How noOne created striking animated short Aether Saga
French CG studio noOne has posted a nice technical breakdown of Aether Saga, an impressive 90-second CG short created in 3ds Max, ZBrush, Houdini, V-Ray and Nuke.
A proof-of-concept teaser for a proposed animated series
Founded by Clément Martin, who previously worked at animation firms NKI and Unit Image, noOne is a boutique virtual CG studio.
As well as creating games cinematics, the studio develops original content, and Aether Saga is a proof of concept for a proposed series of three 10-minute animated episodes.
The teaser introduces the two main characters for the series, which takes place in a Skyrim-esque Norse-themed fantasy world.
See the characters evolve from initial concept art to final rendered animation
The breakdown itself takes the characters from initial concepts through visual development and character rigging to final rendered animation.
The characters were modeled and textured in ZBrush and the Substance 3D tools, with Houdini for the hair grooms, and Marvelous Designer and 3ds Max for the cloth simulation.
The scene was assembled in 3ds Max and rendered in V-Ray, and the final short was composited in Nuke.
Created using 3D scans and mocap data from partner facilities
Given that the series is based on the relationship between the characters, the biggest technical challenge was to get photorealistic humans to speak in a believable way.
For the work, noOne partnered with 3D scanning studio Scan Engine, and with motion-capture firms MocapLab and DI4D.
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