Storyboard and Modelling (Week 6)

Week 6

This week, my lecturer, Mr. Alan, taught us how to create cloth simulations in Unreal Engine, including making cloth materials transparent and glowing. We also learned how to add fog to environments. While these skills may not be directly used in our Bonzo film, it’s helpful to learn more about Unreal Engine.

In our animation group, we’re nearly done modeling Bonzo the clown. I assisted with adjusting his body, and now we just need to complete his head. In Mr. Gary's 3D class, we learned how to remove green screen backgrounds using After Effects, then import live footage and 3D animations into Unreal Engine. We also practiced tracking objects with locators in Blender and Maya, though we encountered issues with flipped locators, which Mr. Gary fixed by adjusting keyframe values.

I also sought Mr. Gary’s advice on Bonzo’s mouth, as we wanted a wide, creepy smile. He recommended using blendshapes or modifying the mouth to allow a default smile for animation.

We also explored setting up lighting for CG footage in Unreal Engine, though the lighting process is still challenging and requires more practice.

On Wednesday, we discussed potential filming locations with the BM side, considering places like Bugis Street and Haji Lane. We plan to visit the Haji Lane area to find a suitable alleyway for filming.

We also filmed some shots from my storyboard and realized that the actual footage differs from my initial plans due to camera limitations, such as zoom and greenscreen size restrictions. As a result, I’ll need to adjust my storyboard.

Finally, we experimented with camera trackers on the green screen, used dark green tape to create a plus sign for camera solving, and worked on achieving proper lighting and aperture settings for the green screen to ensure a focused depth of field.