Negin Jafari

I’m excited to share the final result of my advanced body mechanics shot, also known as the skateboarding shot! This journey has been both challenging and rewarding, and I’ve learned so much throughout the process. One of the critical issues I tackled was the hip movement. To fix this, I constrained a ball to the hip and approached it like a bouncing ball exercise. This technique helped me ensure that the hip followed smooth arcs and curves, making the animation more realistic and fluid.

Towards the end, the animation felt a bit too fast. To correct this, I focused on the spacing of the skateboard, making adjustments to slow down the movement appropriately. This change made the landing more natural and believable. Once I was satisfied with the animation, I rendered the scene in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). Adding sound effects was the final touch, enhancing the overall engagement and making it more suitable for our showreel submission. The sound effects brought the scene to life, adding an extra layer of immersion.

Next Steps

In the coming weeks, I will seek final feedback from George to polish any remaining details. His insights have been invaluable throughout this project, and I’m looking forward to his final thoughts.

Week 14 was all about polishing the animation. After implementing the changes George suggested last week, I had another feedback session with him. During this session, he pointed out that the spacing of the hip was not quite right. With some draw-overs, I understood the problem more clearly. To fix the spacing, I’ll constrain a ball to the hip and turn on ghost mode in Maya, which will help me visualize and correct the hip movement.

George also noted issues with the skateboard landing. Currently, it takes too long to hit the ground, which is incorrect. To address this, I need to adjust the timing so that the character hits the ground by frame 40, with the squash pose occurring by frame 43. This adjustment should make the landing look more natural and dynamic.

Additionally, I plan to create an environment for this animation and add some props to make it a proper animation scene. However, I need to fix the animation itself first and see if I have enough time to add these elements.

Here are my key tasks moving forward:

1. Fix Hip Spacing: Constrain a ball to the hip and use ghost mode in Maya to correct the spacing and movement.
2. Adjust Landing Timing: Ensure the character hits the ground by frame 40 and achieves the squash pose by frame 43.
3. Plan for Environment and Props: Depending on the progress and time, start developing an environment and adding props to enhance the animation scene.

I’m excited to see how these changes improve the overall quality of the animation.

This week, we moved forward with our shots by transitioning from blocking to spline. Going from blocking to splining can be a humbling experience—once you change the curves from stepped, everything tends to look wrong! After spending a lot of time fixing the animation in spline and incorporating George’s feedback from last week, I had another critique session with him.

George pointed out several areas that needed improvement:

1. Skateboard Turn Speed: The turn of the skateboard was way too fast. To fix this, I need to rotate it slower to make the movement more realistic.
2. Jump Landing: One of the big problems was that the landing of the jump still looked too slow. Despite changing many things, I couldn’t get it right. George helped me understand how to fix this by adjusting some of the poses before the character hits the ground. These changes should help create a more dynamic and believable landing.
3. Starting Pose: At the beginning of the shot, my character appeared squashed on the skateboard. George suggested changing this to a more relaxed pose to set a better tone for the animation.

Here are my key tasks for the next steps:

1. Adjust Skateboard Turn Speed: Slow down the rotation of the skateboard to create a more natural turn.
2. Refine Jump Landing: Implement the pose adjustments before the character hits the ground to make the landing quicker and more dynamic.
3. Improve Starting Pose: Change the initial squashed pose to a more relaxed one to improve the overall flow of the animation.

Despite the challenges of moving to spline, I’m excited to see the improvements in my animation as I continue refining it.

In week 12, I had another insightful feedback session with George, which brought several important improvements to my skateboarding animation. George pointed out that the spacing and the curve of the jump were incorrect. With some helpful draw-overs on my animation, he showed me the correct curve I should follow to make the jump look more natural and realistic.

One crucial detail I missed was making the character come from off-screen initially. I need to incorporate this change for next week to ensure the animation starts correctly and flows smoothly. This will help establish the character’s movement and direction right from the beginning.

George also advised me to adjust the timing of the landing. He suggested making the landing quicker and emphasized the importance of creating a strong pose with a clear line of action. This will make the landing look more dynamic and impactful, adding to the overall realism of the jump.

Here are my key takeaways and next steps:

1. Correct the Jump Curve: Adjust the spacing and curve of the jump to follow the more natural path that George illustrated.
2. Start Off-Screen: Make sure the character enters the frame from off-screen to create a smoother and more engaging start.
3. Quicker Landing: Speed up the landing and focus on creating a dynamic pose with a strong line of action.

I’m excited to apply these changes and see how they enhance the animation.

We’re back for a new term, and I’m excited to dive into our first project: an advanced body mechanics shot. In our first week, George taught us the importance of planning our shot thoroughly. He emphasized that the initial idea should be simple and not overwhelming. Here’s a breakdown of the process he guided us through:

1. Come Up with an Idea: The idea should be straightforward to keep the focus on mastering body mechanics.
2. Find the Reference: Look for good reference materials that show the action clearly from multiple angles if possible.
3. Shoot Our Own Reference: If you can perform the action yourself, record it for better insight.
4. Create Thumbnails: Based on the research and references, sketch out the key poses and movements.

I decided to work on a skateboarding scene where the character jumps over a stairway. After searching online extensively, I found a reference video with the right angle and composition. Since I can’t skateboard, I didn’t record myself performing the action. Instead, I’ll be working closely with the reference video I found.

Here are the steps I took this week:

1. Thumbnails: I sketched out the thumbnails to capture the key poses and movements of the skateboarding jump. This helps in visualizing the sequence before moving to 3D animation.
2. First Blocking: I created the first blocking of the shot in Maya. Initially, my idea was for the character to jump and then panic upon seeing a car, making a leap to avoid it. However, George suggested simplifying the scene by focusing solely on the jump and ignoring the car.

George also advised changing the direction of the jump to avoid the character coming towards the camera. Instead, he suggested having the character enter from the right side of the shot, make the jump, and exit from the left. This change should help in maintaining a clear and engaging composition.

For next week, I need to apply these changes and add more poses to the blocking. This will involve refining the movements and ensuring that the jump looks natural and dynamic. I’m looking forward to seeing how these adjustments improve the shot!

This is the last week of Term Two, and I’m thrilled to announce that my previs is finally ready! This term has been incredibly educational, and I’ve learned so much about camera animation, compositing, and the technical intricacies that go into creating a compelling previs.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned was the importance of camera animation. Knowing how to move the camera smoothly and purposefully can make a huge difference in how a scene is perceived. I spent a lot of time refining my camera movements to avoid abrupt transitions and to create a more polished and professional look.

Compositing was another critical area of focus. Understanding how to place characters within the frame and set up the environment effectively is essential for storytelling. The rule of thirds, use of space, leading lines, and depth of field all play a crucial role in creating visually appealing and coherent scenes. George’s feedback helped me grasp and apply these concepts to my work.

Lighting, even in previs, is incredibly important. It sets the mood, highlights key elements, and guides the audience’s attention. I experimented with various lighting techniques to enhance the sci-fi atmosphere of my project.

Throughout the term, I also learned about the technical aspects of previs, such as using the graph editor to smooth out animations, creating visual effects for previs with shaders, and understanding the timing and spacing of animations. These technical skills are crucial for creating a previs that is not only visually appealing but also functional as a blueprint for the final project.

At the end of the term, George was happy with my progress and the final previs. The next step will be making my FMP based on this previs.

After adding lighting to some of the shots, George suggested incorporating more spaceships in the background of my establishing shot. Additionally, he advised me to decide on the details I wanted to include around the establishments. While I have planned everything, I will be adding details like foliage, buildings, and crowds to this shot later on as I continue working on my FMP.

We also decided to consider fading in the portals of the multiverses rather than having them enter the shot from the corners; this change should make the transitions smoother and more visually appealing. For the shot where Dr. Grey is working on his computer, George suggested adding another shot to provide better context and pacing, ensuring the audience fully understands the intensity of the moment.

To make the story clearer, George advised adding more computers around Dr. Grey and showing him frantically trying to stop the glitch, but unfortunately, his efforts are in vain. This addition will help emphasize the desperation and urgency of the situation.

For the final shot, I still need to add some details to make the explosion believable for the previs. This includes adding smoke and a security alarm going off to heighten the sense of urgency. These elements will make the scene more dramatic and engaging for the audience.

While my previs looks much better now, there’s still a lot of work to be done to make it better.

One of the first changes we considered implementing was moving the spaceship in my establishing shot into the hole. George suggested trying it out and keeping it if it looks good, so I’ll be testing that this week. Next, it’s time to add some lighting to my scene. Lighting is crucial in previs as it helps set the mood, highlights important actions, and enhances the overall visual storytelling.

I’ll start by adding lighting to the two shots below to show the audience that the machine is working correctly. After that, I need to fix the shot of the portals coming in, as one of them still has some abrupt movement. Additionally, I’ll create a magical effect with shaders to emphasize that the portals connect to different multiverses.

One of the critical moments in my previs is when the glitch occurs. George advised adding some red lighting to signal to the viewer that something is wrong. This visual cue will help convey the urgency and danger of the situation.

I’m still working on slowing down Dr. Grey’s movements and giving him enough time to run to the machine. This has been a bit challenging, but it’s essential for the pacing and clarity of the story.

For next week, I’ll focus on these tasks and continue refining my previs.

After refining some of the camera animations, George suggested changing the order of the shots, which you can see in the picture below.

One major issue was the animation speed when Dr. Grey notices the glitch—George described it as looking like “The Flash,” which was spot-on. I will slow it down to make it more realistic and easier to follow.

There were still some issues with the camera animation, especially around the machine at frame 981. There was an abrupt transition to the left that looked awkward and needed fixing. I also need to add more clarity to Dr. Grey’s poses and hold the camera longer on some shots to give the audience time to process the action.

George also advised changing the composition of the shot where Dr. Grey presses the button. Instead of focusing on his body, the shot should highlight the button and his hand to emphasize the action. For the final shot, my camera animation was again too fast, so I slowed it down to improve the pacing. George also taught me how to animate the transparency in the hypershade to adjust the timing and spacing of the explosion animation, which was incredibly helpful.

There’s still a lot to fix for Week 6, but I’m excited to keep improving and learning.

After integrating the first round of feedback from George, I’ve made significant progress on my previs, but there’s still a lot of work ahead.

Initially, George pointed out that the rotation at the end of my establishing shot was distracting and needed to be removed. I will take his advice and eliminate all the excessive camera rotations, opting instead to cut directly to the shots I want. This change helps to maintain a smoother flow and gives the audience more time to absorb the scene.

In the shot where Dr. Grey is working on his computer, I realized I needed to animate both his head and body to make the scene more engaging. I also focused more on camera animation, learning when to ease in and ease out to create a more polished effect. Animating the camera for this previs has been particularly challenging, requiring a lot of time and adjustments to figure out what was wrong. Specifically, for the shot of the wires, there were still some abrupt movements. George advised me to check the graph editor to smooth these out.

Another critical piece of feedback was to add more poses for Dr. Grey to better convey his emotions. Holding shots longer is essential to give the audience time to fully understand the scene. George also suggested adding more shots when Dr. Grey decides to blow up his lab, which will help clarify the story. He even showed me how to mimic an explosion in Maya for the previs, which was incredibly helpful.

I still have a lot of camera animation to refine and more poses to add to ensure Dr. Grey’s emotional journey is clear. For next week, I’ll be focusing on these areas, using George’s guidance to enhance my previs further.