Character: The Programmer
With the story and tone established, I moved on to developing the characters, beginning with the programmer. I sourced the base mesh from TurboSquid because it came with a functional rig and realistic proportions, which aligned with the grounded, clinical sci-fi tone of the film.
However, I didn’t want her to remain a generic readymade asset. I re-textured the skin entirely on my own, focusing on subsurface scattering, natural lip colour, eyebrow definition, pore detail, and overall roughness values. These adjustments were essential for making her hold up under the harsh, cool-toned laboratory lighting I planned to use.
Before designing her final outfit, I made sure the base skin looked convincing enough to carry close-up moments. I always intended to place her in a tight sci-fi bodysuit later, but the foundation needed to feel believable first. It helped to test the textures directly in Maya under lighting setups similar to the final scene, allowing me to adjust tones and detail in real time.
Clothing and Material Development
For the outfit, I turned to Marvelous Designer because I wanted the garment to sit naturally on the character’s body rather than feeling painted or simulated directly onto the mesh. I followed a tutorial focusing on bodysuit construction and also consulted a friend with a fashion design background, who helped me understand the pattern-making logic needed to achieve the sleek, functional silhouette I imagined.
Once the simulated garment was final, I imported it into Substance Painter to refine the material qualities. My goal was to create a fabric that sat somewhere between synthetic textile and lab-grade technical gear.
Mecha Design and Modelling
The robot required a completely different approach because I built it entirely from scratch. Early on, I knew I wanted a mech rather than a humanoid robot. Humanoid forms felt too expressive and didn’t fit the cold, engineered aesthetic of the narrative. A heavier, industrial machine supported both the tone and the world-building more effectively, especially given the lab-military hybrid environment I was creating.
I gathered a reference board that included silhouettes and designs from existing mech designs. These references guided the overall shape language. I wanted the mech to appear constructed from interlocking plates and segmented hardware, rather than smooth, organic curves.
Building the Mech: Structure and Complexity
Modelling the mech was a long, layered process. I constructed it in separate components to ensure every joint made structural sense. Each limb, hinge, and rotating part had to look functional, as though it could exist in a working industrial machine. Understanding how two parts would logically connect was one of the biggest challenges. I tested multiple variations for each joint before finding combinations that appeared both strong and mechanically feasible. I initially had a torso that could entirely rotate on the x axis. But later, with newer parts and to make it visually less boxy, I had to change the torso which could not rotate anymore.
As the design grew more complex, the file became extremely heavy, but working component-by-component made it manageable. The segmented approach also helped maintain the industrial authenticity I aimed for, since each piece could be treated as an engineered unit instead of a decorative add-on. By the end, the mech felt like a constructed object with weight, purpose, and believable articulation—exactly the contrast I needed against the softness and humanity of the programmer.