Trevor W: 3D Animation

For his Senior Project, Trevor is taking on an ambitious creative challenge: producing a fully realized 30-second 3D animated film from start to finish. While brief in runtime, the project brings together every major stage of the animation process, including character modeling, animation, environmental design and storyboarding. 

Animation began as a light hobby for Trevor before this year—mostly watching videos and experimenting with a few small personal projects. Through Senior Project, however, he wanted to push beyond isolated skills and see if he could bring everything together into one cohesive piece. The goal was to test his limits, use his own growing knowledge, and create something genuinely exciting. 

Throughout the year, Trevor has immersed himself in both the theory and practice of animation. He studied the thirteen principles of animation, explored the history of 2D and 3D animation, and examined how the two mediums can be combined to enhance storytelling. This research has shaped his creative decisions and deepened his understanding of how movement, camera work, and design influence an audience’s experience. 

Hands-on work has been central to the project since before it began. In the past, Trevor has broken complex scenes into smaller parts, studied cinematic camera techniques, and used premade assets in Unreal Engine so he could focus on refining his own animations in blender. He has also spent significant time modeling characters he enjoys and placing them in environments that feel interactive and purposeful. A strong emphasis on storytelling has guided the entire process. 

Before moving into full animation, Trevor dedicated time to developing a highly detailed storyboard, writing the film scene by scene and sketching visuals on his iPad. This planning phase helped clarify pacing and structure, ensuring the final animation feels intentional and polished. 

The end goal is a complete 3D short film, but the project also reflects Trevor’s future interests. He hopes to continue working in 3D animation and modeling, particularly exploring how characters and environments shape one another. Ultimately, this Senior Project serves as a culmination piece—focused less on telling a single story and more on growth, experimentation, and pushing creative boundaries.