MA 3D Computer Animation Blog

Author: Yatharth Gupta

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1.1 3D Computer Animation Fundamental Immersion (UE5)

Week 3: Production Sequencer

For this week, we worked on sequencers and cameras. Within my project file, I created cameras for the required shots and placed them in sequence of the script. Then animated the camera movements using transform keyframes on the sequencer and editing the graphs to get desired motion.

To break down the scenes, I created a main Sequencer and 3 Sub-sequences for each scene.

This is a draft export of the camera cuts from the main Level Sequence.

Within the subsequences, I added the character and levels that I wanted to be hidden. Each asset was coverted to spawnable and turned on or off where required. Below is a subsequence where I turned off the ‘City’ Level to have just the terrain and fort visible.

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1.1 3D Computer Animation Fundamental Animation (Maya)

Week 2: Pendulum

The 12 principles of animation were introduced in class. While each principle is important, I feel they can be re-arranged in a sequential manner for a step-by-step approach.

So re-organizing the 12 principles according to my understanding –

  1. Straight Ahead & Pose-to-Pose : deciding what action requires which method should be the 1st step.
  2. Staging : Individual key-frames should be composed well.
  3. Timing and Motion : Pose spacing and timing of the primary object should be fixed next.
  4. Ease-in and out : To add a sense of acceleration and deceleration at the ends of the actions.
  5. Arcs : While fixing the motion path, arcs or straight lines should be decided according to the action.
  6. Squash and Stretch : This adds physical characteristic to the object.
  7. Anticipation : Every action needs an opposite action before starting to prepare the audience.
  8. Follow Through and Overlap : Parts like hair, cloth or tails keep moving after the main body stops and catch up afterwards.
  9. Secondary Action : A reaction (similar to a tail) of other objects from the primary objects action.
  10. Exaggeration and Appeal : The two can be merged as both are used to give a personality to the action.
  11. Solid Drawing : As a 3D animator, it can be considered as the models and textures should be clean.

The second exercise was to learn Follow-through and overlapping principle through a pendulum.

After deciding the main disc timing, I did the keyframes straight ahead for the each pendulum arm with a diminishing amplitudes. Then editing the graphs of each arm to offset slightly from the previous one gave the desired result.

Categories
1.1 3D Computer Animation Fundamental Animation (Maya)

Week 1: Bouncing Ball

The Bouncing ball animation was the first exercise. With the aim to understand spacing and timing while applying squash and stretch principle.

Final Animation

I planned it using a guideline to denote the exponentially losing energy of the ball, both in height and distance. Once the planning was complete, I moved on to create key frames and edit the graph editor to achieve the desired interpolation.

After the location and rotation in place, I added squash and stretch to the ball for the impacts.

Planning | Spacing and Timing

Categories
1.1 3D Computer Animation Fundamental Immersion (UE5)

Week 1-2: Unreal Engine Introduction

The first and second week we focused on installing and getting used to the interface of Unreal engine 5.4.

Unreal Engine workspace

Unreal has an intuitive interface where basic navigation is done through LMB+WASD and QE. A project Outliner on the right and a Content Drawer at bottom to organize assets. And the properties panel of left bottom to edit those assets. The toolbar on top has different selection modes and options to add objects or levels into the project. Under that are the shading and viewing options, along with tools for translation and modification with options for snapping.

Having worked for films and in Blender, this is a good analogy for me to understand the workflow in Unreal.

Within the project there are Levels with Sub Levels within them which are like sets for a film. And

For my project, I started by creating folders for Environment Assets, Levels and Extras for Lights and cameras. I added a new Level to create a terrain for the scene. Then I added basic light setup using Env. Light Mixer.

Environment Lighting

My scene is set in a desert landscape, so I edited the env. light colors and added a custom stylized Cloud texture, to get the desired aesthetic for the environment.

Landscape Sculpt

Using the Landscape tool, I created a rough terrain to place my built mass and applied a sand material to the landscape mesh.

Blocking

Using the Modelling tool within Unreal, I created a blocking of the fort for the scene.