145: Production is constantly being upgraded

Li Qing began leading the team to produce this live-action CG. When he ran short of hands, he started pulling people from all over the company.

"Li Qing, those are people from our crossfire project!" Han Zheng cried out in panic as he watched the people he had just recruited being dragged away.

"Guo Fan." Li Qing directly called for backup.

"Planner Han, let's have a chat." Guo Fan draped an arm around Han Zheng's shoulder.

Han Zheng walked back with a face full of grievance: "Take them, but return them when you're done. If you dare not return them, I'll hang myself at the entrance of Zulong Studio."

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll release them back to you as soon as this task is finished." Li Qing picked out people with a beaming smile.

Han Zheng watched, his teeth aching with annoyance: 'I have so many talents, and you're still being so picky.'

He turned around and immediately found Chi Yufeng: "We're short-handed. I need to continue recruiting."

When the Weixin social software project team refused to give up people, Guo Fan was dispatched.

After completing a full circuit of the company, Li Qing looked at Guo Fan in amazement.

"A true talent."

"Brother, do you want to come work at our Zulong Studio?" He extended a direct invitation to Guo Fan.

Guo Fan was stunned. How did he end up being recruited himself?

"I like Zulong Studio too, but I am the Boss's exclusive director." He assigned himself a title.

"Ah, what a pity!" Li Qing sighed with a bit of regret.

The CG entered intense production. The special effects team of Zulong Studio, led by Li Qing, pulled seven all-nighters in a row.

Chi Yufeng specifically arranged for a chef to work overtime to prepare midnight snacks for them, maxing out the logistics support.

In the studio, everyone's eyes were a bit bloodshot, but no one complained. They slept four hours a day and were still in good spirits.

Guo Fan's words, "If the Boss is happy, you can make any request," kept everyone highly motivated.

Did they want to make requests? No, they were doing it to make the Boss happy.

Guo Fan and Ning Hao also worked overtime. The special effects production was divided into two groups.

"Here, when Feather Spirit releases the Five Qi Toward the Origin, the light effect should bloom from her palm like a lotus and then spread out like ripples. It needs a sense of sacred healing, but it shouldn't look too Western... You can refer to the Dunhuang murals' flying deity halos!"

"For Liu Yifei's flight movements, her wings and body must stretch out gracefully. There should be a sense of beauty; you can also refer to the flying deity postures in the Dunhuang murals."

Guo Fan held the original drawings, and after consulting with the art department, he discussed them with the technical staff.

Feather Spirit, played by Liu Yifei, prayed in the morning mist of Yizhu Village. Sunlight filtered through the bamboo leaves, spilling onto her holy face, making the boundary between reality and fantasy blur.

"The particle effects for the Fox Demon's transformation need to balance charm and agility. The fur rendering must be done strand by strand; it can't be a blurry clump." Ning Hao was also staring at the Fox Demon's storyline, extremely concerned about the transformation effects.

The two directors and the technical staff checked the integration of the live-action footage and the CG scenes frame by frame.

The Shu Nan Bamboo Sea in the morning light, with bamboo leaves so green they seemed to drip, and the desolate grandeur of the Loess Plateau were seamlessly integrated into the map of Perfect World through digital technology.

The beauty of the Populus Euphratica Forest even gave Li Qing the idea of expanding the map.

The Fox Demon played by Shu Chang cultivated amidst the golden falling leaves of the Populus Euphratica Forest, followed by that CG little bear, which would roll around and play on its own.

"After the Fox Demon transforms, we lack sufficient motion references for the white fox state and the pet bear. My current equipment can't meet your requirements." The staff had tried the transformation effect several times, but it never met Ning Hao's standards.

To meet Ning Hao's requirements, they had to buy new equipment.

"Buy it." Li Qing waved his hand grandly. He had great ambitions, thinking of developing toward companies like Blizzard overseas. However, such ideas required sufficient investment and equipment. He could use this opportunity to purchase the gear.

In 2004, Beijing's Tianyuan Company had already developed optical motion capture, which was world-leading technology.

Additionally, the development direction of motion technology overseas was inertial, and there was an agency company in Hong Kong.

Li Qing placed orders with both companies simultaneously.

Beijing Tianyuan responded quickly; they originally needed to test their equipment. Tianyuan not only delivered the equipment but also arranged for people to guide its use.

Regarding the motion capture agency in Hong Kong, Chi Yufeng knew that Qiu Wanjun and Wang Cheng were in Hong Kong and gave them a call. When Qiu Wanjun and Wang Cheng heard it was for the Boss's girlfriend, the equipment was delivered very quickly.

Once the equipment was in place, Li Qing was a bit dumbfounded.

They still needed subjects for motion capture. He hadn't expected the equipment to arrive so fast and hadn't contacted any animals for capture yet.

This motion capture was not simple; it required a certain level of cooperation. Even if humans were used, it would take a long time of training to achieve the desired effect.

"Would a cat work?" Shu Chang was already interning at the company and was quite interested in the CG animation.

"My brother has a Lion Cat that is very obedient." Shu Chang took out her laptop and found various videos she and Liu Yifei had filmed of Little Lion.

"It works, that's great." Li Qing was surprised by Little Lion's intelligence.

Shu Chang went back to the Courtyard House to borrow the cat.

"Little Lion, help Big Sister with some work, okay?" Shu Chang lifted Little Lion with both hands.

"Meow, not going." Little Lion's four paws paddled the air.

"It's great that you agreed." Shu Chang couldn't understand what Little Lion was saying and gave it a kiss on the head.

"Motion capture, Little Lion?" Li Xiuwu was bewildered. What was the game company doing?

"Little Lion is going to work!" Upon hearing this news, Liu Xiaoli also became interested and wanted to go see Little Lion at work.

"Meow." As soon as Shu Chang put Little Lion down, it ran to Liu Xiaoli's side and grabbed her clothes to climb up.

"I've fed you for so long, it's time you put in some effort." Liu Xiaoli pointed at Little Lion's nose.

The one who spent the most time with Little Lion at home was Liu Xiaoli; everyone else had school or work.

No one understood Little Lion's protest, and Li Xiuwu pretended not to hear it either. He also wanted to go see what these people were actually doing; it felt increasingly outrageous.

The next day, Li Xiuwu went to Dream Time with Liu Xiaoli and Shu Chang.

Liu Xiaoli was curious about Li Xiuwu's game company, and it happened that she could accompany Little Lion.

At Dream Time, Liu Xiaoli looked at the huge sign.

Little Lion was in her arms, its eyes also scanning the surroundings.

Living in the Spirit Gathering Array of the Courtyard House, its intelligence had increased significantly. Although it couldn't communicate with others, it could roughly understand their meaning.

"Boss." Chi Yufeng and the others came to greet him.

Ning Hao felt a bit guilty. He had spent a lot of money this time, especially on these two sets of motion capture equipment, which were bought because of his requirements.

Li Qing also felt a bit guilty; he had used this CG project as an excuse to buy a lot of equipment.

For equipment that Chi Yufeng had disagreed with in the past, he just said, "It's for the Boss's girlfriend's MV..."

Guo Fan, however, felt the least; he had never been hindered by a lack of funds and felt that spending money for quality was only right.

"Let's go in." Li Xiuwu greeted everyone, his expression unreadable.

Shu Chang took Little Lion to the newly set up motion capture room.

"Meow, what is Meow supposed to do?" So many people were surrounding it, sticking sensor patches onto its body.

"Little Lion is so cute." Everyone looked at the beautiful and obedient Little Lion, with people constantly coming over to pat its head. It looked at everyone with a dazed, cute expression.

"Who didn't wash their hands? You've patted my Little Lion's fur until it's turned black!"