The Clock that Forgot to Chime - Case Study
The Clock that Forgot to Chime is a five-minute 3D animated short created as my senior capstone project for Drexel University’s Animation & VFX program. Working alongside a multidisciplinary team, we developed every aspect of the film; from concept and story to the final rendered animation. The project challenged us to balance artistic vision with the realities of a production pipeline while delivering a polished final film.
Props & Objects
Throughout production, I modeled a variety of environment assets, ranging from hero props to supporting set dressing. My focus was on creating assets that balanced visual appeal with production efficiency while maintaining the visual style established by the art director.
Here is a selection of some of the assets I created for the project.
Asset Breakdown
Throughout the project, I developed a consistent workflow that allowed me to create assets efficiently while maintaining visual consistency across the film.
Below is a breakdown of that process using one of the project’s environment props: a leather chest.
Every asset began with gathering reference images, either from real-world photography or online sources. Using those references, I created an initial blockout; or, for simpler assets, a first-pass model; to establish the overall proportions and silhouette. From there, I refined the model through several rounds of feedback with the art director until it matched the visual style we were aiming for.
Once the model was complete, I textured the asset in Substance Painter. To ensure visual consistency across the project, I collaborated with the art director to develop a shared texturing template that established the project’s material style while also streamlining production.
Using this template as a foundation, I created an initial texture pass before refining the asset through additional rounds of feedback until it matched the final artistic vision.
Once approved, the asset was imported into Unreal Engine and integrated into the scene. Depending on the needs of the production, I also created additional variations of the asset to populate the environment while maintaining a cohesive visual style.
