ChuhanD's Blog

Week 11：homework process and change

Post author By Chuhan Dai
Post date 8th January 2026
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This week, I mainly worked on lighting adjustments and animation, with a focus on lighting. I’ve decided to leave the animation for next week, so I first tried adding volumetric fog and setting up the lights.

The DirectionLight seemed too bright, it actually made the environment I created hard to see, and it overexposed the original colors of the materials, which lost a sense of realism (P1). I then adjusted its position again. This time the color looked more textured, but it was still too intense and a bit exaggerated for my taste (P2).

After that, I followed a tutorial video on setting up ambient light, but I couldn’t get it to look the same as in the tutorial. So I dimmed it down first, went to the ExponentialHeightFog light settings, enabled Volumetric Fog, and kept adjusting the angle and position of the light. I also changed the Intensity Scale of the SkyLight and tweaked it many times. Eventually, the environment looked better, and this is the environment that I chose.

Then, I began adjusting the composition of the scene. To make the upcoming camera animation work better, I angled all the tall trees toward the center to create a visual guiding effect, especially in the initial forest, to build an atmosphere that subtly pushes “you” forward.

Compare the original environment without the light setting

Maya

Week11: Keep polish body machanic

Post author By Chuhan Dai
Post date 8th January 2026
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In this week we still need to polish our animation in Maya, I keep doing the jump forward. I consideration about this animation is to do it look like realistic or make if more animation, which one is better. Will, after I search on the < animation survival kit> I think, do the animation is aim to understand why the post is in here, why we should fix that.

In my understanding I think we should not think to much, just do it and make it looks like better, that is the aim in this term for me(maybe) then I asked Ting for help in the class on Friday, I got some useful feedback and some tips.

Tips in my understanding be like: when the character jumps, the hip motion and speed should be like a bouncing ball ( Slow with many frame—Fast with key frame—Slow the same when it land)

when I back to my home, I start look at old animation like “Tom and Jerry “and “Mickey Mouse”, trying to be inspired. To focus on how master do their animation post and principle in their character.

This is the tips from Ting’s feedback （Very thanks to my teacher)

Animation issue

Maya

Week10: Body Mechanics Polish

Post author By Chuhan Dai
Post date 8th January 2026
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In the class, I show my maya problem with George, he give me some advice that do the post making more animation, like hand post when character prepare to land, and the feet angle, ect. Then I also ask ting for help in Friday’s class after I adjust my animation but still quite confuse. Ting also give me lots of feedback, I think those are helpful and inspire me to do the next.

Technical issue

Sometimes the knee keyframes would overflip on their own, and the whole leg would bend backward. At first, I didn’t know why it was happening. Then I noticed there’s a controller for the knee, but I never even touched it, and it still flipped. My teacher explained that it’s because the knee was following a different part of the body, so it got confused.
So for some parts, you have to try fixing it, whether it follows the Main controller or the Hips.

Later, I felt like Maya can be a bit crzy sometimes, but honestly, it doesn’t matter how you fix it. What matters is that after you fix it, the animation looks the aniamte it should.

Animation point

I can get feedback from different teachers, each with their own perspective， and that helps my animation work a lot.

Ting told me the hip should be like an bouncing ball, and also when it jumps, the shape should be like a big curve! during this jump process, animation timing should be like ball’s timing, she noticed that my animation is not enough for timing, maybe it is too quick to key enough, and should add more frames in animation. especially the earlier part before jumping up.

Also George’s feedback is different, he told me the post should not complete following the reference, it should be add more animater ideas. like golden post which is difference with reality.

whole animation in this week

1.2 Design for Animation, Narrative Structures & Film Language Term1-Theory with Nigel

Week 12: Research Presentation

Post author By Chuhan Dai
Post date 14th December 2025
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This is my homework research presentation in term1

1.2 Design for Animation, Narrative Structures & Film Language Term1-Theory with Nigel

Week 11: Writing process

I started drafting my essay. The reason I like ARCANE is that its art style is very unique—different from other Disney or Pixar 3D animated films. Arcane’s 3D looks almost flat, yet it’s still 3D, without that popular “3D anime-style character” feel often seen in Japanese animation. In short, it’s very special. Once I looked into it, I realized it’s an entirely unprecedented and distinct style. I thought, wouldn’t this be perfect as a topic for an essay?

Then, I searched on CNKI using keywords like “3D technology” to find any references related to Arcane. I found one article titled A Preliminary Discussion on the Aesthetic Effects of 3D Animation Technology, which discussed several animated films produced by the very popular studio Taking Light Chaser Animation Works in the spring of 2025. The article mentioned 3D animation technology as well as the aesthetics and value of these Chinese 3D animations.

Then it occurred to me that my own essay could also touch on technology and aesthetic value, so my thesis topic emerged: discussing the production techniques and aesthetic value of Arcane.

I wrote several versions of the outline in Chinese first, as writing an in depth, layered academic paper might be easier to organize in my native language initially. Later, I found an exclusive technical sharing session from the Arcane studio online: using Arcane: League of Legends as an example, the video introduces the exclusive animation production process, covering what Fortiche shared at SIGGRAPH and revealing the technology and workflow used to create Arcane. The video mentions the software and tools they used, as well as key steps like assetization, camera projection, and digital matte painting. This is a highly beneficial and crucial step for my writing!

1.2 Design for Animation, Narrative Structures & Film Language Term1-Theory with Nigel

Week 10

In class, the teacher explained that although it is academic writing, it does not require overly complex language or highly ornate and advanced vocabulary. Academic writing should be concise, clear, formal, and active. It does not need to be complicated or rely on long sentences and obscure words. Being concise in formal academic writing is important, as it helps others understand the points you are making.

I continued to gather data and references for my writing. I repeatedly used the keyword “3D animation” to search various authoritative academic writing websites. I found one article related to 3D technology, but it leaned more toward modeling rather than techniques for creating animation (Animation Image Art Design Mode Using 3D Modeling Technology Animation Image Art Design Mode Using 3D Modeling Technology – Tan – 2022 – Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing – Wiley Online Library. Then I found another article titled Real Time Animation of Trees Based on BBSC in Computer Games (Real Time Animation of Trees Based on BBSC in Computer Games Real Time Animation of Trees Based on BBSC in Computer Games – Ao – 2009 – International Journal of Computer Games Technology – Wiley Online Library and considered using it as a reference. However, upon careful reading, I realized it wasn’t the content I was looking for.

After repeatedly searching for articles and finding none that matched my needs, I began to consider whether I should simplify my topic, just as my teacher suggested, by narrowing the scope. So, I started thinking about my favorite 3D animation, ARCANE.

Unreal Engine

Week 10: Homework process

Post author By Chuhan Dai
Post date 27th November 2025
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At the end of the week, I was feeling pretty confused. So I went to ask my teacher, Serra, for help and feedback. I remember Serra said my story had too much animation, it would be very hard to finish in such a short time. She suggested that I change my story board to a first-person perspective. That way, I’d have less animation to do, and it would help the viewer feel more immersed in the forest atmosphere. I think she made a really good point. For someone newbird to UE5 like me, it’s not about making an amazing story right away—it’s more important to understand and get comfortable with the tools in UE5 (especially since I’m still not very familiar with it, and often don’t even know how to do certain things).

I started feeling more and more anxious, but what’s the use of worrying? I just had to start taking action. Gradually, I noticed the scenes I was building didn’t really match my story anymore. So I decided to change my original story concept. The current version of the story is roughly this:

(First-person view) “I” walk through a dim forest, feeling nervous and scared by the atmosphere, kind of like the forest Snow White runs into when the hunter spares her. There aren’t actually scary creatures in the forest, the fear is just imagination. Then, as I run in panic, I end up lost and stumbling into a beautiful new place by accident.

So I started adjusting my UE5 project accordingly. I also plan to experiment with lighting to make the whole forest feel more atmospheric. But before that, I tried walking through the story in first person view, just to test it out.

My camara test

Then, to create a sense of mystery while transitioning from the tense forest to the magical forest—just like in my storyboard where a hand emerges from the bushes, followed by a little boy, I placed a large bush at the middle between the two style of forests. This way, it can partially hide the view and help build that feeling of mystery.

Maya

Week9: Body Mechanics Spline

Post author By Chuhan Dai
Post date 25th November 2025
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This week, we should finish the body mechanics means, completing blocking into the hole polishing. And this time, I met lots of problems in Maya.

Technical issues

This time is completely made by myself. While making the whole animation, I kept running into some technical problems in Maya that really slowed me down. For example, when I moved the body, sometimes the hands and feet wouldn’t follow and they just stayed in place, so it would look like an alien. So I had to go frame by frame to reposition them, then to adjust the pose. It was pretty annoying, and sometimes I wondered if I was doing things in a way that created extra work for myself.

And that’s not all, when I tried to go back and change a pose or position in an earlier frame, adjusting it would mess up all the following frames too！ Then I’d have to fix every single frame again. It was frustrating, but I still had to sit there and fix them one by one.

I ask teacher for help. My teacher mentioned that I might have accidentally animated using the waist controller next to it instead of the big circle in the center controller, maybe just I did not realize I was doing it, which is why the rig ended up looking so odd.

So she had me delete the keyed parts and remake the adjustments, and honestly, it worked much better after that. Teachers really are strong in technology, they always point what’s wrong in the end.

Complete homework

1.2 Design for Animation, Narrative Structures & Film Language Term1-Theory with Nigel

Week 9

This week we learned the approaches to Academic Writing, the class information 大致上讲了Academic writing
must be supported by evidence such as data, facts, and theories。 and use the reference or analyze your point of view is such about how your ideas fit in with and differ from, others’ in your field.

Personally speaking, I think a good essay needs to use evidence or relevant sources to demonstrate that the discussion is meaningful and valuable. The hardest part is finding and discussing the right references—just as my teacher said: “Organising your evidence can be an overwhelming task, especially when you need to manage many different sources.”

I tried looking for some references related to 3D topics. I found some published journal articles by Chinese scholars and on authoritative websites about 3D, but none of them were comparative studies between 3D and 2D, which is what I wanted. So, I opened one of the technical articles that mentioned the breakthroughs and artistic value of 3D technology in China’s animation industry. I thought this small section might be useful, so I saved it. Then I realized that this could also be a way to find references that support your topic.

Unreal Engine

Week 9: Homework process

While creating the forest, I kept trying different ways to place and adjust materials to make the environment feel vivid and full of life. I grouped plants and flowers using “Ctrl+G‘ and then copied and pasted them，this really helped efficiency up and improve the overall look.

To be honest, working on the same scene for a long time started to feel quite draining and stressful. Sticking too long in one place didn’t actually make the visual result better, so once I roughly finished the fancy forest, I shifted my focus to the stress forest at the beginning of the story.

After completing the afterpart overview, I started building the initial “forest of fear.” This section uses a first person perspective, so visually, I need to create a narrow and dark atmosphere through a crowded environment. To do this, I created a dense forest with closely spaced trees.

Looking at the second image, it still felt far from enough, so I made changes in the Landscape Mode, raising the land higher on both sides, leaving a slightly sunken path in the middle.

I tried using the foliage painting tool to build the tense forest for the earlier part of the story. I thought that to convey tension, the environment shouldn’t feel too open but rather cramped and dim. However, every time I painted using Foliage Mode, the result looked messy and disorganized, whether I used Single mode or tried Erasing after painting, I couldn’t get the tool to work well. The vegetation didn’t “grow” in a visually pleasing or orderly way, and I’m not entirely sure why. So, in many areas, to keep things organized and control the composition better, I ended up manually placing each plant one by one which is the old stupid way.

At the same week I try to learning some lighting set to prepare the next week or after building landscape part, so I watch lots of video on Youtobe, I will attached two of my favorite tutorial.

Here is the Tutorial to create the nervous vibs.