Gauntlet - Introduction

As part of my final year of university, I had to work on a project for six months. My project was called "Gauntlet", a 4-minute-long, stylised, 3D animation. It's sci-fi-action and the story is about these six characters who take part in a sporting event that uses sci-fi armour and superpower-like abilities. I created this animation using a mixture of motion capture and hand animation in Autodesk Maya, as well as some additional effects added in Adobe After Effects. The animation can be found below. More details about the project can be found in the sections after this.
Base Human Model: Autodesk Character Generator
Music: "Pan" - filmstro.com
Sound Effects: freesound.org
Software: Shogun Live, Shogun Post, MotionBuilder, Autodesk Maya, Adobe After Effects

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Why "Gauntlet"?

The reason that I chose to do this project in particular is that I’ve had the idea for “Gauntlet” ever since I first started learning 3D. Back when I was taking my A levels, I started to learn how to use Blender to create 3D models. During this time, I came up with the idea for a series called “Gauntlet”. I decided to use the final year project as an opportunity to revisit the core idea for the series, and remake it with new and improved CG assets and characters, now that my CG skill have improved since then. This was the basis for my animation idea.

It’s called “Gauntlet” because the main characters wear sci-fi armour that, when in its “standby” mode, is compacted into a single forearm piece (a gauntlet) but when activated, covers their entire body in the armour. Each character has a unique ability/super power called a “Talent”.

Character Designs

When I started to design the characters, I began with noting down what key parts would influence their design. For instance:

-I decided to name each character based on the phonetic alphabet i.e. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. (This also fits with the other meaning of the word “characters”)
-I gave each character their own personality that would be reflected in their design.
-Each character was also given a special ability, like a superpower, called a talent. The talent that a character had would influence the design of the character’s armour.
-Since there are 6 team members, I also decided that I would give each of them a special role within their team. These roles would be based on the 6 different chess pieces on a chess board and these pieces would be reflected in their design.

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Name:

Alfie’s name comes from a shortened version of the word “Alpha” which is the phonetic word for the letter A.

Talent:

Alfie’s Talent is called “Duplicate”. He can create clones of himself that can fight alongside him. These clones work like a percentage, the more of them there are, the weaker each one is. For instance, Alfie could create 100 clones but each one would only be 1% the strength of Alfie or he could create 1 clone with 100% of the strength he has. When a clone is defeated, it “shatters”.

Chess Piece:

Alfie’s assigned role is the Pawn chess piece. The reason for this is because he represents all 8 of the Pawn pieces on a side, this due to his Duplicate ability. He and his clones make an entire row. He is also given the Pawn role as he has potential to become specialised like the other chess pieces (this is in reference to the fact that, in chess, if a Pawn piece reaches the other side of the board, they can become another piece).

Personality:

Alfie is a trend-follower. He typically goes with whatever is popular at the time and doesn’t question things often. He likes to “go-with-the-flow” and not worry about things that aren’t directly impacting him. (This personality is reflected in his assignment of the Pawn role as, in chess, pawn pieces typically have less consideration put into where they are placed and a pawn piece is one of many).

Clothes Design:

Alfie’s design is meant to reflect his personality and view on life i.e. going with whatever’s popular. As such, he wears generic clothes (jeans and a t-shirt) and has a generic male hair style, combed up and towards the side.

Gauntlet Design:

Alfie’s gauntlet has several inspirations. First of all, he has a mask above his visor, which could be pulled down to cover his eyes, which represents the part of his personality that “turns a blind eye” to things.

Alfie also has two SMGs (Sub-Machine Guns). This relates to his position as a Pawn. A pawn only has a limited range in chess, as does the SMGs. Not only that but by using two guns he can find out whether he prefers to fight with one handed or two-handed guns which relates to him, as a Pawn, being able to later specialise.

The main inspiration behind Alfie’s gauntlet design is a dragon, specifically, the Welsh dragon (which is red). The reason for being inspired by a dragon is because of his Talent, “Duplicate”. Alfie’s ability made me think of how lizards can often grow back lost limbs which led to the idea of large lizards i.e. dragons. Not only that but typically young boys like dragons, and this fits with his personality of going with whatever is popular. Alfie’s gauntlet has lots of parts that stick out like the spikes on a dragon, particularly on his head and down his spine. He also has circular parts that look like dragon scales on his body.

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Name:

Charlie’s name comes from the phonetic word for the letter C, “Charlie”..

Talent:

Charlie’s Talent is called “Gravity”. She has the ability to cancel out gravity on different objects as well as change the direction of gravity for those different objects. This can also be used on people and herself. She needs to have touched the object recently or she can send out a pulse wave to affect areas near her.

Chess Piece:

Charlie is assigned the Bishop chess piece. The reason behind this is because a bishop chess piece can travel diagonally. Traveling diagonally, means that you get further, quicker than traveling only in a grid (I.e. “as the crow flies”). This relates to Charlie because of her Talent. Not only can she use her Talent to travel large distances, but gravity is associated with space and objects in space are very far apart from each other. Not only that but looking up into space is also associated with religious things, which relates to the name “Bishop”.

Personality:

Charlie is quite a timid and shy person, often keeping to herself. However, she is still very kind and caring, she just prefers not to be the centre of attention. (Her “distant” personality relates back to her Talent of gravity, which relates to space and large distances, as well as her role as a Bishop. Not only that but bishops are meant to be kind and charitable, which also fits with her personality).

Clothes Design:

Charlie’s design is meant to reflect her personality. She wears a cardigan/jumper to reflect the fact that she is closed off but is still warm and comforting towards people. She also has her hair tied back into a ponytail to symbolise how she is always ready to listen to others people’s issues.

Gauntlet Design:

Charlie uses a sniper rifle. The reason for this relates back to a theme surrounding Charlie of distance. A sniper rifle is a long-range weapon, so as someone who relates a lot to long distances, this weapon best suits her. There is also a practical reason for Charlie using a sniper rifle and that is because a sniper rifle has a lot of recoil. Charlie can use that recoil to move around if she has turned off gravity for herself.

Charlie’s Gauntlet was inspired by a stereotypical rocket and shuttle. This connects to her theme of gravity and space. The orange of the rocket and the white for the shuttle were the inspiration behind the colour scheme of her Gauntlet. The shape of the rocket and shuttle also inspired the shape of certain areas of her Gauntlet.

However, it wasn’t just the rocket and shuttle that inspired the design of her armour. The round, ball-like parts of her Gauntlet are inspired by real-life space helmets, with the bowl-like shape and round visors. This again fitting with the theme of space. Not only that but ball-like parts of her armour were also partially inspired by the shape of planets and by stereotypical alien heads, which are often round and large.

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Name:

Delta’s name comes from the phonetic word for the letter D, “Delta”.

Talent:

For some “unknown” reason, Delta can’t manifest a Talent. As such she decided to use some of her mechanical knowledge to make modifications to her own Gauntlet to help her keep up with the others. She’s added things like thrusters on the back of her legs, a jetpack, “spring locks” and a turret.

Chess Piece:

Delta has been assigned the Queen chess piece. The reasoning behind this is that a queen chess piece can do what any of the other pieces can do (except for the knight). This relates to Delta, since, her modifications help her with being able to pull off similar feats to those with Talents i.e. she can use her jet pack to fly like how Charlie can use her Talent to help her fly as well.

Personality:

Delta has a very upbeat and outgoing personality. She’s very energetic and can get very excited about things and she hates having nothing to do and being bored. If she finds something she’s interested in she’ll devote all of her energy into it, so much so that she forgets about other things she needs to do.

Clothes Design:

Delta is designed in a way that is meant to reflect her personality. She has short and messy hair which is meant to link to her energetic and chaotic personality and lifestyle. She also wears shorts and short sleeve t-shirts which is meant to reflect the fact that she is very extroverted and outgoing. The pink of her shirt is also meant to symbolise her “bright” personality.

Gauntlet Design:

Since Delta doesn’t have a Talent, I designed her Gauntlet in a way that took the basic Gauntlet design and added equipment on top of it, as if Delta was making modifications to the basic Gauntlet that she was given.

For weapons, Delta uses two pistols and a detachable chain-gun turret. The reason for the two pistols is because pistols are basic compared to the other weaponry and are less specialised which fits with Delta’s attributes. The reason for her having a chain-gun turret is a mixture of the fact that she modified her own Gauntlet and her eccentric and over-the-top personality. Since she could make adjustments to her Gauntlet to have whatever she wanted, she would want to add whatever the biggest gun she could find to it.

The design of her Gauntlet was inspired by steampunk. As such her Gauntlet has lots of parts that are pure metal, as opposed to the painted metal that most of the other Gauntlets have. Her Gauntlet has lots of support pipes to help give it the look of something that’s had stuff added to it. Parts of her Gauntlet design were also inspired by things like car engines. This links to her mechanical engineering background.

Her visor was designed to reflect part of her personality. The fact that it is only two eye holes means that she has limited field of view which symbolises how she can only focus on what’s in front of her.

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Name:

Oscar’s name comes from the phonetic word for the letter O, “Oscar”.

Talent:

Oscar has a Talent called “Current”. This Talent allows Oscar to turn his body into an electrical current. This can be used to travel through things like metal and down wires as well as allowing the user to become a ball of electrical energy and travel through the air. Oscar will start by disintegrating into particles which become the electrical current before reforming when he chooses.

Chess Piece:

Oscar is assigned the King chess piece. This makes Oscar the team leader. He is in charge of various responsibilities for his team and is in charge of giving them directions when they are in battle.

Personality:

Oscar is someone who tries to do the right thing for the good of everyone, believing that it is his responsibility to help as many people as he can (this links to his assignment of the King chess piece as a king is responsible for protecting the people). He is also somewhat of a “goody-two-shoes” and credulous towards his superiors, believing that they are doing what is best for everyone. Whilst not always a problem, this can sometimes lead to blind faith and doing things that go against what he believes. This was also partly the reason why his higher-ups gave him the position of team leader, so that they could easily control the team.

Clothes Design:

Oscar’s clothes reflect parts of his personality. For instance, he wears a smart, button up shirt, tucked into his trousers with smart brown shoes. This matches with his trait of doing as he is told and doing his best to impress his bosses. This also matches with his position as King, as kings are meant to dress up smartly and properly. He also has a hairstyle which is shaved on the sides but has hair on top. This contrast is meant to symbolise his struggle with wanting to do what is right for the people but also wanting to do as he is told, even if he thinks it’s wrong.

Gauntlet Design:

Oscar’s Gauntlet was designed to be blocky with well-defined edges. The reason for this was to fit with Oscar’s traits. For instance, the rigid shapes of his Gauntlet fit with the structured and orderly aspects of his life such as following the orders given to him. Also, the defined edges of the Gauntlet match with his style of dressing smartly and “properly”. Not only that but the blocky-ness of the Gauntlet also matches with his Talent. The blocky-ness imagery has connotations of a big city which matches with the electrical aspect of his Talent.

There are several reasons behind the blue and yellow colouring of his Gauntlet. For instance, his Talent is called “current” which refers to electrical currents, yellow, but also sounds like an ocean current, blue. However, there are more reasons for this colouring. The blue was inspired by old police uniforms which were blue. This matches Oscar’s selflessness, since he always wants to do what he can to protect and serve the people. However, this can also represent corrupt police officers or, in Oscar’s case, police following orders of a corrupt higher-up, even though they know it’s wrong.

As for the yellow, this is also inspired by caution tape used by police. This also inspired the diagonal lines on parts of his Gauntlet.

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Name:

Ray’s name comes from a shortened version of the word “X-Ray” which is the phonetic word for the letter X.

Talent:

Ray’s Talent is called “Strengthen” and increases the strength of his muscles. This Talent only works on one or two limbs at a time, and needs to be consciously activated by Ray. It takes a short amount of time to fill those muscles with the extra power and as such Ray can’t just keep using it and switching between different limbs. There is a drawback to this Talent as well, if too much power is exerted using the Talent, it can recoil and hurt Ray.

Chess Piece:

Ray holds the position of Rook on the team. The reasoning behind this is because Ray is strong and tough which matches with the Rook, which is a castle. Another reason that he is given the Rook position is that he typically tends to charge straight forward into battle. This relates to the rook because rooks only travel in straight lines on the chess board.

Personality:

Ray is the type of person who likes to constantly train and work out to get stronger and to relieve stress. He is very big on physical self-improvement. (This relates to his Talent since it helps him get stronger briefly and by training, he can get even stronger). Other than working out he has a very laidback and relaxed personality. However, he does have some problems with being ordered about, particularly by Oscar. This is partly due to the fact that Ray feels that he should be the leader of the team since he is the strongest and the oldest/most experienced (this relates to his position as Rook as castles are very old). This feud with Oscar is a reference to the fact that in chess there is a move you can do between a King and a Rook called “Castling”.

Clothes Design:

To reflect his personality, Ray wears a hoodie and jogging bottoms. The hoodie is a reflection of the laidback and relaxed part of Ray’s personality. However, the jogging bottoms represent his love for training and getting stronger.

Gauntlet Design:

Ray uses a double barrel shotgun as his weapon of choice. The reasoning behind this is, due to his Talent, he likes to fight in close range of his enemies. As such a shotgun, which has a short range is a good fit for him. In addition, the fact that it is double barrel symbolises the use of both of his fists as a weapon.

In terms of the Gauntlet armour, there are several inspirations behind the design. The reason behind the green colour is due to his Talent. “Super strength” is a very common superpower in the super hero genre, so I looked to them for inspiration. Quite a few characters with “super strength” have green as their primary colour.

On Ray’s Gauntlet, there are areas that have bumpy parts. These parts were designed to look similar to toned muscles, such as a six-pack. This fits with Ray’s Talent which makes his muscles stronger and his fondness for working out his body. The black parts of his Gauntlet are smooth and thick. These parts were inspired by shin pads and steel-toecap/heavy duty boots.

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Name:

Sierra’s name comes from the phonetic word for the letter S, “Sierra”.

Talent:

Sierra’s Talent is called “Crystallise”. This Talent allows her to crystallise the air around her into solid matter. These crystals glow a slight purple. A novice with this Talent wouldn’t be able to control how the crystals form very well. However, Sierra has had lots of practise with her Talent and can form swords, shields and a crystalline “exoskeleton” at will. However, if she wanted to create something she had not created before, she would have trouble getting it to form correctly.

Chess Piece:

Sierra has been assigned the Knight position. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, a knight chess piece has unique movement, moving in an “L” shape. This applies to Sierra since she fights in a unique way from the others. She prefers to fight with her crystal swords rather than with guns. In addition, the Knight position is given to her because medieval knights fought with swords and shields, as does Sierra.

Personality:

Sierra doesn’t get along with other people easily. She can be a bit cold and prickly to people and prefers to keep to herself. She prefers to do her own thing and not get involved with others. She has a bit of a sharp tongue and an “edgy” personality (this references her use of swords which are sharp). Despite these things though, she is very particular about upholding any debts that she owes other people and won’t forget to return the favour (linking to a knight’s code of honour). She also happens to be the daughter of someone who is quite prominent in the government of the world in which “Gauntlet” takes place. (This is another link to her position as a Knight, as knights came from noble families).

Clothes Design:

Sierra was designed to reflect different parts of her character. For instance, she has long, curly, black hair that covers one of her eyes. The reason for this design choice is to represent her hiding away from others. In addition, long, curly hair used to be a style that rich people and nobles wore back in parts of history. The reasoning for her primarily black clothing is a play on words. She is in the position of Knight which is pronounced the same as “night” and the night is dark and black. However, under her black clothing she has a white, long sleeve shirt. This represents that once you get to know her and get past her “dark” exterior you get to know her better.

Gauntlet Design:

Sierra uses two specially designed sword holders to help her channel her crystallise Talent into a specific place. She also carries with her a standard rifle for use when she can’t fight with her swords.

Sierra’s Gauntlet has a few major inspirations, the most obvious one is medieval knights. The helmet was designed to look like that of a knight’s helmet. This was to match her position as a Knight and her use of swords and shields. Her Gauntlet also takes inspiration from plate armour, however, the plating has been given sharp edges to match with her personality.

Whilst her Gauntlet takes inspirations from European knights, her “exoskeleton”, where she covers her entire body with crystals, was inspired by Japanese Samurai, which are similar to knights in many ways. The plates covering the different parts of the body are meant to look like a samurai’s armour. This is especially true for the helmet where the plates have been stretched in areas to look like a classic samurai helmet.

The reasoning for the purple colouring links back to Sierra’s noble inspiration. Purple was a colour that was very expensive in the past and as such only rich people and royalty/nobles could wear it. In addition, many crystals are purple in colour so this fits her Talent as well.