Polish Animation and Unreal Import (Week 13)

Week 13

This week, Nara and I focused on completing all the animation shots. Currently, only one remains, the live environment scene where Bonzo chases the real-life actor. I encountered some difficulties animating Bonzo’s running cycle; while the animation is mostly complete, it still appears somewhat choppy. As a result, I passed the file to Nara in hopes that she can assist in refining it. I also plan to finish editing all the live-action footage that have Bonzo in it by the end of this week.

Bonzo begins chasing the live actor

In terms of the rest of the team’s progress:

• Sheryl has been working on importing the edited CG shots and 3D animation FBX files from Maya into Unreal Engine, as well as exporting them from Unreal. Fortunately, Nara has prior experience with this process and has been guiding us through it.

• Lynn is in charge of the 2D animation for the actor’s flashback scenes, which she is creating by drawing frame by frame over the recorded video footage.

Overall, I would estimate that we are about 80% through the project. Next week, our focus will be on importing all assets into Unreal Engine and exporting the clips. There have been some technical challenges with the software, and we anticipate that rendering will take a significant amount of time. Fortunately, we’ve been granted a deadline extension to 28/04/2025. Our goal is to complete everything as soon as possible to allow the BM team sufficient time for sound design and color grading.