Project Overview

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.
 

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.
 

Technical Approach

The character assets were sculpted in ZBrush, retopologized for deformation, and prepared with animation-ready UVs. Environment assets were built in Maya, combining modular structures with large-scale vegetation systems.
Vegetation and ground-cover elements were generated through a particle-instancing pipeline, enabling controlled density, species variation, and directional flow across the terrain.
Character hair was groomed using XGen, with guide-based grooming and expression-driven modifiers for subtle secondary motion. Fabric components—such as clothing and accessory elements—were simulated using nCloth, integrating dynamic constraints, collision layers, and cache management for reliable playback.
Lighting, layout, and final renders were completed in Maya, blending procedural distribution, simulation caches, and character animation into a cohesive cinematic workflow.