The Crystal Seed
Playing with translucency
After being inspired by artist Billelis (one of his older artworks), I wanted to create a piece that you could see through the model, for striking visuals and interesting lighting. I chose to add the story of having these being planting a seed and spread crystals.
I used cloth simulations, particle simulations, and smoke simulations to get all the effects. I animated the model by hand. All of the pieces were created by me, except the female model, that was done in character creator 3, and the skeleton was purchased to save time .
YEAR
2024
SOFTWARE
Blender, Embergen, Substance Painter, Character Creator 3.
ADD-ON's
Rigify, Gscatter, Forestation.
Translucensy
The main visual focus was having a semi see-through person. This took quite some time to refine and get the right balance, where enough of the inner skeleton was visible, but not so much it became a visual mess.
Animating the Walk
I animated the walk to be a little unnatural, and ballerina like. I wanted it to be a bit stiff (since she is a hard object like crystal) and tall.
The workaround
Rigid bodies (a type of simulation for realistic hard object collisions) are difficult to make work, mainly if something becomes complex, or small in size. The chain on her neck was small in scale, and getting it to bounce around properly was not working. Instead I used a simple plane, added a cloth simulation, and then paired the necklace to the simulation with a surface deform modifier.
