Category: Advanced 3D Animation
This week, we continued working on the Advanced Animation Shot and focused on polishing the animation. The goal was to make the shot feel more finished by improving the acting, timing and small details in the performance. At this stage, the main movement was already there, so the focus shifted more towards making the character feel alive and less robotic.
I focused on cleaning up the animation and making the performance more readable. For the polish stage, I also received extra feedback for if I wanted to continue improving the shot further. The feedback was mainly about adding more detail in the face and eyes. I was told to work more on the eyebrows, eye darts, making the eyes closer, adding blinks, and having the character look away. A useful note was that the eyes should move first, and then the head should follow after. The last blink also needed to be slower, so the moment feels more natural and less sudden.
On Friday, we had a workshop about Studio Library, Animation Layers and AnimBot. This was useful because these tools can help speed up the animation workflow and make it easier to organise poses, test changes and adjust parts of the animation without destroying the original movement. Studio Library is helpful for saving and reusing poses, while animation layers make it possible to add extra polish or corrections on top of an existing animation. AnimBot also seemed useful for making the animation process smoother, especially when working with timing, spacing and small adjustments.
Overall, this week helped me understand that polishing is not only about making the big movements cleaner, but also about adding small acting details. Things like blinks, eye direction, eyebrow movement and the delay between the eyes and head can make a big difference in how believable the character feels.
This week’s class included also an industry talk about preparing for our first job or internship in animation. We discussed what it is like to enter a professional studio environment, including production pipelines, teamwork, feedback cycles and how industry workflows are different from student projects.
The session was very useful because it gave us a clearer understanding of what employers may expect from us, both technically and professionally. It also made me think more about the responsibilities that come with working in a studio, such as communicating well with a team, responding to feedback and being able to adapt to a structured production process.
This week, we worked on the Advanced Animation Shot (Blocking Plus) assignment. The focus was on improving the blocking and making the acting choices clearer before going into the polish stage. We had to make sure the main poses, timing and movement of the character were readable, so the shot already made sense even without all the final details.
For this version, I focused on pushing the body mechanics and making the performance feel less stiff. I tried to make the important poses clearer and worked more on the timing between the different actions. The goal was not to fully polish the animation yet, but to make sure the base of the shot was strong enough to continue working on.
During the week, we also had a workshop about AnimBot. This was useful because AnimBot gives extra tools inside Maya that can help with animation workflow. It can make it easier to adjust timing, copy poses, mirror poses and clean up animation faster. This workshop helped me understand how these tools can support the animation process, especially when going from blocking plus to polish.
Overall, Week 17 was mainly about strengthening the shot before the final polish. It helped me see that blocking plus is an important stage, because the big acting choices and movement need to work first before adding smaller details like blinks, eye darts and facial animation.
This week, we started working on the Advanced Animation Shot (Blocking) assignment. The focus was on creating the first clear version of the animation, where the most important poses and acting choices had to be visible. At this stage, the animation did not need to be smooth or polished yet, but the main idea of the performance had to make sense.
For my blocking, I focused on placing the key poses first. This helped me understand the structure of the shot and where the important acting beats needed to happen. I tried to think about the character’s intention, body language and timing, instead of immediately focusing on small details. The goal was to make sure the movement was readable from the start.
This stage was useful because it showed me how important strong poses are in animation. If the blocking is unclear, it becomes much harder to improve the shot later. By working in blocking first, I could test the timing and the general performance before adding more breakdowns, in-betweens and polish.
This week focused on finishing the Creature Locomotion assignment and starting the planning for our next Advanced Animation Shot. The week felt like a shift from completing previous technical exercises into planning a more personal animation idea that could connect to my FMP.
On Thursday, we worked on the Creature Locomotion Polish assignment. At this stage, the aim was to refine the movement and make the creature animation feel more believable. The polish stage was important because lions have a strong sense of weight and power in their movement, so small changes in timing and body mechanics can make the animation feel much more natural. By studying real lion references, I could better understand how the legs, paws, shoulders, hips, head and tail work together, which helped me improve the overall realism of my animation.
On Friday, we started planning the Advanced Animation Shot. For this assignment, we were told that from Week 16 to Week 19 we would work on a more advanced animation shot of our choice. This week was about submitting the shot planning for review. The planning had to include the type of shot, the context, the rig being used, video references, and any rough thumbnails or blocking that could help explain the idea.
For my idea, I want to create a short pantomime / acting shot that connects to the theme of my FMP. The shot will show a young character during their morning routine, brushing their teeth in a mechanical and tired way. While they are getting ready, siren lights and sounds interrupt the moment. The character pauses briefly and notices the disturbance, but instead of reacting with fear, they give a tired sigh, as if this kind of chaos has become normal. They then put on headphones.
The main focus of the animation will be subtle acting and body mechanics. I want to work on the repetitive brushing movement, the pause when the sirens appear, the sigh, the shoulders dropping, putting on the headphones, and the character’s detached body language. I want the movement to feel emotionally numb and slightly robotic, rather than dramatic or scared.
This idea connects to my FMP because I am interested in how people become emotionally distant from violence and conflict through constant exposure to media, news and everyday chaos. The scene shows the contrast between an ordinary daily routine and signs of conflict happening around the character. Instead of showing a big dramatic reaction, I want to show desensitisation through a small, quiet moment.
Initially, I wanted to use the Ray rig, but it is no longer available to download. Because of this, I had to look for another suitable rig that I could use for my animation work.
The feedback I received was that the idea was good and possible to animate, but that I should make the shot more focused. Instead of trying to animate the whole action, I was advised to choose only one clear section. This could either be the first half, where the character brushes their teeth, reacts to the siren and sighs, or the second half, where they put down the toothbrush, put on their earphones and walk away.
This week focused on continuing two main projects: the Dialogue Shot and the Creature Locomotion assignment. The week felt like a transition from research and blocking into more finished animation work, especially because the dialogue shot moved into the polish stage.
On Thursday, we looked again at Lip Sync Demo material. This was useful because the dialogue shot now needed more detailed facial animation and mouth movement. The demo reminded me that lip sync is not just about matching every word exactly, but about making the performance readable. I had to think about the jaw opening, the main phoneme shapes, and how the mouth connects smoothly between sounds. This connected back to the previous lip sync lesson, where we learned to animate the sounds rather than the written words.
We also worked on the Dialogue Shot – Polish assignment. At this stage, the goal was to finish the shot and refine the animation. Since I had already worked on the body movement, facial expression and blocking, the polish stage was about making everything feel more connected. I had to check the timing, smooth out the movements and make sure the facial performance supported the character’s intention. This stage made me realise how much small details matter in a dialogue shot, especially around the eyes, brows, mouth and head movement.
On Friday, we started the Creature Locomotion Blocking assignment. The task was to use one of the provided rigs and create a locomotion animation for the creature. We were also expected to attach reference videos and show different views of the locomotion. Even though it is called “blocking,” the brief explained that for creature animation this stage should already feel more like blocking plus, around 70% finished and splined.
I also researched several lion locomotion videos to get a better understanding of how the movement should work. This helped me observe the timing, weight, body mechanics and rhythm of the walk cycle more clearly. By looking at real lion references, I could better understand how the shoulders, hips, legs and head move together, which helped me when planning and improving my own animation.
We also had a demo on Cycle at the Spot & Walk Out, which showed how a locomotion cycle can be built first in place and then translated forward. This was useful because it showed the importance of making a clean cycle before trying to move the character through space. Even though the demo example was not a fish, the idea still applies: the movement needs to loop clearly first, and then the travel or direction change can be added.
This week, we also had to present our Fish Locomotion work. For this task, we showed the progress we had made and explained how we approached the movement of the fish. The focus was on understanding how a fish moves through water and how the body should not move as one stiff object, but more like a flowing wave.
This week focused on creature animation and continuing the Dialogue Shot assignment. On Thursday, we started the Group Assignment: Creature Study, where we had to choose an animal topic and research it from an animation point of view. The aim was not just to collect random facts, but to study details that would actually help with animation, such as how the creature moves, behaves, turns, speeds up, slows down, and how its anatomy affects the movement.
For my creature study, I chose fish. We focused mainly on locomotion, especially fins and gills movement, and how fish speed up, slow down and turn in water. We also looked at how timing can change depending on the species. This was useful because fish movement is not only about the tail moving side to side. The fins, body, gills and direction changes all work together to make the motion feel natural.
The creature animation lecture helped explain the process of studying animals before animating them. We were encouraged to collect a lot of video reference, build a reference library from different angles, and study the creature before trying to animate it. The lecture also explained that creature locomotion depends on understanding anatomy and movement patterns, even if we do not need to become anatomy experts.
Even though many examples in the lecture focused on quadrupeds, the same idea still applies to fish. Instead of studying legs and gaits, I had to think about the body curve, rhythm, fins, tail and how the motion travels through the body. For fish, the spine/body curve is especially important because the movement often flows from the front of the body towards the tail, with the fins helping with balance, steering and subtle adjustments.
On Friday, we continued with the Dialogue Shot – Blocking Plus assignment. At this stage, the shot had to move beyond rough blocking and become clearer in terms of timing, acting and facial performance. Since this is a dialogue shot, the main focus is not just body movement, but how the body, face and mouth shapes support the character’s intention.
We also had Lip Sync Demo & Tutorials available as support. These tutorials were useful because they reminded us to use reference, even if it is just a mirror, to check mouth shapes. This connected back to the lip sync lesson from the previous week, where we learned to animate the sounds rather than the written words.
This week focused on two different animation exercises: a Breathing Animation workshop and the next stage of the Dialogue Shot assignment. Both tasks helped me think more about subtle performance, body movement and how small animation choices can make a character feel more believable.
On Thursday, we had a Breathing Animation workshop in Maya. We were given a rig and had to create a simple breathing animation. I worked with the provided reptilian character rig and focused on creating subtle movement rather than a big action or full performance. The aim was to make the character feel alive through small repeated body movements.
This exercise helped me understand that breathing animation needs careful rhythm and weight. If the movement is too strong, too fast or too even, it can look unnatural. I had to think about how the chest, body and posture could move slightly to suggest breathing without making the animation feel exaggerated. It showed me that small details can still add a lot of life to a character.
On Friday, I worked on the Dialogue Shot – Blocking assignment. At this stage, I focused mostly on the body movement and main poses rather than the full facial animation or lip sync. I wanted to make sure the main acting choices were clear first, because the body language gives the foundation for the performance.
While working on the shot, I had some technical problems with my JoshCamera, which disappeared during the process. I tried to use the original camera again and also tried to re-reference both cameras, but they still did not work properly. Because of this, I was advised that I could use a normal Maya default camera instead, especially because the shot did not need a complicated camera setup.
The feedback I received was that the body animation was working well. However, the facial expression was still missing, and I need to focus on adding emotion before worrying too much about lip sync. The main advice was to make the character’s feeling clear first, such as whether they are happy, sad, doubtful or trying to persuade someone. This helped me understand that facial expression is part of the acting, not just an extra detail added at the end.
I was also advised to adjust the camera angle slightly, around 30 to 45 degrees, because the front-facing camera made the poses look too symmetrical. Changing the camera angle should make the shot feel less flat and more natural. For the last part of the dialogue, I also need to push the acting more by making the character lean forward, so it feels like they are really trying to convince the person they are speaking to.
I also researched several lip sync reference videos to get a better understanding of how the mouth shapes and facial movements should work. This helped me observe how the lips, jaw, cheeks and facial expressions move together when a character is speaking. By looking at real speech references, I could better understand the timing of the dialogue and make the animation feel more natural and believable.
This week focused on two different areas of animation: lip sync for dialogue shots and overlap/follow-through in body animation. Both tasks were useful because they showed how small timing choices can make animation feel more believable and less mechanical.
On Thursday, we looked at Facial Animation III – Lip Sync. The lecture explained that a dialogue shot still follows the same animation process as before: blocking, blocking plus and polishing. In blocking, the focus is on the main key poses for the whole body, including the facial expression. In blocking plus, the body gets breakdown keys, while the face starts to include transitions between expressions, major mouth shapes and timing. In polishing, the body gets more in-betweens and the facial animation focuses on connecting the mouth shapes clearly.
The lip sync workflow was broken down into three steps: jaw opening, phonemes and polish. I found the jaw opening stage helpful because it simplifies the process. Instead of immediately trying to animate every single sound, we first need to find the accents in the sentence and understand when the jaw opens. The lecture also reminded us to animate on twos and to avoid making the mouth movement too linear.
We then looked at phonemes, which are the mouth shapes connected to sounds. A key point was to animate the sounds, not the written words. For example, “Oo” and “U” push the mouth corners in, while “Eh” and “Ee” pull the corners out. Shapes like “M,” “B” and “P” need the lips to close, and the shape should stay for at least two frames so the audience can read it. This made me realise that lip sync is not just about matching words, but about making the mouth shapes clear enough to support the performance.
The self-study also supported the lip sync topic by giving extra video resources to review outside class. This was useful because lip sync is quite technical, and it helps to watch examples again while working through the shot.
On Friday, we had the Overlap Workshop. For this, we used a provided sea monster file and had to animate the sea monster swimming with good follow-through and overlap on its body and fins. We could choose a section from the 500 frames of camera movement, with a minimum of 100 frames, and then upload a playblast by 6pm.
This workshop helped me understand that overlap is important for making movement feel natural. If every part of the sea monster moves at the same time, the animation feels stiff. Instead, the body, fins and tail need to move with slight delays, so the motion feels like it travels through the body. This is especially important for a swimming creature, because the movement should feel fluid and affected by the water.
My Maya file crashed and I had not saved my progress, which was a careless mistake on my part. Because of this, I lost the work I had already done and had to start the scene again from the beginning. This was frustrating, but it also reminded me how important it is to save my work regularly and create backup versions while working in Maya.
This week focused on connecting our animation work to professional practice and dialogue acting. We had two main assignments: The Professional Artist Interview and Dialogue Shot – Reference & Rough Blocking. We also looked at acting and subtext, which helped connect the technical side of animation with character intention.
For the Professional Artist Interview, the task was to interview someone working in a role or creative area connected to our future interests. I interviewed Ilja van Eck, an independent web designer and developer. Even though he does not work directly in 3D animation, I still found the interview useful because I am interested in the possibility of freelancing in the future, and he works independently in a creative digital field. The interview also gave me insight into how creative careers can develop outside a traditional path.
One thing that stood out to me was that his studies helped him discover web design and development, but most of his growth came from self-learning, experimenting and sharing work online. He explained that visibility was important for getting clients, especially through platforms like Awwwards. This made me think about how important it is to build a strong portfolio and show my work consistently, especially if I want to work creatively after graduation.
The interview also made the freelance industry feel more realistic. He spoke about challenges such as difficult clients, communication issues, project management and stress. I found his advice about communication and deadlines useful, especially the idea of being honest with clients and not promising unrealistic timelines. Even though my main direction is 3D animation, these ideas still apply to creative work in general.
We also started the Dialogue Shot – Reference & Rough Blocking assignment. For this task, we had to use one of the provided audio clips and create a half-body dialogue shot with the Yu Long rig. The shot had to be no longer than 11 seconds, with only one character showing their face. The focus was on story, reference, camera, acting, facial animation and lip sync, rather than full body mechanics.
The lecture on Acting – Subtext was especially useful for this assignment. We learned that subtext is what the character really means underneath the words they are saying. The material explained that acting is reacting, and that subtext gives a character a richer inner life through subtle body language and performance choices.
This helped me understand that a dialogue shot should not just copy the audio literally. Before animating, I need to think about who the character is, what situation they are in, what they want, and what they are really thinking. The lecture also reminded us that great acting and animation happen when the character’s movement is driven by intention, not just by the spoken line.
For the rough blocking stage, we had to prepare the shot with reference, camera, environment, audio and main key poses. This made me realise how important planning is before animating. Shooting or studying reference helps decide the acting choices, facial expressions, timing and emotional beats before opening Maya and animating the final shot.