Hello! Welcome to my world! I am
Zhiyao Luo
A Passionate Technical Artist Combining Art and Technology to Create Stunning Animation
Portfolio Content
“For the first time in forever, I’m getting what I’m dreaming of.” — Frozen (2013)
My Artwork Gallery
Genshin Shader
Background
This project focuses on investigating and recreating the unique toon-shading rendering style used for characters in the popular game “Genshin Impact.” Inspired by the game’s visually stunning characters, I sought to understand the underlying techniques that bring its blend of 3D flexibility and 2D aesthetic to life. Through this exploration, I aimed to bridge my technical knowledge of computer graphics with artistic creativity.
Objectives
- To understand the artistic and technical elements of “Genshin Impact’s” toon-shading style.
- To implement a similar rendering effect using Unity Shader programming.
- To become familiar with Unity’s development workflow while balancing artistic effects and performance in real-time rendering scenarios.
Technical Implementation
Lighting and Shadow Techniques
- Ramp Textures: Used to control the gradient transition between light and shadow by sampling the ramp texture based on lighting directions.
- ILM Textures: Integrated ambient occlusion, highlight areas, and shadow thresholds for precise control over light and shadow on different parts of the character.
Copyright © miHoYo Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved
For personal portfolio use only.
Copyright © miHoYo Co., Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
For personal portfolio use only.
Result
Copyright © miHoYo Co., Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
For personal portfolio use only.
SDF (Signed Distance Field) Map
- Utilized SDF textures to generate soft facial shadows that dynamically respond to changes in light direction and threshold values.
- Optimized the implementation of Rembrandt lighting using SDF textures, enhancing dynamic facial shading and creating natural shadow transitions that respond to light direction and intensity, improving the overall visual fidelity and depth of the character’s appearance.
Result
Outline Rendering
- Normal-Based Outlines:
- Implemented an expanded model with inverted normals to generate clean and dynamic outline strokes. This approach highlights the character’s contours while preserving real-time performance.
Rigging & Animation
- Rigging Integration
- To enable the character to support dynamic animations, I utilized Unity’s built-in Humanoid Rig system. This system allows seamless integration of animations with the character model while maintaining compatibility with advanced rendering techniques.
- Animation Integration
- To bring the character to life, animations were extracted from MikuMikuDance (MMD) using the MMD4 plugin and adapted for use in Unity’s animation system.
Into the Mortal World
Production Companies: Bilibili, WinSing Animation
Release Date: July 12, 2024
Project Overview
Into The Mortal World is a Chinese animated film directed by Zhong Ding. The story follows Jin Feng, the son of the legendary lovers Niulang and Zhinü, and Xiao Fan, a human girl, as they embark on a thrilling adventure to recapture the escaped celestial beings of the Twenty-Eight Constellations. The film masterfully blends Chinese mythology with modern cultural elements, incorporating traditional fabric arts, Chongqing hot pot, and other distinctive visuals to create a uniquely captivating cinematic experience.
Showcase
Cloth & Hair Simulation Pipeline Development
- • Collaborated with the lead Technical Director to create presets for character simulation, enabling CFX artists to work efficiently and maintain consistent results.
- • design and develop the pipeline and system for cloth,hair and fur simulation for the VFX department.
For personal portfolio use only.
Cloth Simulation for Supporting Character
Achievement
Into the Mortal World™ © All rights belong to the original copyright holders.
For personal portfolio use only.
Seeing my name in the cast was a proud and fulfilling moment for me！
SVBRDF Estimation
Redefining Material Modeling for Digital Art
• My research introduces an unsupervised Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) for generating SVBRDF material maps, reducing dependency on large labeled datasets.
Introduction
• Material modeling plays a critical role in computer graphics and digital art but traditional approaches are time-consuming and resource-intensive.
• Goal: To provide an efficient tool for material reconstruction that enhances digital art creation.
Core Technology
Method
• Utilized unsupervised GAN to generate four types of material maps: Diffuse, Normal, Specular, Roughness.
Innovations
- Diffuse Map Guidance: Utilized guessed Diffuse maps for global feature integration.
- Improved Network Architecture: Enhanced encoder and decoder to generate detailed Normal maps.
Experimental Results
Diffuse (top-left)
Specular (top-right)
Roughness (middle-left)
Normal (middle-right)
Guessed diffuse map (bottom-left)
Game of Life
Project Overview
This project brings John Conway’s Game of Life to life through an interactive Java-based visualization that combines computational logic with artistic expression. Users can create patterns and explore the evolving dynamics of this iconic cellular automaton. Implemented in Java, with a focus on algorithm efficiency, visual design, and user experience, this project showcases my ability to merge technical skills with creative innovation, offering a unique perspective on the interplay between technology and art.
PORTFOLIO 