Star Dust

Stylized 3D animated short · approx. 3 min

Logline

Star Dust is a 3D animated short about a little girl who chases a star that has flown out of her own body, and is carried through a series of surreal dream worlds. The closer she comes to catching it, the deeper it draws her into the unknown — and toward a secret buried in her own life.

Concept & Story

The film grew out of a Chinese folk belief — that a piece of jade shatters to ward off disaster. A charm given by an elder is said to take on a fatal calamity in the wearer's place.

The story follows a girl who wakes, disoriented, in a vast universe. Following the glowing star pendant at her neck, she travels through one vivid, surreal world after another. When the pendant pushes her through the final door, the star goes dark and breaks. The film returns to reality: the girl wakes with a start in a hospital bed, and the star at her neck has lost its light and split in two. Not only a journey through a dream, but a metaphor for being protected — and for waking up.

Roles & Pipeline

Director and lead artist — led the full pipeline, from visual development through final compositing.

Pre-production

Original script and story structure, character and environment concept design, storyboards.

ProcreatePhotoshop
Modeling & Simulation

Built and modeled the universe environments; co-modeled the girl; handled cloth simulation across the whole film.

MayaBlenderMarvelous Designer
Texturing

Led 80% of the film's material and texture assets, and art-directed the final look.

Substance 3D PainterBlender
Animation

Sole animator on the universe and ocean sequences — all character performance and environmental motion.

MayaBlender
Compositing

Compositing and VFX on 50% of the film's shots.

After EffectsNuke