Self-reflection on the Simulated Work Experience

2^nd Year student: Jiwon Ahn

This 3D animation project is themed around dance. In this experience, I was mainly responsible for two parts:

1. Testing the simulation of fabric movement.
2. Rigging the character’s skeleton and creating facial expressions.

Fabric Motion Simulation Test

This is the character design provided by the senior.

The animation involves many dance movements, and the character’s clothing is relatively loose. To better express the dynamic movement of the clothing during the dance, I decided to try using Marvelous Designer (MD) for fabric simulation to create more realistic physical effects.

I created a test animation in Blender and then imported the animated model into MD.

Then let MD simulate the fabric motion based on the animation, and imported the completed fabric simulation results back into Blender. The effect is as follows:

In this section, the main challenge is to address issues that can occur during MD’s simulation process, such as fabric slipping, flying wildly, and tearing. These problems can be solved using the following three methods:

1. Select a stiffer material in MD and increase the fabric’s friction.
2. Add a ‘solidify’ modifier in Blender to increase the fabric’s thickness.
3. Use a ‘mask’ modifier in Blender to hide the parts of the body covered by the clothing.

Character Rigging and Facial Expression Creation

The hair is rigged with physics effects, allowing it to sway automatically with the head’s movement, making it more natural and dynamic.

As for the facial expressions, here is the facial expressions design provided by the senior:

I added controllers to the facial rig to adjust the width and length of the facial features, making it easy to adjust both their position and shape at the same time.

By using the ‘Shrinkwrap’ modifier and ‘Track To’ constraint, the facial features can move freely without deforming.

Summary

I successfully met the senior’s requirements. Throughout this process, I learned Marvelous Designer (MD) and challenged myself with fabric simulation, something I had never tried before, achieving good results. This experience will also be valuable for my future projects.

At the same time, the facial rigging in this project was stylized and unconventional, but I was able to build the rig according to my senior’s requirements using the skills I had learned. The team was also satisfied with my results, and I am happy that, in my first team collaboration, I was able to make a contribution and play my part.