Unit 8: Final Major Project
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Planning
Overview
I will be creating a game trailer using my own original models. Understanding the cinematic animations that go into making a trailer. This will be a race against the clock as the Mazda MX5 and Ford Mustang Boss 429.
Project proposal
Time management
Here is a calendar which I can view as both a table and a calendar this can help with time management. This is using a tool called notion which is a productivity tool. For this unit I deiced to take a different approach to my previous units.
Notion also allows the use of trello boards which allows me to look at my calendar in further details what I am suppose to do. When clicking on one of my tasks I have made notes from the brief on what I need to do.
This way of managing my time is a new way which I haven’t done before however, I already feel like this is a better way to do it over my past projects. However, the old way I managed my time wasn’t great and had very flimsy deadlines and to try and spread my attention to all of it not just one sided.
There will also be milestones which I will be certified after tasks have been complete for example completing a singular car model will be a huge milestone
Risk Assesment
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Control measures |
| Weather | Likely | Medium | No one can control the weather however, I can check the weather before going to locations to make sure it meets the requirements of being sunny |
| Getting distracted from camera | Unlikely | High | I will allow my father to drive who has more experience than I do so the risk of getting distracted is lower. |
| Photography restrictions | High | Low | Although taking photos of cars is not illegal people can have privacy concerns and therefore, things such as number plates will have to be censored. |
Change of plans
In my pitch I stated that it will be driving however, after doing a risk assessment. I realised that there is a much more safer way of handling this. My father drove my car whist I recorded it this of course still came with it own risks. My father has greater experience which means a lesser chance of him getting distracted when I am filming from the dashboard. Also a 19 being record if road officers are around could look suspicious and have a higher chance of being pulled over.
Contingency Plans
Software: Blender, Unreal Engine 5, or Adobe Premiere Pro could crash at anytime meaning I could lose hours of work. In worst case scenario I might even have to restart my work. In order to avoid this I will create regular backups both on internal and external storage so I will always have a copy with me at all times.
Time Management: I am trying something new for my time management which I haven’t done before this could cause issues as I am not use to it. Some tasks my take longer than expected or shorter. I will priorities the writing first then focus on the functionality of the trailer I plan on creating such as camera movement. There is always a risk of being ill which could have set me back a few weeks.
Scalability: I have been known to over scope my projects in the past leaving last minuet changes in order to get the project done. If this does become a issue then yes I will be having to change things such as making the car even more low poly or making the animation in blender itself.
Vehicles
Ford Mustang Boss 429
I picked the Ford Mustang Boss 429 as it is my favourite car. It is also one of the most aggressive looking Mustangs there are. Due to this I think it would be great to have in the trailer as the aggressive looking Mustang can be eye catchy to my audience. The Boss 429 is also a limited edition Mustang which exited car ethuest for the Muscle cars. The Mustang 429 was released in 1969 which will give it Nostalgia feel. The Mustang 429 featured in John Wick giving it a history in film. It also featured in some of the Forza games.
Mazda MX5 Miata
The Mazda MX5 Miata is my friend Josh’s favourite car. The MX5 is much more common than the 429 allowing it to be more relatable. The MX5 has a more fun looking design as it looks more like a person which gives it a cool look.
Plot
The idea of the trailer plot is to be symbolic to the journey of college. I have choose the cars for this reason. Using cars as a way to show my growth from the begging of the year to the end of the year.
Location
Research
Primary Research
Audince
My target audience will be for car enthusiasts. Which are around the adults and teenagers who has a intreast of cars. They are also into the anime inspired visuals. The age group is very active online and spend a lot of time on social media such as YouTube and Twitter/X. My target audience overview is for those that like cars and can be portrayed in a anime style animation . Using a mixture of both worlds realism on cars but the visual appearance of anime.My target audience overview is for those that like cars and can be portrayed in a anime style animation . Using a mixture of both worlds realism on cars but the visual appearance of anime.
Unit8-Form
Unit8-FormAns
In my forms I found out that my target audience…
Someone driving my own car
After doing a risk plan we found out that me driving the car in a unknown area could lead to more hazards and dangerous. Therefore, my father decided to drive whist my mum recorded. The way of recording was that the phone was directly on the dashboard allowing the phone to pick up each bump and to have a greater idea on how suspension works on the car.
Although my car is a automatic hybrid and was produced in 2025 meaning it is newer and has different technologies for the car suspension it still is able to give me a foundation to how I can manage suspension in my trailer. Having this footage also allows me to get a greater idea of the location with things such as pot holes.
There are significant differences within the cars themselves for example the mustang boss is a rear wheel drive as well as the MX whereas, mine is a front real drive. They are by different year gaps and manufactures so again they use new technologies. However, with my secondary support of Forza Motorsport 4 I will be able to get a greater feel.
Secondary Research
Visuals
For my visuals I have decided to go with a cel shader this this because I am very passionate about the anime look. This is because I am very formila with how it looks and the ways of achieving it based on previous works. I feel like the cel shader also express more emotion than regular lighting because of the tones used for the story telling.
A cel shader (also known as toon shading) is a way to give a hand drawn look. Instead of smooth gradients and realistic lighting. A cel shader usually contain different bands which often is good for lighting direction. There are many different types of cel shading from stylised from titles like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker or the anime games such as Dragon Ball FighterZ. Each has their own unquiet style not just within games but in movies to.
This is a cel shader made with blender 4.2. Although this isn’t unreal engine which is what the animation will be taking place in. This was inspired by Persona 3 Reload which was created in unreal engine 4. However, due to it being open sourced I can have a look at the project and try to translate it to Unreal engine again.
I took inspiration from the GDC talk about how guilty gear managed to achieve their cel shading this is because I believe this is a very polished anime look which I want to recreate. When I looked into the cel shading on YouTube around 90% was post processed material however, I think gilty gear gives better lines and more control. Whereas, post process happends when realistic lighting has been applied and you get a splogy gredient which would ruin the style.
Guilty gear has achieved the art style already by having different camera angles within battle. These types of camera angles will be good for the cinematic idea. Creating the anime style in 3D scenes can help create a innovative story telling this is because you can capture more emotion and expression.
Cel shading is quite hard to get right this is because there is no middle ground between and if it is too inconstant it can very easily be ruined which has happens numerous times before. It is also hard to show a replicated 2D style in 3D. An anime called RWBY is one of the most popular 3D anime however, I still believe that there is still ground to explore.
How to create a cel shader
The cel shader contain 3 main components.
- Threshold – This is the the point between the shadow value and the light value creating the highlights of the shadow.
- Light vector – This is the direction of which the light is coming from. This will work along the side of the threshold as if that threshold is met then shadow highlight will show.
- Normal vector – This is often the way that the faces are facing as seen in the example image above.
However, a cel shader is very dependent on lighting without good lighting your cel shader will suck. There is no global lighting effecting the characters meaning each character has their own point light in order to best convey the light vector. The light is also adjusted for each cut scene. However, I will not be adding singular light per character and will instead use a global light in a smart way as mentioned in my research about lighting later.
Vertex normal are very different to face normal. A lot of 3D modelling engines have tools to work the vertex normal out however, this is often for realism and not cel shading. Also Guilty Gear got the effect by setting them manually which is time consuming. Therefore, I will be using normal maps as they are more piratical however, there will be less control.
Color in anime is treated in away to express different emotions and moods giving a pathetic fallacy feel. The combination between the light and shadow vectors create a way of expressing the character or model. Anime also priorities the foreground and tend to make the background less detailed.
So how is color achieved? Color is often done by the unwrapped model and applying the colors needed in a flat shaded way. Before becoming cel shaded. They multiply 2 textures together allowing more control over the shadow.
Outline can be split into 2 categories. One is the outside outline which often uses a inverted hull method which is flipping your entire mesh inside out which is a poorly optimized way of doing it. However, it gives you more control than using post processing. Post processing is a less controlled way however, is more optimized. However, I will still use the inverted hull method this is because I will have more control as we have already changed a few parts of the method this is one part which I don’t want to change. The next outline method is that inner outline. This is again controlled via textures or can be done manually which is very hard to do. Adding a inner outline adds diversity
After doing a few attempts in with my cel shader I decided to go into further details about a cel shader as I wasn’t hitting the look that I wanted. It felt like I was missing something therefore, I decided to do further research. I felt that my first attempt was closer than my recent attempts people also noticed this difference.
In this tutorial he uses post processing which was mentioned during the GDC however, for the same reasons of Guilty gear avoiding it however, this does make a good contingency plan for if something was to go wrong. As this goes into a lot of detail on how to get the look.
Throughout my research I managed to stumble on a car anime by the official Toyota group which looks very cool. Looking at this art style on their cars it made me relise that Post process might be the way to go as it is more adaptive as well. Which is something I struggled to get right on this one. The Toyota anime GRIP looks a lot more stodgy than having a hard coded shader. I will now be using post processing which will give me less control on the overall shader. But this will be a plan B if the technique is too hard to use.
Let’s break down how the car looks. Based on how the lighting is made we can see how it is interacting with shadows and the overall look. You can see that the car is a mostly solid color but feels less metallic. There is no outline on the car we can see that the shadows are more splodge. We can see it still features a hand drawn element. Instead of hard two-tone shadows it has a smooth gradient between light and darker elements. It has very basic environment shading.
This is from initial d. It features a more well known anime 1990s look. It has a outline however, it doesn’t engolf the entire car it is mostly to show detail. The car feels more metalic and less flat. The shader is less reflective than GRIP as well.
Previous works
I have got some expirence making a cel shader as I teamed up with my friend Josh in order to create this very off Simptions look. This was from a older project from last year (cel shader) and therefore, I am a little rusty on the techniques that was applied. But overall I think I can make a better looking cel shader which is more directed at the anime genre.
Lighting
Another GDC which will impact my game is that of Forza Horizon 3. This is because of their technology in order to create the sky within the game. Although this focuses more on the realism I can still focus on the lighting how it can effect the environment.
When doing research on the car commercials I relised that they featured different times of days which I thought was a cool idea. My original thought was to use a video however, there are many disadvantages of this.
Going to the location to capture real time lighting and how it effects the world around it will add to the realism of how the world should look but with the twist of the cel shader. This would consume a lot of time and require data processing. I managed to find a resource which I could use which contained high detailed HDR. Therefore, I will be using that in my production. This method will be more limiting as I won’t be able to use many of their techniques but the idea is much the same. I still plan on using motion however, in a different method.
If I am to use a custom HDR I would like to present the shadows in a also very realistic way this is done by getting a scrolling texture which can show cloud reflections on model adding to that realistic look.
I didn’t get too much information from it unlike the cel shader this is because although lighting is relevant and this has given me ideas for my lighting and how to do it this will still require trial and error.
Previous works
I have had a play with lighting once before however, it didn’t look to great this is because my understanding of it isn’t great and there are huge gaps within my knowledge. I understood the basics but couldn’t come up with a good way of doing it. However, with this new understanding of lighting I will be able to do better.
Fast & Furious as 10 movies with a 11 in development releasing in 2028. In order for me to understand what makes a good car trailer I have decided to take a dive into the film series. However, I haven’t got a large amount of time to watch each induvial therefore, I decided to watch the top 3 IMDb rating. Understanding the different shots and how they were used in the car scenes. As it will also let me reach my audience reception. For each movie I will also look at the reviews to try and understand why the ratings average around 7.
Forza Motorsport 4
I was away when making this game play teaser for my primary research of going to the location. In my MX5 game play. I had a feel for the controls and looking at how the AI was competing against me. There are gameplay bugs but I made do.
Production Diary
Ford Mustang Boss 429
This plugin looked amazing in order to create my car with how simple it looked to create a low poly style. However, I put it into practice as you can see in Attempt 1 it didn’t go great. There was significant room for improvement.
This was my first attempt at the ford mustang boss 429. I used a tool which I discovered on X which looked pretty cool. I did no research in how to make cars this is because I wanted to see if I could do it myself first as this would be a good challenge and know where my knowledge gabs are. This is basically what the plugin demoed and it got the shape but didn’t look quite right. This was the same idea but instead I used a sub division modifer. Then I filled it in by hand and used 2 boolens in order to make the wheel arch. I then relised that there is a front and back and top view which I overlooked causing it not to look very good. Due to me not paying much attention to what I was doing I belevied it would have been a painful fix therefore, I started over.
Attempt 2
Okay this is the same method however, this time round I made sure the front and side was good with a little bit of the top. However, I kept getting lost in the modelling process I also noticed that certain areas of the car will be hard to work with. Such as the wheel artch by hand this is because it caused bad toponlogy later.
The relational hit I noticed no matter what I wanted to do I felt like something was always off and therefore, I decided to turn to a YouTube playlist which give the realism feel I am hoping to achieve with the cars I want to make.
Attempt 3
After watching the YouTube video I feel like my understanding of blender and how to model has grown. I will be using the same method they did but for the Ford Mustang.
Mazda MX-5 Miata 1990
Making a YouTube Car
This is the tutorial I am using in order to create my car . This is because the final results they got is what I want to achieve. I decided to do the car from the video this is because it would let me get a understanding of the method they used.
Part 1
In part 1 we was laying out the references. They did it in away I have never thought of doing before. What happens is it is a plane that you put the image on you then cut it where you want it spit then parent it and position it to the reference. This is amazing as now you don’t have over sized images and makes it a little easier to follow.
Part 2
In part 2 we being to start making the car. We covered the modelling the hood and creating the side fender. This video helped a lot as seeing where they placed the cuts made me realise that I wasn’t cutting properly where I need to. This took a lot longer than expected as I kept rewinding the video in order to understand it better. But before I move to the next part I want to try and tidy mine up and make it more similar to his. I decided to post it on Twitter and got a feedback from the guy who made the tutorial. The hardest thing to do with this model is try an get the indents correctly. However, his feedback was very kind and thoughtful. Having the creator comment on my model has made me feel more motivated and that it is worth carrying on with.
Part 3
During part 3 this is when I started having a sinking feeling that I was going of track therefore, I decided to ask my friend Josh for some feedback.
In part 3 we covered how modeling the Front Bumper, air intake and details and creating turn signal cutouts. I felt unsure however, the positive feedback I got early on from Josh motivated me to keep going and not start from scratch. The hardest thing to do within the modelling process right now is the indents and adding small touches which has always been a weakness of mine however, in this model I feel like I am improving slowly. You can see it is coming along nicely but does lack a little bit of the small details this is something I am working on getting better at.
Part 4
In part 4 we worked on the windshield & Glass. This was the shortest part so far and overall I think I am doing very well with the tutorial series. Mine is a little less detailed and more jagged than his however, for a first attempt at a new method I am doing very well. I have also learned a few new techniques. I feel like I need to play with some vertices in order to best make it look better.
Part 5
In part 5 we worked on the Soft Top & Windows and now it is really coming together. My main goal isn’t to go 1:1 but instead to get it to look very similar. So far this is good but I need to play with it which I still haven’t done this is because I am worried I would break the model therefore, I have now created a back up and should be able to modify it without worry.
Tweaks
I once again asked for feedback this is because when doing something by myself I felt like I ruined the mesh however, it was the complete opposite. I created a backup project and decided to make some noticeable changes such as the grill is no more acute to the model. I also removed duplicated vertices this helped a lot in managing the topology. There is still room for topology improvements. However. this is coming along nicely. I also made the light more pronounced. I now feel ready to do Part 6. I have also decided that I don’t want to do the pop up lights that is a key feature of the car this is because on a time crunch there is no point adding details which don’t matter too much. I enjoyed doing these tweaks because it wasn’t part of the video and was nice to have a small break.
Part 6
I resumed the tutorials and we focused on the doors & side body. However, I did run into a little issue which was my mirror modifer not applying properaly. To overcome this I just place it by hand which gave me more control over where the rear wheel fender. I feel very uncertain about the side coming along this is because theirs is much more smoother than mine. I don’t know how to feel about it cause well… There is a huge difference but I think I might keep it so I understand the method then I will work on it again maybe after mustang. However, that is very time consuming and will be the last of my priorities.
This is the most liked post so far for the MX5 this liking has made me more wanting to carry on with this car due to the positive feedback however, the edges are a bit harsh to me so I want to smoother them out some more.
Part 7
So I did some refining on the sides as feedback from both myself said it looked too lumpy on the side to fix this I added a sub division modifier. This has a lot of vertices as it is and that the sub division is X2 there is going to be a lot of geometry. I feel like there needs to be more attention to deal and to optimise the amount of vertices on the mesh. In this part we spent a long time refining the side as well as adding the door handle. Part 7 was mostly a 2nd segment of part 6 however, this was good as I think the pacing of the videos are amazing. This is honestly breath taking on how this is coming together.
Here is a wireframe view as you can tell it is mostly made of quads which allows better topology however, there are way to many varices to manage so when the sub division is applied by 2 then it will be very dense. This is NOT how it looks in the tutorial as his wireframe is minimal but I added more cuts to give more control to the mesh but in reality it has made it much hard to work with. I feel like I need to have a play with it before it gets too late to make it match the blueprint the best as I can.
Part 8
In part 8 we worked on the rear fender, trunk & taillights which turned out alright this took a long time to get right as I realised that my topology was getting too different to the tutorials making it harder to follow step by step. However, putting that aside it is coming on well. I am now approaching the half way mark and this is worth it. I have scanned a lot of it and he makes a higher poly version of this soon. However, I will not be wanting this as I don’t think that it is needed for the project I want to create. I also do not want the pop up headlights as they won’t be need for the trailer therefore, if I don’t need it then I won’t make it.
Part 9
I have now reached the half way point rear bumper & undercarriage are now complete. Although there are imperfections and things that don’t look right to me in this model this is something that I am proud of. My topology still sucks but I think I will amend it once the car has been made to the best I can do it. This is important to do as I plan on UV wrapping the model this is because it will benefit it in the cel shader. As I hope to get a physical based cel shader to work.
Tweaks 2
I decided to do some tweaking to the wireframe at this stage. This is because I felt the wireframe was too dense and that certain areas wasn’t looking that great and need to be a little more detailed.
Cel shader
Attempt 1
I tried to use the unreal mannequin a test subject before making my own models and importing them this is because I want to create. However, this did not work well and in attempt 2 I changed my test subject. I used a material function however, it didn’t adapt to the lighting well.
Attempt 2
I decided that I wanted to add the P3 character from my research this is because it would give me a better test subject before importing my own models. This was a choice in order to try and get it as close as I can to the original product.
This is what I got for my second attempt this is slightly different from the first attempt. I decided to take a very similar approach this still uses a material function but this time it is blended between a regular material to. Which basically gets the material function + texture allowing it to be more optimised than having to redo the same function in multiple materials. In this I still think I need another version this is because it lacks in signifcant characteristics to that guilty gear has.
Attempt 3
Instead of using a material function I have decided to do it for each as the only thing that changes is the texture which allows duplicating easier. Material function also had different effects to the cel shader. This is also three banded giving it more of a anime look however, it doesn’t look as nice on the character. I feel the more I attempt the cel shader the further away I am from achieving it.
Attempt 4
After doing further research into cel shader in my research area. I have created this…
Production
- High-quality visuals and audio
- Engaging presentation
- Custom graphics, titles, or overlays
- A finished game demo that shows off key features from the chosen focus area
Reflection
- Submit your final project via your website (YouTube link or embedded video).
- Include an Artist Statement, explaining your work’s intention.
- Peer Feedback: Gather feedback from classmates and reflect on improvements.
- Self-Evaluation: What worked? What would you change next time?
References
Wikipedia. (2024). Mazda MX-5 (NA). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_MX-5_(NA).
Wikipedia Contributors (2024). Boss 429 Mustang. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_429_Mustang.
IMDb. (2021). All Fast & Furious Movies. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls068935667/?sort=user_rating%2Cdesc [Accessed 17 Mar. 2026].