Category: FMP

Final Work：

Showreel:

Introduction:

Embarking on a three-month adventure in the realm of 3D animation,Guided by my instructor, I undertook the unique challenge of completing the entire animation individually. This departure from previous team collaborations allowed me to delve into every stage of production on a deeper level.

Despite the concise duration of the final animation, the processes involved were intricate and lengthy. From initial brainstorming to text storyboarding, 3D previsualization, character design, modeling, scene construction, texture painting, model binding, fur effects, to the entire animation workflow, and concluding with rendering and compositing.

Challenges & Acknowledgement:

The most challenging aspects, in my opinion, were model binding, fur effects, and animation.

This was my maiden attempt at binding models for both human and quadruped characters and delving into fur effects. Weeks were spent navigating through trial and error. Difficulties surfaced, such as determining accurate method for fur creation that faithfully mirrored the 2D design, transferring fur as a resource to models without errors, and understanding the intricacies of binding and weight painting for quadruped models. Having attended Toby’s workshop on binding proved invaluable, emphasizing the importance of resource referencing. I often found myself encountering common pitfalls due to novice errors. By combining Toby’s binding tutorials with trial-and-error attempts, I developed a clear understanding of the systematic progression between assests and the accurate linking of each step.

Furthermore, animation has always posed a formidable challenge for me. From previs-animation to character animation within the formal scenes, George provided considerable assistance. This experience enhanced my understanding of various animation concepts and details permeating the entire small animation production, such as Spline animation curves, the Twelve Principles of Animation, and finer details like precisely timing a blink. Initially, my understanding of the Twelve Principles was theoretical, but translating theory into practice during the project reinforced why certain animations should move in a specific way to be aesthetically pleasing. While some animation shots still reveal imperfections, the overall quality has improved significantly, and my production speed has increased.

Dissatisfaction and Satisfaction:

I also have areas of dissatisfaction with this project, primarily stemming from the constraints of time. I couldn’t fully present my story as envisioned in the previsualization. To ensure timely rendering and compositing before the deadline, I had to trim one or two scenes. Consequently, there are two abrupt transitions in the current storyline. Through discussions with peers, I realized that this is a language-of-shot issue. These cuts might potentially hinder the evocation of audience emotions or the accurate conveyance of the emotions I aimed to express through the animation. But then I would restore the two cuts from the previs animation.

On a positive note, I find satisfaction in the clearer mastery of the entire process, boldly exploring what I initially considered challenging in terms of binding and fur technology. After completion, I discovered that these aspects weren’t as daunting as I had perceived, providing me with a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, despite the brevity of the animation, I believe I have a good attempt in effectively conveying the plot and controlling the pace of the narrative.

In conclusion, I believe that learning 3D computer animation techniques is essential for achieving better visual effects and effective communication of information. The possibilities within the realm of 3D visual artwork are limitless, and the ongoing pursuit of challenges in crafting visually engaging content using 3D technology will remain a continuous effort.

Lighting & Rendering

To commence, post-animation completion, I coordinated the lighting for each scene. This involved managing various lights, such as spotlights, directional lights, and skydome lights, ensuring consistent texture mapping and lighting parameters. Subsequently, I fine-tuned the lighting angles for individual scenes, established rendering parameters, and initiated the rendering process.

BGM & Sound effects

For my voiceover, I primarily sought resources from AI-generated music platforms like Soundraw and some ambient tracks from independent musicians. Ultimately, I discovered background music (BGM) from a French music artist, In Love with a Ghost, from which I selected several excerpted segments. Sound effects mainly originated from both self-recorded sounds, like footsteps and dog barks, and simple sounds found through online searches.

Link For ai music : https://soundraw.io/create_music

Link For in love with a ghost :https://www.instagram.com/lvghstmusic/

Composition

In the final phase, I imported all elements into Adobe After Effects for composition. I edited all music and footage, incorporating some straightforward graphic and text effects, such as starting and ending text animations. Notably, one segment features an animated twinkling star effect. Additionally, certain segments include adjustments to playback speed, lens blur, exposure, and color correction.

Text animation in AE:https://motionarray.com/learn/after-effects/how-to-create-5-awesome-text-animations-in-after-effects/

sparkling star effects link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu7QTLSc9rE

In the animation stage, I have already completed most of the scene models and integrated them into a single file to create the animation. However, here, I will specifically outline the process of creating the scene.

Process: Find reference images ➡️ Build low-poly models in Maya ➡️ Unfold UVs in Maya ➡️ Name and group objects ➡️ Apply materials in Substance Painter ➡️ Export textures from Substance Painter and import them into Maya ➡️ Complete a series of lighting setups ➡️ Render ➡️ Complete scene visual effects

Since I primarily focused on character creation, and due to time constraints, I didn’t spend an extensive amount of time creating detailed scene models. I spent two days building a simple house model (90%) and used part of reference model(10%), two days for texture mapping, and one day for scene integration and lighting.

Below are my reference images, low-poly models, and the texturing process. I won’t go into detail about the modeling and texturing parts; they are presented in image format.

Low-Poly Models:

Texturing Process:

Textured Results:

In this blog, the most critical aspects for me were the VFX parts : lighting, and rendering. After integrating the scene, I created several types of lighting: Arnold Skydome, Area lights, and directionalLight.

The Arnold Skydome serves as the background for the entire scene. I used an online reference “sunrise background” (HDRI image) as the material for the entire sky. I chose this image because I wanted to create a series of orange and blue backgrounds to convey the story from sunset into the night. Therefore, my lighting prominently features these two colors (blue for shadows and orange for light).

Area lights can serve as carriers for AI Atmosphere Volume. In Arnold’s rendering environment, I created an AI AtmosphereVolume to display atmospheric fog in both these light types (it should be possible in other lights as well, but I focused on these two).

All three of them have similar settings:

1. Intensity/Density
2. Color
3. Samples (rendering shading clarity)
   • By adjusting these values, I can control the light intensity, fog density, and color tendency. It’s worth noting that some parameters of directional lights, such as the Illuminance and Shadow Color attributes, influence the overall effect of the image. Directional lights can illuminate the entire scene and cast shadows, creating a unified visual impression. This sets them apart from area lights, which only illuminate a localized area.

AI Atmosphere Volume Effect:

Area Light Effect:

Directional Light Effect:

Lighting Tutorials:

Render image:

Render shot:

That covers the process of scene creation.

Animating Process：

Create an animation file ➡️ Composite all scenes + props + characters (imported as references) ➡️ Use the time sequencer or split each shot into a separate file (hide unused scenes for easy modification) ➡️ Set camera movements (panning, static, follow) ➡️ Keyframe block animation based on the storyboard ➡️ Convert block animation to spline animation ➡️ Polish the animation ➡️ Done

Additionally, during the production process, I create some animations separately in a file, such as walk cycles, tail swings, and tongue movements. These animations can be saved as resources in an animation library ) and imported into the corresponding shots when needed.

walkcycle video：

I divided the animation works into several weeks, working on it while receiving feedback from George and making modifications.

I made some adjustments to the original storyboard.

Shots Screenshots（Storyboard）：

Animating Video Version 1 (Incomplete Story):

Animating Video Version 2 (Complete Story):

I submitted animation shots and George made revisions to the animation on SyncSketch. Following an overall review and discussion between George and me, we refined five to six key shots, enhancing their intricacy. The animation details are provided below:

This week, my main focus was on hair interaction. I typically work on hair separately on the scalp or animal skin, such as human hair. I extract the scalp of the character, create the hair on the scalp, and then bind the finished scalp to the body. If it’s regular XGen hair, it can’t be interactively groomed in real-time. Therefore, initially, I chose to create the hair using regular XGen and then converted it into interactive grooming (Generate ➡️ transfer to Interactive Grooming). This step was crucial for preparing for the hair simulation.

Workflow:

1. Create classic XGen hair ➡️ Convert it to interactive grooming XGen ➡️ Begin a series of hair simulation settings.

To create dynamic hair simulation, for example:

1. I create a linear wire in the interactive XGen and add guide curves, enable dynamic simulation for the wire.
2. I set the character as a passive collision object (under FX in the ncloth section), allowing the hair to collide and follow the character’s movements.
3. Next, it is the configuration phase. In the Outliner, you’ll see hair system, nucleus. Hair simulation requires adjustments to three data sets: hair system (hair parameters), nucleus (collision calculation), and linear wire (guide parameters).
   • In linear wire, you’ll adjust the Amplitude Ratio. The left side represents the movement amplitude at the roots, while the right side represents the movement amplitude at the tips. Smoothness is the degree of smoothness displayed as hair moves.

• In hair system, you can adjust parameters like friction (0.5) and stickiness (0.1) in collisions. These affect the delay and magnitude of hair movement. In the Dynamic Properties section, enable No Stretch to prevent hair from stretching unnaturally during motion. In the Forces section, you can find the Damp attribute, which also helps delay hair movement for a smoother result.
  • Finally, in nucleus, in the Solver Attributes, you can adjust Substeps (16) and Maximum Collision Iterations (32) to improve the smoothness of collision effects.

Dynamichair Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_zpcwLRbY

In reality, there are many ways to address hair movement issues. I also found a method that involves binding skeletal animations to hair when binding bones to a hair plane. However, I didn’t use this technique in my current project. It’s shared here for reference:

Link：

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IS_tnkO_oU

The process for animal fur is the same as above, but it’s important to note that animal fur is typically shorter, so the movement amplitude is smaller. Parameters should be adjusted accordingly, and not all parts of the fur need hair simulation to maintain a natural look.

Additionally, data from interactive grooming XGen can be exported as a resource (Description ➡️ Presets ➡️ Export) and imported in the same way. Data can be transferred to a model with similar or identical UV layout. Occasionally, exporting large volumes of hair may cause file crashes, but multiple attempts can lead to success.

That concludes the interactive grooming part of XGen. Hair preview effects:

Xgen hair

Process:

1. Create a low-poly scalp ➡️ Unfold UVs ➡️ Use Poly Hair Transform to curve ➡️ Group them ➡️ Then create an XGen layer ➡️ Set hair properties:
   • Density
   • Length
   • Curliness
   • Noise
   • Clump
   • Cut
   • Set aiStandardSurface as the material and adjust color parameters (base color/melanin/melanin redness) ➡️ Done (Note: The same steps apply to eyelashes and eyebrows ⬆️)

It’s worth noting that XGen hair can be used as a reference and imported into different Maya files. Do not delete the history, as it could significantly affect XGen’s operation.

Xgen Animal fur

Interactive Dog Fur

Workflow:

1. Choose a polygonal face ➡️ Create XGen hair ➡️ Set properties:
   • Length
   • Density
   • Noise
   • Curve
   • Clump
   • Sculpt
2. Modify colors ➡️ Done ➡️ Export (Similarly, interactive fur can be exported as an asset to models with the same UV map)

Animal Fur Tutorial Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0w4XpZqSCA&t=4824s

Process: Maya project folder ➡️ open asset folder ➡️ create rig folder ➡️ add model reference ➡️ use the Advanced Skeleton plugin ➡️ place the skeleton ➡️ match the position of bones and models ➡️ skinning ➡️ set up animation to paint weight ➡️ copy weights to clothes ➡️ export weight data backup ➡️ face rig ➡️ adjustment phase ➡️ special rig (in this model, chains, skirts, and shoes are bound using key drives) ➡️ done.

Character Rigging:

Rigging: The rigging process is generally consistent. First, create the skeleton based on the human or animal anatomy, placing bones in corresponding positions that match the model. Additionally, if there are other parts that need to move, create extra bones, such as dog ears, tails, and so on.

Skirt Rigging Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzrETjZ7S1c

Dog Rigging Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=EZI0aVx9_As

Weight Painting: Then add animation, using the ngSkinTools plugin to paint weights while animating.

The layer and painting sequence for the human is: Torso ➡️ Shoulder ➡️ Upper Arm ➡️ Lower Arm ➡️ Cup ➡️ Thumb ➡️ Index ➡️ Middle ➡️ Ring ➡️ Pinky ➡️ Head ➡️ Hips ➡️ Calves

The layer and painting sequence for the dogs is: Torso ➡️ Back shoulder ➡️ Shoulder ➡️ Upper arm ➡️ Lower arm ➡️ Finger ➡️ Index ➡️ Middle ➡️ Ring ➡️ Pinky ➡️ Hip ➡️ Calves ➡️ Back finger ➡️ Index toe ➡️ Middle toe ➡️ Ring toe ➡️ Pinky toe ➡️ Tail ➡️ Neck ➡️ Ear

Finally, the rigging is completed.

Process: Unfold UVs in Maya ➡️ Use Substance Painter to paint the UV map ➡️ Import the UV map back into Maya ➡️ Link images to different attributes on the objects.

I utilized the UDIM function in Maya, arranging UVs within the range (1~n, 1). The benefit of this approach is the ability to display all models directly in Substance Painter and import them into Maya with textures applied simultaneously. While working in Substance Painter, I paid attention to how different material channels affected the object’s properties, including lighting, base color, patterns, metallicness, bump, reflectivity, roughness, etc.

I exported images from Substance Painter and applied them using Arnold materials in Maya. After adding lighting, the rendering process was completed, resulting in the final visual effect.

Render picture:

workflow：

In the project asset folder ➡️ create a file ➡️ insert reference images ➡️ build a basic model in Maya ➡️ add details in ZBrush ➡️ import to Maya for topological reconstruction ➡️ group and rename the models ➡️ complete.

First, I placed reference images in Maya and create a basic model and imported it into ZBrush to add details. Ensure that the eyeballs are positioned correctly to maintain facial symmetry and add details to different parts of the body. I used ZRemesher function to recalculate the number of faces (reduce face count) and imported the model back into Maya, completed the topological reconstruction of the body, clothing, and other models in Maya.

Topological tutorials:

1. Head topology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqfeGbC3hW8
2. Body topology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Ak66N0cAw
3. Hand topology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UuTYzP4dyQ

In topology, it’s crucial to have loop faces in key areas, as they will affect the model’s movement. Model lines at joints or on facial features that require deformation should be denser. All of these aspects need to be carefully planned before topological work begins.

After completing the topological reconstruction, I added details like teeth, tongue, and eyes. Finally, I renamed and adjusted the pivot points of each model, and then the stage of work is complete.

Project Format: 3D animation

Story Summary: The story of an abandoned puppy wandering the streets in search of a new home.

Storyboard:

Mood Board:

Character Design:

Character 1:

Character 2:

Final Decision:

(Brainstorming) I’ve designed several characters around the main character, both female and male. Initially, I hadn’t decided on the specific personality and appearance of this character. For example, I envisioned them as someone with a friendly exterior and animals are naturally drawn to. Alternatively, it could be a character with a rough exterior but a kind heart. Often, dogs tend to approach unexpected people who have a kind disposition towards animals.

Therefore, I chose the latter option. I prefer the character with this kind of contradiction, as it tends to be more appealing.

Sketches:

Character 1:

Character 2:

(Brainstorming) Additionally, I didn’t dwell for long on the concept of the stray dog. I based it on a stray Teddy that I encountered in my own experience, trying to make this little dog as cute as possible. In my mind, a dog that I would want to adopt again should have qualities like boldness, cuteness, and a bit of a pitiable aspect. Thus, a dirty-looking stray puppy was created. Lastly, the main character also has a dog, inspired by a shiba.