I created a simple plan that moves from left to right and then reverses. This straightforward movement helped me understand the basic principles of motion and timing.
When setting the keyframe numbers, I realized that I still need more practice. The timing in my plan was often either too slow or too fast, so I went back and adjusted it accordingly.
Version2: Circular path
To gain a deeper understanding of pendulum overlap, I observed that when the pendulum moves horizontally, the overlapping motion follows the same direction. However, I began to wonder what would happen when it moves vertically.
To explore this, I tried animating it along a circular path and recorded a reference video for further study.
I learned about the basic concepts of world design, including how to create environments, navigate the interface, and understand the essential functions required to work effectively in the vast world of Unreal Engine 5.
Through the session, I began to realize how powerful this engine is. In other 3D software, you often need to set up multiple materials, lights, and physics systems just to achieve one beautiful scene. However, in UE5, everything already looks realistic and visually impressive. By simply dragging in some models and adjusting a few settings, the scene quickly came to life. Of course, creating complete projects will not be as simple, but I am still very excited to continue exploring and learning more about UE5.
Broken rigging mouse and the small garden
Ideas for Final Project
I do not yet have a clear plan for what I intend to create, so I decided to record any ideas or thoughts that might help stimulate my creativity.
When considering what I want to develop for the final project, there are two main directions I could take:
What inspired me to become an animator, the things that make me smile and motivate me to create.
What I want to pursue in the future, projects that could help me build a portfolio or prepare for potential career opportunities.
What inspire me to become an animator
I am a big fan of games and Japanese animation (and manga). Animation was what first inspired me to start drawing, but the crucial turning point was a music video from League of Legends: K/DA – POP/STARS. That was the moment I thought, “What if I could create something like this?”
Another major source of inspiration is one of my favourite League of Legends seasonal cinematics, Awaken. From the smooth fighting sequences to the intricate texture details, everything about it deeply moved me.
It made me realize that creating such work requires many people working together. Each contributing their effort, skills, and knowledge. I hope that one day, I can be part of a team like that.
What I want to do in the future, or what help me to apply for a job
To be honest, I am still exploring what I truly want to do. An animator can work on character animation, environmental animation, animal animation, and many other forms of movement. However, for now, I would like to focus on character animation.
Besides the appealing visuals of character animation, I believe that storytelling is what makes it truly special. I love creating characters in my mind, there is an entire fictional world within my imagination. When I zone out, I often visualize how the characters interact and develop storylines for them. Therefore, creating a story based project might also be a good direction to pursue.
Speaking of storytelling, I have recently been discovering award-winning animated short films, trying to understand what makes them successful. It occurred to me that creating a short film that could potentially be submitted to such competitions would be an exciting challenge.
In summary, I am still exploring my specific direction as an animator, but I am particularly drawn to character animation and storytelling. I hope to combine these interests by creating short animated films that not only showcase movement and expression but also convey meaningful narratives.
The golden pose is the most important pose in a shot, it conveys what is happening and how the character feels about it.
The audience should be able to understand the character’s attitude, action, or intention from the key pose.
What compose good Golden Pose?
Clear silhouette (space is important)
Line of Action (C, S, V)
Balance and Weight
Asymmetry
Exaggeration emotion personality
Where you can learn about it?
All kind of animations, mangas, films, drawing…
Sculptures (good for observe in different angles)
Analysis of Animation
I found it helpful to watch the analysis from “Frame by Frame Animation” before starting my own analysis. I feel like I realized that I had never looked deeply into animations, from poses to composition, and that it is these details that make them stand out and appear more appealing.
I chose “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters for my analysis, I have always enjoyed watching this kind of short animation combined with songs. Other examples include K/DA’s music videos and the anthems from League of Legends. They are always so interesting to watch.
Unreal Engine 5 is powerful software for creating realistic scenes. It is widely used in games, films, and various types of virtual productions.
UE5 is an industry-standard software. From creating animations and building games to constructing complex environments, it offers a wide range of possibilities. Besides its strong real-time display, it is also well known for its easy access to a large library of assets.
As a gamer, I am quite excited about the course, it feels like lifting the veil on how games are made. I also believe that it may influence the direction of my final project to some extent.
This is my first time using Maya, so I went through all episodes of “Intro to Maya” on YouTube before I started anything. With the tutorial, I made a silly rocket animation (not going to show it here).
Then I watched the videos provided from the PDF.
Planning
Version 1
Planning is important because it helps you think, rather than rely only on intuition, and it makes the animation feel more realistic.
I followed the bouncing ball tutorial while drawing my plan. As I am using Procreate, I made the sketch animation while planning to make sure that everything is on the right track. This is more like a test one.
Plan version1
Sketch animation version1
Version 2
After my first attempt, I decided to try it on my own, and this is my second version. I was satisfied with the outcome; therefore, I refined it further and used it as the reference plan for the Maya bouncing ball animation.
Plan v2
Drawing order: red → orange → yellow → green
Sketch animation version2
Animation
With the completed plan, I proceeded to Maya and created the animation by following the tutorial.
The result is shown below.
Feedback and Revision
Timing is fine, but the spacing needs to be adjusted.
The path should form an arc, especially when the ball reaches the highest points.
Squash and stretch: only one frame of stretch in this exercise
