Category: Advanced and Experimental with Ting

With teaching coming to an end, this week gave me the opportunity to reflect on everything I had learned throughout the unit. Looking back at the first few assignments, I realised how much my approach to animation has changed. At the beginning of the year, I often focused on moving controls and trying to make things look right by instinct. Over time, through the various exercises in cinematography, acting, facial animation and creature locomotion, I started to appreciate the importance of observation, planning and understanding why things move the way they do. I also became much more comfortable with Maya, which initially felt intimidating coming from Blender. Although I still have a lot to learn, I no longer feel like I am fighting against the software.

One of the biggest lessons I took away from Ting’s classes was the importance of workflow. Throughout the year, I saw how breaking problems into smaller stages makes difficult tasks manageable. Whether it was approaching lip sync in layers, using reference to understand body mechanics, or separating a horse walk cycle into individual steps, I learned that animation is not something that should be tackled all at once. I also learned the value of feedback. Some of the most useful moments came not from lectures, but from conversations with Ting and watching her demonstrations. Seeing how she manipulated curves in the graph editor or approached a problem with confidence helped me understand that good animation is often about spacing and timing rather than constantly creating new poses.

Reflecting on the year as a whole, I think the unit has changed the way I think about animation. I have become less concerned with making things perfect immediately and more interested in understanding the process behind them. There were moments where I became lost, especially with my heavy object shot, but I now realise that starting over or stepping back is not necessarily failure. More than anything, the unit taught me patience. I leave the year with a greater appreciation for reference, planning and iteration, and with much more confidence in my ability to tackle unfamiliar problems. Although I still have a long way to go, I feel like I have developed a stronger foundation and a healthier mindset towards animation, which I believe will be far more valuable in the long run than any individual assignment.

This week I focused on completing the final pass of my advanced animation shot based on the hospital scene from The Walking Dead. Most of my time was spent responding to the feedback Ting had given over the previous weeks. I revisited the shoulders and neck, paying particular attention to offsetting their motion so that the performance felt more relaxed and less rigid. Rather than making major changes to the shot, this stage was about refining and polishing what was already there.

Looking back at the finished shot, I felt satisfied not only with the result but with the process that led to it. Throughout the term, Ting had repeatedly emphasized strong poses, clear spacing and the importance of planning, and I could see those lessons reflected in my workflow. More importantly, I felt that I had become much more patient with animation. Instead of expecting a shot to work immediately, I had learned to trust the process and view feedback as part of the journey rather than criticism. Although there are still many areas I want to improve, this final pass made me realize how much progress I have made since the beginning of the year, both technically and in the way I approach animation as a whole.

This week we continued from where we left off in the previous workshop, this time focusing on Studio Library and animation layers. Ting showed us how Studio Library can be used to save poses and animation clips and then easily transfer them between scenes. She also revisited animation layers, explaining how they allow animators to stack motion on top of existing animation without destroying previous work. Having seen them briefly before, I appreciated this second look because I was beginning to understand how these tools fit into a professional workflow. They seemed less like shortcuts and more like ways of working non-destructively and staying organized.

To put these ideas into practice, we were given a task that involved importing a jump animation, complete with the rig and environment, and modifying it so that the character jumped from one location to another. We then had to bring in the attack animation from the previous week’s Mario plant exercise and animate Mario interacting with it. I found this task interesting because it was less about creating everything from scratch and more about combining and adapting existing animations. It felt closer to how game animation pipelines might work, where animators are often required to reuse and modify assets rather than constantly creating new ones. Working with animation layers made it much easier to add changes without affecting the original motion.

Looking back, I realized how much my perspective on animation tools has changed over the course of the year. At the beginning, I wanted to animate everything manually because I thought using tools somehow diminished the craft. However, after learning about AnimBot, Studio Library and animation layers, I am beginning to understand that professional animation is not about doing things the hardest way possible. Instead, it is about finding efficient workflows that allow you to spend more time making creative decisions. The exercise also reinforced the importance of organization and planning, since managing multiple imported animations and layers quickly becomes confusing without a clear structure. I can see myself incorporating these workflows into future projects, as they make iteration much less intimidating and encourage experimentation without the fear of breaking previous work.

This week I continued refining my advanced animation shot and presented another pass to Ting. She felt that the changes I had made to the chest and cog were a big improvement and that the body was beginning to feel much more alive. Her main note this time was that the shoulders and neck still felt too rigid. She encouraged me to offset them slightly so that the upper body would appear more relaxed and natural. I found it interesting how such small details can make a big difference to the overall feel of a performance.

We also had a workshop introducing AnimBot. Ting gave us a walkthrough of many of its features and explained how professional animators use it to speed up their workflow and automate repetitive tasks. It was interesting to see how much time it could save, particularly when dealing with breakdowns, spacing and pose manipulation. To demonstrate its usefulness, Ting gave us a quick exercise involving a Mario-style piranha plant attack. The task was designed in such a way that completing it without AnimBot would have been considerably more difficult and time-consuming.

Unfortunately, because of issues with my operating system, I was unable to get AnimBot installed. I spent a large portion of the session trying to troubleshoot the problem and, if I am honest, I became quite frustrated. At one point I almost gave up on the workshop altogether because I felt like I had already fallen behind everyone else. Eventually, I decided that rather than spending the entire class fighting with the software, I would simply attempt the exercise without AnimBot. Although it was slower and probably not as efficient, I was glad I made that decision. Looking back, the experience reminded me that while tools can greatly improve a workflow, they should not become barriers to learning. It also reinforced something I have learned repeatedly throughout the year: when things do not go according to plan, it is often better to adapt and keep moving rather than wait for perfect conditions.

This week I focused on creating the first pass of my advanced animation shot based on the hospital scene from The Walking Dead. Having spent the previous week planning and gathering references, I finally started blocking out the performance. I concentrated on getting the main poses and timing down rather than worrying about details. Since the scene relies heavily on acting and body mechanics, I wanted to establish a solid foundation before moving into polish.

After presenting the first pass, Ting thought it was a good start but had several notes for improvement. She suggested switching the character’s hand from FK to IK because the arm was swinging too much and distracting from the performance. She also felt that the centre of gravity could be more dynamic, encouraging me to make it “bouncier” so the character would feel more alive and connected to the ground. Another point she raised was that the chest animation felt too stiff. Although I had focused on the hips and limbs, I had neglected the upper body, causing the performance to feel rigid. These notes made me realize that believable motion comes from the entire body working together rather than individual parts moving independently.

Looking back, I noticed that I am becoming much more comfortable receiving feedback. Earlier in the year, I would often feel overwhelmed by notes because I interpreted them as evidence that the shot was not working. Now, I see feedback more as a roadmap for the next pass. I was happy that Ting considered the shot a strong starting point, and her comments gave me a clear direction for improvement. More than anything, this week reminded me that the first pass is not about perfection but about creating something solid enough to build upon.

This week I continued refining my creature locomotion animation based on Ting’s feedback. While the overall motion was improving, I ran into several technical issues because the rig I was using was not actually designed for a horse but was instead a more generic quadruped. As a result, certain body parts would move in ways that did not feel natural for a horse, and I often had to create workarounds by counter-animating some controls to prevent unwanted motion. Although this was frustrating at times, it forced me to think more carefully about how different parts of the body relate to one another. It also reminded me that animation often involves adapting to imperfect tools rather than waiting for the ideal setup.

Alongside creature animation, Ting introduced our final project for the unit. She explained that we were free to choose any type of shot as long as it incorporated ideas and principles we had explored throughout the term. Rather than starting something completely new, I decided to recreate the famous hospital scene from the first season of The Walking Dead. I was drawn to this sequence because it combines several aspects I wanted to continue improving, particularly acting, body mechanics and cinematography. Since the scene is largely driven by physical performance and subtle character choices, I felt it would be a good opportunity to apply many of the concepts we had been studying.

Most of this week was dedicated to planning. I spent time gathering references, breaking down the original scene and thinking about how I could adapt it into an animation exercise. When I presented the idea to Ting, she approved it and encouraged me to move forward. Looking back, I appreciated having the freedom to choose my own project. Compared to earlier assignments where the focus was on specific principles, this project felt more personal and allowed me to think about how different aspects of animation come together to create a complete performance. It also made me realize how much my interests have shifted throughout the year, from simply trying to animate movement to wanting to tell stories through character and acting.

This week I continued working on my dialogue shot and spent a lot of time trying to address Ting’s feedback about making the facial expressions snappier. One problem I was struggling with was how to adjust the spacing and timing without destroying the key poses I was already happy with. Rather than simply telling me what to do, Ting very kindly recorded a short demonstration specifically for me. Watching her workflow was probably one of the most valuable things I have seen this term. She showed how she uses the graph editor and adds intermediate keys to adjust spacing while preserving the important poses. I honestly think that demonstration may have changed my workflow permanently, because it showed me that polishing is not about remaking the animation but about controlling the spacing between poses.

The second major task this week was creature locomotion. I decided to animate a horse because I wanted to challenge myself with a quadruped that has a clear and rhythmic gait. For the first blocking pass, I approached it almost like a walk cycle with extra steps. My brain tends to understand animation best when I can break it down into systematic patterns, so I focused first on establishing the order of the footfalls before worrying too much about overlap or secondary motion. It was interesting to compare quadruped locomotion to human walk cycles, as the same principles apply but the coordination becomes much more complex. Although the first pass was quite rough, I felt it was a good foundation to build on.

Reflecting on the week, I realised that I am becoming much more interested in workflow rather than simply final results. Watching Ting’s graph editor demo and experimenting with horse locomotion both reinforced the idea that complicated problems become manageable when broken down into smaller pieces. In the past, I often felt overwhelmed when looking at an entire shot, but I am slowly learning to trust the process and tackle things one layer at a time. Even though both the dialogue shot and the horse animation are still far from finished, I feel much more in control of my work than I did earlier in the year.

This week’s lecture introduced creature animation and focused on understanding how anatomy influences movement. Ting explained that animating animals is less about memorising bones and muscles and more about understanding how weight, gait and body structure affect locomotion. She walked us through different types of legs, spine curves and the relationship between the chest, hips and head, emphasizing the importance of gathering plenty of reference before animating. She also outlined the next few weeks, which would revolve around creature locomotion and a group presentation on a chosen animal family.

For the presentation, Ting split the class into groups and assigned each one an animal family. My group was given bears, and I was responsible for researching their anatomy and locomotion. I found it surprisingly interesting because bears combine qualities that seem contradictory: they are heavy and powerful, but also surprisingly agile. Through studying videos and anatomical references, I learned that much of their motion is driven by the shoulders and that their weight sits naturally low and forward. Their plantigrade stance and rolling gait create a strong sense of mass, and I found myself paying attention to details such as foot roll, torso sway and how the body “falls” into each step. Preparing the presentation also made me appreciate how much observation goes into creature animation and how anatomy exists to explain movement rather than simply provide scientific knowledge.

On Friday, we received another round of feedback on our dialogue shots. After making a second pass, Ting felt that the animation had improved, but she pointed out that my facial expressions could still change much faster. She explained that in real life, expressions happen incredibly quickly, and I had a tendency to ease too much between poses, causing the performance to feel sluggish. This tied into a recurring note she has been giving me throughout the term: not to be afraid of making stronger choices. Looking back, I realised that I often animate conservatively because I am worried about things feeling unnatural, but in reality I usually need to push my poses and timing further. It is interesting how the feedback across different assignments from body mechanics, dialogue and even camera work seems to come back to the same idea: animation becomes clearer and more appealing when decisions are bold and intentional rather than overly smooth.

Due to the TFL strikes, Thursday’s session was moved online. During the class, Ting gave us another workshop that built on the overlap and drag concepts from the previous week. This time, we focused on creating a simple idle breathing animation and explored how looping cycles are commonly used in games and interactive media. It was interesting to see how a small amount of movement can make a character feel alive, even when they are standing still. Ting also introduced animation layers and demonstrated how they can be used to stack motion on top of existing animation rather than constantly editing the original keys. Although it was only a brief introduction, I could immediately see how useful animation layers could become, especially when refining shots or adding secondary motion. After the demonstration, she gave us some time to experiment with the techniques ourselves, which helped make the concepts much clearer.

Friday’s session was dedicated to feedback on the blocking pass for our dialogue shots. At this stage, we were not concerned with lip sync and instead focused on body language, head movement and facial expressions. I presented my blocking pass, and Ting thought it was a good start but pointed out that my head movement felt “floaty.” By this, she meant that the poses lacked strong accents and that the transitions were too smooth, making the character feel disconnected from the dialogue. She encouraged me to make the poses sharper and snappier so that the performance would have more clarity and intention. Hearing this reminded me of the feedback I had received earlier in the term about facial transitions and camera movement, where she had similarly stressed the importance of clear choices rather than letting everything drift evenly.

Reflecting on the week, I realised that subtle motion and strong posing are two sides of the same coin. The idle breathing exercise showed how small overlapping movements can bring life to a character, while the dialogue feedback reminded me that those movements still need structure and contrast. I have a tendency to animate things too evenly, perhaps because I am afraid of making poses too extreme. However, the more feedback I receive, the more I realise that animation often benefits from committing to strong ideas rather than trying to make everything smooth. Going forward, I want to push my poses further and trust that sharp accents and clear timing will make the performance feel more believable rather than less.

Coming back from the Easter break, this week’s lecture focused on dialogue shots and lip sync. Ting broke the process down into three stages: blocking, blocking plus and polishing, explaining that facial animation should be approached just like body animation, gradually adding complexity rather than trying to solve everything at once. She also gave practical advice on lip sync, encouraging us to think about sounds rather than words and to start with broad jaw movements before adding phonemes and subtle details. One idea that stood out to me was her emphasis on simplifying the process and treating the initial pass almost like a “muppet mouth” before worrying about perfect mouth shapes. This made the task feel much less intimidating.

Alongside the lecture, we were given self-study resources focusing on overlap and drag, which would feed into Friday’s workshop. Unfortunately, I arrived late to Friday’s class due to an appointment I had to attend. By the time I got there, Ting had already ended the workshop, which involved animating a sea monster swimming through the ocean to practice overlapping action. Although I missed part of the session, I was happy that I still had enough time to attempt the exercise. My result was far from my best work, but it was interesting to think about how different parts of the body should follow each other with slight delays rather than moving simultaneously. Even though I would have liked more time, I was glad I could at least take part in the exercise before the class ended.

Looking back, the two sessions shared a similar theme. Whether working on lip sync or overlapping action, both required me to think less about individual poses and more about relationships between movements. Mouth shapes blend into one another just as different sections of a creature’s body overlap and follow each other. It reminded me that animation is often about creating connections rather than isolated actions. Missing part of the workshop was frustrating, but it also taught me not to be discouraged when things do not go perfectly. Even small amounts of practice can reveal useful ideas, and I left the week with a much clearer understanding of how to approach dialogue and secondary motion.