Chris Sulzbach
Art Director at Midsummer Studios
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Project Burbank Development

This is a sample of the work we did during the development of the Project Burbank demo. You can see a lot more and read about the entire process in more detail on my website: https://www.sulzbunny.com/work/burbank-development

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I want to thank our amazing partners at Dardo Studios for their help in the early visual development process. They're an amazing group to work with.
https://www.artstation.com/dardostudios

Big thanks to Cristina Cid for her work on the concepts for our 3 main characters, Shelly, Jack, and Melinda!
https://www.artstation.com/greesty

Big thanks to Kirill Senzu for the additional modeling support during our demo production!
https://www.artstation.com/stylizedsenzu

Here's a shot of our entire cast made utilizing the processes outlined in this post and in depth on my website here: https://www.sulzbunny.com/work/burbank-development

Here's a shot of our entire cast made utilizing the processes outlined in this post and in depth on my website here: https://www.sulzbunny.com/work/burbank-development

We started the process by aligning with the Creative Director to ensure we understood his vision of what a Burbank character should look and feel like.

We started the process by aligning with the Creative Director to ensure we understood his vision of what a Burbank character should look and feel like.

On the left is a section from our vis dev brief and on the right is a section of one of our character briefs. These were used to help guide our external partners in the development of our initial concepts.

On the left is a section from our vis dev brief and on the right is a section of one of our character briefs. These were used to help guide our external partners in the development of our initial concepts.

These are examples of block ins that were created and included with the briefs for production. Both of these block-ins were completed and in-game within a work week.

These are examples of block ins that were created and included with the briefs for production. Both of these block-ins were completed and in-game within a work week.

On the left is the costume construction brief that covers modeling, UVs, and texture creation for Burbank characters and on the right are examples of costume briefs.

On the left is the costume construction brief that covers modeling, UVs, and texture creation for Burbank characters and on the right are examples of costume briefs.

Here is a lookdev scene for our heads that our Principal Animator, Kevin Bradley, set up. It was easy to add new heads and preview our retargeted animations across the entire cast.

Some examples of clothing techniques we tried on the costumes.

Some examples of clothing techniques we tried on the costumes.

Here's a video of our clothing test bed. This also had a ROM applied so we can preview deformations.

This is the final cast of characters that we developed for our first demo. We learned a lot about the characters and our game during the development of this crew and had a lot of ideas of where we wanted to take them for the next phase of development.

This is the final cast of characters that we developed for our first demo. We learned a lot about the characters and our game during the development of this crew and had a lot of ideas of where we wanted to take them for the next phase of development.

Once our demo cast was created we aligned with our CD to see which characters worked for his vision for Burbank and which did not. From there we developed a set of pillars for costume design to take into production.

Once our demo cast was created we aligned with our CD to see which characters worked for his vision for Burbank and which did not. From there we developed a set of pillars for costume design to take into production.

These are examples from our collaboration Figma board as we developed the costume pillars for the next phase of our character production.

These are examples from our collaboration Figma board as we developed the costume pillars for the next phase of our character production.

Here are some lookdev updates for Jack and the Masculine Fit physique.

Here are some lookdev updates for Jack and the Masculine Fit physique.

Here's an animation test for v2 of Jack's face stylization.

Here's a shot of our neutral mesh / clothing setup for wrapping our clothing from the demo bodies to our neutral body for the customization system.

Here's a shot of our neutral mesh / clothing setup for wrapping our clothing from the demo bodies to our neutral body for the customization system.

Here is the proof of concept for our neutral mesh based clothing system working in Mutable.

Some shader development work at the start of our customization system.

Some shader development work at the start of our customization system.

Here are shots of some of the functionality for the structure shader. This uses the same functions that were set up for the characters and therefore the same export presets and tooling. I also use the glass shader made for the structures on the glasses.

Here are shots of some of the functionality for the structure shader. This uses the same functions that were set up for the characters and therefore the same export presets and tooling. I also use the glass shader made for the structures on the glasses.

These are some photogrammetry tests that we were doing with action figures and doll house furniture for v2 of our lookdev phase.

These are some photogrammetry tests that we were doing with action figures and doll house furniture for v2 of our lookdev phase.

These are some photogrammetry tests that we were doing with action figures and doll house furniture for v2 of our lookdev phase.

These are some photogrammetry tests that we were doing with action figures and doll house furniture for v2 of our lookdev phase.

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