Paige Thorsen: Portfolio: Star Wars Project Episode I: The Fiean Menace

The Goal:

Create a 5-10 second in-game cinematic sequence in Unreal Engine 5.3 of a Walker from Star Wars marching down an alley in the outer rim.

Necessary Components for the Team:

Hard Surface Robotic Character Artist (Jessica Blask): To create a high poly and game ready, texutred model of an AT ST Walker (and provide additional set dressing support not covered by environment artist)

Environment Artist with a Hard Surface Preference (Justin Diaz): creates environment for the sequence; establishes and maintains scene scale and lighting

Prop Focused Hard Surface Artists: (Kirsten Futch and Haley Kroppman): create additional environmental loose props to populate set and establish scale

Hard Surface Focused Character Artist: (Eric Wiley): creates human stormtrooper character models; large focus on their uniform armor

Unreal 5.3 Animator (Paige Thorsen): Responsible for camera sequencer creation, animation of AT ST Walker, animation of marching troopers, all done in Unreal Engine

I'm also on point for most of Production Management, including the plan moving forward for a bi-weekly set of 6 Sprints

Why Star Wars:

Several of our team's target studios make high value Star Wars games, for example: BioWare, Respawn, DICE, and EA. As hopeful entry level industry workers, we're seeking to analyze how a studio tackles a 3D interpretation of a large IP.

Episode 1: Schedule and References:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12V1pU1FQZHtQVUSFJ7CoHtqxB9tiQHxMiPlqFY-p890/edit#gid=0

To plan the project and the necessary teammates required plus their spheres of influence, a Gantt Chart was created alongside the initial project pitch, which was then revised to accommodate portfolio worthy assignments for each team member along with their necessary spheres of influence. If you like looking at nice colorful spread sheets, take a look at the link above.

From there, the team moved into the Concept and Reference research:

The team collectively did research into the LucasFilm concepting team's process and how they achieve the Star Wars "Look" and how we can achieve similar styles.

From the "Art of Rogue One, Mandalorian, and the Force Awakens" books, the team selected an environment based on the marketplace/cantina in Jedha, a dusty outer rim planet.

From concept art, movie stills, and comic books, items were selected to act as inspiration for prop research and reference around the scene.

Loose Prop assets are being tracked in an Asset List: what doesn't get completed by the available prop artists will be sourced from asset packs to fill the scene and make it feel lived in, but the schedule allows for about 1-2 hero assets per prop artist and 5-6 background assets per prop artist, for a maximum total of 18 original props.

Animation references were pulled from scenes of troopers marching in Andor, Rogue One, and Disney Hollywood Studios

**Student actors were motion captured with walking cycles during a mo-cap workshop, video not shown here to protect actor privacy until they give consent to share video**

During the environmental research, the animator went through a rough proxy storyboard pass of a layout and sequence of action for our actors to go through: