CASE STUDY 03 • CHARACTERS

Chibi Mita – Stylized 3D Character from Miside

Chibi Reinterpretation, Clean Topology Rigging & 360° Turnaround Animation

ROLE3D Character Modeler, Rigger & Animator

TIMELINEJan 2025

PRIMARY TOOLBlender

DISCIPLINEStylized 3D Character, Rigging & Turnaround Animation

360° Turnaround/ Seamless Turntable Animation & Secondary Motion

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01 / CONTEXT & INSPIRATION

A fully original chibi reinterpretation of Mita, the iconic character from the game Miside. The project focuses on translating her recognizable design (twin tails, red top, blue skirt, thigh-high socks) into an exaggerated, cute chibi form while preserving her personality and silhouette.

This project was a personal exercise in stylized character design, clean topology, efficient rigging, and presentation-ready turntable animation, built entirely within Blender from blockout to final Cycles rendering.

Artistic Motivation: A fully original chibi reinterpretation of Mita, the iconic character from the game Miside. The project focuses on translating her recognizable design (twin tails, red top, blue skirt, thigh-high socks) into an exaggerated, cute chibi form while preserving her personality and silhouette.

TOOLKIT USED

BlenderCyclesShader EditorArmature Rigging

02 / PRODUCTION PIPELINE

Phase 01

Modeling & Proportions

Built entirely in Blender using a clean low-to-mid poly workflow. Emphasis on strong silhouette, simplified but expressive facial features, and exaggerated proportions typical of chibi style.

Clean low-to-mid poly edge flow optimized for joint and face deformation/Exaggerated chibi silhouette preserving iconic twin tails and outfit balance/Refined facial topology designed for expressive anime-style deformation

Phase 02

UV & Stylized Texturing

Manual UV unwrapping with careful island packing. Textures are hand-painted / stylized, focusing on flat color blocking and soft gradients to enhance the chibi aesthetic.

Manual UV unwrapping with careful island packing to maximize texel density/Hand-painted stylized textures focusing on flat color blocking and soft gradients/Simple PBR material setup with custom shader nodes for skin, fabric, and hair

Phase 03

Shading & Materials

Custom character shading network in Blender's Shader Editor featuring soft toon-like diffuse, subtle rim lighting, and controlled subsurface scattering.

Soft toon-like diffuse with subtle rim lighting/Separate material layers for skin, clothing, hair, and accessories/Controlled specular and subsurface scattering on skin for a soft, stylized look/Hair shader with slight translucency and anisotropic highlights to keep twin tails readable from all angles

Phase 04

Full Character Armature Rigging

Full character armature created from scratch featuring FK/IK switching on limbs, custom bone shapes, and corrective shape keys on major deformation zones.

FK/IK switching on arms and legs with custom bone shapes for cleaner animation workflow/Basic facial controls (eyes, eyebrows, mouth) for expression flexibility/Proper weight painting with corrective shape keys on major deformation areas (shoulders, hips, elbows)/Root and center-of-gravity controls for easy posing and turntable animation

Phase 05

360° Turnaround Animation & Cycles Lighting

360° seamless turnaround animation designed specifically for portfolio presentation with studio three-point lighting setup.

Smooth rotation with subtle idle secondary motion on hair and clothing to keep the model alive/Studio three-point lighting setup with soft key light, fill, and rim light/Rendered in Cycles with denoising, optimized for clean presentation on dark background

03 / TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

PRIMARY DCCBlender (Full Pipeline)

RENDER ENGINECycles (Denoised)

ORIGINAL IPMita (Miside)

RIGGING FEATURESFK/IK Switching & Corrective Shape Keys

ANIMATION360° Turntable with Secondary Motion

TEXTURE STYLEHand-Painted / Stylized Toon Shading

04 / KEY HIGHLIGHTS & OUTCOMES

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Fully original chibi reinterpretation of Mita from Miside, preserving her recognizable twin tails and silhouette
End-to-end Blender pipeline: modeling, UV unwrapping, stylized toon shading, armature rigging, and turnaround animation
Advanced armature with FK/IK limb switching, facial controls, and corrective shape keys on deformation hotspots
Custom toon shading network with subsurface scattering on skin and anisotropic rim lighting on hair
Seamless 360° presentation turntable featuring secondary motion on hair and clothing

PRODUCTION TAKEAWAYS

Mastered the complete stylized character creation workflow from 2D reference translation to final rendered animation.
Engineered deformation-ready low-to-mid poly topology that handles expressive posing and rotational turnaround cleanly.
Developed an efficient custom toon shader system in Blender Cycles that delivers anime aesthetics with physically-based lighting control.

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