Peihang's 3D computer animation Blog

Month: October 2025

Categories
Unreal Engine

Week 4: “Birthday Party” Video Shot Design

Shot No.Scene DescriptionCamera Setup & MovementAtmosphere & Visual Details
1Preparation Scene 1: A fixed camera records people cleaning the room, wiping the table, and hanging balloons and ribbons. The protagonist hasn’t appeared yet.Fixed camera (corner of the room), slightly wide framing, no character faces shown.Soft daylight; the sounds of tape tearing and chairs moving create a natural, relaxed atmosphere.
2Preparation Scene 2: Continuing from the same fixed angle. The people preparing the party place the cake, gifts, and cards on the table, then leave the frame.Fixed camera, steady composition with slight depth changes.The table gradually becomes fully arranged; light dust particles shimmer in the air, enhancing a sense of everyday warmth.
3Protagonist Enters & POV Shift: The protagonist (no face shown) walks into frame, adjusts the table setup, then reaches out to pick up the camera — the perspective changes to handheld.Transitions naturally from a fixed shot to a handheld view.Feels like a “camera handover”; the slight movement adds realism and personal touch.
4Cake Close-Up (“Showing Off” Moment): Handheld camera focuses on the birthday cake, slowly moving closer to capture its delicate details.Handheld shot, slight shake as if casually recorded.Focus on candles, frosting, and small decorations, expressing pride and joy.
5Transition Shot: The protagonist’s hand unintentionally covers the lens, creating a brief black screen that serves as a natural transition.Hand covering the lens → short blackout → next scene.Feels like an authentic filming accident, creating a smooth, organic cut.
6Celebration Moment: After the blackout, the camera focuses on the cake again. People’s hands clapping enter the frame (no full figures shown) as “Happy Birthday to You” plays. Only the protagonist’s lower body or hands are visible.Handheld, slightly dynamic framing.The sound and light create a joyful atmosphere, while the tight composition subtly suggests emotional tension.
7After the Party: The camera cuts to the aftermath. The cake has been eaten, and the table has been tidied up.Fixed or slow handheld pan.The space feels calm and empty, suggesting the end of the event and the quiet after celebration.
8Closing Shot: The lights come on again. Filmed from the same corner angle as the opening shot, showing an empty room — visually echoing the beginning.Fixed camera, no movement.Leftover crumbs, extinguished candles, faint smoke — a still and reflective mood, with traces of warmth fading into silence.

In-class Learning
WEEK4

In the fourth week, we mainly learned about materials in Unreal Engine. We further mastered various detailed parameters in the Material Editor as well as several special material instances, and also understood which nodes the different channels of various textures should connect to. Besides, we learned the method of converting node parameters in materials into parameters in material instances, so that there is no need to reopen the original materials to adjust nodes every time, nor to save the operations frequently.

Categories
Uncategorised Unreal Engine

Week 3: References & Basic Ideas

While sketching, a thought suddenly struck me — wouldn’t it be interesting if I turned it into a scene with a sense of dilapidation?
Right now, I haven’t figured out the main camera movements for the video yet; I’ve only settled on an overall atmosphere. The first atmosphere I’m going for is a messy, cluttered, and even somewhat shabby birthday celebration.
However, I also feel that this version might lack the warmth and festive vibe that a birthday scene should have, making it seem a bit emotionally distant.
So I’m also considering preparing a relatively neat version later. This neat version will likely be closer to the authentic birthday atmosphere, allowing people to truly feel that they are celebrating.

These are the reference materials I’ve prepared—all photos of birthday parties in China during the Y2K era.
I really love this retro vibe, and this atmosphere feels very familiar to me, because it’s exactly how my birthdays were like when I was a kid.

In-class Learning

WEEK3

During the third week of classes, we learned about Sequence in Unreal Engine, mastered the basic operations of creating shots and building shot layers within the Sequence, while also getting to know core basic functions like shot animations and animation curves. We also practiced related operations such as adjusting shot movements and setting camera parameters through hands-on exercises using the built-in scenes in UE.

Categories
Unreal Engine

Week 1 – Week 2: Unreal Engine Project Concept Exploration

Concept

This idea came from a normal, everyday thing — a birthday.

We usually think birthdays are happy and celebratory days. But I started to wonder if they have another side too.

Every birthday seems to tell us, “You’re one year older now.” And because of that, we should be more mature and take more responsibility.

Behind this soft reminder, there is actually a kind of social expectation — an idea of what kind of person we should be.

What I want to say is this feeling: a birthday is not just a time to celebrate. It’s also a time when people expect or ask us to grow up.

This mix of sweetness and pressure, and warmth with a little unease, feels interesting to me. And it’s something I want to show through pictures.

Creative Process

This time, I’m not planning to tell a story through narration or interaction. Instead, I want to create a scene – showcasing video that expresses this tension purely through visual effects.
At first glance, the scene should give people a bright, lovely and celebratory feeling.
But when the audience looks closely, they may find a hint of discomfort from the lighting, the sense of space or the relationship between objects.
Some of these details will include symbolic objects, such as models representing the pressure of buying a house, or trophies and books symbolizing academic competition.
I hope that through these seemingly gentle details, the audience can feel the tension beneath the surface – the kind of sweetness that hides anxiety.
In terms of style, I’m still exploring. It may include elements of a typical Chinese family, or tend more towards a dreamy, surreal look,
so that “celebration” and “pressure” can form a visual contrast.
Overall, I hope this work can guide the audience from the lively, festive surface to reflection, allowing them to experience the subtle tension between growth and social expectations.

In-class Learning
WEEK1

In the first week, we learned some basic knowledge of the UE engine. We also learned how to install the Epic Games Launcher, and how to switch between the university computers and our personal devices. Our teacher recommended that we’d better use the same version of the UE engine as the one on UAL computers, so we should download the same version.

WEEK2

In the second week, we continued to get more familiar with the UE5 engine. We learned many basic functions, such as the viewport, details panel and content browser. We also knew about some key features of UE5, like ray tracing, Lumen and Nanite. After that, we learned how to import assets from Quixel Bridge, some basic operations of the material editor, as well as basic work with levels and sublevels, which can keep our projects tidy.