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Maya with George/Ting

Week 5: Planning and Animating Weight Shift/ Pose to Pose Animation

On Tuesday with George, we looked into weight shifts. Why it is important to practice it and what goes into a good weight shift. He made us shoot references of ourselves so we can get familiar with the motion

On Friday with Ting we got feedback from our juicebox acting shot as well as golden poses from last week. She loved my juicebox acting shot and only suggested I make the animation snappier in some places. Finally we looked into pose to pose animation and she introduced the assignment we would be submitting the next week.

My golden poses for the week

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Maya with George/Ting

Week 6: Planning Walk Cycle – Critiquing Weight Shift

This blog post is about the anatomy of a walk cycle. A walk cycle is an effective way to describe a character. Every walk style is unique, and the mannerisms shown in a walk cycle often gives insight into the character demeanor, confidence level and much more.

This video is an example of how different attitudes can be shown just by the walk cycle

Walk cycles are made up of 4 main poses. The Contact Pose, the Passing Position Pose, the Up Pose and the Down Pose.

Poses and Timings for a vanilla walk cycle

Critiquing Weight Shift

Below is my attempt of last week’s weight shift exercise.

Overall a good attempt at a first pass. I was advised to make the poses a little bit more extreme to better show the effect of the weight change, especially when the weight moves to the left leg. I was also advised to make sure the heel leaves the ground before the rest of the foot to give that “peeling off” effect.

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Unreal Engine

Week 5: 1-1 Feedback for Design Project

This week we had one on one feedback for our progress on the design project. I had an opportunity to discuss with Serra again, but this time with a more solid idea. I shared my a mood board of what I want the scenes to look like and what vibe I want the animation to have. I also told her my plan of wanting the show to be narrated, inspired by clips of KidSuper SS26 show I saw, where the showed revolved around a children’s book

She said she liked the idea but shared her concern about how feasible it would be to finish the project I had in mind, in the given timeframe. She also gave me suggestions on how I can make my workflow easier and quicker. Finally she told me to check out Bureau Betak, which was really helpful as it gave me inspiration on set designs.

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Unreal Engine

Week 4: Materials in UE / Planning Design Project

Today we discussed materials in unreal engine. We took a look into the node based system that allows the engine to render materials and texture. We discussed material instances and the various benefits of using them in our projects. We also got some hands on experience downloading various textures from Fab marketplace and integrating them into our projects.

Design Project Update: After my discussion with Serra last week, I was able to put my thoughts together and come up with a concrete idea. My plan was to create a 3D Fashion show that would create a cinematic experience as opposed seeing models walk the runway. I wanted to do it differently so I had an idea to have the models in different environments. This idea came from my conversation with Serra last week, when we both recalled the Balenciaga SS23 fashion week show, where they had their models walk on mud piles.

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Unreal Engine

Week 3: Sequencers and Cinematics in Unreal Engine

Today we mainly looked at the sequencer in unreal engine. We got different scenes from fab marketplace and used the sequencer to create many cinematic shots. We learnt about the camera in unreal engine, how it can be animated and how to change various settings such as focal length, focus distance and aperture to get a desired look. We also learnt how to compile different shots, utilizing cuts to make a scene.

I also had the opportunity to discuss an idea I had for the design project with Serra. She told me she liked the idea, as it is in an area that she is personally interested in. She also gave me various suggestions on different approaches I could take to get the best results

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Uncategorised Unreal Engine

Week 2: World Building in Unreal Engine

This week we got a proper introduction into Unreal Engine Editor. We looked into the different tabs and what we could use them for. We discussed world building and what goes into making a scenic environment in Unreal Engine. I personally have used Unreal Engine before briefly, during my undergraduate course, so I was excited to get a refresher

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Design for Animation, Narrative Structures & Film Language

Week 1: Introduction to Design for Animation

This week was about introduction to the course, discussing the expected outcomes and deliverables expected at the end of the term. We looked into choosing a research topic for a critical report, which we would all need to develop through out the course of the term.

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Unreal Engine

Week 1: Introduction to Unreal Engine

This week we got a quick introduction into Unreal Engine. Installing it and setting it up.