenges, had some fun experiences, and, most importantly, enjoyed the freedom to be creative with this assignment. Before I began modeling my dragon, I started by sketching out ideas. I explored many concepts, debating whether to include wings, hair, double tails, or even two heads. I became deeply immersed in the design process, but after a few hours, I decided to keep things simple. I settled on a dragon with one tail, no hair, claws, no wings, and a single head. Overall, I was happy with this simpler design and chose to move forward with it.

Once my concept was finalized, I dove into the 3D modeling process, which was a completely different experience. I began with a sphere (PC: 25 or more) for the dragon's head and converted it into an editable poly, allowing me to manipulate the surface. I used the Extrude tool to create the snout, but later I switched to the Bevel tool to adjust its shape to be more interesting at the front. I then extruded areas near the snout to form the eye placements and added simple eye forms.

Next, I enlarged parts of the face to develop the cheeks and jawline. To shape the mouth into a jagged form, I added more vertices and carefully manipulated them. For the teeth, I started with a box primitive (PC: 5 or more), moved the end vertices to form a tooth-like shape, and extruded the front to enhance the detail. I duplicated the tooth model to create a full set of front teeth and positioned them inside the dragon’s mouth.

Between the eyes, I added three jewels using box primitives (PC: 6 or more), pulling vertices to form pointed tips. To add detail, I subtracted the interior with a sphere and placed a smaller sphere inside (PC: 16 or more) and I extruded ring designs on it.

Key - The letters "PC" means poly count and poly counts are the number of sides (polygons) used to create a 3D model.

Next, I started creating the horns, which was a bit tricky. I wanted them to look identical, which took some effort. However once I managed to do so I used the Extrude tool and gave the horns some outer rings to give them a more dynamic shape. Then, near the base of the horns, I extruded parts of the sphere (dragon head) to form ears, then beveled the inner ear surfaces. Finally, I extruded the bottom of the head to create the neck and added a straight-line extrusion to mimic the technique used on the horns. To add the final touches to the head I used a Chamfer tool to certain areas to soften the rough edges.

Later I began on the body, and started with another sphere (PC: 25 or more), elongating it using the scale tool. I modeled the shoulders and thighs the same way. I then attached cylinders (PC: 10 or more) and used the Bend modifier to pose the dragon as if it were lying down. For the paws and claws, I added spheres (PC: 16 or more) and cones (PC: 10 or more), using the Bend modifier to create a more natural curve to the claws.

For the tail, I used a cylinder (PC: 16 or more) and bent it for a natural flow. At the tip, I added a thinner pyramid (PC: 5 or more) and smoothed it with the MeshSmooth modifier to form a spear-like tail end.

To finish the look, I gave the dragon a scarf for added personality. I used a torus (PC: 25 or more) around the neck, then added two thin rectangular boxes (PC: 16 or more), applying the Bend and Twist modifiers to make them resemble flowing fabric.

That was the last element I added, and it completed my dragon model. While I don’t know the exact poly count, especially since I used chamfer in several places I estimate the total to be around 175-200. Even so, overall the 3D model of the dragon still retains some features from my original sketch, though some characteristics changed along the way I’m still happy about how it came out. Especially, since I didn’t have a firm idea of what I wanted the dragon to look like, only bits and pieces.

Artifact Two

In Artifact Two, my main mission was to unwrap my 3D model and create a texture for it using Photoshop. However, during this stage of the project, I faced several challenges. Despite the difficulties, I did my best to make the model look as decent as possible. For example, while I was selecting seams in Edit Poly and splitting them to create separate UV islands, everything went smoothly. However, once I applied the Unwrap UVW modifier, the islands I created didn’t show up correctly and instead, they appeared as individual polygons. This meant that if I wanted to create textures in Photoshop, I would have to figure out which specific polygons to color and how to line them up precisely to avoid misalignment.

This was one of the biggest problems I encountered, especially with the added pressure of limited time. Because of that, I decided to abandon the idea of manually creating a texture in Photoshop and instead turned to pre-made materials. I visited AmbientCG, a site my class had used before and I also used some textures I had previously downloaded. After choosing the materials, I added them into the Material Editor, where I adjusted their properties by changing colors, reducing reflectiveness, increasing roughness, and more, so they can better fit the design of my dragon. Once I was done, I connected the materials and applied them to the dragon model.

For the body and head, I chose a rock texture.
For the horns, spear, and claws, I used a green metal texture.
The tongue has a bumpy texture.
The eyes used a sleek, glossy eye texture.
For the scarf, I applied a green cloth texture.

After applying all the materials, I had to go through each individual part of the dragon model (Ex: horn 1, horn 2, main body) and add the UVW Map modifier. This modifier helped a lot and it fixed stretching and shrinking issues in some areas where the material didn’t look right. In most cases, it made the texture fit the model properly. However, with the scarf, the modifier didn’t completely solve the issue. I had to manually shift and adjust the texture to make it appear more natural. It took some time, but I eventually got it to look good enough. With all the materials in place and aligned properly, the dragon was finally finished and fully textured.

Artifact Three

For this project, I created a detailed forest scene to serve as the environment for my 3D dragon model. The process was both exciting and challenging, involving a mix of planning, creative decisions, and technical problem-solving. However, before starting the actual modeling, I spent time sketching and planning some key elements. I already knew I wanted to place the dragon inside a cave and a sword to be included, these ideas were inspired by a previous drawing. Even so, other elements such as the bird, treasure chest, skeleton, and rat were not originally planned but were later added to enhance the scene’s story and visual aspects.

To start modeing I began by doing a cave using a sphere primitive and hollowing it out with ProBoolean. Once the cave structure was complete, I placed the dragon inside and moved on to modeling vines. I used cylinders combined with the Bend modifier to give them a more natural appearance. Positioning them correctly was tricky, as I had to ensure they were in contact with the cave walls and not floating. I eventually figured out how to place them after some trial and error.

Next, I modeled the sword. I started with a box primitive and scaled the front to create a pointed blade. The handle was made using another box that I extruded and topped with a sphere primitive. I used extrude, bevel, and subtractions to add depth and interest to the sword. I finished it by adding a small sphere to the blade and giving the large sphere at the end a stylized eye design. Next, I started to model a treasure chest and I used a primitive box and hollowed it with ProBoolean. The lid was made from half a cylinder and also hollowed out. I positioned it slightly open and added metal borders using more box primitives. To give the chest more character, I modeled a skeleton to sit in front of it. Using basic primitives like cylinders, boxes, and spheres to be able to create the skull, ribs, limbs, and other bones. While I was working on the skeleton, I accidentally did something that caused my computer to freeze. Fortunately, with my teacher's help, I was able to recover the project. However, if I lost the dragon it would have been a major setback, so I was relieved to have it salvaged.

Following that, I created a small rat to sit inside the chest. I used two spheres for the body and head, extruded the head for ears, and added limbs using small elongated spheres. The mouth was made from half a pyramid and smoothed with MeshSmooth. I added whiskers and simple eyes made from scaled boxes, then grouped the parts and placed the rat inside the treasure chest. Later, to build out the environment I created rocks using spheres with the Noise modifier and placed mainly inside the cave. For trees, I used cylinders for trunks and branches, shaping them similarly to the sword blade. Leaves were made from spheres that were applied with the noise modifier. Once I had a complete tree, I duplicated it, adjusting leaf count, branch shapes, and sizes for variety. I also modeled three distinct mushrooms using box primitives. I reshaped and smoothed them with MeshSmooth and added small spheres for detail. When I finished the mushrooms they were scattered around the scene to add realism. Lastly, I created a bird using two spheres, but one is elongated for the body. Next, the wings were made from half-spheres and thin boxes modified with MeshSmooth and Bend modifiers. I added boxes which served as feathers to be placed on the head and to make a feathered tail. The beak was modeled with a pyramid and nose holes cut using ProBoolean. The feet were built with long and short box primitives. To complete the scene, I added some lights and a forest background that was applied by using a plane primitive and material editor. Although I initially intended to use a forest image, my access to other websites was restricted by GoGuardian. Despite this, I eventually managed to include a suitable background in some renders. As for the lights it was easy to place them, but I worry if the lights were not placed correctly or not giving the true potential the scene could have.

Overall, this project pushed me creatively and technically. I’m proud of the result and how each element contributes to the storytelling within the scene.

Artifact Four

In Artifact four it was rushed, unfinish, and I’m disappointed in myself because of that; however, I managed to create a small animation and that is good enough. The animation itself is about a little rat in a treasure chest sleeping. I used my time figuring out how to animate again, but once I remembered I quickly started to animate. I first started to animate the rat’s tail swaying back and forth. Then I moved on to the paws where I animated the two back paws to move back and forth, but both are moving away and towards each other and moving with the tail. After that I moved onto the rat’s face where I moved the mouth to open and close. Next, I moved onto the eyes where I rotated them towards the mouth to make it seem that the rat is yawning or generally squinting his eyes. After animating the face I moved onto the front paws where I moved towards his stomach ever so slightly. Then I moved the front paws back into its original position. After all of that I finished animating the rat, but I still had to show his sides. So I grabbed a target camera and a target light and positioned them towards the rat. Once I did that I started to animate the camera to move it towards the rat face and moved it back. It took some time to animate the camera because it’s inside the treasure chest and I didn’t want to move too far out where I don’t even see the rat anymore. So I spent some time positioning the camera as correctly as I could because there wasn’t that much time left. After being satisfied with the animation I rendered it and the video you see now is the result. I enjoyed animating the rat and it gave me some more insight on how to animate. However, there was one little problem with the final animation; the animation included some of the animation of artifact five, but overall the rat animation was not affected and it only included an animation that isn’t supposed to be there.

Artifact Five

In Artifact 5, I created an animation featuring my dragon. I started by selecting a frame rate and then began animating the dragon's head by making keyframes. Initially, I didn’t have a clear idea for the animation, but with time running out I decided to move the dragon's head from right to left. Following this, I added a free camera, which synchronizes its movement with the dragon’s head.

While animating, I noticed the dragon's head was pointing towards a sword. I then shifted the camera's focus to the sword and animated its eye. The animation involved opening the eye and having a cone primitive emerge to represent the sword's eye. I animated the cone's movement from left to right before closing the eye again, giving the impression of the sword falling back to sleep. Although the sword eye animation is not visible in the final animation, this description helps to visualize the original concept. After animating the sword, the camera returns to the dragon with it wagging its tail. The camera then swiftly moves to a bird on the cave floor. I animated the bird's head by tilting it up and down to convey confusion. The bird then waves its wing to greet the dragon, and the camera shifts back to the dragon and waves back to the bird.

The animation was supposed to be at least 10 seconds long, but ended up being 8 seconds. Despite this, I am satisfied with the final result. The animation process was smooth and without any issues, but the main challenge was how much available time left. Nevertheless, I planned and incorporated the various homework assignments not related to the animation assignment and successfully completed the animation assignment among it all.

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