Major Project – Doom Scroll (5,500)
In this final year at university, I embraced the opportunity to explore new technology and improve my 3D skills to adopt a professional workflow and discover my full creative potential.
The core theme of my animation focused on the narrative of resilience and transformation, embodied through a semi-realistic 3D character. I opted to use Blender and Unreal Engine instead of Maya. Although Maya is popular in the professional field, Blender is increasingly prevalent and will be my primary tool post-graduation, making it essential for me to master its functionalities. Blender was used as the primary tool for modelling, rigging, UV mapping, and animating my character. My decision was also influenced by Blender’s comprehensive feature set – although I have used Maya for the past two years, I found that I much preferred Blender’s interface and toolset which allowed me to immerse myself in every stage of the animation pipeline.
I wanted to transition to Unreal Engine for rendering to leverage its advanced real-time rendering capabilities. My previous project, a Celtic temple rendered in Unreal Engine, had introduced me to the possibilities of real-time visual effects and materials. During this project, I was particularly eager to experiment with and integrate Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) into my workflow, following a great discussion with Henry. From my research, I understood that NeRFs are typically used to recreate photorealistic captures of objects and environments. However, I aimed to diverge from conventional applications and explore NeRFs in an abstract manner, focusing on creating visuals that are out of focus and possess a dream-like quality.
Artistically, I was driven to create a character that not only resonated with audiences but also challenged my illustrative skills by bringing them into a 3D form. Technically, this project was an opportunity to refine my skills in modelling, retopologising, rigging, and texturing—a comprehensive suite of tasks that are crucial for a professional in the industry. As I reflect on the processes and outcomes of this animation, I recognise areas for improvement and consider what I might have done differently to inform my future projects.
Research
Initially, I looked at a range of both 2D and 3D animation techniques during my brainstorming phase of this project.
Unknown Artist, Pinterest
Unknown Artist, Pinterest
OSEANWORLD, Instagram
OSEANWORLD, Instagram
OSEANWORLD, Instagram
Umami, Youtube
Unknown artist, Pinterest
My initial primary focus was on Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia videogame. This game lies within the intersection of music, art, and digital experiences. The game is a deep dive into the band’s albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” brought to life through a virtual environment that feels like navigating through a fever dream. The game’s surreal and often disjointed landscapes are punctuated with abstract imagery and eerie soundscapes that effectively capture the essence of Radiohead’s experimental music style. This dreamlike quality not only enhances the immersive experience but also challenges players to interpret the cryptic visuals and themes. It creates lots of ideas about how digital platforms can be used to reinterpret and explore album art and music in a dynamically interactive format. I was interested in developing environments that are responsive or heavily influence by sound.
Artist James Perlin integrates Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) technology into his digital art. He uses NeRF’s to make both experimental and hyper-realistic 3D environments from photos. His projects feature intricate scenes filled with dynamic lighting that pushes the boundaries of visual realism in digital media. Perlman explores the surreal and abstract potentials of NeRF by manipulating light and shadow in unconventional ways to create immersive, thought-provoking environments. His work often challenges the viewer’s perception of space and reality, incorporating elements that appear to defy physics and logic. Perlman’s ability to blend NeRF’s with visual narratives has made him a prominent figure in the field of digital arts, influencing both peers and aspiring artists to explore the potential of NeRF in their creative endeavors.
Blender artist Bucket Boi is known for his unconventional use of Blender to create experimental pieces that challenge our perceptions of digital art and animation. He is renowned for his unique approach to visual storytelling, where he often incorporates surreal, whimsical elements into his work. His use of vibrant colors and fluid animations creates engaging narratives that are both visually striking and emotionally resonant.
I’m particularly intrigued by his innovative use of shaders and geometry nodes in Blender, which remind me of the look development in “Spiderverse,” albeit with even richer textural depth. I hoped to employ similar techniques when texturing Sable’s bedroom, which provided a practical foundation for appreciating the complexity and visual impact of his work. Although these shaders require considerable time to develop initially, their efficiency becomes evident as they can be quickly applied to multiple models. This allows for significant time saving since there is minimal need to adjust each model’s UVs after the shaders are applied.
Jack McVeigh recreates a sense of nostalgia with PS1 style kinetic graphics that he creates through vertex snapping techniques. His expertise in integrating physics simulations and custom shaders allows him to produce interesting scenes. I like McVeigh’s experimental approach, blending traditional artistry with modern technology to explore new forms of visual storytelling.
Concepting
When I initially started concepting for this project, my intention was to create visuals centered around music using both 3D and 2D animation techniques. However, as I progressed, my focus shifted significantly. I discovered a growing interest in storytelling, compelling me to pivot towards a narrative-driven approach. I decided to explore themes of loneliness and alienation, but I wanted to touch on these subjects subtly to avoid overwhelming sadness in the narrative. My strategy to lighten the thematic load involved incorporating vibrant visuals, experimental electronic music, and elements of humor. The inspiration for the concept of “Doom Scroll” emerged during one of my brainstorming sessions. Each time I attempted to solidify an idea for a short film, doubts about my capability to handle the project alone crept in. To escape these intrusive thoughts, I found myself mindlessly scrolling through my phone for hours. This behavior sparked the idea to weave my personal experiences with digital distraction into the narrative, reflecting the irony and struggle of my creative process.
Character design
I imagined Sable to be an older teenage girl. I enjoyed coming up with her personality to fit the theme, and I think that doing this helped inform her design.
Storyboards
I started by storyboarding my initial concept, and as the project progressed, the story continued to evolve even beyond the previsualisation stage. This aspect of production was exciting for me – I enjoyed watching the story adapt and mature over time, influenced by feedback from Henry and Mike. Watching the narrative transform and refine each month into something distinct from its original version was a rewarding experience.
Final storyboard which picks up from when Sable lands in Comfy Land.
While I was initially satisfied with how the storyboards visualised the animation sequence, looking back, I truly understand the significance of having a fully detailed storyboard in the animation production process. A thorough storyboard provides a clear roadmap which not only clarifies the vision but also streamlines the workflow. Had I invested more time in refining the storyboards, I would have had a more precise guide for my work, potentially freeing up additional time to focus on look development and other creative aspects of the project.
Previsual
I created a basic previsualisation based on the initial storyboards. I’m pleased with how it established some of the key camera shots, which underscored the value of storyboards in transforming abstract ideas into tangible, actionable plans. Reflecting on this process, I recognise that the pacing of the storyboards could have been more precise and dynamic. Moving forward, I aim to be more innovative with camera work, exploring different angles and techniques to enhance the visual storytelling from the get-go.
The story:
Sable is a teenage girl struggling to meet her deadlines. Late one night, she is trying to hand in her assignment on time. Feeling the pressure of the clock and battling with her own frustrations of inadequacy, her mind wonders towards her phone to escape. She retreats to her bed and finds comfort in consuming social media. While scrolling, her phone consumes her, and she is sucked into a magical land beyond her screen. All is calm and pleasant in this warm new world, and she is greeted by a seemingly friendly luminous entity, ‘Allora’. Allora gives Sable a ‘like’ above her head and makes Sable feel safe, loved and understood. She explains that she has something to show Sable, and Sable follows her deeper into the realm. They sink below the dream like land and into the digital underbelly. It’s dark and ominous, but Sable feels good around Allora, and Allora keeps her distracted from her surroundings with a constant stream of entertaining images and information. Eventually, she bumps into what feels like a wall. Forced out of her daze, she looks up to see Allora has turned flaming red. Sable realises she has been trapped, but before she can react, the clear walls blaze bright white and blast Sable to the ground. Sable is curled up and sheilding her eyes and ears as she is bombarded with scrolling walls of content. All the while, Allora is repeating that she wants to know what Sable likes. Eventually, after a climax of overwhelming scrolling and emotions, Sable removes the heart ‘like’ that Allora gave her and looks at it while she holds it in her hands. The thing that brought her so much joy, and made her feel so accepted and at home, she realises she has allowed it to lead her here. She must let go of her attachment to it, and use it to destroy the box that she is trapped in. She smashes through the box and slips through the cracks, landing back in her bedroom on her desk chair with just enough time and newly found motivation to finish her assignment and hand it in on time… Her phone, still sitting on the bed, buzzes with an ominous text that reads ‘You’ll be back >:]’.
This is the culmination of the story, shaped through numerous revisions, and I am pleased with the outcome. It ambitiously focuses on crafting one high-quality 3D character, which was a significant goal for me. However, I am concerned that the narrative might be misinterpreted by the viewer as a simplistic admonition to ‘stop being lazy, get off your phone, and get back to work.’ If I had the opportunity to extend the film, I would clarify at the beginning that Sable is handling other issues in her life, such as loneliness, loss, or abuse. This would underscore that doom scrolling, much like other compulsive behaviors, is often a symptom of deeper emotional struggles and not merely a reaction to work-related stress.
Environment Creation – Comfy Land
Once I had the storyboards outlined, I began learning how to create NeRF’s with guidance from Henry. I used Python and NumPy to sift through extensive video footage to extract clear, high-resolution images. This initial step was crucial because the quality of images directly influences the effectiveness of the NeRF model. Using Python scripts, I automated the extraction of frames from the videos, ensuring each image was consistent in size and clarity. This allowed me to assemble a robust dataset, ready for the next stage.
With a curated set of images in hand, I moved on to creating a Neural Radiance Field (NeRF). This involved training a neural network (AI) to model the colour and density of every point across the images, effectively teaching the AI to reconstruct 3D space from 2D data. The training process was intensive, leveraging Python’s deep learning libraries to handle the computational heaviness of the task.
Once the NeRF model was trained, I used Luma AI to render the 3D models it generated. It’s powerful rendering capabilities helped refine the visuals, enhancing the scenes. The final step involved importing these rendered models into Unreal Engine. This integration brought the static 3D scenes to life, allowing for real-time interaction.
After this successful test, I moved on to finding out how I would implement this to my short film. The scene where Sable meets Alora after she falls into her phone needed to be dreamy and comforting. I envisioned it to be strangely familiar, where Sable likes to escape when she is stressed, emphasising her longing to escape from reality. I went to Sallagh hills in my hometown to capture footage. By chance, when I went there it was covered in a thick fog. Although I was excited about this coincidence and the potential for a very dreamy environment, I was also concerned that the wind and fog would affect the video quality as I recalled while testing the water bottle that failures are common. I needed a focal point for my phone camera to shoot the video, as circling around one object creates the best results – the focal object is very detailed and the background is significantly lower in quality, providing the desired blurry effect. My NeRF’s were successful and I brought my preferred one into Unreal Engine using a Luma AI plugin. If I was to do this again, I would have been quicker to storyboard or previsualise camera shots, so I would know which portions of the NeRF were necessary for each shot. Then I would crop the NeRF to align with the corresponding camera. This would have reduced the file size and Unreal would have run much smoother.
NeRF in Unreal Engine with lighting adjusted and Rainbow models I made in Blender added.
NeRF test in Unreal Engine.
my exposure to Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) significantly broadened my perspective, revealing the concept of creative coding—a powerful tool for artistic expression. To deepen my understanding, I attended a workshop at Digital Arts Studio Belfast, led by Abra White. There, I grasped the fundamentals of coding and its potential to generate images that replicate patterns found in nature, among many other possibilities. My subsequent discussions with Greg Maguire from Humaine further underscored the value of coding skills within the 3D animation industry. Greg highlighted how coding is not only versatile across different aspects of animation but is also particularly beneficial in rigging processes. This insight has solidified my interest in further integrating coding into my skill set for future projects.
I was interested in experimenting with creating a Gaussian splat in Blender. Initially, I took the video used for the NeRF, imported it into Premiere Pro, and exported it as a PNG sequence. For generating the Gaussian splat, I used a website called Polycam. After importing this splat into Blender, I was immediately drawn to its cartoony, bubbly aesthetic. This visual style appealed to me more than the NeRF in Unreal, particularly because the stray points beneath the dense areas of the splat resembled large, fluffy clouds. This effect seemed ideal for the scene where Sable’s legs dangle as she and Alora descend into the Digital Underbelly. During a meetup organised by Concept Null (Irish New Media Art) in collaboration with DAS, I had the opportunity to connect with other digital artists. I presented my work, focusing on my use of the Gaussian splat, and received positive feedback. The enthusiasm and interest from fellow artists made me excited about incorporating the splat into my project.
My contribution to sharing knowledge at a Concept Null meetup.
The man sitting at the front on the left later explained he works for Arts Council NI. It just so happened that he is also from Larne and recognised the hills of Sallagh. He spoke to me just as he was leaving and told me that he really liked this concept, and advised that if I ever apply for funding, not to be discouraged if I don’t get it the first time from applying again. This encounter really boosted my confidence in what I was working on, and made me very excited to include the dream field in my short film.
However, challenges arose during the rendering phase. Despite optimising the settings in Blender, the software repeatedly crashed. I attempted to fix this by lowering the render quality and separating each component of the shot to reconstruct them during post-production. Unfortunately, this approach did not have good results due to excessive noise. As an alternative, I used a 360-degree image generated by Polycam from the video, applied it to a sphere, and illuminated the scene using an HDRI. This method significantly reduced the render time and maintained the dreamy imperfections characteristic of the Splat and NeRF.
Nonetheless, I was dissatisfied with the static nature of the background—it lacked the dynamic elements and details present in previous methods. To reintroduce motion, I employed a vertex snapping plugin in Blender. By subdividing the sphere and animating subtle movements back and forth, I created a retro PS1-style graphics effect as the vertices snapped to their nearest points. I was disappointed that I could no longer use the gaussian splat for the sinking scene, but I didn’t cut it and instead I went back to my roots in traditional art and drew some clouds in Procreate. I kept with the vertex snapping theme and animated the clouds rotating once every 8 frames.
Environment Modelling – Bedroom
In the production of my animated short, three distinct environments were critical: Sable’s bedroom, Comfy Land, and the Digital Underbelly. Of these, Sable’s bedroom was the only environment that required extensive modeling, allowing me to dedicate a significant portion of my time to developing the protagonist, Sable. I visualised her bedroom as a cramped and cluttered space with numerous posters, which would reflect her personality and lifestyle. Initially, I designed the room to be elongated to facilitate experimental camera movements that would sweep from the door towards Sable. However, this setup resulted in a space that felt too expansive for the intimate setting I intended. Consequently, I revised the design to create a smaller, more densely packed room, which better suited the narrative’s needs.
Sable’s room, initial concept.
Spacious room before alteration.
Despite initial considerations to use low-poly models for easier rendering and a stylised look, I decided to employ high-poly models to enhance the room’s realism in lighting and texturing. This decision was driven by the desire to achieve a more detailed and visually rich environment, which would be more engaging in the film’s context. I subdivided each object once, extending the loop cuts to each corner of the model, and then subdivided it again. I felt the assets appeared too rigid and uninteresting, so before applying the subdivisions permanently, I added curvature to most of the flat surfaces, except for the desktop. This technique was employed to infuse character into the models, making them more visually appealing and less monotonous.
Environment Modelling – Digital Underbelly
Initially, I planned to create the Digital Underbelly within Unreal Engine, envisioning it from a side-on perspective similar to a platform game. I aimed for a design featuring large fragments adorned with glitching textures. Achieving this was relatively straightforward—I used Blender to create a plane, removed one vertex, and then applied a simple subdivision. The unique appearance of this environment was intended to rely heavily on the materials applied to these triangular planes.
Unreal engine planes and cones with dynamic material shader with texture I made in Procreate.
However, as the project progressed, I transitioned my workflow entirely to Blender, influenced by my previous work with the Gaussian Splat, to maintain consistency across the project. This shift allowed me to further explore Blender’s capabilities, particularly the use of geometry nodes. Instead of limiting the glitch effect to the textures, I experimented with causing the model itself to glitch. This process proved more time-consuming but ultimately enhanced the visual impact significantly.
Despite the initial success with this design, I eventually decided against using the digital fragment concept. As the project developed, I devised a new environment design that relied more heavily on shaders, which I found to be more aligned with the evolving aesthetic of the film. I will explain this new design and its implications later in the discussion.
Character Modelling – Sable
Reflecting on advice from Mike, who suggested using a simpler, low-poly character model I developed over the summer, I decided to pursue a more complex and stylised character. This decision aligned with my desire to push my limits in 3D character creation and ensure the character adequately supported the narrative needs of my story, allowing for expressive, semi-realistic animations that capture more detailed emotions and movements.
Modelling Sable was challenging at times. I was determined to refine her model to ensure smooth topology, avoiding common issues such as N-gons which can complicate rigging and animation processes. I initially modelled Sable in a modular fashion, extruding circle loops for her limbs, thinking it would streamline my workflow, particularly during rigging. This approach would have indeed simplified the rigging process but at the potential cost of poor topology. In future projects, when modelling a character, I would consider modelling her entire body as a single piece and then constructing her clothing separately by attaching planes directly to her body mesh and solidifying them. This approach would likely enhance the realism of the model during animation, offering a more natural appearance as she moves, though it might make weight painting more difficult.
Initial Sable model.
Revised Sable sculpt.
I revised Sable’s character design to better align with the theme of the film. Initially, Sable was depicted wearing baggy trousers and chunky shoes, which I later realised didn’t make sense for a scene set in her room late at night. During a presentation, Aodhan suggested outfitting her in shorts and socks, which suited the setting perfectly. Initially, I was concerned about the additional time required to model not only the shorts but also her legs and socks, rather than just trousers and boots. However, looking back, I realise that this change was not as significant as I had feared. In the future, I should spend less time worrying about the feasibility of design changes and more time implementing them efficiently.
Sable’s head retopology.
Sculpting and retopologising the head was the most time-consuming task among all the sculpting processes for Sable. I began with a very low-poly mesh to outline the basic shape of the head. After establishing the initial form, I remeshed the head and continued sculpting until I was happy with her appearance. Following this, I snapped planes to the surface of her face mesh and applied a mirror to ensure symmetry. Once content with the facial retopology, I inserted loop cuts around the eye sockets, adding sufficient polygons to allow for smooth blinking animations. I extruded the edges of the retopologised mouth to create the mouth bag and then modelled the teeth, gums, and tongue. Although Sable wasn’t going to speak in the film, I decided to include these details anyway, anticipating that certain facial expressions might reveal the inside of her mouth. In retrospect, I might have allocated less time to modelling the teeth.
UV Unwrapping and Texturing
After finalising Sable’s model, I began the process of UV unwrapping. I marked seams in less visible areas, such as beneath her hair, under her arms, and along her sides. It was during this phase that I recognised a missed opportunity for efficiency in modeling Sable’s hair. Ideally, I should have retopologised her hair because the textures revealed seams along the fringe when applied, which detracted from the overall aesthetics.
In hindsight, another approach that could have streamlined my workflow involves material assignment. I realised that setting each object to the same material in Blender and then using the polyfill tool in Substance Painter to apply different colour layers would have been more efficient. This method would have consolidated all her textures onto a single UV tile, eliminating the need to apply materials to multiple objects individually.
In Substance Painter, I dedicated time to experimenting with various textures and color schemes for Sable. Initially, I opted for colorful and extravagant textures. However, feedback suggested that this style was overwhelming, prompting me to pivot towards a more subdued, grunge aesthetic. I settled on shades of blue and purple and added dark eye makeup, which significantly enhanced Sable’s distinctive vibe and aligned better with the intended look of the character.
Sable’s initial textures.
Initial face textures. I chose to make them less realistic in the final cut because I thought these eye textures would look scary and uncanny in the film. The dark eye makeup also improved the look of her eyes and heightened her cartoon look.
Reflecting on these experiences, I’ve learned the importance of not only planning my UV layouts and texturing strategies more carefully but also being receptive to feedback that can guide aesthetic decisions towards more fitting outcomes for the characters and the story as a whole.
Rigging
Rigging and weight painting posed the greatest challenges in this project. Consequently, I dedicated a substantial amount of time to constructing the rig for Sable. I began by following a highly detailed tutorial series on YouTube by Dikko which was very helpful, particularly for facial rigging. You can view the tutorial here: Dikko’s Rigging Tutorial.
While Dikko’s tutorials were helpful for the face, the approaches suggested for the body rig were overly complex for my needs. Given that Sable was not designed for extreme movements, the intricate controls for her spine became counterproductive, consuming excessive time. I realised the importance of matching the rig complexity to the character’s intended actions within the animation.
With foundational rigging skills acquired through guidance from Mike, I gained momentum and quickly assembled the main structure of Sable’s body rig within a few days. After establishing the basic bones, I implemented Inverse Kinematics (IK) controls on the arms and legs, and added constraints to the fingers, enabling a single bone movement to curl all the fingers simultaneously.
I developed Sable’s foot rig following one of Mike’s tutorials. This was a challenge but I found it very satisfying to be able to limit the rotation of her feet so that they wouldn’t go through the ground. If I was to build her foot rig again, I would do so in a way that enabled flexibility from the ball of the foot so that I could add secondary animation to scenes where she is floating more easily. Additionally, I employed a damped track constraint to the heart above Sable’s head and to her hair bobbles. This setup allowed these elements to lag slightly behind her movements, effectively automating some aspects of secondary animation and adding a more dynamic feel to her motions.
In future projects, I plan to allocate more time to weight painting. During the animation process, I encountered issues where Sable’s t-shirt mesh would intersect with her shorts and legs due to insufficient weight painting, restricting certain movements. Ensuring more thorough weight painting will help prevent such issues and allow for more fluid animations.
Many of Sable’s expressions were crafted using blend shapes, which provided the precision I needed to sculpt each expression exactly as envisioned. However, relying solely on blend shapes constrained the variability of these expressions. In future projects, I plan to integrate controls with the blend shapes. This approach, while more complex, would significantly enhance the range and naturalness of the expressions, making Sable appear more lifelike and expressive.
Animation
After finalising the rig for Sable, I moved into the animation phase. Guided by my storyboards and previsual, I started by capturing reference videos to model Sable’s movements accurately. These videos were imported into Blender, where I animated Sable, matching her movements to the key poses from the video. Despite the detailed preparations, envisioning Sable’s movements proved challenging, particularly for scenes where she is floating. To better understand this motion, I studied underwater photoshoot videos on YouTube. The slow, graceful movements of models underwater closely mirrored the floating actions I envisioned for Sable in the Digital Underbelly.
Reference video to visualise how Sable would be blown away from the trap wall, land on the floor and then break through with her ‘like’.
A significant insight came during this phase when I realised I was spending excessive time animating details that weren’t visible in the final camera shots. After a discussion with Mike, I adjusted my approach. He advised setting up all the cameras first and animating directly to those views. This strategy prevented unnecessary work on animations that would not appear in the final cut. Mike also recommended editing these shots progressively in After Effects, a tip that proved transformative, significantly streamlining my workflow.
I adapted my workflow accordingly, creating individual Blender files for each shot and organising them. After refining the third pass of each animation, I finalised the environments and integrated Sable, complete with her rig and animations, into the unified environment file. This methodical approach ensured that I focused only on necessary animations and maintained an organised structure throughout the project, significantly enhancing efficiency and coherence in the final production.
Shading and Texturing Techniques
Having made the decision to make my animation in Blender, I wanted to experiment with shaders. I first practiced working with them to develop Alora’s look. Since this was my first attempt at making a complex shader, I followed this tutorial closely. https://youtu.be/Mph8v4Fp0RA?si=hHCiHkv8f-Bwq44P
I found the orb’s surface to be overly smooth for the effect I wanted, so I introduced geometry displacement linked to a time node. This adjustment allowed the mesh to constantly move, giving the orb a more dynamic and less uniform appearance. I then animated these nodes, enabling me to create a dramatic explosion effect for the orb. I dedicated time to learning Blender’s node system, which allowed me to achieve specific visual effects without always relying on tutorials. This hands-on experience with nodes significantly enhanced my understanding and application of various shader components.
I decided to apply this newfound knowledge to create unique shaders for Sable’s bedroom. By combining a cel shader with a procedural crosshatching shader, which I initially learned to make through a helpful tutorial (viewable here: Crosshatching Shader Tutorial), I was able to introduce a distinctive artistic texture to the environment. Additionally, I incorporated halftones into the shader used for Alora, adding intricate details that become visible under lighting. The control over colour gradients was achieved using a color ramp, allowing for subtle transitions in light and shadow.
However, an issue arose with the halftones; they remained static when the camera moved, creating a distracting visual effect. To resolve this, I adjusted the nodes so that the halftones would follow the camera’s movement, maintaining visual consistency across different shots.
For the platformer game-style background, I modeled a cube and made several loop cuts, then applied geometry displacement with a cloud texture. This setup was ideal for implementing a vertex snapping effect, which I enhanced using a grid. The final touch was the application of the crosshatch shader, with the colour ramp set to linear instead of constant, and the addition of a unique texture I created in Procreate.
Digital Underbelly concept art, inspired by Kid A Mnesia gameplay as seen in my research.
This approach to shader creation not only allowed me to blend traditional illustration techniques with 3D animation effectively but also provided a rich, stylised aesthetic that contributed significantly to the thematic depth of the environments within the animation.
Editing and Final touches
To create authentic scrolling phone and wall textures, I captured screen recordings of myself scrolling through my Instagram feed. These recordings were then imported into After Effects, where I applied glitch and blur effects, as well as a painting filter, to enhance the visual texture. I also adjusted the color scheme to shades of pink and purple to fit the aesthetic of the film.
For the bottom of Sable’s box, I employed a kaleidoscope effect, carefully scaling it to ensure it fit perfectly on the square plane. Additionally, I used shader nodes to generate video textures, which added to the visual diversity of the film.
When it came to finalising my edit, I adopted a rigorous approach, significantly reducing the length of my short film from over five minutes to just two minutes. Although I was concerned that such substantial cuts might eliminate crucial narrative elements, I focused on retaining the most impactful scenes to ensure the story remained coherent and engaging. The final editing was completed in After Effects, where I replaced the footage from my previsualisation with the final shots, seamlessly integrating all elements into the condensed narrative.
Reflection
Reflecting on this ambitious journey through my final year project, I am struck by the depth and breadth of my own growth—both as an artist and a technologist. From grappling with rigging and animation to incorporating texturing techniques, each challenge was a step towards a richer understanding of my craft. The process of constantly revising Sable’s design, refining the environments, and iterating on animations taught me the invaluable lesson of flexibility and the importance of adaptability in creative work. Moreover, interacting with mentors and applying their feedback not only enhanced my technical skills but also deepened my appreciation for the collaborative nature of animation. As I move forward, I carry with me not just the technical experience that I’ve gained but also a passion for storytelling through animation. I’ve enjoyed this process so much that I’m working on a story for another short film I’d like to make in my own time. Thank you so much Henry for your support and encouragement all throughout this project, which pushed me to be ambitious and explore new creative avenues, and to Mike for supporting me through my animations and teaching me that rigging really isn’t a dystopian hellscape, it’s actually quite fun (for the most part). Thank you both for your guidance and belief in my abilities.