We are creating a story set in a cyberpunk future world, where advanced technology and neon cities shape everyday life. In this setting, we add elements from the ancient Chinese book Shan Hai Jing, bringing a mythical creature—a monster—into the future. It mixes old legends with a new world, showing how ancient beings might live in a high-tech society.
- Due to memory limitations in the media library, some images have been heavily compressed. For higher-resolution versions, please visit my partner Guanglin Lu (Liam)’s blog page.
- Guanglin Lu(Liam)’s blog
Concept
In Chinese mythology, the nine-tailed fox is a magical creature that can turn into a human — usually a woman — and lives between the world of spirits and people.
So we want to create a story set in a cyberpunk world, about a Chinese ancient fox spirit — a story that connects the past and the present.
It’s kind of like Love, Death & Robots Season 1, Episode 8 — “Good Hunting.” about an ancient fox spirit who comes to an industrial world and has her body turned into a machine.
Script
Set in a cyberpunk metropolis, this project follows a mechanical nine-tailed fox forced to perform endless virtual roles for unseen audiences. Her body is torn apart and rebuilt, her mind bound to the network with no freedom of choice. A system glitch sends her into a Chinese-style virtual realm, where she meets a white fox running freely. Their brief eye contact awakens a distant sense of who she once was. Refusing to obey any longer, she tears off the cable at her neck, falls to the ground, and uses her final strength to destroy the room that held her captive.
Character design
The character design draws inspiration from the nine-tailed fox in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Her outfit blends cyberpunk mechanical aesthetics with traditional Chinese elements, creating a unique balance between futuristic metallic detail and Eastern elegance, and presenting a visual style where the ancient and the futuristic seamlessly intertwine.
Scene design
We designed a sealed, cold room as the robot’s enforced workspace—a central hub where she functions like a captive machine. The walls are covered with countless screens, indicating that she must livestream to numerous viewers simultaneously. Fixed at the center like a core device, her back is tethered by thick cables, surrounded by mechanical units and monitoring equipment. Overhead cameras constantly record and evaluate her every move, creating an atmosphere of pressure, confinement, and surveillance that highlights her existence as a controlled being.
Modeling ＆ Scene built
- zero-zero in virtual space
We created a detailed 3D model of the robot in the virtual space, faithfully following the finalized design blueprint to ensure full alignment with the original concept.
- zero-zero in real space
We created a detailed 3D model of the robot in the real space, faithfully following the finalized design blueprint to ensure full alignment with the original concept.
- indoor scene
We will carry out a systematic setup and detailed arrangement of the interior scene, including model placement, material adjustments, and lighting configuration, followed by multiple rounds of rendering tests. By continuously refining details and parameters, we aim to ensure that the final visual outcome is realistic, atmospheric, and aligned with the project requirements.
Character animation
- Conduct rendering tests on scenes and characters in UE
We will integrate all the scene assets into a unified project and conduct multiple rounds of rendering tests to verify the overall visual quality, performance, and system stability.
- Character animation production
At the beginning, in order to create character animations more efficiently, we attempted to use UE5’s MetaHuman motion-capture system for a faster and more streamlined workflow. We imported our custom model into the MetaHuman system for testing, but encountered several technical issues during the process. Although we eventually managed to import the clothing successfully, unresolved errors occurred during the skeleton binding stage. Given the limited time, we ultimately decided to return to the Cascadeur workflow we had previously tried and were more familiar with to complete the character animation production.
Final video
Reflection
Throughout the production of this project, I gained a much deeper understanding of the importance of proper time management and scheduling. Since the project involved a large amount of character animation work—an area I am not very skilled in—I spent a significant amount of time exploring different technical approaches, trying out various tools, studying references, and repeatedly running tests. During this process, I encountered many unexpected issues and made several avoidable mistakes, which led to repeated revisions and wasted a considerable amount of time that could have been saved. As the schedule became increasingly compressed, the progress in the later stages grew extremely tight, affecting both the overall workflow and the final presentation quality.
From this experience, I realized that for any parts of a project that I am unfamiliar with, I must allocate sufficient preparation time in advance. Before officially starting production, it is essential to spend extra time learning the necessary skills—watching tutorials, reading documentation, understanding tool workflows, and conducting preliminary tests—to reduce the risks that might arise during actual production. Additionally, a more detailed and realistic project schedule should be established from the very beginning, with time specifically reserved for exploration and trial-and-error instead of dealing with problems only after they occur.
Although this project was challenging, it allowed me to recognize my own shortcomings and accumulate valuable experience. In future projects, I will place greater emphasis on early preparation and stronger time management to ensure a smoother, more stable workflow and improve both efficiency and quality in completing the final work.