Mechabots!
As Lead 3D Principal Artist on MechaFightClub (Irreverent Labs), one of the most exciting challenges was bringing the Mechabots to life. We developed a mask system in Substance Painter that integrated with Substance Designer, enabling procedural assignment of materials and textures, resulting in 6,969 uniquely styled characters, each with their own look, attributes, and abilities. Leading an incredible team of artists, I directed both the art vision and the technical pipeline, turning the bold idea of one-of-a-kind robot chicken fighters into a dynamic and visually striking reality.
Innovating and Streamlining Pipelines while Leading an Amazing Team of Artists
For this amazing project, I had the honor of serving as a team lead and played a key role in elevating the models to the next level. I focused on innovating the technical pipeline, adapting existing rigging systems to work seamlessly with both facial and full-body human mocap. This made it possible to retarget animations efficiently, accelerating production by over 75%, even with a small but incredibly talented team, where only two artists were actively handling animation.
By automating and streamlining the animation pipeline, we significantly reduced the manual workload, achieved smoother and more consistent results, and allowed our animators to focus on creative polish instead of technical bottlenecks.
Face rigging build to accept human mocap in real time
In the video, you’ll see me adapting the rigging system to a very low-poly model, which came with its own set of challenges. Stick around until the end to watch the chicken come to life… and sing for you!
Having Fun was the Key!
Happy Artists are productive Artists. As team lead I focused on building a sports team where everyone always aim to be great, and always better!
Automating Artist Friendly Pipelines
The system was fully automated with an artist-friendly approach, featuring tools and processes that were easy to understand and intuitive to use. This allowed animators to focus on doing their best creative work, and actually have fun while doing it!
Chickens with Main Character Vibes!
Here are some of the teasers and cinematics I had the pleasure of supervising, from look development and pipeline management to animation. I also led the creation of stunning environments and character skins, taking a hands-on role in bringing them to life, alongside an amazing team of artists and developers who helped make it all possible.