Week 1 – Introduction to CGI : Foundation

Mood Board

– Inspired by Spinner drones from Blade Runner 2049 & Syd Mead pieces.

: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Like the film, the drone’s straight line design echoes the brutalist stylistic influence. As it subtly ejects from the spinner, it immediately gets to its role by scanning/detecting. It often has a black or gray metallic finish that ends up rusty/heavily used. This differentiates its combat or surveillance appearance.

Main inspiration for interior/exterior environment

Brutalist Architecture – Emerged during the 1950s in the UK, its minimalistic, square/rectangular based structure presents a huge emphasis on functionality over complexity in an artistic, flamboyant style. It has maintained a motif in utilising mono-toned raw concrete for it’s default material during construction, both the interior and exterior immediately reflects a sense of scale simply because of how little it needs to show.

This simplicity in design speaks volumes to me personally due to my obsession with the Blade Runner universe, specifically the sequel – Blade Runner 2049, director Denis Villeneuve carries Ridley Scott’s vision and double downs in how depressed and enclosed the streets of LA have become as the digital era takes over every aspect of both the humans’ and replicants’ lives, where its initial design doesn’t rely on traditional art movements but rather massively-scaled holograms that embodies the shell of every corporate building.

Part of what made the entire visual concept for Blade Runner 2049 have such a striking impression was the extensive use of practical models of the architecture, the careful painting and modelling of the brutalist cityscape often questions the viewers, myself included, whether if it was CGI or practical effect. The idea of photorealism through actually building models ties in perfectly in finding context and realism in creating my environment.

Initial artefact design

Simple and stealth were the key words heading into designing my drone, adding the thin wing plates on each side emphasises how the physical embodiment of technology has become thinner and thinner in a short period of time. I wanted this drone to reflect on that. I plan to texture the plates thats imbedded within the body itself with carbon fiber, the black patterned surface will bring out the stealthy look just the way I want.

Concept/mindset into the relationship between my artefact and the environment

Environments influence and even sets the basis of the behavior of all living things, which leads to series of industrial creations of man-made things, its appearance and scale becomes the context of our actions. Do we know what happened here? Are we allowing ourselves to do such things according to this world we live in? At the age of 18, my mind has maturely developed and started craving what sort of mood will define my mindset into approaching any artistic decisions, whether it’ll be for music choices, genre of films and critical opinions towards the work of others. This is when I came across the film Blade Runner 2049 appearing in my film library, not remembering how it even got there, I started from acknowledging what’s on screen to being drawn to what’s on screen.

The harsh, monotoned brutalist architecture made me love and hate this depressing, hidden digital world that is Los Angeles in the year 2049, surrounded by gigantic buildings that doesn’t invoke any artistic style as the walls and windows all come in a simple rectangular shape, wrapped around by long cables and rusting pipes, as if it’s trying to tell the higher class citizens to keep away from the endless amount of abominable filth that includes corrupted police, drug dens, homeless shelters and the one kind that defined the world of Blade Runner – replicants, as they cast their shadow upon this land that is indistinguishable to humans. Even walking through the crowded streets filled with all types of pollution you can imagine, it’s the holograms, billboard signs, floating vehicles headlights, police torches and digital screens that becomes the only light source for this city, it has become a light that you can’t run towards to, all they tell are lies stacked upon each other, especially in the eyes of replicants living in fear, hoping they live a normal life.

It may seem a bit far fetched that what we see on screen takes place only 26 years from now, technology right now can accurately/logically analyse and predict the future so I do believe 26 years from now, flying cars and largely scaled holograms will become the new norm and with the rich history of brutalist architecture that has established its identity, I’ll be extracting images and photorealistic 3D renders of brutalist architecture located primarily in the UK and my hometown, Hong Kong, as well as referencing practical models from the film so I can learn the accurate lighting that reflects off the concrete material that embodies a city of the digital era with literal darkness that acts as its shell.

My aim is to tell a story of how simplistic architecture can often reflect the harsh conditions and callous mannerism that initiated a transformation of how a once capital of entertainment turned into a dark void, infamous for its replicant hunting, companions powered by artificial intelligence that further questions the practicality of the surroundings. The year will be around 40 years from now, drawing inspirations from large scale, brutalist approach to industrial architecture. My item – a surveillance/combat drone traverses up high that reveals the neon-colored landscape, depending on the angle and intensity of the light, there will be no natural lighting that shows the details of the texture and intricacies. This generates an opportunity to create a light box in Maya that feels artificial and cold, giving the context of this dystopian digital city that hides itself from anything natural and warm.

Rain and snow plays a big part acting as the symbol of hope in not just the Blade Runner franchise, but the entirety of the cyberpunk genre, with that concept I can learn the elements that can help enhance the setting in a more concise way. By putting my drone model in this world, I’m able to create a new perspective to showcase the environment.

Week 3 – Floor plan for interior & exterior environment

As mentioned in my write-up, a motif of dystopian and loneliness will be presented prominently throughout the aesthetics of my drone artefact, as well as my environment. My plan will be to connect both the exterior and interior that contains mainly linear camera shots and cuts. Our module on Visual Narrative has helped us develop our skill in creating and innovating unique angles and settings that accompanies the mood and feeling we want to give the viewer, as well as justifying the purpose of creating this atmosphere through carefully placing, texturing and lighting the assets I’ll be choosing.

Update 1 on artefact model

A massive overhaul in the evolution of the look for the drone, expanding the wings and subtly adjusting the curvature on the edges that would mimic the aerodynamics.

Tools used in Maya – Extrude, Scale, Move, Adding Division, Edge Loop, Fill Hole.

Update 2 on artefact model + material render

The dark aesthetic embodies the sinister role of survailling its enemies, I added the bright pink red emmission on its eye/scanners in the front of the drone that brings out a menacing gaze. More details using the extrude tool is used on the wings. The decision to set the body material to diamond was more of storytelling decision, you may not see the inside content such as the tech but its reflective ability blocks off its visibilty, its transparent appearance disguises itself as a luxury drone. The drone itself may lack the typical components such as wiring or screws but as I intended, this artefact is set decades from now. It’s sleek design echoes the evolution and development of minimising unnecessary components as mentioned before as the design is supposed to be a futurisitc rather than reminding us of the past.

Materials assigned – Glass, Diamond, Rubber, Car Paint.

A1 – Artefact – Drone 2.0 Final Renders w/ Textures from Adobe SP

A failure occured during the additional texturing and modelling process of Drone 1.0, the file was corrupted and had no data at the initial launch of the file on Maya. So I had to re-model with a new concept and I decided to go for a more sleeker and stealthier design with time on my hands so I could go for more renders. Compared to 1.0, 2.0 feels more interconnected but also hidden. The lights reflects the cyberpunk quality of the neon aesthetics. The carbon fiber body tells us it’s strong and light. The decision to texturise the wing and lower part reflective and black helps show the light in a more menacing way and feels like a magnet to a certain degree that can attach or detach any vehicle or building. Simple but versatile.

Texture assigned – Carbon Fibre & Rough steel w/ Rust overlay.
Material for lights & afterburner – Glass.
All polygons are smoothed.

UV and Texture maps from Adobe SP

: Head piece UV

: Head piece Texture

: Bottom After Burner UV

: Bottom After Burner Texture

: Wing UV

: Wing texture

: Body plate Texture

Final Statement for A1

Having watch both Blade Runner films back and forth for many times has allowed to set a foundation for coming up with the concept and backstory for this artefact model with ease. It may seem like an obsession, but I love that I can show my understanding, new and old, to justify my reasonings for choosing the cyberpunk genre. Blade Runner presents the ‘identity crisis’ motif extensively, especially with 2049, saying that you don’t have to be human to be human. Initially, I wanted my drone to look ‘cool’ but I realised I ignored the elements I wanted for the drone to elevate it’s stealthy look such as the simplicity of the design. In some ways, I’m glad my first drone’s file was corrupted and I got the chance to design another one. This time, It feels much more attached and self-sufficient, its textures might suggest it’s gone through little to no rough patches, but its menacing lights could mean it can do serious damage against its opponents. It may rebel, go rogue, save someone, lose someone and it will always have a response to each of these scenarios, just like replicant from the Blade Runner franchise. I’m beyond excited to bring this drone into Unreal Engine 5 and create an environment that feels brutal and lived in, I think it can fit the aesthetic of the drone very well. Using my developed skills in camerawork from my Visual Narratives module, I can freely be the cinematographer and the director to telling the short story of this drone’s journey.

Week 9 – Introduction to Unreal

A2 – Interior & exterior scene

As mentioned with my research with brutalist architecture, a scene from Blade Runner 2049 immediately comes to mind – Wallace HQ showcasing symmetrical, clean design of an open space, illuminated by an orange/yellow light.

Initial build in Unreal 5

My interior scene is joint with the exterior, I didn’t want them both to be feel disassociated since they are inspired by the same genre, so it makes sense to have the interior lead us to the exterior.

Soul City
Polar Sci-FI Facility
Automotive Bridge Scene

For this project I used the following packs I’ve gathered from Unreal Marketplace:

Interior progress

Exterior progress

I wanted to present with an elegant style, in contrary to the interior scene. By adjusting the directional light I was able to show off the silhouette of the building meshes I’ve carefully. The positioning had to be logical for these screenshots to be captured.