Author: Zhiqian Huang

In this project I worked on an animation of a plant growing and placing an Apollo sculpture in a classical living room scene. The whole working process can be divided into the following stages:

1. Initial design and research
   Design Idea: The initial idea was to show plant growth through modeling and shape-shifting animation and to place the sculpture in a specific scene.
   Plant selection: Cotoneaster salicifolius Franch. was chosen as the plant element and relevant research was carried out.
2. Animation and sculpture design
   Animation attempts: Different methods of animation were tried and finally modeling and shape-shifting animation were chosen for the animation of Vineman with leaves and fruits. Also tried to produce the process of flowers from bud to blossom.
   Sculpture design: Using ZBrush for the preliminary sculpting of the Apollo sculpture, we devoted ourselves to adding details and a sense of history to the sculpture.
3. Scene construction and material coloring
   Living room scene design: built a classical living room scene and tried warm yellow color.
   Material coloring: added realistic materials and textures to the vine manes, leaves and small fruits.
4. Decoration Addition and Light Setting
   Scene Decoration: Added decorations such as candles and pine cones to add a festive atmosphere.
   Lighting setup: created day and night scenes through world environment, spotlight, point light, etc. and set up candle lighting with self-luminous effect. And set up the changing light effect animation.
5. Lens setup and particle animation building for adding dusty light and shadow
   Lens setup: In the lens setup, I paid much attention to the composition and used many triangular compositions to make the whole picture harmonious.
   Dust particle animation: use blender’s particle system, set the parameters and adjust the particle animation to enrich the picture.

Difficulties encountered and ways to overcome them

1. Animation Selection: Initial uncertainty in animation selection, through trying multiple methods and comparing advantages and disadvantages, the model and deformation animation program was finally determined.
2. Presentation of details: In the design of the sculpture, we encountered the challenge of how to present the details and the sense of history, and perfected the details of the sculpture through learning sculpting techniques and many attempts.

3. Learning multiple systems and animations
   Difficulty: Need to learn and master different systems and techniques, such as particle system, deformation animation, fabric simulation and node editing.
   Solution: By learning in stages and utilizing online tutorials and Blender official documents, you can gradually master the basic principles and operation methods of each system. And keep trying in practice to explore the functions and uses of various systems.
4. Dust animation production
   Difficulty: Creating realistic dust effects requires a good grasp of the parameter settings and animation adjustments of the particle system.
   Solution: By reading related tutorials and trying different particle settings, gradually adjust the parameters to simulate the appearance and behavior of dust. And combined with actual observation and rendering preview, keep adjusting the parameters to get a more realistic effect.
5. Flower Blossom Animation
   Difficulty: To simulate the gradual blooming process of flowers, you need to master deformation animation and frame-by-frame animation skills.
   Solution: Gradually change the shape of the flower model by using morphing animation, and combine it with frame-by-frame animation to create the subtle movements of the petals to simulate the process of flower blooming. Constantly adjust the keyframes and curve interpolation to achieve a more smooth and natural effect.
6. Curtain production
   Difficulty: Creating realistic curtains requires familiarity with the application of fabric simulation and physics simulation.
   Solution: Learn the fabric simulation function and adjust the physical properties and parameters of the curtain model to simulate the gravity and form of the fabric. Ensure the stability and realism of curtain simulation by adjusting collision and friction parameters.
7. Node Creation Lighting
   Difficulty: Creating complex lighting effects using nodes requires an understanding of the node editor and lighting principles.
   Solution: Learn the basics of node editor and lighting principles, and gradually create a variety of complex lighting effects. By adjusting node parameters and connecting different nodes, different types of lighting effects can be realized, such as soft light, spot light and ambient light.

Project Reflection
Learning and experimentation: During the project, I learned a lot of skills and knowledge about animation production, sculpture and scene design, and constantly experimenting with new methods is very helpful to my growth.
Overcoming Difficulties: When encountering difficulties, learning to be patient and keep trying is the key to solving problems, and every challenge is a learning opportunity.
Visual details: Attention to detail and fine-tuning can enhance the quality of your work, but it also requires more time and patience.
Ultimately, this project was a comprehensive learning and self-challenging process, experimenting with different techniques and creative methods and gaining valuable experience. Despite the challenges, being able to overcome the difficulties and complete the project made me feel satisfied and proud. In the future, I will continue to learn, improve and challenge myself in more creative fields to continuously enhance my technical level and creative ability.

Poster

Scene design with a lot of elements and changes, light settings are also very critical part of the switch between day and night scenes as well as to add light to the candle and self-luminous design need to spend thought.

Lighting setup and scene layout:

• Daytime scene
  Natural Light: In a daytime scene, consider using natural light to simulate the brightness and intensity of the day. I added a warm yellow background to the overall environment world. Only then did I use spotlighting, to main light the entire scene. This simulates the sunlight hitting the room at the window and makes it easy to control the direction. I was going to add daylight, but realized it would make the overall environment too bright. And it already has the background of the ambient world.
  Sculpture Lighting: I gave the sculpture 2 surface lights. Since the ambient light is coming from the left hand side of the sculpture, the right hand side and the front will look gray. I gave a face light to the back of the sculpture’s head, and a face light to the front side of the sculpture’s face. This brings out the facial contours and details.
  Color and Brightness: Adjust the brightness and hue of the scene to make it look like it is lit by sunlight during the day. Then I give the overall scene three main different brightnesses, which gives the scene a richer, more designed look.

• Sundown Transition
  Light Gradient: Gradually adjust the light and tone of the scene during the transition time to darken the sky and simulate the effect of a slowly darkening day.
  Color Transition: Change from bright daytime tones to darker sky colors to make the transition more natural and smooth. Here you need to set up a moving animation for the spotlight.

• Night Scene
  Dark Ambience: In the night scene, reduce the overall light intensity to create a dark night effect.
  Candle Lighting: Use spot lighting to simulate the light source of a candle, lighting up the area around the candle to add warmth and focus to the scene.
  Self-illumination settings: Add a self-illumination effect to the candles, allowing them to emit a soft light and create a realistic lighting effect.
  Combination Summary
  Light Shift: Make the scene transition naturally between day and night with gradient light and color tones.
  Focal point design: The candle’s light and self-luminous effect are the focal point of the scene, creating a warm and realistic nighttime atmosphere for the audience.
  This carefully set up light arrangement can add more emotion and realism to the scene, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the transition between day and night, and to experience the scene changes at different times of the day.

The next step is the scene building, I want my sculpture to be placed in a classical living room, looking for references, I want the color tone to be warm yellow, so that the scene can add a sense of history and culture to my sculpture, and the warm yellow color tone will also add warmth and coziness to the whole scene.

Steps for setting up the scene:

1. Establish the structure of the living room
   Walls and floors: choose classicism style wall and floor textures, consider using warm yellow tone wallpaper or wall decorations with vintage floor materials to create a classical atmosphere.
2. Furniture and arrangement
   Classical furniture: Choose classical style furniture with carved walls, beautifully carved fireplace, etc., with warm color fabrics to highlight the classical texture.
3. Light and color
   Lighting: Use soft lighting to create a warm atmosphere, especially focusing on the location of the sculpture, so that the sculpture is more prominent.
   Warm-toned lighting: Choose warm-toned lamps and lights, such as yellow or orange lights, to emphasize the warm yellow-toned atmosphere.
4. Sculpture placement
   Highlight the sculpture location: Choose a prominent and well-lit location to place the sculpture so that it becomes the focal point of the living room.

A classic living room and warm yellow tones will create a sense of history and a cozy atmosphere for the sculpture. By carefully constructing a classicism style living room scene and placing the sculpture in it, the history and artistic value of the sculpture can be better shown.

This is how I learned to make curtains.

I placed my Apollo sculpture on the mantle, but it was pretty empty up there, so I added decorations such as candles, pine cones (Christmas is coming lately) to add a festive and cozy feel. Adding decorations can make the scene richer and more vivid.

Decoration additions:

1. candles
   Candle designs: choose classically styled candlesticks or holders so that they harmonize with the classicist living room.
   Candlelight effect: through rendering or light settings, allow the candles to emit a soft light that sets the mood of the sculpture and the scene.
2. Pine cones and decorations
   Christmas decorations: create a Christmas atmosphere using pine cones, Christmas ribbons or other decorations placed around the sculpture or on the fireplace.
   Harmony: keep the decorations in harmony with the scene so that they echo the sculpture and the style of the living room.

Scene layout and adjustment:
1. Layout aesthetics: experiment with different placements and layouts to ensure that the decorations are not overcrowded, but rather dotted around the scene in an orderly fashion.
2.Visual Guidance: Use the placement of the decorations to guide the viewer’s eyes so that they focus on the sculpture more naturally.

Combined with the summary：
1.Festive atmosphere: Through decorations such as candles and pine cones, a cozy festive atmosphere is created, adding emotion and vividness to the scene.
2.Visual balance: Pay attention to the arrangement of the decorations to ensure that they work together with the sculpture to form a visually harmonious whole.
3.These decorations not only add to the festive atmosphere, but also add more elements and layers to the whole scene. Subtle decorations will allow the audience to become more immersed in the warm, festive atmosphere you’ve created. Merry Christmas!

After finishing sculpting my Apollo model on ZB, I started modeling in Maya. Then cropped the uv, and did the drawing of the uv on SP.

Three parts of the UV.

It is a great idea to add details to a sculpture and give it age so that it can give more history and texture to the piece. By adding details such as aging, wear and tear, or natural oxidization, I can give the sculpture a more historical and realistic look.

Add signs of age:

• Using SP’s tools, you can simulate cracks, wear and corrosion on the surface of a sculpture to give it the appearance of an ancient statue that has seen years and ages.
• Add subtle bumps, cracks, or imperfections to simulate traces of time.
• Consider adding mottled colors to simulate the natural color changes that occur during oxidation.
• Ensure that the added signs of age are not so prominent as to detract from the overall visual effect. Keep the details reasonable and balanced.
• Constantly observe the reference pictures or real-life old sculptures, compare and contrast the observations, and adjust the details to make them closer to the real thing.

Coloring the materials of the vineman, leaves and small fruits is an important step in the animation process to give the plants a more realistic look and texture. Coloring is important to show how the plant grows and to express details.

IVY Material
Texture and Color: Considering the appearance of the IVY, try to simulate its surface texture and color. It is helpful to have an actual photo or texture as a reference to get closer to the real thing.
Gloss and Reflection: Based on the glossiness of the actual plant, adjust the surface reflection of the IVY to make it look more realistic.

Leaf Texture
Leaf Texture: Adjust the surface texture, gloss and color of the leaves to simulate the texture of real leaves.
Translucent effect: If the leaf needs a translucent effect, you can adjust the transparency and light reflection of the leaf to simulate the translucent properties of the leaf.

Small Fruit Material
Fruit Color and Texture: Adjust the material of the small fruits according to the color and surface texture of the actual fruits.
Gloss and Details: Add gloss and reflection to the surface of the fruit, as well as possible texture details to make it more vivid.
Combine summaries
Fit to the real thing: adjust the material according to the characteristics and texture of the actual plant to make it fit more closely to the real plant.
Harmonize: Ensure that the material styles and colors of the vine manes, leaves and small fruits are coordinated to create a unified plant style.
By carefully adjusting the materials so that they complement the plant model, you can make your animation more visually appealing and realistic. Remember to keep trying adjustments to get the best results!

After a lot of trial and error and a lot of tweaking, I’ve managed to achieve the desired effect of using modeling and deformation animation to show the growth process of the Vine Mane.
I plan to further improve the animation of the other parts of the plant and incorporate more elements into the animation to make it more vivid and realistic.

I think it will be very empty with only Fujiman animations, so I plan to add some fruit and flower animations. Here’s my design.

Fruit and flower animation

1. Fruit growth animation
   Models and Deformation: Choose suitable fruit models and use the deformation animation to gradually show their growing process.
   Growing process: control the size, shape and color of the fruits to change gradually over time, simulating the process of fruit ripening.
2. Flower blooming animation
   Simulate blooming: Deform the flower model to gradually show the bud blooming into a beautiful flower.
   Color change: control the gradual change of the color of the flower to simulate the color change of the petals from the initial state to the full bloom.
3. Animation integration
   Time and Rhythm: Ensure that the growth rhythm of the fruits and flowers is coordinated with the growth animation of the Fujiman to create a harmonious dynamic scene.
   Spatial Layout: Consider the placement of the fruits and flowers to match the growth path and speed of the Fujiman, creating a unified growth environment.
   Combination Summary
   Scene richness: Adding the animation of fruits and flowers will add more vitality and color to the whole scene, making it more attractive.
   Combined effect: Ensure coordination and unity between different elements by unifying the design style and animation tempo.
   These new elements will make your animation more vivid and interesting, and present the audience with a richer and more varied plant growing scene.

Flower

First build a petal, then animate a petal by simple deformation

Then duplicate multiple pieces, adjusting the size and hierarchy of the petals at each level.

Controls the color gradient of a flower, simulating the color change of the petals from their initial state to when they are in full bloom.

Fruits

Based on my previous designs, and my fiddling and learning of various methods, I use the use of models and deformations to render animations.

The first thing I decided to use was to use curve modifiers to control the path and speed of the vine. Then I use the binding parent-child relationship to control the leaves and fruits of the vine.

I started by drawing the path I needed for the plant’s movement using curves.

Then I made a model of Fujiman and a model of the leaves. By establishing bound parent-child relationships, I try to control the growth of the leaves and fruits on Vineman to ensure that they match the growth rate and direction of the main path.

During the initial experimental phase, I tried a variety of ways to control the animation of the Fujiman, but it didn’t always work as well as I would have liked. Leaves are always not in their normal form when they are linked to ivy, like they are shooting out. And then some paths on the ivy are not normal even in their most basic form.

Through reviewing many sources, and inquiring with people who have tried and succeeded with this problem, I found that my mistake was willing to be that the center of mass of the ivy is not coincident with the origin, and that the direction of the ivy needs to be connected to the direction of the origin of the path. Through many attempts and adjustments, I finally found a way to show the effect of Fujiman’s growth correctly and without error.

Path and speed control: I adjusted the path of the vineman using curve modifiers, trying different speeds and curve patterns to achieve the growth I wanted.
Leaf and Fruit Control: By creating bound parent-child levels, I try to control the growth of leaves and fruits on the Vineman to make sure they match the growth rate and direction of the main path.

After a lot of trial and error and a lot of tweaking, I’ve managed to achieve the desired effect of using modeling and deformation animation to show the growth process of the Vine Mane.
I plan to further improve the animation of the other parts of the plant and incorporate more elements into the animation to make it more vivid and realistic.

There are advantages and disadvantages to animating plant growth using a particle system:

Advantages

1. Quickly create a large number of plant parts: Particle system can quickly generate a large number of plant parts, such as leaves, flowers, branches, etc., saving the time of manual modeling.
2. Dynamism and naturalness: Particle system can simulate the natural dynamics of plant growth, by setting parameters to simulate the process of growth, branching and extension, etc., which makes the plant growth look more realistic and natural.
3. Interactivity and Tunability: can control the appearance and growth process of plants by adjusting the parameters of the particle system, such as emitting speed, density, direction, etc., so as to realize different types and styles of plants.

Disadvantages:

1. Limitations and Presets: The particle system has some limitations and it is difficult to fully control the details of each component. Sometimes it may be difficult to realize specific details or forms due to the limitations of the particle system itself.
2. Complexity and Learning Curve: Particle systems require a certain amount of skill and experience to operate. It may take some time and effort to adjust the particle system parameters and make it achieve the desired effect.
3. Not suitable for all types of plants: For some types of plants, such as specific shapes or irregular plants, particle systems may not be flexible enough to accurately simulate their growth processes.

To summarize, the particle system is a powerful tool for creating a large number of plants and simulating the growth process, but there are some limitations and restrictions. For specific projects and scenarios, different tools and techniques can be chosen to animate plant growth as needed.

Animating plant growth in Blender using a geometric node approach has its own unique advantages and challenges:

Advantages:

1. Flexibility and control: Geometry nodes provide a high degree of control over shape and geometric details, allowing fine tuning of the shape, size and structure of the plant part.
2. Real-time Interaction and Adjustment: Parameters can be adjusted in real-time in the node editor to instantly preview changes to the plant part, quickly modify and view the results.
3. Nodal modularization: Different geometric nodes can be combined into modules for easy reuse, adjustment and modification to improve production efficiency.
4. Creativity and Customization: Unique plant forms can be created through the node editor, with a high degree of customization, enabling more creativity and special effects.

Disadvantages:

1. Learning curve: Using geometric nodes requires a certain amount of technical knowledge and familiarity with the node system, so there is a certain learning curve.
2. Complexity: Creating complex plant structures may require a large number of nodes and parameters, making the node graph complex and difficult to manage.
3. Performance Consumption: Complex geometric nodes may require high computer performance, which may increase rendering and preview time.
4. Unintuitive visualization: Sometimes nodes and connections in the node editor may not be intuitive enough to understand and debug.

Overall, using geometric nodes provides more control and creativity, but needs to be weighed against its complexity and learning costs, as well as its adaptability to project needs and personal skills.

Using plugins to animate plant growth in Blender also has its advantages and challenges:

Advantages:

1. Simplifies workflow: Plugins can simplify complex tasks by providing convenient tools and features for specific workflows, saving production time.
2. Provide specific functionality: Some plug-ins may provide unique functionality, such as specific plant generation algorithms, growth simulations, or animation tools, that can help users get their work done more quickly.
3. Easy to use: Some plug-ins are designed to be user-friendly, offering intuitive interfaces and controls that make operation simpler for users who are not familiar with complex node editors.
4. Extended functionality: Plug-ins can extend the functionality of Blender, providing users with new ways of creation and more options.

Disadvantages:

1. possible dependence on third parties: plug-ins may be developed and maintained by third parties, and may become unstable or unusable if the plug-in author stops maintaining it or if it is incompatible with the Blender version.
2. Performance and Stability: Some complex plug-ins may consume more computing resources, resulting in performance degradation or program crashes. Some plug-ins may also be buggy or unstable.
3. Limitations on creativity and customizability: Some plug-ins may provide limited functionality and may not be able to fully satisfy the user’s creativity needs, and thus may have certain limitations.
4. Learning costs: For new plug-ins, it may require a certain amount of learning costs and time to familiarize themselves with how they work and how they are used.

When choosing to use a plug-in, you need to consider its applicability, stability, performance consumption, and whether it meets the project requirements. Sometimes a combination of using a plug-in and a manually created or node editor is also a good choice to fully utilize the advantages of each.

Using models and deformation animation to animate plant growth has its own unique benefits and challenges:

Advantages:

1. Intuitive modeling and animation process: Modeling plant parts at different stages of growth and gradually growing or unfolding them using deformation animation is intuitive and easy to understand and manipulate.
2. Precise control of the growth process: You can precisely control the growth speed, direction and shape of the plant parts to gradually show the different stages of growth.
3. Easy to adjust and modify: You can adjust the growth process of the plant by modifying the model and animation keyframes, which is more flexible and convenient for modification and improvement.
4. Lower learning difficulty: For users with basic modeling and animation, this approach is relatively easy to get started and does not require in-depth learning of complex tools such as node editor.

Disadvantages

1. Cumbersome to create a lot of details: For complex plant structures, it takes a lot of time and effort to model and adjust the details of each growth stage step by step.
2. Difficult to simulate natural growth: For simulating the natural growth process, more manual adjustments and calculations may be required, making it difficult to fully simulate the real plant growth pattern.
3. File size and performance consumption: If the animation contains a large number of models and complex animation data, it may lead to larger files and increase the performance pressure during rendering.
4. Limited modeling skills: Strong modeling skills are required to create realistic and lifelike plant structures and growth processes.

This approach is suitable for users who are more familiar with modeling and animation, and it provides a more intuitive modeling and animation process, but may be challenging to simulate complex plant structures and natural growth processes.

I chose Cotoneaster salicifolius Franch. for my plant reference. It is a common shrub with graceful foliage and branches that are perfect for animating plant growth.

Using modeling and deformation animation to render the growth process of Cotoneaster salicifolius Franch. is a very creative choice. I could start by modeling leaves, stems and branches at different stages of growth and gradually show how the plant grows.

Considering the characteristics of Cotoneaster salicifolius Franch., I could follow its characteristic leaf shape and growth pattern, gradually growing and unfolding the leaves to make the plant appear to be gradually growing and flourishing. I can also simulate the branching and direction of growth to make the growth animation more realistic.

The use of modeling and morphing animation allows you to control the plant’s growth process more accurately, modeling and adjusting the details of each growth stage step by step according to your design and ideas, showing the beautiful growth characteristics of Cotoneaster salicifolius Franch.

I’m planning to make a plant section in blender. I first looked up many different ways to animate plant growth.

Animating plant growth in Blender is an interesting project! There are several ways to try to animate plant growth:

• Use modeling and deformation animation:

1. By modeling plant parts in different stages of growth, such as leaves, stems, flowers, etc., and gradually growing or unfolding them using deformation animation.
2. Use Blender’s shape keyframes, frame-by-frame animation, or Modifier to realize the growth process. 2.

• Particle System:

1. Use Blender’s particle system to simulate plant growth. You can set the motion, density and birth pattern of the particles to simulate the plant growth process.
2. Through the particle growth direction and specific regular changes to simulate the different growth stages of plants.

• Use geometry nodes:

1. Create a new network of geometry nodes and start building the node system through the Node Editor.
2. Use the nodes to generate the basic structures of the plant, such as stems, leaves, etc. You can use the nodes to control their position, rotation, size, and so on.

• Use Addons:

1. Blender has a number of plug-ins that can help simulate the process of plant growth.

Exploring different techniques and tools when animating plant growth allows us to find the best fit for your project’s needs.

First I need to model the character sculpture. The statue of Apollo is one of the masterpieces of ancient Greek art, usually depicted as a young and handsome male with a well-proportioned figure and smooth muscle lines. To begin sculpting a statue like this in ZBrush, you need to start with basic structure and proportions.

• Basic structure:

• Use a basic human body model as a starting point, making sure the proportions and overall silhouette are correct. Pay attention to facial expressions that are dignified and elegant.

• Detailed engraving:

• Use ZB tools to gradually sculpt details such as muscles, bone structure, and folds of clothing.
• Focus on human anatomy, highlighting the realism of muscle lines and anatomical structures.

Dynamics and proportion:

• Make sure the sculpture presents a smooth dynamic feel, even a static statue must have a certain sense of life and movement.
• Pay attention to the proportion and symmetry of each part of the body to make the whole visually harmonious.

It was a basic beginning, and for such a legendary figure as Apollo, it required patience and meticulous work to capture its mythical beauty. In ZBrush, you can use different tools and techniques to create detailed and realistic sculptures.

This is my first time using ZBrush to create such a complex model, which is a very big challenge for me. I’ve spent a lot of energy and time here. Many attempts were made.

I divided the entire sculpture into three parts and carved them separately. Hair, body, and bottom base. This can reduce my errors and ensure that other models will not be affected by errors in one part.
After the basic face and hair models were built, I started to pay attention to the dynamics of the hair direction and ensured the general direction of the large areas of hair. Then start adding more details. Added more detailed texture to the hair. The same goes for Apollo’s clothes.
However, here I made a mistake, I should have separated the model of the clothes from the body, so that it would be better to change the model later.