Saptak Portfolio 2024

PhonePe 'Q' AI Assistant

3D Design & Animation

3D rendition of the Petris character system for PhonePe's in-house AI assistant

Overview

After spending time on developing my skills in 3D design and animation, I often wondered about having a mascot for PhonePe, similar to Dunzo’s. Although there were no plans to introduce mascot characters, an opportunity arose when our Design Director and Head of HR requested a profile image for an in-house AI assistant. Seizing this chance, I thought wouldn't it be crazy if we decided to create a 3D rendition of our Petris character, opting for an androgynous design instead of reusing existing 2D assets.

Objective

The requirement was to create a welcoming and cheerful character for our AI assistant - PhonePe Q, designed to be friendly and helpful to employees. The character needed to have various poses and maintain a consistently positive demeanor. We also aimed for an androgynous design, ensuring the character did not strongly resemble either male or female attributes.

My Role

My role involved collaborating with our in-house illustrator to create and finalize a basic sketch for the character. It was an intense three-day marathon to ensure the first draft was convincing enough to move forward with the 3D approach. After securing stakeholder approval, we were granted additional time to refine the 3D character design, resulting in the evolution of Petris from a 2D concept to PhonePe's first-ever 3D character.

First look - Q

Here are some of the final sketches created by our talented in-house illustrator, Deepti, which were instrumental in finalizing the character design.

The 3 Day Marathon After

I spent the next three sleepless days and nights researching how to build a fully functional 3D character rig. Here are a few screenshots showcasing the effort I put into learning quad topology, weight painting, T-pose rigging, UV texturing, and pose libraries in Blender.

The First 3D look which made the cut

The race to build the 3D character in just three days was intense, but it was entirely worth it. It paved the way for the evolution of the Petris character system, fulfilling a vision I had for PhonePe, inspired by companies who had already done this with dedicated in-house 3D designers. I’m proud to have successfully achieved this milestone.