The Secret Spring

We worked with collaboratively with concept artists and storyboard artists to create the animatic for the series, based on the scripts that were provided to us by Helbling. Like the previous two series, Secret Spring is intended to teach English as a second language and therefore features specific props, environments and phrases that will eventually be reproduced in the accompanying classroom materials. There were two versions of the script, one more complex than the other, and we were careful to find an edit that worked for both with minimal lip-sync changes.

Cloth Cat 3D Artist Kim McCarthy and CG Rigger Josh Doyle worked in Blender to create the characters and props. We then duplicated the rigs and props in Unreal so that our pipeline could easily transfer animation data from Blender to Unreal, using the best of both worlds! An early version of Ynput’s Ayon formed the pipeline, and our Epic Megagrant funded the backbone of the Unreal render system that is now in place. We used Unreal 4.1 throughout production, with a single machine dedicated to rendering the timeline overnight. Since we were still under Covid restrictions at the time, the whole team were working across a synchronised system, with remote desktop for the rendering machine based in a secure server room.

Animator Luiz Kowalski worked alongside Josh and Kim to create a lot of the Unreal effects and to manage the rendering pipeline. Animation was completed in Blender and then pushed to Unreal with the pipeline bridge. Cranc created the soundscape and final mix, weaving in Brollyman’s beautifully orchestral score. The score deserves a release all on its own!

We’re really happy with our first project using game engine rendering, potentially a game changer for animation production. However, we’re most proud of a really fun and engaging narrative series that works both as entertainment and education!