Category: Maya

This week focused on the basics of cinematography, looking at how camera composition, shot size, angle, and movement help tell a story. We explored the idea that the camera acts as another character, guiding the audience’s attention and emotional response through how a shot is framed and moves.

We studied concepts such as the rule of thirds, golden ratio, different shot sizes, and how camera angles (high, low, eye-level, Dutch) can change how a character is perceived. We also looked at basic camera rules like the 180-degree rule and the importance of motivated camera movement.

The assignment was to storyboard a scene, analysing how camera language is used to express emotion and narrative.

I attached the hands to the block, which helped the character move as a single unit. This made the motion feel more stable and consistent, and reduced the sliding problem I was struggling with before.

This week focused on pushing the body mechanics shot further into polish, while still reviewing both stepped and spline versions alongside reference. The goal was to refine the motion while keeping the original intent and weight intact.

I concentrated on smoothing transitions, cleaning up arcs, and improving timing without losing the clarity established in blocking. Comparing the spline pass with the stepped version helped ensure the movement still felt grounded and physically believable.

This stage highlighted how important it is to polish carefully and deliberately, building on strong foundations rather than overworking the animation.

This week focused on continuing the body mechanics shot and submitting a work-in-progress in both stepped and spline versions, alongside video reference. The aim was to compare how the motion reads in each stage and identify areas that need improvement.

Working in stepped mode helped me focus on pose clarity, weight shifts, and balance, while the spline version highlighted issues with timing and arcs. Reviewing both versions side by side made it easier to spot problems in the motion and refine the performance.

This process reinforced how important it is to move gradually from blocking to spline, using reference and clear poses to maintain believable body mechanics.

This week focused on creating rough blocking for a body mechanics shot. The aim was to establish clear key poses and breakdowns that communicate weight, balance, and believable movement before refining the animation.

I concentrated on making the poses readable and ensuring the character’s centre of gravity felt grounded throughout the action. Keeping the animation in rough blocking allowed me to focus on overall motion, timing, and physical logic without worrying about polish.

This stage highlighted how important strong foundations are in body mechanics. Clear poses and solid blocking make it much easier to push the animation further in later passes.

This week’s assignment focused on creating expressive hand poses in 3D, using the same rig as the previous week. The aim was to make the emotion and action readable using only the hands, without relying on the character’s face or body.

I studied hand gestures in animation and real-life reference to understand how finger spacing, tension, and angles affect clarity. Small changes in finger curl and wrist rotation made a big difference in how expressive each pose felt. I also focused on keeping the poses clean and easy to read from the chosen camera angle.

This exercise helped me better understand how hands alone can communicate emotion and intention, and how important they are in selling acting and performance in animation.

This week focused on improving pose clarity and anatomy, starting with a hand pose assignment. I created 1–3 hand poses using real-life reference from my own hands, studying how fingers naturally curve and how gestures communicate intention. Looking at animated hand work by artists like Milt Kahl and Glen Keane helped me understand how simple shapes and clear angles make hand poses feel expressive and readable.

Alongside this, I continued developing my Franky pose-to-pose animation, pushing the quality as far as possible while keeping to a single camera angle. I focused on strengthening the key poses and improving the flow between them before moving fully into polish.

This week reinforced how important strong fundamentals are, especially hands and poses, as they play a big role in selling emotion and clarity in animation.

This week’s focus was on finishing the Franky pose-to-pose animation up to the blocking stage. The aim was to establish clear key poses and strong storytelling before moving on to refinement or polish.

I worked from reference to improve the clarity of each pose and made sure the transitions between poses felt readable and intentional. Keeping the animation in blocking allowed me to concentrate on timing, spacing, and pose clarity without getting distracted by smaller details.

This week reinforced the importance of building animation in clear stages. Spending time strengthening the blocking gives the shot a much stronger foundation before moving forward.

This week focused on pushing acting and emotion through pose clarity. We were asked to create three distinct poses showing different emotions, using real-life reference and focusing on strong silhouettes and clear body language rather than facial detail.

Alongside this, I continued working on the juice box acting shot, refining the blocking and bringing the animation to a polish level in spline. The final shot combined the falling motion with the acting beat, focusing on believable weight, clean timing, and smoother transitions between poses.

This week reinforced how important strong poses are at every stage of animation. Clear emotional poses made the acting more readable, while polishing the juice box shot helped me better understand how timing, spacing, and weight work together in a finished animation.