- Maya
- Arnold Renderer
- Adobe Premier Pro
Dragon Animation
For my advanced 3D animation class, I was tasked with modeling any object of my choice and rigging it. Having already done some character modeling and rigging, I decided to challenge myself and model something out of my comfort zone, a dragon. After I finished the model and the rig, I decided to model a scene to pair with it so that I could use the dragon in an animation.
When thinking about what to pair the dragon with, I chose to model a Japanese temple, because I thought that fit the dragon best. When I researched temples in Japan, they were all surrounded with lots of greenery, which is why I filled the empty space with trees and shrubs. When it came to adding the materials to the dragon, I chose a purple because I wanted it to stand out against all the green in the scene.
I placed the dragon on top of the temple to symbolize its power. I tried to make the dragon’s movements feel as normal and organic as possible. This was a challenge because animating a dragon is much different than animating a human, given that a dragon does not exist in the real world. The dragon starts with its back turned to the camera. I wanted to create a feeling of mystery by not revealing its face right away. By the end of the clip, the dragon has turned its head and is looking straight at the camera, invoking a sense of fear into the viewer.