Major Project 2
5/2/2026-19/3/2026
LIU ZIYU 0367533
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Class Summary
Week 1
This week, we focused on setting a clearer direction for the project. The story was shortened and the script adjusted to make it more concise. Decisions on visual style were discussed, like including some combination of 3D environments with 2D characters, while the main character design was simplified. The storyboard was prioritised and completed to keep the workflow on track.
Week 2
This week, we marked the start of the animation phase. After confirming the storyboard, character design, and color scheme, work began on animating the story with a focus on clear movement and storytelling. At the same time, progress on 3D interior and exterior models started in preparation for combining both 2D & 3D elements ;)
Week 3
This week, we show the 3D environment design and refine visual aspects such as camera angles and shot composition. The animation reached about halfway, while the remaining scenes continued in progress. Preparations are made to move into a more detailed stage with better lighting and visual polish.
Week 4
This week, we focused on staying on schedule and pushing the project forward. Adjustments were made to animation lighting and camera angles to improve the overall quality, while efforts continued towards completing the full animation.
Week 5
For this particular week, we dealt with technical fixes and refinements. Issues in Maya were resolved, animation smoothness was improved through better character movement and expressions, and a few adjustments were made to the 3D environment colors to achieve a more natural look.
Week 6
This week focused on speeding up progress and moving toward completion. Coloring began, and modeling techniques were improved for efficiency. Furthermore, camera adjustments were made to prepare for the final rendering.
Week 7
Last but not least, this final stage leads to presentation and submission. Final adjustments were made to smooth out the animation and refine the presentation slides, ensuring everything was completed and polished before the deadline.
Task_Major project II
For this particular project, we were instructed to either continue our previous project journey or create a new topic or story. Our group decided to develop something different and more extraordinary; therefore, we chose to start everything from scratch.
We created an entirely new story about a doll who feels the need to change because she is judged by others. In the end, a child accepts her just as she is, and she learns that being different is perfectly okay. The main message of the story is to encourage people to be themselves, because even in their uniqueness, they remain the only “one” and the most special “one” in the world. To bring the meaning to it, we named the story: A Special Encounter. We did some research on the internet and claim to have come up with an animation art style like the Klaus.
Figure 1.0: Klaus Poster
Figure 1.1: Scenes from Klaus
Before diving into the project, we carefully prepared a proposal to set a clear direction and define our goals. This step was important for us because it gave the whole team a shared vision and purpose, helping us stay focused and motivated. Knowing exactly what we wanted to achieve made the process feel more meaningful and exciting, and it gave us confidence as we took the first steps toward bringing our story to life !
PDF: Proposal of "A special Encounter"
We initially planned to create a fully 3D short film. However, due to time constraints, we were advised to consider a combination of 2D characters with a 3D environment instead. As a group, we felt this was a great idea, as this style is not very common in films or short animations, making it a fresh and creative approach. Therefore, we decided to shift our direction to using 2D characters within a 3D background.
Mr. Kamal also recommended an animation with a similar style, The Amazing World of Gumball, which inspired us further. For us, this approach was a very unique and exciting challenge. The main difficulty lies in ensuring that the 2D characters blend naturally into the 3D environment, and vice versa. Overall, it is a challenging process, but also an engaging and rewarding one for our team.
Figure 1.2: The Amazing World of Gumball
Therefore, we start our major project from the roots. Here are the script and story we came up with:
PDF 1.0: Script of the Story
After completing our script, we presented it to Mr. Kamal, our lecturer, for his feedback. He suggested that we shorten our story, as it was originally around 4 to 6 minutes long. We took his feedback into consideration and revised the script accordingly. Eventually, we realized that the shorter version actually improved the story, making it clearer and more direct in delivering its message.
Finally, he reviewed our revised work and gave his approval, which gave us the confidence to move forward. Following that, we proceeded to the next stage of our project, where we began developing our sketches and creating the animatics to better visualize the flow and structure of our story.
Figure 1.3: Sketches of the story
PDF 1.1: Complete Sketches
The sketches took us about one week to complete. After receiving approval, we quickly moved on to the next phase, which was developing the animatics to bring our ideas to life and refine the overall flow of the story. During this stage, we adjusted the pacing and calculated the number of frames, eventually determining that the final outcome would be a 3-minute video and which was exactly what we aimed for!
Figure: Drawing Animatic using Procreate
Video 1.0: Animatics full video
As for the animatic, we needed to maintain a fast pace, so it was completed within two weeks. At the same time, we also began working on character design, as well as the 3D modeling for both exterior and interior environments. All tasks were carried out simultaneously, allowing us to save time and improve efficiency by progressing on multiple aspects of the project at once.
At first, the character we designed was quite complex, as we wanted it to reflect a setting inspired by the quiet late-19th to early-20th century British era. However, we were advised that the outfit was too complicated and could be improved by simplifying the design while still conveying the intended style.
Figure 1.4: 1 Vers of doll character design (turnaround)
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Figure 1.5: 1 Vers of doll character design (front)
As a result, we did some additional research online and found a more suitable reference that still matched the character’s aesthetic. Based on this, we decided to revise and simplify the doll’s outfit to better fit both the concept and production needs. Here are the changes we made:
Figure 1.6: 2 Versions of doll character design
In the meantime, we also design the other characters from the story, such as the craftsman, the two little girls:
Figure 1.7: Craftman character design
Figure 1.8: Girl 1 character design
Figure 1.9: Girl 2 character design
We did not take much time to rest and continued working on the short animation as well as the 3D designs, including both the interior and exterior environments, by using Maya (at first). For a detailed object, we use Z brush.
This is the first version of the short animation:
Video 1.1: Short Animation 1
Video 1.2: Short Animation 2
These are the progression of 3D:Week 1+2:Mainly focus on technique & design corrections
Figure 2.0: Edge of the cabinet (Maya)
Figure 2.1: Interior of the store
Figure 2.2: Adjustment in angles and position
Week 3:Interior and exterior build
Figure 2.3: View from outside
Figure 2.4: Exterior design
Week 4:Details items
Figure 2.5: Complete interior design
Figure 2.6: Use Z brush to make the small little bear
Week 5:Streets details + complete in/exterior)
Figure 2.7: Exterior street lamp
Figure 2.8: Exterior and roofing completed
Week 6:Complete Render + Lightning touch
Figure 2.9: Render Pic 1 without lightning
Figure 3.0: Render Pic 2 with lightning
For the streetlights and evening lighting, we were having difficulty managing them, and the colors looked off. So, we sought help from Mr. Kamal, who taught us how to make adjustments to the lighting and gave us advice on how to improve it to better capture the atmosphere of the environment. He also recommended a website, https://animationscreencaps.com/ which has a large collection of movie scene screengrabs.
This resource was extremely helpful in guiding us to adjust the lighting effectively.
Thanks, Mr. Kamal :))))))) !
Figure 3.1: Street and evening light
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Figure 3.2: Art line drawings 1
Figure 3.3: Art line drawing 2
Once the line art was completed, we immediately moved on to coloring with full energy, bringing our characters and scenes to life.
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Figure 3.4: Coloring progress 1
Figure 3.5: Coloring progress 2
Last but not least, we focused on the soul of the entire animation: the sound effects. We created our own background sound effects using Adobe Audition, carefully editing, tuning, and adding reverb to craft a unique and immersive audio experience that truly enhances the animation.
Figure 3.6: Sound editing
Figure 3.7: Fade-in and Fade-out sound effects
Figure 3.8: Reverb and pitch shifter effect applied
Once everything is done, we create the presentation slide for the upcoming presentation. It was told that the presentation slide needs to have the point of showing our final project, recap the idea, highlight changes and why, showcase key skills, explain audience value, and share lessons learned and future plans.
PDF 1.2: Presentation Slide for Major II
And this is us after the presentation, yay !
Figure 3.9: Group Pic!
Feedbacks
Week 1:
Mr. Kamal suggested shortening our story duration from 4-6 minutes to 3-4 minutes, revising the script accordingly, considering using a 3D background with 2D characters (animate is recommended but Procreate is still an option), simplifying the main doll character design, completing the full storyboard by this week to avoid delays, and he also mentioned that the elderly character design is good.
Week 2:
After going through our storyboard, Mr. Kamal asked us to start animating the project. He said the character design is fine and approved the color scheme as well. He reminded us that the whole animation should be kept within 3 minutes, so we need to manage the pacing carefully. At this stage, the animation does not have to be very detailed or polished; it just needs to clearly show the storyline and the character’s movement, so the story can be understood. We are now moving into the animation phase of the story. By next week, we also need to complete the 3D interior and exterior models to prepare for the next stage, where the 3D elements will be combined with Procreate frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation to create the full animation.
Week 3:
We presented our 3D exterior and interior design to Mr. Kamal for feedback. Overall, the direction was clear, but he suggested refining several camera angles and shot compositions to improve the visual storytelling and make certain scenes feel more dynamic and cinematic. Some adjustments will be made to the framing and perspective to ensure the environment supports the mood and narrative more effectively.
The animation is currently about halfway completed. The remaining scenes are in progress and are scheduled to be finished by the end of this week. Once the main animation sequences are completed, the project will move into the next phase. By next week, the workflow will transition fully into the art and final animation stage, where more detailed visual refinements, polishing, and stylistic enhancement will be carried out to strengthen the overall quality of the film.
Week 4:
Mr. Kamal reminded us to pay attention to time management and expressed that he hopes to see the full animation completed by next week. He suggested making some adjustments to the animation lighting and improving the camera angles to enhance the overall scene.
Week 5:
Mr. Kamal provides guidance on resolving Maya graphic bug that prevents some background elements from being exported properly. Feedback was also provided on the animation: several scenes appeared slightly choppy, and adjustments to character movements and facial expressions were recommended to improve overall smoothness and flow. In addition, comments were made on the 3D environment color, noting that the evening scene looked too bright, and a reference website was suggested to help find more suitable sky color combinations for a more natural atmosphere.
Week 6:
The content is good, but the progress is slow, so colouring needs to be done as soon as possible. The lecture guided the team on a faster way to model a pillow, and the final step is to adjust the camera properly to render all the models.
Week 7:
All content needs to be submitted before the 29th. The animation still has some parts that are not smooth and require adjustments. The Canva presentation also needs some revisions, so everything should be completed as soon as possible.
Reflectio
Observation
At the beginning, we had many ideas and wanted to include a lot of details, but during the process, we realized that keeping things simple made the project more effective. I also noticed that combining 2D characters with a 3D environment was not as easy as we expected. It required careful adjustment in lighting, perspective, and overall consistency. Small elements like camera movement, color matching, and timing played an important role in shaping the final outcome. This made me understand that a successful project depends not only on creativity but also on how well the ideas are executed.
Experience
For me, this project was both challenging and enjoyable. There were moments when I felt stressed, especially when dealing with technical issues or tight deadlines, but overall I still found the process interesting. Watching the project develop step by step, from initial sketches to the final animation, gave me a strong sense of achievement. I particularly enjoyed working on line art and coloring, and experimenting with sound effects also made the animation feel more complete and engaging.
Findings
Through this project, I learned that simpler concepts can often communicate ideas more clearly and effectively. Reducing unnecessary parts of the story helped improve its clarity. I also found that trying new approaches, such as combining 2D and 3D elements, can enhance creativity, even though it requires more effort and problem-solving. In the end, I feel that I not only improved my technical abilities but also developed better skills in teamwork, adaptability, and handling challenges.
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