Seeking 3D Animator for a gritty, suspenseful SC 3D mini-series

Hey folks,

We're a small team of about half a dozen passionate SC fans who got together to create a gritty, 3D animated mini-series. This was made possible by last Reddit post about this series. Thanks to the individuals who reached out and joined the project.

Right now, our crew covers a lot of ground. We have a couple of writers and audio designers creating our soundscapes and scripts, a 3D generalist handling environments and VFX, and a team member working with AI and Unreal Engine to help speed up our workflow. However, we are currently missing a key piece of the puzzle: a dedicated 3D animator to help bring these iconic units to life.

About the project

We aren't trying to make a massive, feature length movie or tell a super complicated lore story. Instead, we want to create a series of short, standalone 5 minute episodes that focus on the terrifying reality of StarCraft units in action (think suspense/horror/action). We want to rely on heavy tension, decent sound design and raw atmosphere instead of dialogue and complex human acting. Keeping it simple and contained means we can actually finish these episodes without burning everyone out. And if we can attract more team members than contributors can take turns producing episodes.

About the first trailer/episode

To test out our team's workflow, our first project is a tight, 2 minute trailer/episode. It takes place entirely from the perspective of a Terran siege tank driver (yes tanks are manned by more than one unit but we need to make adaptations due to resource constraints). The camera stays in the dark cockpit behind the driver's helmet, which means we don't have to worry about animating complex human faces. Through the window, the driver watches a lone marine standing guard in the foggy desert. Suddenly, the ground explodes and a burrowed hydralisk snatches the marine down into the dirt. The tank's radio cuts to static, the marine's vitals flatline on the dashboard, and the monster steps out of the dust to stare right into the cockpit. The short ends with the driver slamming the lever into siege mode and firing point blank.

Need animator

We designed this specific scene to rely on clever camera angles, lighting and dirt explosions to hide a lot of the tedious animation work. We are looking for someone who has experience with both rigging and animating mechs and creepy monsters. If you know how to take a raw 3D model, set up its digital skeleton, and bring it to life with keyframe animation, you are exactly who we need. Whether you work in Blender, Maya, Unreal Engine, or something else, we just want to collaborate with someone who wants to build something epic for their portfolio without sacrificing all their free time.

If you want to jump in on a fun, community driven passion project, please DM me or drop a comment!

Also, even if you don't animate, we'd love to hear from the wider community. What do you think about a SC mini-series in general or our specific trailer concept? What iconic ladder moments or unit encounters would you love to see turned into a dark, realistic 3D short? Let us know what you think!

Thanks for reading.