The road towards animation is tough but satisfying

Demoreel

This 1 year I spent in 3DSense Media School has been a thoroughly enriching experience that opened my eyes towards the intricacies of 3D Game Animation.

Everyday was a gift and a step towards my goal of being a full fledged Animator, from learning the basic 12 principles of animation to learning how to operate Maya as an animator, 3DSense Media School was with me every step of the way to guide and teach me.

I cannot thank my mentor Justin Kwek enough for sticking with me through thick and thin.

Through his unyielding perseverance and my own willpower, I would like to proudly present what I have accomplished through the blood, sweat and tears I have shed during this grueling 1 year at 3DSense Media School.

I wanted to create a set of animations that would tell the story of a cool bounty hunter who uses her large sword to catch her prey, while also showcasing what I have learnt studying at 3Dsense Media School.

I took great care to analyze her pose throughout her various animations to have a confident air about her silhouettes and line of actions and am proud to present the result of my efforts and struggles.

The videos below will showcase my progression throughout animating these shots.

Attack Combo Animation Progression Reel

For my Air Attack Combo, I wanted to convey the strength of my character who swings such a large sword despite her slender frame. I had to balance the physicality of the actions with the limits required for game cycles animation and looked toward Nier Automata and Final Fantasy 7 remake for reference on animating similar characters.

Her 1st attack needed to be fast thus I leaned towards a quick upward motion that would knock enemies up and set them towards the path of the following attacks, while taking great care to craft the arcs of the sword and the body mechanics for such a heavy action, with some overshoot and settle at the end to further sell the weight.

Her 2nd attack is a diagonal thrust powered by her jetpack that pierces enemies and pushes them further up into the air. Her anticipation pose was carefully crafted but might be too fast to catch due to the frame limit set for this attack.Nonetheless, her powerful pose when thrusting captures the very essence of how this attack would shred her enemy standing before her.

Her 3rd attack is a spinning slash that dices the opponent midair, launching the enemy a little higher.I wanted this attack to be an anticipation of sorts that lead towards the final attack while also adding to further the satisfaction of when a player would perform the full attack combo.

And finally her 4th attack finishes the enemy off with a downward slash that sends the enemy headfirst into the ground complete with overshoot and settle before she recovers into her idle pose.

This attack combo in its entirety allowed me to practice what had been drilled into my head countless times, and as a hands-on learner, was an experience I am grateful for. There are many flaws with this shot looking back on it, but I don’t regret having done it as I have learned a great deal from fully completing this shot, and will proceed to use my newfound knowledge to aid the completion of my future shots.

Character Intro Animation Progression Reel

For her character introduction shot, I wanted to continue selling her confidence and style while wielding such a large sword in an introduction similar to that of mobile game characters when the player would spend currency to summon them.

This shot taught me about the basics of animating a long continuous camera as well as the importance of framing and composition since this was a different assignment compared to my game cycles.

Posing to camera as well as ensuring the fluidity of the animation within camera was an exciting challenge to take on and I am proud to have managed to complete it to its fullest.

I especially love the focal length change during the jetpack boost that brings her face up close to the camera.

Parkour Animation Progression Reel

For this parkour shot, I really admired Jackie Chan's style of parkour as I was a big fan of his while growing up and thus decided on studying his actions for this shot as well as incorporating my own story to it.

Miss Bounty Hunter was retreating from a failed mission and had unfortunately lost her sword. She runs through a dimly lit alley, narrowly avoiding the guard drone’s lasers and nimbly climbs to the upper floor.

She looks back to check in on her pursuers before quickly ducking out of harm's way and proceeds to release a grenade in their direction.

She jumps offscreen, not intending to stay for the resulting explosion in hopes of creating further distance between her and the pursuers.

While the reference video of Jackie Chan was immensely helpful, there were certain parts which did not fit my female character and this was where I learned how to improve upon existing reference in order to fit it towards my desired outcome such as moving the knees inwards during the run to keep the femininity of the character intact.

Boss Intro Animation Progression Reel

For this shot, I wanted to continue the story of Miss Bounty Hunter escaping from her pursuers.

“As she evaded the enemies’ grasp and hijacked a rocket home, she breathed a sigh of relief. Until all of a sudden lasers grazed her, forcing her the duck before turning around. A large mechanical being was hot on her tail and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who could have sent it. The machine retracted its cannons and analyzed the situation calmly before blasting off in hot pursuit of the bounty hunter.”

The basic idea of this shot was that of an extra boss who would only appear after the heroes have bested the final boss and were on their voyage back to their home.

Learning the principles behind animating machines was interesting as it had completely different mechanics compared to organic creatures while also retaining the principles of animation and animating the robot was a blast.

Game Implementation Reel

After all the effort spent animating the cycles, it was finally time to see how it all looked in the game engine!

I used Unreal Engine 5 to compile the player blueprint and it was definitely a challenge to get everything working as intended but all in all was a pleasant experience as there was sufficient documentation surrounding the engine as well as having lecturers who have had experience with it before to guide me through.

I might have made the jump a tad bit short though haha