Metamorphosis | Real-time | Film
Trailer
“Metamorphosis” is a short real-time computer graphics film. It is a fantastical journey, and conveys tragic emotions. It was based on a daydream I had drawn on a piece of paper. The core idea is the humanoid butterflies, ghosts of the lost world that tell the dream of a beautiful ruin. The butterfly, which are often used as metaphors for change and hope. Through the use of virtual production (combining CG animation and motion captures), “Metamorphosis”explores my experience of lost memories, the decline of traditional culture, environmental disasters, climate change, and animal extinction.
A butterfly is resurrected from a rare specimen collection and explores the ruins of an ancient civilization that leads to a mysterious underground frozen cave. In the cave, the butterfly meets the Butterfly Man, who is an amalgamation of many other butterflies. The two dance and transform between the human and butterfly shapes. The frozen environment gradually melts, plants and organisms begin to wake up around them. Eventually, the butterfly man is blown away by the wind and becomes part of the natural environment. Metamorphosis reflects my concerns about human memory of lost time. The film explores philosophical ideas about life forms decomposing and then transforming into new organisms, between dreams and reality, and between humans and creatures.
FILM
Project Creator: Xi Wang
Thesis Mentor : Michael Patterson, Eric Hanson
Faculty Advisors: Jordan Halsey, John Brennan, Jason Reisig, Kathy Smith, Teresa Cheng, Michael Fink, Sheila Sofian
Composer: Yifan Lin
Sound Designer: Dan Blanck
Dancer: Amaria Stern
Real-Time Shader Artist: Shaoyu Su
MoCap Supporter: Mitchell McGlocklin
Rigger: Leon Cruz
Awards
Unreal Student Showcase Spring 2021, Unreal Engine, 2021
The 40th Annual Thomas Edison Black Maria Film Festival, Winner of a Director’s Choice Award, Hoboken,NJ, United States, 2020
WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, Platinum Remi Award, Experimental Animation, Houston, TX, United States, 2021
First Look 2021 Industry Award, Runner up, Los Angeles, United States, 2021
One-Reeler Short Film Competition, Winner of Best Animated Short, Los Angeles, United States, 2020
Festivals selections
American Documentary and Animation Film Festival, Official selection, Palm Springs , United States 2021
Telluride Film Festival, Student Prints, Telluride, United States, 2020
Encounters Film Festival 2020, Official Selection, Bristol, United Kingdom, 2020
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, Semi-Finalist, Providence, United States, 2020
The Montreal International Animation Film Festival, Official selection, Montreal, Canada, 2020
Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival, Official selection, Los Angeles, United States, 2020
Publications
‘Metamorphosis: Making a CG Short Film in UE4’, interviewed by Ellie Harisova, 80 LEVEL, 27 July 2020
https://80.lv/articles/metamorphosis-making-a-cg-short-film-in-ue4
Metamorphosis | Thesis film | Environment ｜ Water cave | Level 2
Unreal Engine 4 | Houdini | Quixel Megascans | Substance Painter & Source | Zbrush | Maya
Scene Depth
AO
Base Color
World Normal
Metamorphosis | Thesis film | Environment ｜ Ice cave | Level 1
Unreal Engine 4 | Houdini | Quixel Megascans | Substance Painter & Source | Zbrush | Maya
Base Color
World Normal
AO
Depth
Environment | Indoor
Wireframe
Environment | Desert Garden
Color Tone | World Design
Modeling | Texture | Zombie Deer
Quixel Megascans | Substance Painter & Source | Zbrush
Zombie Deer was modeled and retopologied by using Zbrush. Texturing the deer with Substance Painter and Quixel Megascans. As a FBX file was imported into Unreal Engine.
Rigging by Leon Cruz
Screenshots | Desert Garden | Deer
Concept Drawing
Texture | Zombie Crow
Substance Painter & Source ｜ Quixel Megascans
Time Tunnel | Touch Designer |
Shader By: Shayu Su
In order to bridge the two worlds(desert and cave scenes), a portal animation was created inspired by the idea of “quantum warp” using GLSL on Touchdesigner. Raymarching is a natural fit when it comes to fulfilling scientific ideas such as Lorentz Contraction and Doppler Shift. These techniques and equations give power to the shader in simulating visual effects reaching infinitely close to the speed of light, in this case, “ray”. For future development, we aim to further develop the visual complexity and potentially combine character animation with the shader fully on Unreal Engine by translating GLSL into HLSL.
MoCap | Animation
Maya | Motion Builder | Motive
