After all animations, simulations, and effects were successfully imported and working in Unreal, it was finally time to render the final sequence. Rendering was another huge challenge. Each shot took a long time to process, and over the course of the project, rendering the entire sequence took around 52 hours. During this time, I encountered multiple crashes and errors that forced me to cancel and restart renders repeatedly. It was stressful, but I had to stay focused and systematic to ensure every shot was captured correctly.
Once the rendering was complete, I brought all the footage into After Effects. Here, I added 2D effects on top of the renders, enhancing moments like the sword clashes, character appearances, and subtle highlights. After finishing the compositing, I moved into Premiere Pro to color grade the entire sequence. This step helped unify the look of the project and gave it a polished, cinematic feel. I also used Photoshop to add 2D impact frames.
Impact Frames
Color Grading & Transitions in Premiere Pro
This project pushed me to my limits in every way. I was forced out of my comfort zone and had to try tools and techniques I had never used before, from Alembic caching, and Marvelous Designer simulations, to keyframing visual effects, rendering, and compositing. I encountered repeated problems and setbacks, but working through them taught me a tremendous amount. From character creation and rigging to animation, cloth simulation, Unreal Engine setup, visual effects, rendering, and post-production, I learned the full pipeline of bringing a complex animation project to life. It was exhausting, challenging, and sometimes frustrating but seeing the final result made all the effort completely worth it.