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SCAD Senior Project: Metamorphosis

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VSFX Particles and Effects Course Project

VSFX Technical Direction for Compositing Course
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Week Eight
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Render out final pass for week 10 Assist compositor in any way as we go into the final week of the project Press kit! Mentor Feedback: Flower shot - getting into the drop feels like it runs into an axis Comp- make sure all the black levels are matching (shot 1 and 5) In water shot, the motion graphics is covering the ring- reframe Flower looks like you played with opacity rather than SSS - Feels ghostly and transparent Seems like
gracieszymanski04
5d5 min read


Week Seven
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Refine flower vellum simulation Refine shot 3 camera and ring animation Look into adding the frost simulations after completing the flower simulation Mentor Feedback: Is it between paper or real flower? Can’t tell right now, feels like paper - Flower and leaves are missing SSS, everything looks very flat even the environment feels flat Overall colors are a lot better The defrosting can be more organic, right now it is very obviou
gracieszymanski04
Feb 236 min read


Week Six
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Refine flower vellum simulation Refine flower and stamen simulations Get the stamen to stop jittering and have no overlap - possibly reworking stamen Work with Noelle on an animated "wetness" map for the petals Refine shot 3 camera and ring animation Refine frost simulation and frost drops Mentor Feedback: Color palette is not working, what changed this week? Perhaps the yellow background Lighting on shot 1, maybe doesn’t need to
gracieszymanski04
Feb 116 min read


Week Five
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Refine flower vellum simulation Refine flower and stamen simulations Get the stamen to stop jittering and have no overlap Add more noise to the flower petals and work on their movement Work with Noelle on an animated "wetness" map for the petals Refine shot 3 camera and ring animation Combine two frost simulations to refine frost simulation Mentor Feedback: Rotation of pedestal is too abrupt on Shot 1 Shot 3, it is lingering too mu
gracieszymanski04
Feb 49 min read


Week Four
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Refine flower vellum simulation Get stem and leaves simulated Refine flower and stamen simulations Get the stamen to stop jittering and have no overlap Add more noise to the flower petals and work on their movement Work with Noelle on an animated "wetness" map for the petals, fix the petal UVs for subsurface Refine shot 3 camera and ring animation Apply and refine frost simulation Down the line - look into adding water droplets to
gracieszymanski04
Feb 17 min read


Week Three
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Refine new wind wisp simulations Refine ring animation and shot transitions Do a render test for shot 3 Mentor Feedback: Transitions!! Continue refining the transitions. Be careful of the scale change in the cloud shot, ring might look massive because macro clouds would just be foam - might not be an issue but it’s something to think about Maybe mood represented with abstraction of clouds rather than realistic clouds so audience do
gracieszymanski04
Jan 254 min read


Week Two
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. To-do: Create dark clouds Work on dark to light cloud transition Create wispy particle trail on ring Work on cloud material Mentor Feedback: Be careful for scale for all of the shot! Flower scene– keep the environment simple, don’t make it overly detail Maybe go macro in the flower scene as well since the other shots are also macro Macro photography with shallow DOF Find elegant ways to transition into each shot Figure out timing of the c
gracieszymanski04
Jan 137 min read


Week One
Blog posts arranged newest to oldest. 1/12/2026 As we've been working this week, the group and I have been assembling our pitch deck, with all of our previs, references, and ideas, to present to the mentors during our first conversation with them. After professor feedback and putting our pitch through Claud AI for feedback as well, the group and I were able to create and polish our project pitch for "Omni" (our made up name for Oura Rings). 1/11/2026 As the group begins refin
gracieszymanski04
Dec 30, 20257 min read
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