Month: February 2026

This week focused on improving and finishing the animation work from the previous weeks. The main tasks were the the Facial Poses Animation – Second Pass, and the final Heavy Object & Change of Mind Polish assignment.

We started by looking at facial animation demos. These helped show how facial movement should feel connected and natural, rather than just moving separate controls one by one. It was useful to see examples of how small movements in the eyes, brows, mouth, head and chest can work together to create a more believable performance. This connected back to the previous eye animation lesson, where we learned that blinks, eye darts and brow movement should support the character’s thought process.

For the Facial Poses Anim – Second Pass assignment, we had to address the feedback from the previous facial animation task and do another pass. This stage was about improving the timing and making the transition between the poses feel smoother. Instead of only focusing on the final facial expressions, I had to think more about how the face moves from one emotion to another. I tried to consider which part of the face moves first, where a blink could help, and how the eyes and brows guide the emotion.

This made me realise that facial animation is very detailed. Even if the movement is small, the timing can completely change how the expression reads. If the eyes move too late or the blink feels random, the emotion can become unclear. Doing a second pass helped me understand that animation is not finished after the first version; feedback is part of the process, and each pass should make the acting more readable.

I also recorded a video reference to better understand the facial poses. By filming myself, I could see more clearly how my face moves during the emotion and which small details are important, such as the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and the timing of the blinks.

The reference video also helped me understand how the emotion builds up, so I can apply this more clearly later during the animation polish stage.

We also worked on the final Heavy Object & Change of Mind – Polish assignment. The goal was to address feedback and finish the shot. At this stage, the focus was no longer on creating the main poses, but on refining the animation so that the movement felt more controlled and believable. I had to look at the shot more carefully, check the timing, smooth out the motion and make sure the weight of the object was still clear.

The polish stage was important because it showed me how much difference small changes can make. A heavy object needs the body to react properly, with the hips, chest, arms and hands supporting the weight. The change of mind also needs to be clear, so the audience can understand the moment where the character stops, thinks, and decides to act differently. This means the acting and body mechanics both have to support the same idea.

For the Heavy Object assignment, I had a lot of problems with the constrain part. I kept getting stuck because the object and the character were not working together the way I wanted. This made the process quite frustrating, because I had to keep going back and fixing things before I could continue with the actual animation.

Because of these issues, I decided to adjust my scene slightly so that it would still show the idea of a heavy object clearly, but in a way that was more manageable for me. I focused on making the body movement, weight and timing readable, instead of overcomplicating the scene too much. Even though I struggled during the process, I learned more about how important planning and constraints are when a character interacts with an object.

This week focused on improving facial animation, especially the eyes, and continuing the final stages of the Heavy Object & Change of Mind assignment. The main facial animation material was about eye animation, including blinks, eye darts and eyebrow movement. This helped me understand that the eyes are one of the most important parts of facial acting, because they show thoughts, attention and emotion before the rest of the body reacts.

One useful point from the session was that we should not blink just for the sake of blinking. Blinks should usually happen for a reason, such as a change of thought, a change in eye direction, a major attitude change, head movement or staring. This made me realise that even a small blink can affect how the audience reads the character’s emotion. If the blink is placed randomly, it can make the animation feel less intentional.

We also learned about eye darts and how they can show that a character is thinking or gathering information. The eyes should feel like they are locking onto something, rather than floating around without purpose. I found this helpful because eye movement can make a character feel more alive, even if the body is not moving much. The lecture also explained that eyelids should react to the eye movement, which makes the face feel more connected and natural.

Another part of the lesson focused on eyebrows. We looked at how eyebrow movement can support the eyes and change the meaning of a facial expression. For example, brows can move up or down depending on the type of question, thought or emotional reaction. I found this important because the eyes and brows should not be animated separately; they need to work together as part of the same expression.

For the Facial Pose – Connecting Poses assignment, we had to take three facial poses and connect them together after addressing feedback from the previous assignment. This was more challenging than just making still poses, because I had to think about what part of the face moves first and what follows after. I also had to consider whether a blink or eye dart would help the transition feel more natural. The assignment reminded me to look at reference frame by frame, use a mirror and think about timing, slow in and slow out.

We also continued the Heavy Object & Change of Mind assignment, moving into the Spline + Polish stage. At this point, the focus was on finishing the shot, addressing feedback and checking the animation frame by frame. We had to make sure there were enough keys so the animation did not feel floaty, smooth the curves in the Graph Editor and check motion trails on important parts like the nose, hands, hips and props.

This stage felt more technical, but also very important. In blocking, the main acting and poses are created, but in spline and polish the movement needs to become smoother and more believable. I understood that polishing is not just making the animation look cleaner, but also checking if the weight, timing and spacing still support the acting idea.

I still had a lot of problems with the constraint part of the assignment, and this made me feel quite stuck during the week. I was struggling to make the object connect properly to the character’s hand, and because of that the animation did not work the way I wanted it to. The object was not following the hand correctly, so I kept having to go back and check what I had done wrong.

Marianna helped me with this and explained the constraint setup more clearly. She showed me that I first had to position the hand and key it properly. After that, I had to select the main hand controller together with the object, then go to Animation > Constrain > Parent. This helped me understand how the object could be connected to the hand during the movement.

She also explained the difference between the object being connected and not connected by using Blend Parent. When Blend Parent is set to 1, the object is connected to the hand. When it is set to 0, the object is not connected anymore. This was useful because I understood better how to switch between holding the object and letting go of it. Even though I still found it confusing, this explanation helped me move forward and made the constraint process a bit clearer.

This week focused on developing our existing animation work further and beginning to think more seriously about our Project 1 / FMP direction. We continued from the previous weeks by improving the Heavy Object & Change of Mind animation, but this time the focus moved into Blocking Plus. At this stage, the poses, staging and rhythm needed to be more locked down, instead of still feeling like a rough idea.

For the Heavy Object & Change of Mind (Blocking Plus) assignment, we had to address feedback and make sure the acting choices were clear. The task also asked us to add breakdown keys and in-between keys, with keys placed approximately every four frames. I understood this as the stage where the animation starts becoming more readable and less robotic. It is not fully polished yet, but the main movement, timing and body mechanics should already make sense.

A useful reminder from this task was that offsetting body parts should be done properly using keys, rather than just dragging the whole timeline. This made me think more carefully about rhythm in the body. For example, when a character interacts with a heavy object, the whole body should not move at the exact same time. The hips, chest, arms and head need small timing differences to make the action feel more natural and believable.

During this week, I struggled a lot with the constrain part of the assignment. I kept running into problems where things did not connect or behave the way I expected, which made me feel really stuck and frustrated. Because of this, I had to spend extra time trying to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. In addition to the videos we were given, I also watched other tutorial videos to help me understand the process better. Even though I still got stuck during that week, it helped me realise that constraints are an important part of the workflow and that I need to practise them more so I can use them with more confidence in future animation tasks.

We were also introduced to Project 1, which is a formative assignment connected to our Final Major Project. The project asks us to choose one core element that we might include in the FMP, such as a visual style, character design or narrative idea. We do not need to have the full FMP planned yet, but we need to research one element, experiment with it and create at least one more polished outcome to present.

I found this helpful because it makes the FMP feel less overwhelming. Instead of trying to solve the whole project at once, Project 1 works more like a test run. It gives us space to explore one idea and see if it is achievable, interesting and useful for the bigger project. The examples shown in the brief also made it clear that the outcome can be practical and experimental, not perfect. The important part is to learn from the process and understand what direction could work for the FMP.

On Friday, we also worked on the Facial Pose Photo Reference assignment. This task asked us to start using real references and pose three facial expressions with different emotions. We could use pictures of our own face or actor references. This connected back to last week’s facial posing session, because we had to think about asymmetry, eye shapes, mouth shapes and how the whole face connects together.

Using real photo reference is useful because it stops the expression from becoming too generic. When looking at a real face, there are small details that are easy to miss if I only imagine the emotion: one eyebrow might lift more than the other, the mouth might pull to one side, or the eyes might carry most of the emotion. It also reminded me to use a mirror and observe the expression physically before trying to recreate it on the rig.

The feedback I received for my 3 facial poses was to make the facial expression clearer by adjusting smaller details in the face. I needed to pull the chin down more so the mouth shape would feel stronger and more readable. I also had to think about how the line of action was pushing through the face, and make sure the expression still stayed symmetrical.

Another point of feedback was to pull the eyebrows slightly down, because this would help the emotion feel more connected and intense. I also needed to pull the eyelid a little bit up to improve the eye shape. These small changes helped make the pose feel less flat and made the expression easier to understand.

This week focused on facial posing, blocking and continuing our work with object interaction in Maya. On Thursday, we looked at facial animation and how to create stronger, more appealing expressions. The session explained that a face should feel organic, not stiff or perfectly symmetrical. We learned that asymmetry, shape and connectivity are important because they help the expression feel more alive and less robotic.

One idea I found useful was that facial expressions should not just be made by pushing one control or sliding one attribute. For example, the lecture explained that instead of simply setting the “smile” control to 1.0, we should actually craft the smile by thinking about volume, cheeks, mouth corners, eyes and brows. This made me realise that facial posing is still a form of acting, even when it is only one pose.

For the Facial Pose Model Sheet assignment, we had to reproduce five facial poses using the provided model sheet and references. The task was to apply what we learned in class, while also remembering that camera angle matters. I focused on trying to make the expressions clear and readable, without overcomplicating them. I also tried to pay attention to the relationship between the brows, eyes and mouth, because the lecture showed that these parts should connect together instead of moving separately.

For my 5 facial poses, I received feedback that the mouth shapes needed to be clearer and stronger. I also had to pay more attention to the eye shapes, because the eyes are very important for showing the emotion of the character. The eyebrows needed to connect better with the expression, instead of feeling separate from the face.

Another point of feedback was to improve the line of action in the eyes and eyebrows. The direction of the eyebrows and eyes should support the emotion more clearly. I also had to check the symmetry of the eyes, because some shapes were not balanced enough. Overall, the feedback helped me understand that small changes in the mouth, eyes and eyebrows can make the facial poses much more readable.

On Friday, we had a self-study session with useful Maya tips. This included topics such as adjusting an object’s pivot, camera clip distance, DAG only, colourspace, and constraints/parents with objects. These technical reminders were useful because they connect directly to the animation assignments. A lot of our work now involves props and object interaction, so understanding how to set things up properly in Maya makes the animation process easier.

We also worked on the Heavy Object & Change of Mind blocking assignment. At this stage, the focus was on making sure the story and acting were clear before polishing the animation. We had to make sure every key pose was a strong “golden pose,” with enough important breakdowns between them. I understood that blocking is not just rough animation, but the stage where the main acting choices, timing and rhythm are decided.

Another activity was Stitch’s Tea Party. In this task, Stitch had to make tea by carrying a tray, placing it on the table, putting the tea bag into the pot, pouring tea into the cup, stirring it and finally drinking it. This was a useful exercise because it involved many object interactions, such as holding, placing, pouring and stirring. It also made me think about planning constraints and parenting before animating, because the props need to follow the character’s hands at the right moments.