Final Work

Research Focus

This project originated from my interest in emotional transformation in animation, which is also closely connected to my dissertation research on how character animation communicates emotional change in narrative storytelling.

Traditionally, emotional transformation is often expressed through character performance, including facial expressions, body language, and dialogue. While these methods remain effective, I became interested in exploring whether emotional states could be communicated through alternative visual systems.

This led me to investigate the following question:

How can emotional transformation be perceived through changes in space, light, composition, and movement when character acting is deliberately reduced?

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Experimentation

Throughout the project, I intentionally minimised character performance and shifted the expressive responsibility towards environmental and cinematic elements.

Rather than relying on dialogue or complex acting, I experimented with:

• Spatial composition
• Lighting behaviour
• Camera framing
• Symbolic imagery
• Environmental transformation

The project explored whether these visual systems could function as emotional carriers and communicate psychological states to an audience.

For example, in The Cage sequence, confinement was represented through composition and spatial organisation. The repeated window shadows created a cage-like structure around the character, transforming the environment into a visual metaphor for emotional restriction.

As the project progressed, the environment gradually became more active through changing light, expanding space, and directional movement. This allowed emotional transformation to be experienced as a change in the world itself rather than solely through character performance.

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Key Findings

One of the most significant discoveries was that emotional meaning can emerge from the relationship between a character and their environment.

I found that composition, lighting, and spatial design were often capable of communicating emotional information before the audience had fully interpreted the character’s facial expression.

The overhead cage composition, for example, immediately established a sense of restriction without requiring explicit narrative explanation.

Similarly, the introduction of moving light and expanding space created a feeling of possibility and change even when the character remained largely still.

This process helped me understand that emotion in animation can be communicated not only through acting, but also through the behaviour of visual systems.

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Relation to Practice

The project also allowed me to explore a form of storytelling that is closer to cinematic opening sequences, game trailers, and symbolic visual narratives.

Instead of focusing on plot progression, I became interested in constructing emotional experiences through atmosphere, rhythm, and visual metaphor.

This approach aligns closely with my long-term interest in game cinematics and character-focused visual storytelling, while also expanding my understanding of animation as a medium for expressing abstract psychological ideas.

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Future Development

This project functions as an experimental foundation for my larger narrative project On the Dragon’s Back.

The work explores the protagonist’s emotional awakening before the beginning of her journey and establishes a visual language that could be further developed in future narrative contexts.

If the project were expanded further, I would like to investigate how environmental storytelling and character acting can work together, rather than treating them as separate expressive systems.

This would allow me to explore more complex forms of emotional communication while maintaining the symbolic and atmospheric qualities developed during this project.

Week9

Environment & Lighting Development

Environment Construction

Built:

• Window structures
• Symbolic cage composition
• Minimalist environment

Lighting Exploration

Tested:

• High contrast lighting
• Volumetric lighting
• Shadow projection
• Emotional colour progression

Look Development

Explored:

• Cold desaturated palette
• Gold-white awakening palette

Deliverables

• Lighting lookdev renders

Animated:

• Light movement
• Shadow movement
• Atmospheric effects

Camera Animation

• Camera transitions
• Push-ins
• Pull-backs

Week8

Pose Development & Layout

Blender:

Created key emotional poses:

• Isolation
• Fear
• Curiosity
• Determination

Cinematic Layout

Built layout scenes:

• Cage scene
• Awakening scene

Camera Blocking

• Camera angles
• Lens testing
• Composition refinement

Week7

Texturing, Groom & Rigging

Character Texturing——Mock Sculpture

Substance Painter:

• Skin material
• Clothing material

Hair Development

• Hair cards
• Stylised hair workflow

Rigging

Maya:

• Skeleton setup
• Skinning
• Weight painting

Facial Setup

• Blendshape preparation
• Expression testing

Deliverables

• Production-ready character rig

Week6

Character Modelling

Zbrush:

• Head modelling
• Body modelling
• Clothing modelling

Optimisation

• Edge flow refinement
• Animation-friendly topology

UV Preparation

• UV layout
• Texture planning

Week5

Story Development

Narrative Design

• Developed emotional progression of protagonist.
• Refined visual metaphors:
  • Window
  • Cage
  • Light
  • Journey

Storyboarding

• Produced rough storyboard sketches.
• Explored symbolic compositions.
• Tested camera framing.

Animatic Planning

• Planned approximate timing.
• Mapped emotional rhythm to music.

Week4

Character Design & Asset Planning

Character Development

• Adapted protagonist from On The Dragon’s Back.
• Simplified design for production efficiency.

Design Tasks

• Costume refinement
• Silhouette adjustments
• Hair design
• Expression exploration

Asset Planning

Created asset list:

Character:

• Body
• Hair
• Clothing

Environment:

• Door
• Window
• Floor platform

Props:

• Minimal symbolic objects

Week1 & Week2 & Week3

Research & Concept Development

Research

• Investigated emotional transformation as the core theme of the project.
• Collected references from animated opening sequences, cinematic trailers, and experimental animation.
• Analysed symbolic visual storytelling in works such as:
  • Arcane Opening Sequence
  • Daredevil Opening Sequence
  • Black Sails Opening Sequence

Concept Development

• Defined the project question: How can emotional transformation be communicated through space, light and visual symbolism rather than relying solely on character acting?
• Developed initial narrative structure:
  • The Cage
  • The Call
  • Awakening
  • Departure

Visual Research

• Moodboards:
  • Lighting
  • Composition
  • Symbolic imagery
  • Character references
  • Environmental atmosphere

Deliverables

• Concept statement
• Research document
• Moodboards

Statement

Generated AI Layout

Generated AI-assisted visual studies exploring symbolic representations of emotional states. Tested alternative approaches to:

• confinement
• isolation
• awakening
• transformation

Evaluated which visual motifs could be translated into animation language. Selected suitable imagery for storyboard development.

AI image generation was used as a rapid visual ideation tool during the pre-production stage. Rather than generating final artwork, it was used to explore composition, lighting, symbolic imagery and atmospheric possibilities. The generated images functioned as visual references that informed later storyboard development and artistic decisions.

Course Record

VCAM (Virtual Camera Setup)

Objective: Using a smartphone camera as a virtual camera rig/track within the Unreal Engine (UE) environment.

• Step 1: Plugin Configuration
  • Enable the following plugins in UE: Livelink, Remote Sessions, Take Recorder, Virtual Camera, Virtual Production Utilities, AppleAR Kit, and AppleAR facekit.
• Step 2: App Installation
  • Download the Unreal VCam app on your mobile device.
• Step 3: Network Connection
  • Open the Command Prompt (cmd) on your PC, type ipconfig, and find your IPv4 Address (Wi-Fi).
  • Enter this IP address into the mobile app to establish a connection.
• Step 4: Actor Creation
  • Create a VCam Actor in Unreal Engine and click “Skip” if prompted.
• Step 5: Project Settings Adjustment
  • Go to Project Settings $\rightarrow$ UDP Message Messaging.
  • In the Unicast Endpoint field, delete :0 from the IP address.

NDisplay (Naked-Eye 3D Effect)

Objective: Configuring NDisplay to create glasses-free (naked-eye) 3D projection effects across angled screens.

• Step 1: Configuration File
  • Search for “Naked-Eye 3D effect” in the marketplace.
  • Press Ctrl + Space in UE to open the Content Browser, right-click, and create an NDisplay Config.
• Step 2: Screen Setup
  • Double-click to enter the config. Duplicate the default plane to create two screens: name them left and right.
• Step 3: Cluster and Projection Mapping
  • Select a plane, go to the left window, and create a new Cluster Node.
  • Click the newly created plane window at the bottom.
  • In the right window, go to Projection Policy and change the type to mesh. Assign the corresponding mesh (r or l) to each screen.
  • Note: The eye icon controls the perspective projection point.
• Step 4: Scene Assembly
  • Create a new Level/Scene. Drag and drop the newly created NDisplay configuration directly into the scene.
  • Your animation will play out in the corner space between the two screens. Because this acts as a projection plane, it generates the naked-eye 3D effect.
• Step 5: Visual Adjustments & Rendering
  • Pull the plane forward slightly to create a physical gap from the back space; this creates a border/frame illusion.
  • Objects can be dragged directly into this gap, creating a 3D effect where the object appears to pop out of the frame.
  • Rendering Tip: In the Render Settings, ensure NDisplay is checked/selected. Turn off the regular image output so that it exclusively outputs the content within NDisplay.

OWL360Camera (Off World Live)

Objective: Setting up a 360-degree camera render pipeline using the Off World Live plugin.

• Step 1: Plugin Setup
  • Download the plugin from Off World Live. Open the plugin and navigate to Off World / Movie Render.
• Step 2: Camera & Canvas Creation
  • Go to the “Add Object” menu and add an owl360cam. Click it, and on the right-hand details panel, create a canvas under Render Target.
• Step 3: Material Configuration
  • Create a new Material. Drag the canvas texture into the material graph.
  • Change the material’s Material Domain / Output Node to User Interface. Connect the texture to the Final Color pin.
• Step 4: UI Widget Setup
  • Create an Editor Utility Widget (named 360hud). Open it, drag an Image component into the canvas, and assign the material you just created to the right-hand Image slot.
• Step 5: Blueprint Logic
  • Open the Level Blueprint (located next to the object creation icon).
  • Add a Create Widget node and a Add to Viewport node (you can ignore/close the context window next to it).
  • Connect them in sequence starting from the BeginPlay event node.
  • Set the Class in the Create Widget node to 360hud, and connect the Return Value to the Target pin of the Add to Viewport node.
• Step 6: Final Sequence & Rendering
  • Place the 360cam actor into the Level Sequence.
  • In Movie Render Queue settings, add Render Settings + UI Render. Ensure the selected level is correct (specifically, check that the Level Blueprint corresponds to the current level).
  • For final image rendering, check/enable VR and VBR2.

Reality Scan

Objective: Importing 3D scanned models and managing assets using photogrammetry/LiDAR workflows.

• Step 1: Asset Capture & Import
  • Download Reality Scan from the Epic Games Marketplace.
  • Capture a continuous video of the target object (orbiting/scanning around it).
  • Import the video data. (Adjusting the video length changes the image interval—lower intervals yield cleaner, higher-clarity results).
• Step 2: Previewing the Mesh
  • In the final preview viewport, you can adjust the camera photo viewing size.
  • Click Align Image to check the analytical tracking results.
  • Click the Mesh point and select Preview to browse the generated 3D mesh network.
• Step 3: Detail Editing & Cleanup
  • Click Normal Detail, then go to the tool menu and select Lasso.
  • Select unwanted/stray geometry sections, then use Filter Selection to cut and delete them.
  • Return to the Mesh section to inspect the material results under Color and Texture.
• Step 4: Ground Alignment & Export
  • Finally, under the tool options, use Set Ground Plane to rotate and adjust the model alignment.
  • The completed model and point cloud can be exported (in .xyz format).
  • Tip: Download the LiDAR plugin in UE for further processing if needed.