Autodesk Media & Entertainment
Animated short film SCRAP METAL is a testament to what’s possible with the right vision and creative tools. Showcasing the vertical metropolis of a fictional Oris City, the film is effectively the stunning 3D world created by CG Supervisor and Art Director Darko Mitev brought to life. The concept originated as a personal passion project, then in 2022, Darko teamed up with Richard Keane, Writer/Director/Producer and founder of Out Left Productions, to realize a dynamic story within the imaginative setting.
From artist to filmmaker
After starting his career as a visual effects (VFX) generalist, Darko shifted his focus to animation and developed a distinct talent for 3D world-building. For SCRAP METAL, Darko remained involved as an artist while also overseeing a creative team which required him to take a different approach to 3D; he shared, “As an artist, you want your models and UVs to be perfect, which is great when you’re building a portfolio. However, when you’re trying to make a film, you must consider the story, the film’s flow, your deadlines, and how to coordinate everyone collaborating on the project together as a team.”
In crafting the world of SCRAP METAL, Darko has relied heavily on Autodesk Maya, something he’s done since his earliest days as a 3D artist. “Maya is the industry standard for 3D animation. Every artist that I know works with Maya and I’ve used it my whole life. Maya allows you to do nearly anything you want to in animation,” Darko noted. “For this project, I’ve adopted existing technology like CAD modeling, Boolean workflows and methods that will help me get faster, high quality results rather than traditional approaches. Maya has been very flexible in that regard.”
Modeling Oris City
SCRAP METAL explores the multiple levels of Oris City. Space is constrained, so it can only grow upward. The city is designed to be very modular, which both serves the story and enables SCRAP METAL artists to reuse assets.
While the architecture is Brutalist influenced, Darko has added warmth to the extensive concrete through people and details, like colorful graffiti, neon signs, and other decor. He created a library of primary material types, including plastic, metal, and different concretes that artists can draw from. For further efficiency and high-quality results, Darko and the team also built custom tools in Maya.
“Our custom shader builder in Maya has made it much easier and faster for us to connect texture maps from different sources,” said Darko. “Maya is second nature to me at this point. Sometimes, when I’m working, hours feel like minutes. I can’t replicate that kind of feeling in any other software. It’s a very versatile tool that makes our shading much faster.”
Animating high stakes chase sequences
SCRAP METAL is structured around story beats at the beginning and end, with a massive chase sequence in the middle. Darko and Richard mapped out the middle action sequence using motion capture. They started by looking at a library of parkour movements, assembled the chase sequence flow, then built the environment around the movements. This approach gave Richard freedom to explore different camera moves and give the film a live action feel, instead of traditional animation where everything needs to be perfectly in frame and composed. In addition to the library of movements, they also used a mocap suit to block movements and leveraged keyframe animation when needed.
“Our core principle is to start with mocap. Then, we animate on top of the mocap, edit it, or if we must, do everything by hand. Of course, some of the shots you can’t really mocap, like when a character jumps off a building,” Darko said. “The human IK and retargeting system in Maya has been invaluable because we couldn’t really retarget in any other meaningful way. We’re also able to save a massive library of animation poses using Studio Library, a free script for Maya. It helps our animators identify what mocap to use as a base and start animating it, which has allowed us to stay on style and have everybody move really quickly throughout the shots.”
Inspiring emerging filmmakers
For other artists interested in creating animated short films, Darko emphasizes that story is king. From there, it’s important to pick the right art style; he offered, “When you’re a filmmaker, you need to focus on the bigger picture. My biggest learning curve was learning to let go. Not every model is going to be perfect, and you don’t have to do everything yourself.”
For more on SCRAP METAL, get a behind-the-scenes look at how Darko built the immersive world using Maya.
Learn more about how Autodesk’s Animation solutions can help you bring your cinematic fantasies from imagination to screen.