Eveline the Urban Elf
Testing AI-Driven Workflows for Real-time 3D Character
This is an R&D project exploring AI-assisted 3D real-time character workflows. I designed a stylized elf girl with modern clothing and makeup, rigged using MetaHuman and rendered in Unreal Engine. I'm integrating AI-generated imagery and video to guide animation, lighting, mood, and color. Accessories are explored using AI-generated design by ComfyUI, 3D assets from Sparc3D. The goal is to develop a hybrid pipeline combining traditional character work with emerging AI tools and more technical R&D in Unreal Engine.
Final Output
Character Turntable
MetaHuman Face ROM
Starting with a hand-drawn sketch of the elf girl, I used ComfyUI to explore variations in hairstyle, color palette, lighting, and mood. This process helped generate visual ideas and refine the character’s overall aesthetic direction before moving into 3D.
AI Generative Images | From Sketch to Images
To generate natural movement references, I’m creating idealized AI-generated video outputs and feeding them into DeepMotion to extract motion data, which is then applied to the character in Unreal Engine. This work-in-progress phase involves testing multiple AI tools, including Kling and Runway, with Wan currently serving as the primary model due to its free accessibility in ComfyUI.
From Image to Videos
Jacket Modeling, Look Dev, Rigging, Real-time Physics
Source: https://www.etsy.com/?ref=lgo
Using real-life measurements purchased from an online DIY tailoring store, I began designing a realistic jacket in Marvelous Designer.
To enhance the character’s personality and match the design, since the character doesn’t undergo drastic motion, I styled the jacket to hang off one shoulder for a more natural, relaxed, chill look.
And then, I retopologized the mesh using a powerful add-on in Blender "ClothRetopo", which make it ready for the sculpting process in ZBrush, and I added the the details of leather material by following the natural wrinkle flow.
Afterwards, I performed a second round of retopology in Maya to prepare the asset for real-time rendering.
For texturing, I used Marmoset Toolbag for baking and Substance 3D Painter for material creation.
The most challenging part was the cloth simulation, which involved back and forth testing and R&D. Due to fabric’s thickness, material properties, and design, I chose not to use in-engine cloth simulation like Chaos Cloth. Instead, I created a custom rigging approach using bone physics and constraints between adjacent bones. This method effectively mimicked realistic thick cloth behavior while maintaining stability in a real-time environment.
Quick Showcase of AI-integrated 3D Pipeline
Here’s a short video showcasing how I integrated ChatGPT, ComfyUI, and Sparc3D into my real-time asset creation process. (The render here only uses AO and Normal maps.)