This is my submission for the Kitbash 3D Mission to Minerva challenge.
I have been experimenting with NPR styles lately and have been really enjoying learning new techniques for my pipeline. For example previously I was adding black outlines using "Find Edges" or the Red Giant "Sketchify" add-on, but this time around I used a levels crunched ambient occlusion pass.
For a little extra style I ran the animation through Stable Diffusion to create more of a painterly look. I tried not to overdo it and used strategic masks/mattes to add the effect where I wanted it.
I'm happy with how this turned out, especially since I've never designed/ animated a 3D robot before.
I wish everyone good luck in the challenge!
Final
These are two passes of my Mission to Minerva challenge. I wanted to push the painterly look of my shaders, so I ran the animation through Stable Diffusion. This effect ended up being too intense, so I comped it with the original.
Face texture. The eyes were animated in After Effects using Joysticks and Sliders. The mouth was animated in Character Animator using the lip sync tools
Early blocking