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Later Letter: my Maya 3D graduation film

By Karenya LinCreated201912 figures

3D AnimationMayaGraduation ProjectCharacter Design

Later Letter is my 3D animated graduation film, made in Maya at Chaoyang University of Technology in 2019. I designed, modeled and animated the heroine myself; the remaining parts were split with one teammate. This page collects the poster, film stills, character design and modeling process, plus course work from the same period. Select an image to open it full size.

Film poster

Later Letter poster: the 3D heroine hugs a purple teddy bear in a dark wooden room, with the film title and 2019 exhibition dates — Exhibition poster for Later Letter (2019). Shown at the campus exhibition, Young Designers' Exhibition, Vision Get Wild and A+ Creative Festival.

Film stills

Film still: close-up of the wooden-textured heroine looking ahead with wide eyes in a dim bedroom — Film still: the heroine in her room. I modeled, textured and animated the character in Maya.

Film still: a giant plush bear with button eyes holds knitting needles, moving the small heroine on red strings like a marionette — Film still: the teddy bear moves the heroine with red strings, like a marionette.

Film still: a white stork carrying a pink bundle flies past the wooden house while the heroine watches from the doorway at night — Film still: a stork passes the treehouse at night.

Heroine design

Character turnaround of the heroine: front, side and back views of the wooden-textured girl with a curly bun and brown jumpsuit — Heroine turnaround: front, side and back. Design, modeling and animation of the character were my solo work.

Modeling process

From UV layout to hand-painted texture to the textured model: the full pipeline from my Maya coursework.

UV layout of a character head: unfolded face, scalp and ear meshes drawn as white wireframes on black — Course assignment: UV layout of a head model unfolded for texturing.

Hand-painted face texture map matching the UV layout, with skin, blush, eyebrows and lips painted in place — The 2D texture painted to match the UV layout.

Front view of the finished head model with the painted texture applied, long brown hair and green eyes — The textured head model rendered in Maya.

The moon character

Stylized moon character: an orange cratered sphere with sleepy eyes, bushy eyebrows and a frowning mouth floating in a starfield — Course assignment: a moon character with sculpted facial features.

VR sketching and 3D printing

A wireframe lamp sketched in VR with Gravity Sketch: a brown cage shade around a yellow bulb on a three-legged stand — A lamp sketched in VR with Gravity Sketch (2019).

A 3D-printed white pocket-watch keychain with Roman numerals, photographed on a wooden desk — A 3D-printed pocket-watch keychain from my own model.