Charizard 3D Sprite with Animated Shader

 

I made this 3D Sprite of Shiny Charizard using Maya, Photoshop, and Unreal Engine 5. I started with a 

2D 64x64 pixels sprite from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and turned it into a 3D sprite using cubes and grid snapping. I wanted the tail to flicker and animate, so I made my own custom shader to accomplish this. I have a breakdown of my shader further down in this post for those interested in learning how to do something similar! 

Here is a high resolution video render of my project showing it in further detail:

Below I have an image of my shader to show it works. I used a sine wave node and lerp to change the emissive color and a SimpleGrassWind node to simulate flame-like movement. The result is a really nice material that changes both the emissive values and shape! 

A close up of my material nodes: 

Pure Ref Initial Test

This is a mood board of reference art that I collected from The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. It shows a good contrast between the beautiful landscapes and dark and desolate villages. It also features some of the enemies in the game, such as the Frog Prince and the Ladies of the Wood. Lastly, I included some character reference art, mainly focusing on facial features that I would like to practice modeling. I might also try my hand at a monster, too! 

Common Art First Post

Common Art First Post 

First Tech Art Post

 First Tech Art 

Research & Publications

 2022 A.Humphrey, J.Adams, R.Hoetzlein, “Developing Techniques for Rigging and Motion Capture to Simplify 3D Animation”, FGCU Aquila Student Research Journal. April 2022

Read here: https://www.fgcu.edu/aquila/repository/Developing_Techniques_for_Rigging_and_Motion_Capture_to_Simplify_3D_Animation.pdf

2021 J.Adams, A.Humphrey, R.Hoetzlein, “Developing Techniques for Rigging and Motion Capture to Simplify 3D Animation”, Presented at Research Day 2021 at Florida Gulf Coast University. April 2021.

2020 A.Humphrey, J.Adams, R.Hoetzlein, “Exploring Approachable 3D Animation with Motion Capture”, Presented at the STEM Undergraduate Research and Internship Symposium. Nov 2020.

3D Animation First Post

 3D Animation First Post

3D Art First Post

2D Art First Post

 2D Art First Post