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Week 12: Presentation
Month: December 2025
Critical Report Doc: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1y_l44ZUC7LN6Ef0uDzjy99vm_d5USdq1?usp=sharing
Critical Report Presentation: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1y_l44ZUC7LN6Ef0uDzjy99vm_d5USdq1?usp=sharing
This presentation is a three-minute talk based on my critical report.
It was the most challenging assignment for me, mainly because I am not confident in speaking English.
However, through this task, I felt that I had a valuable opportunity to improve several skills, including academic writing, reading books, and speaking in English.
Although there are still many areas where I need to improve, I would like to continue studying and practicing so that I can develop these skills further.
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Week 11: Body Mechanics
Spline motion
First, I followed the reference video closely and created the basic movement. The teacher gave me feedback that it was done well. However, I felt that the movement was a little plain, so I decided to add some exaggerated motion. I focused especially on overlapping and anticipating, which made the movement feel more vivid.
At first, when adding overlapping, I moved each backbone one by one. The teacher advised me that it is better to select all the bones and move them at the same time. When I tried this, the movement of the back became more unified.
Also, I learned that for the arm bones, it can be better to switch from IK to FK depending on the motion. Each type of bone has its own characteristics, so it is important to choose the right one according to the situation.
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Week 10: Body Mechanics
This week, I added keyframes between the previous blocking poses to make the animation smoother. I paid attention to small details, like how the feet land and the movement of the toes. I also focused on overlapping and anticipation in the body’s movements.
My teacher gave me advice that the left and right sides of the body move in the same way, which makes the motion look less realistic. So next week, I plan to create a spline animation while making the left and right side movements different.
Blocking 2:
When I am doing the blocking, I noticed that the lines in the Graph Editor often look jagged. This is because the motion is still rough and the keyframes are placed in a simple way. Through this process, I realized that it is very important to only put keyframes where they are really needed. If you add too many keyframes, the motion can become stiff and look unnatural.
So, it is better to start with only the minimum number of keyframes and gradually add more to adjust the movement. This method helps create smooth and natural motion, and it also makes it easier to understand the timing and rhythm of the animation. Blocking may seem like just a rough step, but in fact, it is very important because the way you place keyframes here has a big effect on the final quality of the animation.
Cut01
In Cut 1, the character walks from left to right along a path in the forest. In this scene, I focused on the sense of scale of the character and the movement of the surrounding plants.
Cut02
In Cut 2, the character walks toward the camera from the background to the foreground. In this scene, I wanted to clearly show the character’s facial expression. Therefore, I used a low-angle camera to make the character’s face more visible.
Cut03
In Cut 3, the character walks toward the cave. To emphasize the vastness of the background, I used a panning camera while gradually pulling back. This allows the viewer to clearly understand the scale of the environment, the smallness of the character, and where the character is going.
Cut04
In Cut 4, the character pauses in front of a Japanese torii gate at the entrance of the cave before walking inside. During this scene, I rotated the camera 180 degrees while maintaining focus on the character. By adding this dynamic camera movement, I aimed to clearly convey that this moment marks a significant change in the narrative.
Cut05
In Cut 5, the character walks inside the cave. In this scene, I kept the interior of the cave simple in order to draw attention to something ahead. As the character moves deeper into the cave, I emphasized this focal point by using brighter blue lighting toward the end of the cave.
Cut06-1
In Cut 6, the character arrives at the end of the cave. Rather than revealing what lies beyond, I focused the camera on the character to build anticipation.
Cut06-2
In Cut 6, I depicted a scene where the character stops and is overwhelmed by the view beyond the cave. In this scene, I did not reveal the entire interior of the cave; instead, I showed only a part of the tree to create a sense of mystery.
Cut07
In Cut 7, we focused on a Japanese shrine at the base of a tree. This shrine is visually connected to the torii gate we saw earlier at the cave entrance. By combining mystical elements like the cave and the shrine, we aimed to create a more beautiful and sacred atmosphere.
Additionally, we illuminated the shrine with orange and yellow lighting to highlight it and convey a warm, welcoming feeling.
Cut08
In Cut 8, the camera pulls back to show the entire cave interior. To emphasize the vastness and grandeur of the environment, I positioned the camera slightly above eye level, using a gentle high-angle shot.
UE5 Set up
Scene 1:
Foliage
When creating the background, I needed to place a lot of plants, as the setting was in a natural setting. I used the Foliage tool I learned in class to efficiently place plants and trees within a specified area. This function exists in other software, but it can often slow down processing or cause data loss. However, I felt that UE5’s greatest strength was that it runs stably and allows you to work quickly as long as you make sure to save regularly.
Based on this experience, in future background productions I would like to create the main objects and props in Blender, and then place plants and other elements later in UE5 to complete the background.
Scene 2:
When creating this background, I was conscious of guiding the eye naturally into the cave and of expressing the grandeur of the background. To that end, I duplicated and layered many assets to enhance the sense of three-dimensionality.
This method is not often used in other software, as it can cause strange surfaces and textures when rendering, and can also cause problems with light reflection. However, when I checked the sample background environment assets for this production, I found that many objects overlapped, creating a wonderful sense of three-dimensionality and working normally.
For this reason, I decided to incorporate this technique into my own work.
Scene 3:
As this background is set inside a cave, it is a dark environment with no sunlight. Therefore, we placed many point lights and spot lights to ensure brightness. Furthermore, by setting the light to blue, we emphasized the mysterious atmosphere.
We also positioned the base of the tree slightly below eye level so that the entire tree could be seen. Furthermore, by using lake assets, we were able to create a realistic and tranquil atmosphere.
Rendering Settings
What I Learned About Rendering in UE5
While working on this project, I tried different rendering settings in UE5 and noticed some important points. Here’s what I learned.
1. Save Often
Even though UE5 is stable, big scenes can sometimes crash. I realized that saving frequently is very important. I made it a habit to press save bottom regularly.
2. Lighting Matters
Adding many lights can sometimes make things look too bright or strange. I learned that adjusting intensity and radius carefully helps. Also, light color changes the feeling a lot: blue feels mysterious, while orange feels warm.
3. Reflections and Shadows
Reflections and shadows can be tricky. I noticed that using Reflection Capture and Lightmass helps make them look natural.
4. LOD (Level of Detail) Helps Performance
High-polygon objects can make the scene slow. I found that using LOD allows the polygons to decrease when objects are far away, which makes everything run smoother.
5. Object Placement
I also noticed that putting too many objects in one place can be heavy for the scene. Nanite in UE5 helps a lot, because it can handle high-polygon objects without slowing down the scene.
6. Rendering Settings
I tried different settings and learned:
- Anti-Aliasing makes edges and movement smooth. TAA works well.
- Post Process Volume helps adjust brightness, color, and contrast.
- Ray Tracing gives realistic shadows and reflections, but it can slow down the scene.
7. Preview Before Final Render
I found that it is better to preview in low resolution first. When everything looks good, then do the high-resolution render. Temporarily hiding unnecessary lights or objects also saves time.
This week, I focused on exploring the history of Japanese anime.
An examination of the history of Japanese animation reveals the characteristics of each era, as well as the differences and characteristics between Japan and other countries.
Japanese animation began in the 19th century through the mutual influence of technical and artistic knowledge between Japan, Europe, and America. Against the backdrop of this cultural and technological exchange, a uniquely Japanese form of animation gradually developed.
Prior to the 1960s, Japanese animation consisted primarily of short films. The earliest representative feature-length animated film is “The Legend of the White Snake” (1958). At the time, films were typically in black and white and aimed primarily at children. This is thought to be due in part to the influence of Japan’s long-standing kamishibai (picture storytelling) culture. Even after the social turmoil of the postwar period, anime culture did not decline; rather, it gradually expanded.
In the 1960s, television was the medium with the greatest influence on Japanese animation. The rapid spread of television led to the emergence of 30-minute children’s series, and the broadcast of shows such as “Astro Boy,” “Tetsujin 28-go,” and “8-Man” established the basic format of television anime.
In the 1970s, the target demographic for anime expanded from elementary school students to junior high school students, and giant robot series continued to be popular. Meanwhile, television anime became closely linked to the sale of robot toys, emphasizing its commercial aspects. During this period, anime clearly established itself as an entertainment industry.
In the 1980s, anime expanded to older audiences, including high school and college students. This was due in part to creators from the generation that grew up watching anime becoming core producers and the rise of small, independent studios.
In the 1990s, despite the effects of the recession caused by the collapse of the bubble economy, demand for anime as affordable entertainment actually increased. Furthermore, with the introduction of computers, digital anime began to emerge.
In the 2000s, the works of Studio Ghibli, including those directed by Hayao Miyazaki, received high praise overseas, further increasing the international acclaim of Japanese animation. At the same time, the increase in digital animation works led to a diversification of the range of expression and genres.
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Week 11: Cave
I created the cave and corridor in Blender. First, I modeled a basic sphere and then used Sculpt Mode to sculpt the rock textures. Finally, I combined the cave and corridor assets to build the environment.
Problem and solution
First, I created this cave using Blender.
For the modeling process, I started by creating a sphere, then used Sculpt Mode to shape it and add textures to make it look like a realistic cave.
After that, I exported the model from Blender to UE5, but I encountered a new problem. In UE5, even if an object is three-dimensional, the inner faces are not rendered properly, so the surface appears transparent from the inside.
I tried reading various references to solve this issue, but I could not find a clear solution. Therefore, I went back to Blender and used the Solidify modifier to add physical thickness to the mesh. After applying the modifier and exporting the model again, the surface was no longer transparent.
Through this problem, I realized that it is important to give objects proper thickness when creating 3D models.
References
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Week 9: Body Mechanics
For the body mechanics animation, I first wanted to make lifting a heavy object. But my teacher suggested that you should select more simple movement because you are still beginner. So, I changed it to getting up from a chair.
Getting up doesn’t have big movement, but it has a lot of up and down motion. So, I needed to focus on the movement of different parts of the body, like the hips and head. Overlapping movement is also extremely important. For example, when the body bends, the hips move first, and the head follows later. I also used ease in and ease out for the head. My experience with the pendulum animation helped me understand how to do this.
First, I followed my workflow: I watched reference videos carefully, then made a rough blocking of the motion. I focused on timing and spacing during this process.
Body Mechanics Blocking
Body Mechanics Spline Motion
According to this reference, I learned how the body moves when getting up from a chair. First, it is important to understand that the body does not move straight up and down suddenly. It swings forward and backward to create momentum. When bending the legs, the body arches slightly and the back touches the chair, which makes the motion look more natural. Then, using ease in and ease out, the body bends slowly and smoothly.
I also learned that even if the whole body does not move much, small movements of the head or face can help balance the motion and make it look more realistic. For example, the body may move only a little, but the movement of the head can make the action feel alive and show the character’s emotion or intention. Paying attention to these small details helps make even simple motions look realistic and believable in animation.