Our toy is the Chinese New Year edition figurine of a distinctly female Pikachu, acquired from a Chinese KFC kids’ meal. The figurine is almost entirely made of matte plastic and includes moving ears, arms, and a heart-shaped tail. The bottom of the figurine features a red-inked stamp with a flower motif. Its cuteness and uniqueness showed the big value of doing the 3D modelling research.
Before starting the 3D modelling process, we did essential preparations including gathering some tools, such as a fully charged camera, a tripod, a white turntable, a remote-control app, a lightbox and more, which are vital for efficient 3D capturing.
In addition to tool preparation, we engaged in a creative brainstorming session to contextualize our toy and do the preliminary designs. We utilized Miro to annotate a 2D image of Pikachu by applying different colours for notes to distinguish seven notable features and themes. These features contained a red flower on the right ear, a heart-shaped tail, cute cheeks, a KFC logo and screws on the back, a red traditional Chinese dress, Chinese text wishing “Happy New Year” at the bottom and a stamp. And the themes included feminism, cultural anthropology and consumerism. This process was pivotal in generating ideas for in-depth research on annotations and articles in Voyager and determining which aspects of the toy required more photographic detail and attention.
During the whole 3D modelling process, we conducted the shooting of the small figurine three times and also rebuilt the model in the Metashape three times. We encountered several technical challenges but discovered some creative solutions to solve those problems.