During my Masters Program, I collaborated with a team of three to develop five interconnected chapters forming a new fictional world. Together, we conceptualized and built each component: designing the Main Character, designing its habitat, establishing the ecosystem, defining its mode of transportation, and illustrating the network map diagram.

Through collective brainstorming and iterative development, we integrated our ideas and efforts to produce a cohesive and immersive virtual reality experience showcasing the creature navigating its environment, which will soon be featured on my website.

In the harsh ammonic Planet Nebulos the Syphozoans emerged…

As I modeled and textured the offspring growth of the main character Syphozoa, each stage unfolded with wire-like connections and emerging limbs, casting a chilling aura of unnatural progression. Throughout this eerie metamorphosis, the creature's emotional maturity advanced at a disconcertingly rapid pace compared to its physical development, suggesting a mysterious and unsettling narrative behind its transformation.

The Syphozoa creature is a complex entity with multiple layers: beneath its outer skin lies a network of metallic veins pulsing like blood through its frame, reinforcing its structure like an eerie skeletal system.

Sensory tentacles extend from its body, allowing it to detect prey and intuitively sense its surroundings; when anchored to the ground, these tentacles amplify its connection to the environment.

Its hunting tentacles, strategically designed, reach out to capture prey and transport them to digestive pouches nestled on its back, concealing a mysterious method of consumption.

This highly emotionally intelligent creature communicates with its world through these sensitive appendages, expressing its intentions and responses without words, weaving a silent but profound narrative within its enigmatic existence.

Over six weeks, my team and I developed the Syphozoa character in stages: baseform concept, detailed modeling, UV unwrapping and texturing, and finally lighting and rendering. Throughout this process, I received valuable feedback from instructors Nicolas Turchi (Computational Lead and Assistant Professor in Advanced Digital Design at Manchester School of Architecture), Aleksander Bursac (Designer at Heatherwick Studio), and Maria Soroko-Tsyupa (Computational Designer).

Their expertise in digital design and computation guided and enriched my design journey within a tight timeline.

Using Maya software, I simulated the process of pouch disintegration to visually depict how the pouches break down after digesting the prey and releasing absorbed nutrients.

This is a unique furniture piece utilized by Syphozoans for cleaning and disintegrating their back pouches. This process enhances nutrient absorption and acts as a detoxification mechanism, promoting overall physiological efficiency for the Syphozoan creatures. For this piece, I used ZBrush for modeling the pouch replenisher, Arnold in Maya for UV unwrapping and texturing, and finally rendered the model using Arnold renderer.

This is a simulation, done in Maya, showing how the blob material grows in the pouch replenisher as part of the mechanism to clean the Syphozoans' back pouches.

This the board that I used to update my work process that was done within the span of 6 weeks. My team and I split the weeks based on the stages of the work.

I received constructive feedback from my instructors Oscar Oweson (Product/Computational Designer) and Alejandro García Gadea (Principal Architect at AtkinsRealis).

I worked in an iterative process for the spine structure modeling of the creature's corpuscle (habitat), I explored various methods to achieve the desired form and function.

Using ZBrush and Maya, I crafted the baseform of the spine structure, and I utilized Grasshopper for computational detailing and design refinement, integrating both organic and computational approaches into the development process.

This was an additional mechanical piece added to the spine as a visualization of a hyperloop. Its functionality is mainly used for the creature to move through from one corpuscle to another. I used Maya to do the hard surface modeling.

In the depths of our design journey, my team and I crafted eerie aggregations using a blend of organic vision and computational prowess. With tools like Grasshopper and Maya, I built a subterranean empire to showcase the Syphozoan's diverse livable columns, each serving unique functions within this dark realm. Below ground, amidst a floor of molten lava, these columns thrived, while above ground lay a barren, frigid ammonic wasteland where they emerged solely to hunt and capture prey.

This is the hunting space situated at the bottom near the Main Tower. I used single modeled elements and aggregated them. Regarding the encasing surrounding the sharp aggregated model, I used Grasshopper to computationally design the pattern. And finally texturing and lighting done in Arnold/Maya.

This is the cleaning space where the Syphozoans come into for hygienic purposes. They go through their cleaning process after they have given birth to their offspring. I designed this aggregation using Grasshopper Wasp plugin and implementing rules to get the desired look.

This livable structure is attached to the ceiling of the underground cave. It's where the Syphozoans travel to in order to hibernate after their rigorous endeavours hunting and catching prey.

This is the work in progress of the design process my team and I worked on in the span of 6 weeks.

I received great feedback from my instructors who were Andrei Padure (Senior Geometry Engineer at Ai Build) and Laura Maria Gonzalez ( Founder and Principal Designer at Microbi Design).

This was the process of laying out the livable columns in the environment. It was an iterative process as to get the most appealing composition. I situated the cameras later on for rendering based on focal point of the specific render and positioning it in a way to make it look dramatic which further solidifies the eerie storytelling of the project.

This is was the process of aggregating elements to make a structure. I based the elements off the corpuscle from Chapter 2. This is to keep the same style and aesthetic consistent.

This was the process of texturing, lighting and positioning the camera angles for rendering. The model was computationally aggregated in Grasshopper while also organically modeling in Maya. Adding the atmospheric volumetric fog is a touch that is consistently seen throughout the different chapters. It helps further drive the Eerie theme of the story.

Above ground, the Sy-Fer-tic vehicle emerges like a silent phantom from the swirling fog of ammonic clouds in Nebulos, casting eerie shadows on the frozen landscape. Protected by a massive glass shield, it shields its occupants from the harsh winds and icy temperatures. Within its interior, experiments are conducted on captured prey amidst the hum of machinery and faint bioluminescent glows. Crafted from a resilient organic substance called "blob" and encased in metallic armor, the vehicle's legs traverse the icy terrain with grace, leaving ghostly imprints in the frozen surface. This vehicle symbolizes the civilization's pursuit of knowledge and survival, embodying resilience as mysteries of the foreboding surroundings are unraveled through high-tech experiments in the labs.

Organic mesh fueling the legs to move.

Built-in support structure to encase the organic blob.

Instructors that helped me develop the project forward were Pedro Venegas Rodriguez (CEO at L.I.M.A. ) and Zeynep Topal (Lead Computational Designer at Illusorr).

Label - Public vehicle

Label- Private Vehicle

These were concept sketches I did in the first week of the project. Using Ai generated art as reference to guide my sketches, was a great way to get inspiration. I sketched ideas for both the public and private vehicles which were developed throughout the 6-week timeline.

These were pre-liminary models done as baseforms in Zbrush.

Then I developed them further in Maya and procedural modeling parts in Houdini.

Through constructive feedback I further enhanced the model based on aesthetic appeal and functionality. I kept in mind that the legs would need to be rigged for animation, so I added a joint system.

These are further developments and camera angle positions exploration.

This was done for scale visualization. Putting the public vehicle next to the private vehicle and the Syphozoa creature.

The Final network map showing the different networks the Syphozoan civilization can traverse in. I used Grasshopper Nuclei plugin to generate the maps.

This is the visualization of the aboveground Icey network next to the underground volcanic network.

The sequence order is from bottom to top (stage 1,2,3,4).

These are the inner city networks. The cities are divided into different districts based on its inhabitants specialization and infrastructure.

The work in progress

These were the test trials of generating the maps in grasshopper.

AI Midjourney Inspiration

These are Midjourney AI images generated for inspiration to use in this project.

Work in progress Board

I worked with a team over the span of 4 weeks to complete the network map project.