Animation Production
Monster Hunter
Role: Mocap Animation Team Member
Team: 3-Person Team
Duration: Approximately One Month
Focus: Motion-list planning, animation tracking, mocap cleanup, loop checking, FBX export, Unreal Engine testing, and final video delivery.
Assets: Mixamo Knight/Paladin character model and team-created giant hammer prop.
Project Goal
The goal of this project was to create a single-character animation action sequence for games using motion-capture data and a game-engine workflow. Our team developed a themed animation featuring a Monster Hunter concept centered on a character wielding a giant hammer.
The assignment required 12 looped animations: 1 walk cycle, 1 idle cycle, 1 run cycle, and 9 custom loop animations. The animation pack needed to be presented in Unreal Engine with titled actions, a textured or shaded character model, and a final MP4 video export.
Concept
The concept for our animation pack was inspired by monster-hunting game actions. We focused on movement that involved a large hammer, close-contact combat, survival actions, and environmental interaction.
For this project, the team used a third-party Knight/Paladin character model from Mixamo as the base character. The giant hammer prop was created by one of my teammates and used as the main weapon for the animation pack.
Scene Description:
Monster hunter with a giant hammer, involving arm and hand movement.
Environment Description:
A forest setting with an open plane of grass and dirt.
Main Prop:
Giant hammer.
Visual Direction:
The animations were designed to emphasize strong body mechanics, weight shifts, close-contact movement, and believable hand placement for a heavy weapon.
Responsabilities
My work focused on the production and animation pipeline rather than character or prop modeling. I contributed to planning the animation list, tracking the production process, editing mocap animation, checking loop consistency, supporting Unreal Engine testing, and preparing the final animation showcase.
Production Documents
The main production document for this project was an Excel motion list and production tracker. The spreadsheet helped organize the team’s animation work and track each animation through the pipeline's stages.
The motion list included:
- Group concept
- Scene description
- Environment description
- Prop and asset list
- Twelve required animations
- Assigned team member responsibilities
- Mocap cleanup status
- Motion definition status
- Character animation progress
- Weapon integration progress
- Unreal Engine progress
- Missing file notes and final export tracking
This document helped the team see what was completed, what still needed cleanup, and which animations required additional work before final submission.
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Looping Challenge:
The custom animations did not need to be perfect cycles like the walk, idle, and run, but they still needed to begin and end in the same pose or position. This was difficult for actions requiring large body movement, such as dodging, hammer attacks, and healing.
To improve the loops, we compared the start and end frames of each animation and adjusted poses where needed. This helped make the final sequence more consistent when presented in Unreal Engine.
Final Result
Through this project, I learned the importance of production tracking in a motion-capture pipeline, as the Excel motion list helped organize animation assignments, file status, cleanup progress, and final deliverables. I also learned that game animation requires both technical cleanup and production planning, since even successfully captured mocap data still needs editing, looping, prop adjustment, file organization, Unreal testing, and proper export settings before final presentation. Additionally, the project highlighted the importance of teamwork, as delays in one part of the pipeline affected the entire production, and staying organized, communicating progress, and supporting teammates made it possible to complete the final animation package.
