Category: 1.1 3D Computer Animation Fundamentals

• On graduation which area or environment of production do you wish to focus upon and why?

When I graduate, I hope to enter the animation industry, because I want to become a good animator as my long-term career goal. I love animation very much, and I hope to make a living through animation.

• What skills will you need to attain the standards required for vocational practice?

In my opinion, I need to master the animation principle, skillfully use the necessary software, understand the animation production process, know k animation, modeling, binding, mapping, etc., and keep learning to improve my technology and aesthetic.

• How will you showcase your FMP practice for the final shows?

I’m going to make a short animated film.

• Is it important to directly connect the thesis research to your practical work?

I think it should be important. Theoretical research can support my practical work and be of good help to my practical work.

• Do you have an area of research you wish to conduct that is unrelated to the practical element?

I haven’t yet.

Overall, I’m personally satisfied with the modelling and mapping of the turtle, and I did several iterations of brushing the weights during the production process, so I’ve made progress in this part of my ability. This independent project was a big challenge for me, especially the ue5 part, the most unfortunate part was that the animation could not be put into the final video, in the future I hope to solve this problem and successfully import the animation made in maya into ue5 or try to do the animation in ue5.

As originally planned, I animated it in maya.

The original look of the island I searched for materials to create again in combination, and added a lot of different urban rubbish later. I encountered a lot of difficulties in ue5, for example, the model of the turtle’s eyeballs shrunk after importing, and could not connect to the texture, and I could see the sky in the water, but then I could not see the sky, the biggest problem is that the Maya animation that I made could not be imported into ue5, I searched and tried a lot of ways, and asked my classmates, but in the end, they could not be solved. In the end I had to give up on the animation and just have the turtle standing in the scene.

At first, I tied the skeleton of the turtle as a whole, and then the effect was not very good, and I thought I could remove the shell and tie the skeleton.

I used substance painter for material mapping. This is the first time I have used it, which is very convenient and useful. It’s also realistic to draw a big scar on the back of the shell.

When modeling the turtle in Maya, I initially had trouble with the shell and couldn’t find the right way to wire it, but decided to simplify the shell and later do more details in ZBrush.

At first, I thought that this animation would not involve the mouth expression, so I did not do the teeth and tongue parts. It turned out that the upper and lower mouths of my turtle’s design were not aligned, so the teeth should also need to be modeled.

Then I refined the model in ZBrush to make it more vivid.