The Lost Friend
The Lost Friend
The Lost Friend
Project type : Motion capture/ animation
Script: 3 Scene Act
Filming techniques: OptiTrack, Rococo, Animation
Animation techniques: Motion re-targeting, Illustrations
Role : Story-boarding, animation, motion capture, visual effects
Year : 2025
Softwares : Motion Builder, Unreal, After Effects, DaVinci, Photoshop
Portfolio
Concept
I used this project to imagine a random experience of a young boy. An experience that is personal to the character and open-ended to the viewers. Therefore, this short animation describes a journey of two friends, between a character and in-animate object like a ball.
Scene 1: The Awakening
-
Starts in park, Eli (Human character) finds a ball in the grass; he plays around with it and suddenly the ball glitches and transforms into Orbi, a bouncy humanoid.
-
Key Visual: The transition from a physical prop to a living silhouette.
Animation :
-
Open source asset animated in Unreal, sound effects in DaVinci.
Scene 1 :
The Awakening
Scene 2: The Awakening
-
Eli teaches Orbi (a humanoid) to walk, run, enjoy, dance as they experience growth and life together. Orbi finds himself enjoying while learning from Eli and using his own ideas of living. They journey through series of cities, skies, music and simple joys of life.
-
Key Visual: Walking through cities, landscapes.
Animation :
Motion Re-targetted in Motion Builder
Animated in Unreal 5
Video editing and sound in DaVinci
Scene 3: The Life
Scene 3: The life
-
A fast paced montage of their life together and the two friends getting old together.
-
This scene emphasises the nature of friendship and unspoken bond shared between two characters.
-
Key visuals : Dynamic environments shifting and the characters showing a heartwarming bond.
Animation :
Illustration using Procreate
Animated in AfterEffects
Scene 4: Cycle of Life
-
As time passes by and everything comes to an end, so does the time shared between Eli and Orbi.
-
The bond between the characters is measured by the experiences they share and no the time they spend together.
-
This ending cyclic nature is expressed by Orbi's "almost" humanly mannerisms and his fading energy.
-
Orbi disappears almost as abruptly as he appeared in the beginning...leaving Eli confused and alone but with wholesome memories...
Animation :
Illustration using Procreate
Animated in AfterEffects
WORK FLOW
1. Motion Capture
-
Captured actions/motions using Optitrack through 32 markers suit.
-
Used leg rig to capture 'animal-like' movements (like that of hind legs)
-
Use of Rococo for facial expression and some parts of animation.
.jpeg)
2. Character skins
-
Character 'Eli' - Gerenerated rigged, custom metahuman
-
Character 'Orbi' - A free reggied character from Sketchfab.
.jpeg)
3. Re-targetting and animations
-
Re-targetting animation using Motionbuilder
-
Animation sequencing done in UE5
-
Animation background illustrations created on Procreate and animated in After effects.
4.Sounds
-
Use of AI generated sounds, free sound assets from open source libraries.
-
Sound processed using DaVinci.
-
Use of AI generated sounds.
Behind the Scenes
.jpeg)
Architect | XR designer | Experience designer
Kirti Jain
Interested in collaborating on something exciting and creative? I'd love to hear from you!!
Get in Touch
.png)