With the festival just around the corner, we dedicated this week to final polishing and ticking off every remaining item on our to-do list. Each team member initiated improvements and tackled tasks in their respective areas. For example, our sound designer added music to the end credits, our artists refined the toast’s flight path so that it looked more physically plausible, and our technical artist optimized the rendering process to prevent visible screen tearing.
We also adjusted the audio based on feedback, enabling multi-channel sound in the cavern to enhance immersion. Visually, we made numerous small tweaks as well. During the soft opening, an instructor noticed a brief double-image when the character began flying. The issue arose because, as the camera followed Oliver, it passed through the wall of a giant glass jam jar. The glass material created a ghosting effect. By resizing the jar so that the starting position was contained inside it, we eliminated the double-image problem.
On the animation side, we refined many subtle details. Following our instructor’s guidance, we paid close attention to natural hand poses and finger curls, ensuring that characters appeared more lifelike and aligned with the narrative’s emotional tone. We also tended to interactions between characters and props—such as attaching a cup to Oliver’s hand and animating the action of drinking juice in the breakfast scene.
There were also some clipping and alignment issues with the character animations. For instance, at the start, when Oliver and Margaret meet and hold hands while passing through a tunnel, their hands previously didn’t line up correctly because of differences in character model heights and the mocap actors. After adjustments, the hand-holding looks much more natural. While these details might go unnoticed by many viewers, our goal was to ensure that the animation’s beauty could stand up to close scrutiny, not just offer a dazzling spectacle. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we couldn’t fix the arm-clipping issue during their hug in the memory scene.
In the environments, we focused primarily on adjusting VFX. For example, we lightened the orange juice “rain” to make its appearance and disappearance feel more natural. While reviewing this scene in the cavern, we discovered that falling leaves looked different in the left and right eyes. After investigation, we found that the artist had used tree leaves with a world position offset parameter, causing discrepancies in the stereo rendering. Our lead artist replaced those leaves with a different mesh, resolving the issue.
At times, Margaret blended too much into the background of the orange juice forest. The culprit turned out to be a translucent ice block placed in the distance. For efficiency’s sake, we simply removed the ice block, ensuring Margaret stood out as intended.
In preparation for the festival, our lead artist designed cards with our website on them and charming stickers featuring various motifs from the project. These would be distributed at the festival, adding an extra touch of personality to our display.
As we approached the final deadline, we cycled through multiple rounds of tweaks, re-renders, exports, and cavern tests. Thanks to our organized workflow, we wrapped up a day ahead of schedule, producing a final version of the animation ready for the festival showcase.
The festival itself went smoothly. One person controlled the playback, one person handed out the 3D glasses (checking battery life and ensuring correct left-right lens orientation), and another greeted guests at the door. Starting at 8 a.m., we ran 3.5-minute sessions one after another. A long line of visitors—alumni, classmates, friends they’d invited, and even industry professionals—formed outside. Many people praised our work, and though we were all exhausted, seeing our efforts appreciated made it worthwhile.
With the semester now drawing to a close, the six of us truly worked together until the very last moment. We’ve reaped experience and created a final piece we’re proud of. All that remains is the final presentation and a bit of documentation before we can fully celebrate our accomplishments.