This week, I focused on rendering my establishing shot in Unreal Engine and continued refining some key animation shots.
Rendering Challenges in Unreal Engine
Rendering the establishing shot in Unreal Engine turned out to be more challenging than I had anticipated. I started with lumen and ray tracing, but the results had a look close to games that didn’t match the realistic style I was aiming for. This was frustrating, as I had spent a lot of time working in Unreal Engine and wanted this piece to showcase its capabilities in my showreel.
Serra worked closely with me to explore different rendering techniques. We experimented with various settings, but it was tricky to find the right balance. I rendered EXRs to allow for post-production adjustments, but the discrepancies between what I saw in the viewport and the rendered output made the process even harder.
Eventually, I decided to use path tracing. While it took much longer to render about 20-24 hours it gave me the realistic results I was looking for. Even then, there were technical issues with the rendering process, but Serra helped simplify the settings, making everything more manageable.
Animation Refinements 1.2
Alongside rendering, I continued making tweaks to the animation based on George’s feedback. These adjustments were focused on making the motions smoother and more natural:
- Turning Scene:
After fixing the weight shift, George told me that the robot was exiting the frame too quickly. To address this, I added 10-20 more frames, slowing the movement down for better pacing.
- Picking Up the Blower:
I tilted the blower for a more natural motion, but the timing still felt off. To improve it, I added more frames to slow the action and make it flow better.
- Pressing the Blower:
In this shot, the timing of the thumb press needed work. I adjusted the motion so the robot’s hand reached the button sooner and tightened the overall timing for a snappier action.
Basic Lighting
In addition to rendering and animation, I worked on basic lighting for the scene. This step helped set the tone and added depth to the environment, complementing the refined animations and rendered visuals.