It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog, but so many things have happened since I was last here. Our team is continuing through animation, but more importantly, we’re making our way into the last official month of production on Night Market. That means all hands on deck right now for animation, shading, lighting, and compositing. There’s a lot of work to be done but there is SO much that this team has accomplished and I swell with joy, pride, and love for this team and everyone on it when I think about the hard work we’ve put into it. It is really hard to believe that this amazing journey is coming into its final chapter, and I don’t think I’ll be ready to leave it so soon. But for now, there are other things to worry about:

The animation for the spin has continued for the past month, and I can honestly say that it has come a long way from the beginning of this semester. The scene actually carries the emotional weight and severity of the story, and successfully tells the amazing story of Grandma Ping’s life. Our guest this week, Stefan, was able to understand the entire story and the spin so clearly: he understood what Grandma Ping went through and how Jackie was affected by it. Seeing his sincere reaction to our 3D animatic gave me a lot of hope and happiness; it was amazing to think that our piece is so close to being finished that we no longer need to rely on the 2D animatic to understand that story and its emotions. There’s still a lot I want to clean up with the animation and push in terms of the emotions, but I can definitely see the finish line in terms of this scene.

On top of animation, I have been helping with more blendshapes and rigs this past week so that all of our characters can be animated. The emotions of the short are particularly important and I want to make sure I give them as much attention as possible.