The Boss Fight 3D Render Challenge is initiated by renowned 3D visual effects artist pwnisher (Clinton Jones) and is recognized as the world's hottest 3D rendering challenge in the CG community! It’s learned that pwnisher holds 3D community animation challenges twice a year, each with a different theme. The theme of this challenge is "Boss Fight", which is the seventh in the series. A total of 2,880 CG artists from all over the world submitted their works for this contest. In this interview with Fox Renderfarm, a leading cloud rendering services provider and render farm in the industry, we feature Koala OK, who secured second place in the challenge! He will share the entire process behind the creation of his winning piece, "MEOW~." Let’s take a look!
Koala OK
Freelance CG Artist
With more than 9 years of experience in the film, animation, and games industry, Koala OK has worked in Original Force, Light Chaser Animation Studios, L Squared Studio, Tap4Fun, Digital Sky, and other companies.
He has participated in the production of many animations, game CG short films, and PV, such as "Tea Pets", "Rakshasa Street", "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes II", "Project DT", and "Breaking through the Sky", etc. The animated short "One Small Step", in which Koala OK participated as a freelancer, was Oscar-nominated for the 91st Academy Award for animated short films.
He specializes in character models, assets, and comprehensive performance, and likes to study the Blender stylized workflow, including modeling, material, rigging, VFX, soundtrack, editing, and more.
Fox Renderfarm: First of all, congratulations on placing second out of the 2,880 talented CG artists in the Boss Fight 3D Render Challenge! How do you feel?
Koala OK: Thank you for all the attention and support, I'm extremely honored to receive the 2nd place award!
The moment my work was submitted, I thought for sure I would be in the top 100. However, I didn’t think I would squeeze into the top five. Occasionally, I would see some other contestants' submissions on the internet, and I think I'm more stable. But generally speaking, there are a lot more talented contestants who either submit last or don't post on social media at all, so I try to stay calm and not think about the results.
"MEOW~" © Koala OK
The winner announcement livestream was at midnight and I did not watch it. It was the next day I learned about it through my students. My initial reaction was a mix of surprise and regret because when you tell people you came in second, their immediate question is who is the first? Then I went to watch the live stream replay. Over time, I definitely was more happy about my result because I saw that there were too many talented contestants in the TOP 100 who did so much better than me, both on the technical and the creative side.
Anyway, the result is the result, the moment I submitted my entry, the way things went was none of my business anymore. It's all about participation. Also, this contest showed me a lot of other amazing creators!
Fox Renderfarm: What was the inspiration behind this entry, "MEOW~"? What was the main software used for this entry? How long did it take to complete?
Koala OK: For this contest, my first idea was to do Monkey King vs. Mighty Miracle God. However, it's too difficult to even get the basic model binding and layout of the BOSS done, I didn't want to do it anymore, it's better to leave it to the Black Myth Wukong. I give up!
First Draft Idea © Koala OK
Later during class, I demonstrated to my students a koala-hooded boy. I realized that simpler works tend to suit me better. I began to wonder if I could create something simple yet interesting, especially since I had already told my students and friends about my intention to participate in the competition—there's no going back on that promise now!
My first thought was Steven Chow! I will always be a fan of his work! So I thought of some scenes from Steven Chow’s movies and a very randomly selected one from "Flirting Scholar", where Steven Chow encounters Ru Hua on the bridge. I altered the scene a bit, which formed the main story my entry is based on: a boy with strong skills, in a BOSS riot trying to save a beautiful human figure who looks like Ru Hua up close. Then suddenly, he turns to save a cat instead.
Character conceptualization © Koala OK
- Blender: modeling, binding, animation, rendering;
- 3DCoat: hand-painted robot mapping;
- Da Vinci: post-production synthesis and the processing of materials;
- Midjourney: mainly used to create the wall textures of background buildings.
The folder was built on Monday, finished on Sunday, and took about a week in total.
Fox Renderfarm: "MEOW~" is only 5 seconds but it's very interesting. Can you tell us about your creative storyboard idea? How do you tell a fun story in 5 seconds?
Koala OK: After determining the main direction of the story, I knew that my focus should be on the plot conveyed through the animated performance of the little boy. Once the main character is settled, then all the others are either supporting characters or background elements. However, it was crucial to connect the protagonist, supporting characters, and settings with a coherent plot that establishes their relationships. The competition requires the use of slow-mo, and slow-mo actually has better performance on aerial action. I made the boy jump in the air to save either of the two supporting characters. So why would the two supporting characters fly up? Maybe the Boss threw them or blew them up. Why did the Boss throw them up? Because they were linked by the ranged damage. The Boss actually wanted to attack the boy, so the connection between the boy and the Boss was already established. That's it, after about a few passes in my head, I finalized the plot design. By this point, I didn't even bother thinking about who the Boss was, I didn't think it mattered. That's right! Even though the theme of this challenge was Boss Fight, the Boss didn't matter at all in my eyes!
Behind the scenes of "MEOW~":
Fox Renderfarm: We noticed that the koala robot in this entry was often seen in older entries, are the other three assets created specifically for this competition? Can you share your thoughts on the character design?
Koala OK: The little boy is a simple character demonstration that I showed my students. Seeing that he is a one-in-a-million martial arts genius, I decided to make him the protagonist the next day.
Bad Boy Koala © Koala OK
At first, the supporting characters were only replaced with low models. When the animation of the little boy was almost done, I used some of my Dota 2 time to make the cat and Ru Hua quickly. Since they are supporting characters, it's okay if it’s a little rough.
After the animations for the main and the supporting characters were done, I remembered that the BOSS hadn't been made yet, and I wanted to make a new character. But it happened to coincide with Dota 2’s 10th anniversary, by playing the game you earn free collector skins! I have to ensure that I can have two to three hours a day to play the game, so I didn’t really want to re-do a new BOSS anymore. From my past assets, I selected the large chunky koala robot. Considering the unity of style, I still used 3DCoat and re-hand painted its mapping, using the basic brush. As long as the overall feeling is right since it is far from the camera anyway.
Koala Robot Mapping © Koala OK
Fox Renderfarm: Many viewers have praised the character animation in the comment section of "MEOW~" for being so smooth, as well as the slow-mo shots being extremely action-packed. Can you give us some tips on how to make the animation so smooth? What are some of the key movement design ideas?
Koala OK: You are all too kind, and I do have some tips to share indeed.
First of all, the tone I set for my film is humorous and witty, along with tension and twists. So I used the Blender crayon tool to draw the plot design directly on the official lens reference file. I don't need to draw very well here, but the basic poses have to be visible.
Character Animation © Koala OK
The focus of my performance is on the little boy, so the supporting characters and the interactions in the scene have to cooperate with him. The rhythm of his animation basically determines everything. The key pose and time needed to be accurate, so how do you make it accurate? Here I referenced some of the concepts from Japanese anime, even the PPT needed to be very rhythmic. So first I made the key action of the little boy, but changed the animation interpolation to no transition, snap! Now which action appears at which time is clear at a glance.
Character Animation © Koala OK
Once the basic rhythm was set, I started working on the animated transitions for the little boy. At this stage, it is important to note that when adding transition animation and preparatory buffers, it is important to keep the duration of the key poses and always make sure that they are clear to the viewer.
The big fabric direction is also posed with skeletons and then I added the amazing replace modifier. The main effects of the characters are also done with models and modifiers.
Character Animation © Koala OK
Once the main character’s animation is done, it is time to work on the supporting characters, since everything has to match the protagonist, including the rhythm and the composition position. The distance problem between the robot and the protagonist shows that there is no physical interaction, so the robot was designed to do a front kick of AOE skill, kicking some props along with the supporting characters to the protagonist’s side. Then, the koala robot performed a relatively static preparatory action, ready to attack the little boy. This point gave the space of performance back to the little boy. Finally, the koala robot was surprised and shattered apart by the boy's choice of movement.
Supporting Characters Animation © Koala OK
I added some small rebounds, such as the robot's structural vibration, and lens vibration, and added some small effects to the model such as deformation drawing, so that my work can be more tense.
Supporting Characters Animation © Koala OK
Actually there are not many technical difficulties, it's mainly just about expressing yourself as a director and an actor. However it is easy to become really invested in the process, and now looking back at it, the animation is a bit too complex. So if I were to make it again, I'd definitely make it a lot simpler.
Fox Renderfarm: I noticed that you mentioned the use of Midjourney to generate a city landscape. Was the scene created with AI assistance? Was it just for reference or was it integrated into the workflow? Have you tried some of the AI plugins supported by Blender? What are the results?
Koala OK: The scene is pure laziness because I gave all my energy to the characters, especially the protagonist. So I planned to make the scene simple, leaving less than half a day to finish. In the beginning, I used some cubes to build a general sense of the composition and perspective. Then, I used Midjourney to generate mapping material: Chengdu/Singapore in the style of Tekkonkinkreet, the description is so simple. Then I took some randomly generated images that are useful and put them all together in a single 4K map.
Scene Reference © Koala OK
The models are piled up by simple boxes, so I just need to retain the basic architectural features and assign them to a single material map. Just need to use the model’s UV to map the texture and that’s it.
Scene Building © Koala OK
I usually use Midjourney to produce some small drafts for inspiration, so it's simple and useful enough for me. This time I used it to generate some perspective maps, which I don't think really fits into my workflow, which isn't exactly standard either.
I haven’t used the Blender AI plugin since I don't have a need for it at the moment. I choose a job or technology based on what works for me and what is easy enough to use. Most of the time I learn after I have a clear need for it. For example, this time I used the keyword facade, and I only just learned now that it can generate front maps.
As for other AI application scenarios, I don't know, I've never used it. So I don't have any opinion about its future yet.
Fox Renderfarm: How did you use Blender stylization for the effects in this work?
Koala OK: I added the special effects at the end. I don't know what kind of effects I want to do at first, but I know what effects I shouldn't do. It's too stiff to use models for special effects, it will steal away the character's complexity. It's also too difficult to use special effects software to create fluid. The hand-painted style should be the best, but I don't know how to draw it. I can use real video footage but it may be too realistic that it destroys the style. So I thought I might as well turn the realistic into the stylized! I subjectively extracted some of the characteristics of stylized special effects, flatness, removing some useless details, edge sharpening, less transition, and less frame rate. So I put this logic directly in DaVinci with the post node connected and the effect is not too bad!
Special Effects Node © Koala OK
Finally, take the processed video and export it into a sequence of frames, and patches put into Blender, and re-adjust the special effects triggered by the time, speed, and the unity of lightning. If you do not know how to unify the color then you can use the same color.
Fox Renderfarm: How many lights are used in the whole scene? How do you deal with the lighting layering of a complex scene (explosion scene)?
Koala OK: There is no layering in the explosion scene, everything is rendered directly. I started with just a ball, added a procedural texture and scaling animation, and then rendered it out with motion blur on. The rendering was unexpectedly good! The halo of light is mainly accomplished through Blender's real-time compositor, first adjusting a rough picture, then using DaVinci for color and lighting correction.
Explosion Lighting © Koala OK
I counted 24 lights, but only three or four actually matter, the others don't affect the big picture even if they're turned off. I've kept the scene very simple since the goal of this rendering is to serve the main character! I set a backlit night scene so that the silhouette of the protagonist is clear. This is the result of working hard for a few days on the animation for it to be visible. First, turn up the main light to see the maximum light direction plus the volume fog, and then add three or four supporting lights to fill in or to illuminate the layers of the distant scene, then the overall effect is set.
Lighting © Koala OK
All the other lights are small fixes, such as the character's silhouette light, the impact of special effects on the surrounding objects, and also the spotlights on the koala robot. I tied the spotlights to the skeletons. This step, in fact, is more like drawing, according to my own sense of art to draw with light. I'm not good at drawing, but I'm okay at sketching, so for the color, I used cool tones first and then added warmer tones. Everything else is derived from the relationship between the sketches. Dark foregrounds and bright backgrounds, it's kind of the most misused technique of the artist, but it work very well for me.
Lighting © Koala OK
Fox Renderfarm: In recent years, there have been more and more cel shading works, is there any stylized work that you like? What do you think is the advantage of Blender in making stylized short films?
Koala OK: Actually, I want to vomit if I see too much of any style. I think stylization is not the same as cel-shading. I have preferred fragmented personal works in recent years, watercolor, pencil, cartoon, or low-poly, with different materials with different themes and animations. Anyway, I think the charm of stylization is variety and moderation. If the whole world does cel shading, then the realistic becomes stylized, doesn't it?
I think it's good that people can now conveniently accomplish full-process personal work, including myself who went personal and wild with Blender, but I'm still in awe of the traditional animation process and the people who are the most professional. Most of my experience I gained from projects and co-workers during my years of doing animation.
Fox Renderfarm: A lot of Blender’s new users will be torn between Cycles and Eevee when they get started, which of these two renderers is better to use? Can you share the performance of these two renderers?
Koala OK: I mostly use Eevee and probably less than 1% of the time I would use Cycles. Eevee performs mild realism, scene atmosphere, and stylization very fast, but there is not one convenient software that does it all. Eevee renders fast, but try to make a realistic piece of glass.
People may say Eevee can connect a bunch of nodes at once! But Cycles can render it out with a single click, so which one is faster? I can't give a definite answer. For newbies, the difference in renderers doesn't change the quality of the work. That's why I recommended learning both renderers, you'll realize there's really no essential difference.
Fox Renderfarm: It's rumored that more and more studios are using Blender as their main production software, what do you think about this? What do you think is the future trend of the animation industry?
Koala OK: I hold a conservative attitude, my friends who are still making standard 3D animation projects barely use Blender as the main process structure. Though, the game community uses it often to create concept maps and early assets, as well as some small studios use it to create short commercial films. It does not matter since the work stays the same, but the team will certainly choose a workflow that is fast and good and can meet the team's own staff placement. The choice of a process tool needs to be tested by the project and time, this is unavoidable, so take your time, there is no rush.
I can not predict the future of the animation industry. A lot of my friends who worked on animation together in the past have transferred to game companies, including myself.
Fox Renderfarm: Finally, let's give three suggestions to those who want to enter or have just entered the CG industry.
Koala OK: Ok three suggestions:
- No matter what kind of tools, they are all used by people.
- Do not try to create out of thin air, observe more of your daily life, watch movies, and listen to music, what you create is a reflection of something else.
- More practice, talk less online, also listen less to what others have to say online, like this interview with Koala OK, there is not much to learn really, might as well spend this time making more models.
Koala OK’s Social Media:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KoalaOK_
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koalaok3968
- ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/koalaok
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koala.ok/
