Month: May 2025

After completing several projects, I’ve gained some experience in creating 3D models—some of which took me a long time to figure out. Had I known these things earlier, my work would have gone much more smoothly. So, I’m documenting them here in the hope that they might help others.

First, you need a clear plan. You must identify all possible details in your animation, including the model’s movements, behaviors, and facial expressions. List them all in advance—only then will you know what functionalities your model requires. Does it need to smile? Should its eyes be modeled separately? Will you need multiple texture maps? The earlier you prepare, the more you can avoid disastrous revisions later.

While modeling, check the topology of every joint to ensure they move as intended. If you don’t inspect them repeatedly, you’ll face endless modifications and reworks in later stages. The sooner you spot issues, the more time you’ll have to address other problems. Defining requirements early can save over 30% of total production time.

When confirming your model’s functionalities, I believe the following aspects are the most critical:

• Motion Structure—e.g., human walking or animal reverse-joint designs.
• Facial Expressions—basic emotions like happiness, anger, or sadness, including blinking and eye tracking.
• Materials—adding clothing or other surface details.
• Scene Compatibility—polygon count control. Don’t just optimize for one software; excessive polygons may cause bugs elsewhere.
• Rigging—it’s best to design your own skeleton controls because only you know how your model should move and how its weight affects its behavior.

After completing these initial designs, manually test short animations (e.g., a walk cycle) to check if the model and rig work seamlessly. This step will take considerable time, but trust me—it’s worth it. It’s far more efficient than redoing everything later!

Character models play a significant role in 3D animation. Your model determines the upper and lower limits of your animation’s quality. The more patience you invest in it, the greater the returns your animation will bring!

The rise of 3D technology has brought unprecedented changes to the animation industry. It not only raises the boundaries of visual expression, but also gives birth to a new creative model and industrial ecology.

1. Technological breakthrough: breaking through the imagination ceiling of traditional animation

Special visual presentation

Through core capabilities such as modeling, material rendering, and dynamic lighting, 3D technology can accurately simulate the real physical world, and can also build fantasy scenes (such as the comic-style particle effects in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”). Character expression capture technology makes the character’s expression more in line with the audience’s aesthetics

Creation efficiency revolution

Asset reuse mechanism: The accumulation of 3D model libraries and action libraries can greatly shorten the production cycle (such as the “Love, Death  +  Robot” series achieves efficient output through modular production).

Real-time rendering technology: Tools such as Unreal Engine allow creators to instantly preview light and shadow effects, reducing the time cost of traditional frame-by-frame debugging. At the same time, if you need to adjust the lens angle, you only need to re-render, which is more convenient than traditional painting.

2. Industry Upgrading: From Single Film and Television to Multi-Field Penetration

Pan-Entertainment Industry Integration

Game Animation Integration: The deep integration of 3D animation and game engines (Unity/Unreal) has spawned cross-media experiences such as the “Fortnite” concert.

Virtual Idol Economy: The performances and sales of 3D virtual idols such as Hatsune Miku and A-Soul have formed a complete industrial chain.

Industrial Application Extension

3D animation technology is widely used in medical visualization such as surgical simulation animation, product structure disassembly, etc., expanding the boundaries of the industry.

3. Future Outlook: Possible Golden Age of 3D Animation

With the popularization of technologies such as AI-assisted generation (such as NVIDIA Canvas fast concept map), cloud rendering (reducing hardware costs), and real-time motion capture, 3D animation creation will become more democratic. Mastering 3D skills means getting a job

The future is here, and 3D animation is not only a technical tool, but also the ultimate canvas of human imagination. By joining in, you will have the opportunity to redefine the rules of visual narrative and become the builder of the next generation of digital civilization

Sometimes, I would stay alone in my dormitory, concentrating on my animation production. I would make the details of the animation according to some ideas in my mind, including the movements of the characters or the design of the scenes. Sometimes after I finished them, no matter how many times I modified them, I would feel that there was something wrong.

After the animation production was finished one day, I was going to go out for a walk. I observed the people by the river, I watched their movements, I watched their movements and fell into thinking. Suddenly I understood why the animation I made always looked wrong, because that was the movement I thought of in my mind, not necessarily the posture that people would appear in life. Every step of a person’s movement is controlled by a potential switch. Their movements will not suddenly jump from one step to or even fast forward to another step. My animation ignores these details, and the movements they make do not match the real movements. This is why my brain will give me feedback that I feel wrong after watching what I made.

Animation is a way of recording. It reproduces the creator’s memory on the screen, but memory alone is not enough. We need a lot, even a huge amount of references. If you blindly hide in your own world to create, you can only end up with an animation that you appreciate. We need to have more contact with the real world and record the details of life rather than the fictional content in our minds. Only by taking this step can we become a qualified animator.