Particle Effects
At this stage of production, I began introducing early particle effects into the scenes. These were mainly placeholders – simple dust, light fog, and water particle tests – to help the shots make more sense when discussing them during feedback sessions. Most of these early effects didn’t make it into the final project, but their purpose here was to quickly communicate atmosphere and intention.
I also experimented with mesh-based particles, creating simple mesh shapes in Blender and using them inside Niagara’s Mesh Renderer in Unreal. This helped me test more stylised effects early on, such as floating bubbles or stylised smoke effects.
Animation Blocking
I also started blocking out the character’s position and rough poses to check compositions and shot timings. Many shots used a basic T-pose stand-in, and I created a second version of the pre-vis with these rough placements. This helped me understand how the character would move through the environment and how each shot flowed into the next.
All animation blocking was done in Blender. I exported the rough movements as FBX files and imported them into Unreal Engine to place inside Sequencer. This made it easier to see how the animations interacted with the environment, lighting, and camera angles.
During this stage, I also discovered that the character rig had some significant issues. animations that looked acceptable in Blender became distorted once exported to Unreal.
Editing Notes
With the new sequences assembled in Unreal, I brought the entire shot back into Blender video editor to compare against the initial pre-vis. While reviewing the shots, I began adding notes for myself – small changes to framing, adjustments to timing, or improvements to shot-to-shot flow. These notes became a sort of roadmap for the next stages of production, ensuring I stayed aware of problems that needed addressing now.
This stage was less about polishing and more about testing, previewing, and identifying what the film was missing. It gave me a clear sense of how the project was evolving and what would need attention in the upcoming stages.