Rig and Unreal Integration Showcase: Howl's Moving Castle - The Juicy Project
My final project at FIEA; "The Juicy Project", was put together by myself and a team of 6 others over the span of 3 months. My love of all things Ghibli inspired this short that we hope to eventually turn into an animated screensaver. On this project, I worked as the Project Manager, the Art Lead, and as a Character Technical Artist, specifically working on the castle rig and the animation integration in sequencer within Unreal Engine 5.
A huge shoutout to the rest of the team:
Kayleigh Sims - environment art, castle textures
Amritha Immaneni - VFX, Technical Art Support
Meaghan Archer - Castle Model (Details)
Alexis Taylor - Castle Model (Base)
Hannah Martinez - Lighting, Foley and Music integration, Camera
Marshall Fornataro-Minnig - Castle Animations (Sit, Walk, Jolt)
Howl's Moving Castle rigged in Autodesk Maya. Complete with IK legs and automated secondary animation using driven keys for his shoulder pads. All controllers were made based off of symbols and characters from the film.
NURBS controllers based on symbols and characters from Howl's Moving Castle.
Castle sequence in Unreal Engine 5.
Howl's Moving Castle: The Juicy Project - Unreal Engine 5 final render. Be sure to set the video to 4k resolution for the best visual experience!