"SMALL SOLDIERS | War For The Nekron" Proof of Concept- RAY RAZOR
Ray Razor model rendered with Pathtracing in Unreal Engine 5. The environment art here was done by Giulio Marrone.
When the first Nekronites started to get modelled, we noticed they had more detail than the Space Elites, so we added a high frecuency detail to the black parts of their suits to break speculars without addind extra overal detail.
With Ray I payed close attention to details like imperfections of the mold, the small gap between the sylicon face and the eye pieces, scratches on the paintwork etc
We placed screws in areas in which we thought they'd make sense, but we tried not to hide them too much because we wanted the audience to notice them. The variation in texture that a real metal adds to a plastic toy makes them more grounded.
While my brother and worked to finish the trailer, we asked our team to prepare the STUDIO and the DESKTOP environments for character renders. These were a team effort but I thank specially Josu Martin and Xabier Sevillano for their work on this one.
Although Ray already had some dust on the short film, we created another way of adding dust particles for the toys on these renders. I think they look very nice in this shot.
Once the DESKTOP and STUDIO environments were done, I did the lighting on them, splitting them into four levels. STUDIO_LIT, DESKTOP_SUNLIGHT, DESKTOP_NIGHT and STUDIO_DARK
STUDIO_LIT and DESKTOP_SUNLIGHT gave us the chance to show our characters with nice warm lights, as opposed to what we see in the short film.
In DESKTOP_NIGHT we thought of a fun way of adding dramatic lighting and a wide rim light using things from the environment itself. This was an idea we had for months and we were happy to apply it here.
Additionally STUDIO_DARK lets us show our characters in the classic 3 point studio lighting.
If you look closely, you will see that her right hand and her face are a different material compared to the rest of her body. This is because they are made out of sylicon, so that they are flexible enough to be moved by an inner, robotic skelleton.
This is my final Zbrush model for Ray.
Here's a quick turn around video.
Ray Razor in her box, posed like a "dead" toy. Check out Josu Martin's work to learn more about the boxes!
In this shot we can see how she goes from being a "dead" toy to being "alive".
It was planned very early on in the storyboard that Ray would get out of the box and do the same pose as the stand behind her, to show audiences that she was the main toy. For both toy and stand to match better, I created a variation of the hair piece.
I'm gonna be honest, I put this clip here so that I could talk about those dust and hair pieces on the floor that move a bit when Ray lands near them. I worked hard on that! The particles were modelled by Xabier Sevillano though
This shot served as a guide for me to light and grade the rest of the short film. I took the liberty of moving the stand behind her so that the Space Elite logo covered the whole background.
An important part of the 90's feel we were looking for we tried to achieve it in post production, by adding film imperfections. We tried to make it look like you were watching an VHS tape.
This is a good example of how we tricked things to make them look cinematic and extra dramatic. I placed a floating box on top of Ray and I animated it so that the top light would hit her when and as I wanted.
In order to animate them, characters needed to be rigged. Ray, as always, was the first to undergo the process. The rigid nature of the toys made them easier to rig, although we certainly had our challenges.
From concept to final. Here we can see the first version of Ray that I modelled in Zbrush, and then I rendered it with polypaint in Vray. For the final renders in Unreal, I decided to pose my rig the same way and go full circle
This is the promotional arwork on the stand of the Space Elite.
Promotional art from Ray Razor's toy box.
At this point in time, Caden was the Platoon Leader and Ray was second in command to him. The yellow color on the chest plate reflects his rank, as it will do with Ray once she becomes the new leader.
Their uniforms show the emblem of the Imperial Army. This will also change one Ray assembles de Space Elite taskforce.
Before she lost her arm in the Pits of the Nekron, Ray would always weild a sword in battle, in addition to her gun. With this weapon she earned the nickname Ray Razor. The sword was lost in the Pits too, eventually becoming Khadenn's weapon.
check out our short film here!
[DISCLAIMER: Small Soldiers War for the Nekron is a Proof of Concept project in which our team was hired by Comadran Studios to create a set of toy characters during some months from 2022-2023. The conclussion of the project was the Proof of Concept trailer that brought those new characters to life. We would like to clarify that our team does not own these characters and we do not know what comes next for them after the this Proof of Concept. Designs and story might not represent the final product as they are subject to change during production.]
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This is Ray Razor, and as you might gather, she is the central figure of the project. Right from the start, I knew I had to craft a character with charisma and leadership qualities, yet maintaining a rebellious flair that could both pay homage to and satirize the stereotypical character found in action movies. Translating all of this into a futuristic design was a challenge, ensuring it could also function as an action figure ranging from 20 to 30 cm. This required designing pieces with careful consideration for detail, ensuring they were sturdy enough to withstand play or manufacturing process without breaking.
Additionally, as the leader, Ray needed a balanced design that could unify her entire team, presenting a clear and visible silhouette from all angles. The simplicity of her color scheme makes her easily recognizable among her troops and memorable for the audience.
In contrast to the other characters in the short film, who utilize the incredible material created by Xabier, Ray underwent complete modeling, mapping, and texturing, setting the standard for the remaining characters.
For more information, you can refer to the images and videos in this post. Hope you like Ray!