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.