Feelings and Experiences
UE5：
For this project, I used over 600 assets to create a first-person animation that moves from a fancy atmosphere into a magical one. Through this semester’s learning, I’ve become familiar with the UE5 animation workflow, but I feel that I still have a long way to go, whether it’s environment art, atmosphere design, UE sculpting, foliage painting, cinematography, animation, or light baking and rendering. Each step requires much more time and practice to truly master before I can create a polished, complete animation in UE5.
Maya:
This semester has transformed me from a complete beginner who didn’t know how to use Maya into someone who can now comfortably create simple animations with it. I’ve gained so much and learned many new things. For example, it was my first time realizing how important timing and framing are in animation, and that most movements can be thought of in their simplest form, like imagining them as a bouncing red ball. This makes it much easier to visualize the timing and speed, helping me create stronger animation clips.
Whenever I ran into problems with animation concepts or knowledge, I turned to our “animation bible” which is The Animator’s Survival Kit. Honestly, this book guided me through every animation I made this term. Whenever I felt stuck, I could open it and find answers or inspiration.
I faced all sorts of challenges while working on assignments. At first, I didn’t even know how to select the main controller in Maya. Now, I can use the Graph Editor smoothly—all thanks to the patience of my classmates and the dedicated guidance of my teachers. I’m truly grateful.
There are still areas I need to improve, like managing my time better and avoiding last-minute work. I hope to make progress in this next semester. I also plan to watch more outstanding animations and films to learn more about visual storytelling and camera language.