ZOoM-i the bot
ZOom-i The Bot is a short loop animation made in Blender as a tribute to one of the movies that shaped my childhood : Batteries Not Included, directed by Matthew Robbins in 1987. It"s a personal project that is very close to my heart and in which I tried to blend a cartoonish style with a semi realistic look.
Everything was made from scratch and rendered with EEVEE.
The final loop animation. Everything was modeled from scratch with no external assets used. The textures are entirely hand-painted, in Substance Painter or with the blender addon Ucupaint, except for the tiles, which are mix of PBR textures and painting.
Before diving into an animation, especially one involving a character, I usually create either a few preparatory sketches or a quick animatic using the blender's grease pencil to try and get the timing of each moment.
A compositing pass breakdown
The compositing was a bit of a challenge in order to fit the desire to blend cartoon and semi realism. It needed to subtly enhance both aspects without overly distorting the overall lighting of the scene.
A breakdown showing a solid view along with the custom rig I created for ZOomi-i, a wireframe view, the ambiant occlusion, the raw render and finally, the final composite.
First animation test for ZOom-i. This also allowed me to test the fake physicis applied to the cables, which relies on a proxy mesh driven by a cloth simulation.
Another animation test. This one was used to explore ZOom-i's behavior and personality. The idea was to blend a childlike attitude with feline traits. Like a curious kitten ready to get into any mischief it can find, but inside a robot's body !
ZOom-i sports two stickers, both entirely hand-painted in Krita.
One echoes his subtle feline side and reflects my own love for cats. Specifically for Nougatine, a cat I rescued from a shelter a few years ago now.
The other marks my love for Linux and open-source software.
