JUN HUANG

Digital art · Design · Research

Purlieu: Forest and Guardian

2020

Purlieu

Personal Short Film

Purlieu is a short narrative animation inspired by Chinese mythology and the figure of Tudigong, the guardian of local land. The film follows a young boy living in a small, protected patch of land slowly being consumed by desolation. When a falling star disrupts the guardian force, the land begins to decay. The boy ultimately sacrifices himself to return the star to the sky, restoring peace and vitality to the world.

01

Artistic Concept

The visual style blends mythological symbolism with a quiet, atmospheric narrative. Themes of protection, decay, rebirth, and self-sacrifice shape the emotional arc of the story. Character design draws from traditional guardian imagery, while the environment reflects the contrast between threatened land and its eventual renewal.

Purlieu: Final Render1
Purlieu: Final Render2
Purlieu: Final Render3
Purlieu: Final Render4
3D character design
02

Technical Approach

  1. 01

    Character Sculpting

    ZBrush

    Sculpt the character assets, then retopologize them for deformation and prepare animation-ready UVs.

  2. 02

    Rigging

    Maya / Advanced Skeleton

    Build the character rig with Advanced Skeleton in Maya, preparing animation controls and refining skin weights for reliable deformation.

  3. 03

    Materials & Texturing

    Substance Painter

    Create texture sets and surface materials in Substance Painter, defining color, roughness and fine detail for the characters and scene assets.

  4. 04

    Environment & Vegetation

    Maya

    Build modular environment assets and distribute vegetation through particle instancing, controlling density, species variation and flow across the terrain.

  5. 05

    Hair Grooming

    Maya / XGen

    Create guide-based hair grooms with expression-driven modifiers for subtle secondary motion.

  6. 06

    Cloth Simulation

    Marvelous DesignerMaya

    Create and simulate garments in Marvelous Designer, then integrate them with the character animation in Maya. Refine collisions and prepare simulation caches for rendering.

  7. 07

    Lighting & Rendering

    Maya

    Bring layout, character animation, vegetation and simulation caches together, then refine lighting and render the final cinematic shots.

  8. 08

    Compositing

    Nuke

    Combine render passes, balance color and contrast, and refine atmosphere to bring the final shots into a consistent cinematic sequence.

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