Introduction
As the name suggests, the Zenith Project is meant to be the biggest and best work that someone makes during their time at Freestyle. We got to choose what we got to do. From the beginning of the project I knew that I wanted to do something using 3D spaces in Adobe After Effects, but it took me a while to decide on what exactly I wanted to do. I ended up deciding to make a short animation using 3D spaces and Adobe Photoshop. I really wanted to improve at digital 2D Animation because I felt like it was something that I was not able to get much practice with during my Junior year. I decided that I wanted to base the animation off of the videogame Realm of the Mad God because I really enjoy it and I knew that this theme would keep me motivated throughout the Zenith Project.
The biggest challenge for me was setting up the keyframes for the movement of my characters in After Effects. My characters kept moving past where they were supposed to be and resetting very quickly. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong, but once I did it was an extremely easy fix. It turned out that some of the “handles” that control the curvature of a path had been set in an odd way which was making my characters move father than intended. All I had to do was move the handle back a bit and the problem was solved.
My Process
Week 1-2:
During the first couple of weeks, I focused on drafting my ideas. I started by making a pitch (not shown here), and creating my very rough storyboard. I got both of these things done quickly so I also began assembling my assets for my animation.
Week 3-4:
During the middle weeks I focused on making the actual animation. This consisted of finishing my room in After Effects, getting my characters in place, keyframing the movement of my characters, and adding camera angles and movement.
Week 5-6:
During the final weeks I focused on polishing my animation as well as making my presentation. For my animation I added some lights and sound effects. I also made a few talking points to discuss in my presentation.
Final Production
Reflection
The final piece of my Zenith Project was the written/recorded reflection for English class.
For my Zenith project I decided to make a short ~30 second animation using Adobe Photoshop and 3D spaces in Adobe After Effects based on the videogame Realm of the Mad God. My main goal was to improve at both 2D animation and 3D spaces. I also wanted to base my project on something that I would not get bored of or lose motivation to create. I ended up choosing Realm of the Mad God as my theme because I really enjoy the game. I have played for around 3900 hours as of now so I am very passionate about the game. I like its mechanics and art style. I wanted to do 2D animation because I feel like that is something that I struggled with last year. I also chose to use 3D spaces because they seemed like an extremely helpful tool for animation when I used them in Digital Media and I wanted to get more experience with them. I ended up working alone for the sake of convenience.
Of the 21st century skills that I used during my project, the area that I improved the most in was self direction. With most of our previous Freestyle projects, we were given lessons or schedules, but we got neither of those things for our Zenith. I very quickly had to adapt to working almost completely independently and I think that I did so very well. I was able to set reasonable goals for myself and I was able to complete my project in a timely manner and to the best of my abilities.
If there was one thing that I could do over, it would be spending more time on developing the 2D animations of my characters. While I think that what I created is suitable for the Zenith project, some of them are a bit choppy. That being said, I think that I really improved at 2D animation over the course of this project. When I first started it would take me ages to make even the most simple animations. But by the end I was able to pump out lots of animation relatively quickly. I think that I also met my goal of learning how to use 3D spaces. Because of the Zenith project I learned how to move virtual cameras through space and how to arrange things to make them appear as if they are more than just static drawings in 2D space. Because I am going to be attending a school for animation in the fall, I imagine that I will be using 2D animation and potentially 3D space when I get there.
My Zenith is definitely my most successful project from my time at Freestyle. The goals that I set for myself were a big part of my success. Unlike previous projects, I made sure that I was spending as much time as I could on each element of my animation which prevented me from putting off my work or getting too invested in only one element of my work. In the end I think that the Zenith project taught me the importance of self direction and goal setting.