This project, inspired by Animal Farm, focused on building a fictional dystopian environment using a PBR workflow with Substance Painter. I created modular assets like fences, walls, and propaganda boards, applying weathered materials such as rusted metal, chipped concrete, and decaying wood to reflect neglect and oppression. Using smart masks, decals, and custom textures, I layered dirt, rust, and worn edges to enhance realism and storytelling. The scene was assembled with careful composition and lighting, using muted colors and fog to evoke an eerie, authoritarian atmosphere, capturing the breakdown of control and ideals central to the story.
The process for this project was very complex, starting with sculpting a stylized character to match the dystopian theme. After completing the high-detail sculpt, I had to retopologize the model to create a clean, optimized mesh suitable for animation, ensuring proper edge flow and manageable topology for rigging and deformation. This workflow required balancing artistic detail with technical usability, making sure the final asset retained the stylized look while being efficient enough for use in animation and the overall scene.
For rigging, I used Auto-Rig Pro as my solution, which significantly streamlined the process but still required a lot of time to set up and refine for the layers of animation I needed. After animation, I composited the final renders in different passes, separating elements like characters, background, and effects, which gave me more flexibility to tweak colors, lighting, and atmosphere during post-production, ensuring the final look matched the dystopian tone of the project.
During this simulated work experience, I found myself extremely disappointed, both in the tasks I was assigned and the overall planning of the project. The only task given to me was finding references and gathering a model list, but the list itself made absolutely no sense. Many of the objects on the list were extremely simple — things that could easily be found online for free or modeled from scratch in literally five minutes. There was no logic behind outsourcing such trivial work to team members when the group leader could have handled it independently in less time than it took to type out the request.
This left me feeling like my role was completely insufficient and unnecessary, with no real opportunity to apply my skills or contribute creatively. What made it worse was the fact that the entire assignment was scheduled to last two weeks, yet my actual workload amounted to barely 30 minutes of effort. The mismatch between the timeline and the amount of work was frustrating and illogical, and it felt like a complete failure in project planning and team management.
On top of that, the group leader’s refusal to meet or discuss the project properly only added to the disorganization. Even though I asked to meet in person to clarify the goals and workflow, he insisted on communicating purely through text messages, which made everything slower and less clear. With almost 80% of the work already completed by the group leader himself, there was practically no room left for the rest of the team to contribute anything meaningful.
This experience stood in stark contrast to my time working with the Brown RISD Game Development Club, where communication was smooth, the work was well-distributed, and everyone had a clear role with real creative input. That experience taught me how important collaborative planning and communication are for any successful team project, and this simulation highlighted exactly what happens when those are missing.
Overall, this project felt like a waste of time and a missed opportunity to learn anything useful. It also showed me just how irresponsible and inefficient poor project planning can be, especially when the work isn’t properly matched to the schedule or the skills of the team. I hope future projects will be better structured, with clearer communication and more meaningful work for all team members.
The following images were assigned to me by the team leader as part of my tasks for this two-week project. However, upon reviewing them, it became clear that these are some of the most basic, primitive shapes imaginable — objects so simple that they could either be sourced online for free or modeled from scratch in just a few minutes. Assigning these for a two-week period is completely illogical and unnecessary, showing a lack of consideration for both time management and team members’ skills:
The team leader mentioned that the project would follow a low-poly art direction, and as part of my assigned tasks, I was asked to find reference photos to support that style. Below are some of the references I found and selected, which I dedicated time to developing into a useful collection.
However, this task raised several concerns for me. Researching references is something that should typically be part of the pre-production phase, where the overall visual direction is decided before the actual work starts. Being asked to do this after the project was already underway felt unorganized and unprofessional, especially for a project with such a tight and simple scope.
This kind of disorganized workflow — assigning basic pre-production work mid-project — wastes time and prevents the team from focusing on actual production tasks, where creative and technical contributions are more valuable. It also made it difficult to feel like the project had any clear direction or plan, which contributed to the overall lack of efficiency and clarity throughout the experience.
As an animator, I’ve found the 12 Principles of Animation to be invaluable in shaping my approach to both the technical and creative aspects of animation. These principles, originally established by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, have influenced the way I think about movement, character development, and storytelling in animation. Here’s a reflection on what each principle has meant to me and how they continue to shape my work.
Squash and Stretch: This principle has been central to my understanding of how to make characters and objects feel more tangible. The exaggeration of movements, such as the stretching of a character during a jump or the squashing of a ball as it hits the ground, adds a sense of weight and volume that makes the animation feel more alive and realistic. This dynamic quality has become a fundamental part of my animation toolkit.
Anticipation: I’ve come to realize how important anticipation is in creating engaging, believable movements. When I began incorporating anticipation into my animations, I noticed that actions became more fluid and natural. Whether it’s a character preparing to run or an object getting ready to fall, building up to an action helps the audience understand what’s coming next, creating a smoother experience and heightening emotional engagement.
Staging: Staging has taught me the importance of clarity in communication. By carefully planning the composition and positioning of characters within a scene, I can ensure that the focus remains on the key actions or emotions I want to highlight. It’s not just about where things are placed, but about directing the viewer’s attention to what’s most important.
Straight-Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose: I’ve experimented with both approaches to animation and learned to use them based on the needs of the scene. Straight-ahead action allows for more fluid and dynamic movement, while pose-to-pose provides better control over the overall structure and timing of the animation. By combining both techniques, I’ve been able to strike a balance between spontaneity and precision.
Follow Through and Overlapping Action: Implementing follow-through and overlapping action has made my animations feel more realistic. I now pay close attention to how different parts of a character’s body continue moving after the primary action has stopped. This subtle detail adds weight and fluidity to movements and enhances the overall believability of the animation.
Slow In and Slow Out: This principle has been crucial in helping me understand how to convey weight and fluidity in motion. By easing into and out of actions, rather than having them start and stop abruptly, I’ve learned to create more lifelike and natural movements. It’s these small touches that make the animation feel grounded and believable.
Arc: Realizing that most natural movements follow an arc has greatly improved my animations. Whether it’s the swing of a character’s arm or the path of a bouncing ball, animating along curved trajectories adds a fluidity and organic feel to movements that makes them much more engaging.
Secondary Action: Adding secondary actions has helped bring my animations to life by making them feel more layered and nuanced. For example, when a character takes a step, adding small movements like the swaying of their clothes or a shift in their posture brings the character’s actions into sharper focus, creating a more complete and immersive experience.
Timing: Timing is the backbone of effective animation, and I’ve learned how it influences the perception of speed, weight, and emotion. Whether it’s a quick, snappy action or a slow, deliberate movement, precise timing helps me convey the right emotional tone and make the animation feel more natural.
Exaggeration: I’ve found that exaggeration is key to making animations more compelling. By pushing the limits of movement or expression, I can create more engaging, visually striking animations that capture the audience’s attention. This principle has taught me that animation is about exaggerating reality to make it more appealing and expressive.
Solid Drawing: Understanding the fundamentals of drawing has improved the way I approach character design and animation. Solid drawing is about ensuring that characters have a clear volume and structure, making them feel three-dimensional and believable. It’s a principle that has pushed me to refine my skills and focus on creating more convincing characters and environments.
Appeal: Finally, appeal has become one of the most important aspects of my work. Whether it’s a character’s design, personality, or how they interact with their environment, creating something that resonates with the audience is essential. By focusing on creating engaging, likeable characters with depth and personality, I can forge stronger emotional connections with my viewers.
Looking back, these 12 principles have shaped not just my technical skills but also my creative process. They serve as a constant reminder to focus on the details that make an animation feel alive and engaging. As I continue to explore and experiment with these principles, I am reminded that animation is a craft that requires both creativity and precision. These principles provide the foundation for that balance, allowing me to push my work to new heights.
“Rebooted” is a short film that explores the intersection of technology, identity, and transformation. Set in a world where machines constantly evolve through software updates, the story follows a once-cutting-edge robot who wakes up after an unexpected reboot, only to find itself outdated and out of place in a rapidly advancing environment.
Blending visual storytelling with a touch of humor and heart, “Rebooted” reflects on what it means to adapt — or fail to — in a world that never stops upgrading. With stunning visuals and a layered narrative, the film invites the audience to question whether progress always equals improvement and whether identity can survive constant reinvention.
My Workflow for “Rebooted”
The creation of “Rebooted” involved a mix of 3D modeling, animation, and compositing techniques, blending both technical precision and creative storytelling.
The process began with concept development — defining the story beats, visual style, and overall tone. Once the core narrative was set, I moved into asset creation, designing the robot character and environment, ensuring every element fit the film’s slightly glitchy, futuristic aesthetic.
For animation, I focused on expressive movement to bring personality to the robot, even with its mechanical design. Lip-sync and facial animations were especially important to convey subtle emotions during the robot’s reboot sequence.
In After Effects, I handled compositing and post-production, fine-tuning colors, adjusting contrast, adding glitch effects, and enhancing the overall atmosphere with sound design and subtle VFX to emphasize the reboot process.
Throughout the workflow, I maintained a balance between technical accuracy and creative flexibility, allowing the film to evolve naturally while staying true to the original vision.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through how I set up a basic parent switch in Blender. This switch allows me to change the parent of a bone between three different options (Parent Bone 0, 1, and 2), giving me more control over how objects or bones behave in relation to each other during animation.
The Setup:
The key idea is to use a driver that controls the parent relationship based on a custom property. By using a simple conditional script (1 if Var == 1 else 0), I can control which bone acts as the parent.
How I Did It:
Create a Custom Property:
I started by creating a custom property on the object or bone I wanted to control. This property will be used to switch between the different parent options (Parent Bone 0, 1, or 2).
Set Up Drivers:
For each parent constraint, I added a driver that controls its influence. This driver checks the value of the custom property and determines if the bone is active as a parent or not.
The Conditional Script:
The logic I used for the driver is straightforward. I wrote a simple expression like:python复制代码1 if Var == 1 else 0 This script checks if the custom property (Var) is equal to a certain value (like 1 for Parent Bone 1), and if it is, the influence is set to 1 (active). If not, it’s set to 0 (inactive). This way, I can easily switch between different parent bones by simply changing the value of the custom property.
Switching Between Parents:
Once the drivers are set up, I can quickly switch between parent bones by adjusting the value of the custom property in the sidebar. If I set the value to 0, Parent Bone 0 becomes the active parent. Setting it to 1 switches to Parent Bone 1, and setting it to 2 activates Parent Bone 2.
Why It’s Useful:
This method is extremely useful in scenarios where you need to dynamically switch parent relationships during an animation. Instead of manually adjusting parenting or creating complex constraints, you can use this simple switch to quickly toggle between different parent bones. It’s also flexible enough to be expanded to more than three options if needed.
This was a fun and simple way to add more control to my rigging setup, and I found it streamlined my workflow, especially in complex animations with multiple parent dependencies.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through the basics of creating an IK-FK switch for a character rig, something that makes switching between Inverse Kinematics (IK) and Forward Kinematics (FK) much smoother. It may sound complicated, but with a little bit of practice, it becomes a straightforward process.
The key to setting up the IK-FK switch is adding two constraints—one for IK and one for FK—on the deform bone. These constraints are Copy Location constraints, with the second constraint overriding the first. The trick is to manage their influence using a driver, which allows you to blend between IK and FK easily.
Here’s how I did it:
Two Copy Location Constraints: Add two Copy Location constraints to the deform bone. One targets the IK control, and the other targets the FK control. The second constraint should overwrite the influence of the first, allowing you to switch between the two.
Driver Setup: The next step is to create a driver. The driver will control the influence of the last constraint, which determines whether you’re in IK or FK mode. You can create the driver on a control bone or a custom property, depending on your setup.
Copy the Driver: Once you have the driver set up, copy it to the influence of the second (overwriting) constraint. This gives you control over the switching between IK and FK. By animating the driver, you can seamlessly blend between the two systems.
The great part about this setup is that it gives you flexibility and control over how your character interacts with the environment. I found this method useful for smooth transitions in my animations, without having to manually adjust between IK and FK.
If you’re new to creating IK-FK switches, don’t worry—it’s a bit of trial and error at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes a powerful tool in your rigging process.
In this blog, I want to share my experience building a hinge-like switch for an FK rig, which helped me keep the head stationary while the neck moves. Typically, in FK setups, when the neck moves, the head automatically follows—this can be frustrating when you want more independent control, like in a scene where the head needs to stay in place while the body or neck moves.
I solved this by creating a switch, more like a hinge, which prevents the head from following the neck. I experimented with constraints (particularly using a parent or orientation constraint) to allow the head to maintain its position regardless of the neck’s rotation or movement.
At first, it was a bit tricky to balance the hierarchy, but once I nailed it down, the extra control felt great. This approach gives a lot more flexibility when animating, especially for exaggerated movements, as the head can hold its place or move independently based on what the scene needs.
Overall, it’s a handy technique for creating more dynamic and versatile rigs, and I found it particularly useful in situations where I want the head to stay still while the body moves around it. It’s a small tweak but makes a big difference in character animation.
For this setup, I’m combining FK control with a stretchable tweak widget to create a flexible, highly controllable bendy chain. It consists of four main components: deform bendy bones, mechanism bendy bones, tweak widgets, and the FK chain.
Deform Bendy Bones: These are the bones that actually deform the mesh. They allow the chain to bend smoothly, adding natural curvature to the model.
Mechanism Bendy Bones: These bones handle the bending mechanics, working behind the scenes to ensure the chain deforms correctly. They follow the main control bones but aren’t directly responsible for mesh deformation.
Tweak Widget: This widget gives additional control for fine-tuning. I use it to tweak the chain’s shape, adjusting the stretch and bend for a custom look.
FK Chain: The FK part allows me to rotate each bone manually, giving precise control over how the chain moves. It’s essential for more controlled animations where specific bending angles are needed.
By combining these elements, I get a super bendy and stretchable chain, perfect for creating fluid, dynamic motions!
FK (Forward Kinematics) is an animation technique where I control each bone in a chain manually, starting from the base, like a shoulder, and working outwards to, say, the hand. The movement is predictable since I have to rotate each joint individually. I like FK because it gives me full control over how each part moves, and while it’s more hands-on, it feels intuitive when animating simple, fluid motions like swinging or bending limbs.
In Blender, working with FK means spending time adjusting bones one by one, but the upside is that I know exactly how the movement will flow from one joint to the next.
