INTRODUCTION

For this project, I animated a realistic raptor. The main focus was on creating a dynamic, credible movement and a clear expression of the character. The animation should not only demonstrate locomotion but also present the raptor’s personality and interaction with the environment.


ORGANIZATION & PLANNING

Originally, I was asked to join the project as an animator by a classmate who would have been responsible for the environment, lighting, and later compositing. I planned my schedule accordingly, using an Excel spreadsheet that updated automatically whenever deadlines changed. This allowed me to always keep track of my time management and quickly respond to any changes. Additionally, we held weekly group calls to discuss progress, solve problems, and plan the next steps. At the beginning, they showed me a scene from Jurassic World as inspiration: raptors chasing a motorcycle through narrow streets, snapping at it, and finally leaping from an elevated position.


REFERENCES

As with every project, I began by searching for suitable references. I considered which animals resembled a raptor in terms of body structure and mechanics, and I found the ostrich to be a fitting model for the basic walk cycle. For the snapping and screaming actions, I looked to predators such as cats, birds of prey, and crocodiles to analyze natural, dynamic movements.


WORKFLOW ANIMATION (incl. Softwares & Tools used)

While I was waiting for the environment blockout, which I only received as a detailed model after three weeks of repeated follow-ups, I began animating basic walk cycle and gradually added breakups in separate animation layers for biting motions, screams, and tail movements. I also tested different tempos using bake keys and the Retime tool to optimize the flow of motion and later introduce subtle speed variations into the scene. The Repather tool made it easier to adapt the raptors to the final path, allowing me to efficiently adjust their paths without creating extra work during polishing. Once the paths were fundamentally set, I began camera blocking and experimented with various perspectives. A teammate was supposed to handle this part, but when she left the team shortly before completion, I finalized the cameras myself and optimized them based on feedback. Initially, I roughly animated one raptor to establish the key poses before starting on the second raptor. Once the key poses for both characters were established, I worked out the breakdowns and polished the in-betweens, paying particular attention to the foot plants using Match Transforms. The breakups I had created at the beginning were saved in my Studio Library and transferred to new layers. Since the library only stores base layers, I baked the breakups onto the base layer and replaced the timeline of the actual animation in the Graph Editor. To make the run cycle even more dynamic, I decided to incorporate a slide. Finding suitable references was challenging, and the implementation proved difficult due to the complex body
mechanics of a raptor. The overlap of the body, head, and tail was especially important to make the slide look realistic. Throughout the entire animation process, I received feedback from two professors, which I implemented through small tweaks.
Finally, I animated the claws to ensure they did not intersect with the ground, which took longer than expected. Later, we agreed on a CinemaScope format, requiring me to adjust the camera framing once again.


GROUPWORK & FEEDBACK

The planning of the pipeline and the progress of the work took place in weekly group calls, which were also used for feedback and troubleshooting. Additionally, I had weekly reviews with various industry animators who provided professional feedback and helped further improve the animation.
Regarding rigging, I worked closely with the rigger. All requirements were planned together, and I continuously provided feedback, which was fully implemented. The environment posed a particular challenge. The original environment artist worked very meticulously on the blockout and did not release it early. To continue working, I created a blockout myself. Although we had regular meetings, there was one team member who only shared problems when directly asked. Shortly before the animation was completed, the environment/lighting/lookdev/compositing artist left the team, causing extra work and a loss of at least five weeks. Together with my rigging artist, Lisa Matzenbacher, I was forced to urgently find a replacement. The missing folder structure from our original team member, incomplete files, incorrectly applied textures, and missing FBX files led to significant delays, requiring us to restructure and prepare all files from scratch. Since the environment textures were not functioning correctly and no scene existed with the FBX files, I rebuilt the entire environment myself. Finally, Catharina Cid-Scholl took over the lighting and compositing, with the only guideline being “Golden Hour.” Simon Ballat handled the FX, such as sand gusts, and rendering.


CHALLENGES, SOLUTIONS & LEARNINGS

The project presented many technical and organizational challenges. The search for references alone was complex, as I wanted to depict as natural movements as possible and was reluctant to rely solely on CG references. Retiming was initially a major challenge but was resolved using bake keys and the Retime tool. Foot sliding and plant keys remained a recurring issue, which I solved with a workaround using NURBS markers and “Match All Transforms” per frame. I analyzed curves and arcs with Motion Trail to ensure clean motion patterns. Secondary movements, such as tail and head jiggle, were initially planned to be handled with the Overlapper plugin but had to be animated manually due to file crash issues. Animation layers were used multiple times and correctly baked onto the base layer. Errors occurred when exporting from the studio library, which I circumvented by selecting only the transform nodes before saving. For rendering, I stored the animation as Alembic caches. Near the end, another problem arose: the rig in my final file suddenly stopped functioning. The controls could be moved, but the geometry no longer deformed. I eventually found an older version without errors and was able to transfer the final adjustments and export the textured raptors as Alembic for rendering. Working in a team was also challenging: an artist leaving, unstructured files, and missing resources required quick adaptations, initiative, and flexibility. This situation greatly strengthened my skills in problem-solving, organization, and communication.


CONCLUSION

The raptor project presented my team and me with several hurdles that repeatedly hindered progress. All the more, we are proud of the final result. The scene not only demonstrates technical skills in animation and timing but also showcases my ability to find creative solutions under challenging conditions, remain flexible, and take responsibility. This project strengthened my skills as an animator and provided me with valuable experience for future work.