Prehistoric Predator

Since the creatures in this shot don’t exist in real life, my first step was to study the behavior of real animals. This helped me figure out how the dinosaur might move in a way that feels natural and believable.

I wanted the dinosaur to show dominance over its prey, stepping on it to assert control.

I also studied how the tail and legs might move by observing footage of animals with similar bone structures.

Once I had a clear idea of how the creature should behave, I recorded reference videos to analyze weight shifts and the timing of each action.

This pre-production process helped make the animation feel natural and realistic, even in the first blocking stages in Maya.

To animate this shot, I started in stepped mode to define the key poses and timing before switching to splines for the final polish. The result wouldn’t have been the same without Nicole Herr’s guidance and feedback. Her experience on Zootopia and The Lion King and her technical tips were essential for optimizing my workflow.

As the animation evolved, I worked on the textures in Substance 3D Painter. I added details like wounds and blood to highlight the fight for survival.

I also used After Effects to animate some of these textures, like blood spreading on the prey as it was being eaten.

Next, I built the environment in Unreal Engine using assets from the Quixel Megascans library. I imported the characters as Alembic files, integrated them into the Unreal scene, and set up the materials.

I used warm lighting to highlight the dry, desert look, then exported an image sequence for post-production.

For sound design, I used Adobe Audition. I focused on simple yet effective sound effects to match the predator’s movements and enhance its sense of weight and power.

Finally, I completed the compositing in After Effects, where I added VFX and color grading to give the shot a cinematic look.