Semester 2 Review

Review of semester 2

Why do we always have to cut these things so damn close?

Semester 2 was not quite as good as semester 1 in terms of pace and organisation however everything was handed in to a standard of quality I was pleased with. The semester began with my sincerest concern for the lack of time I had to complete my animation. I had not come in for the 5 hours a day I had planned to in the mid-year holidays and therefore had not completed the work I had planned on completing. I had recorded most of my sound, which gave me an advantage when we had to do a rough of our soundscapes a few weeks into the semester.

Once Jack explained a battle plan for creating the animation I felt more confident about where I was in the production process. I followed the plan carefully. I set up the cameras within the first two weeks and by the third week had created the first playblast for my animation. Once I had the playblast I combined it with the sound. I discovered upon matching the two up that the pace was off and many of the shots needed to be given more time then I had originally planned. Around half way through semester 2 I lost some motivation and ended up spending a week on a personal project of mine. While this project taught me skills I would end up utilising for my animation’s backgrounds I feel it still wasted a lot of time.

After that project was completed I returned diligently to my work and set up basic animation for each shot. In the last few weeks of term 3 I was finishing my long shot background and preparing for the holidays. The holidays consisted of a massive work-a-thon. I spent nearly every day of my holidays at uni and completed the majority of my character animating except for a few shots. I compiled my questions and any issues I had and sent them to jack who helped me out with said issues. I left my press kit, my show reel and my essay till the last few weeks of uni focusing all my energies on my Machan. Because of this my show reel and press kit where late.

In the last few weeks I ran into several problems involving exporting the animation, compiling it and editing it. All of which I did not know how to do and that Jack assisted me with. The animation ended up taking a week longer then I had anticipated and when I handed it in there where issues with the way it had been exported and I had to hand it I again. There ended up being a lot of crossed wires between the teachers in terms of hand in dates, screening dates, to whom the animations had to be submitted to and the format in which they had to be submitted. So in the end I handed my animation in to all my teachers half in data format, half in DVD as it seemed the only way to cover all my bases.

I feel a lot of the issues I had and subsequent panic attacks that occurred this semester had to do with that fact that I had not done 3D before. I spent much of the time feeling like I was in the dark not knowing that all along I wasn’t doing too badly. While I feel I was always running behind I was never too far behind where I should have been. I don’t think this will be quite as much an issue in the future as now that I have done it once I have a slightly better idea about how long everything will take.

I’m not entirely sure where the future will take me but I feel ready to step out in the industry and give it my very best shot.

Dooooooomed!!!!

2 weeks to go till the end. I feel doomed. My project feels doomed. Last week jack and i finished my backgrounds which is all good and well but my concerns are ridiculously high. i feel over whelmed. And this is why.

I spoke to jack about my concerns and he gave me a list of things to do which would set me back firmly on track.

- put rocks on my wall

- import all cameras into the scene with my completed background

- import high quality doors after exporting them from the scene where they where completed

- render out a single frame for each shot.

I completed the first of these tasks before the end of jack's class. However the 3 hours after jacks class where a spiral into frustration and despair (if i'm going down, i'm going down writing in a flowery way god damn it). When Jack explained importing the camera’s from all the scenes it sounded simple enough but once I was alone trying to do so was much more difficult. I simply DO NOT understand how/ why. If I imported the cameras into the scene machan would not be in the scene and the composition I was supposed to make would not make sense. Furthermore I could not figure out how to export the cameras.

So I decided to import the doors, only to discover that they have been modelled backwards so when they are imported into the scene the slope at the top of the door is opposite to the slope on the wall. Garrett and I wrestled with trying to turn them round the right way/ make them match up to the wall but to no avail.

We then returned to trying to decide how to import all the cameras. We decided that maybe what jack meant was that we should export a frame of the camera shots for every scene to use as a flat background for the shots that did not move. Using that layering system to save on rendering when the time came. Garrett tried to show me how to do it and though I began carrying out the task of making these extra layers I did not understand the method of what I was doing.

Huni kindly offered to create the robot screen faces for me which was really great because I was worried that I was simply going to have to scrap that idea being so close to the end. Even though jack showed me how to do the screen faces/ eyes I can’t remember how.

I also have not done a show reel or a press kit.

This is why I feel doomed. Truly, unequivocally, completely, utterly doomed.

The Rocky Shore

We have arrived. Final term, first week. 3 weeks to go.

I am fairly happy with how my animation has been coming along. The animating itself is pretty much done and i completed the texuring on tuesday. Jack and i worked on the background today and the actual ground is pretty much done. I have to do the wall the doors and the panning shot sets which shouldn't be too difficult or time consuming. i am freaking out a little bit though. Mostly cause we have our animation, our 2000 word essay, our show reel and our press kit to complete over the next 3 weeks. i just don't think i will have enough time for it all. at this stage i'm beggining to proritise what's left and what i am ok with coming in late. This sucks so much. i wanted so much to be early with everything this year and i'm thinking things are probably going to end up coming in late. I'll just have to see how i go.

Test Run 2 and "Holidays"

Hooo kay

I animated pretty much all throughout the holidays. During the first week i completed a rough draft of every animation with a plan to polish those drafts the second week. During the second week while i did polish a lot of the animation i also ran into several problems and realised serveral short comings of my plan. I realised that there where props i would have to include in all the scenes in relation to the characters (the rock machan sits on in the beginning must be featured in the rest of the video, the trail the bug leaves must remain in the scene once the bug has passed machan). The characters should be interacting with the back grounds in some scenes. I have yet to put colours on my characters. No comfortable at all with where i'm at. no idea if i'll finish on time. All i can do is work hard and hope for the best at this stage.

over and out

Before After

I posted a pic! yay! i've been mat painting today and i was so psyched bout the difference between the old version and the new that i had to post this (and also because apparently i should have been posting pics for ages now).

c out

Reload

Unhappy but have put the white flag away for possible usage later. Last week i worked on my run cycle and a fall. Both of those shots are doing much better and are both almost finished. With the tut jack did on backgrounds as long as i get to work on making my background fit my maya layout better my layout should be done fairly soon. Need to tweek my sound and am a little concerned about the 2000 word essay. I will not be working this holiday much at all, will spend most of it here working hard and trying to get stuff done.

I'm screwed

it's offical. i'm pretty sure i'm screwed. my animation isnt even close to finished, i haven't done my lighting of textures and i don't know how. i offically hate 3d at least if i was doing 2d i'd have some kind of acurate idea about how close or far i am from being finished. i'm screwed. i'm screwed i'm screwed. i'm shopping for a white flag as we speak.

Chock a block

I ended up getting a lot of work done last week. I started setting up some basic animation for every shot of my animation. I plan to finish at least one of my walk cylcles by the end of this week. Not much to say at this stage. I'm not exactly sure where i stand with regards to how far along i am. At this stage i think i'm just going to have to work as hard as i can and not worry where everyone else is.

Are we wasting time

or is it wasting us?

Last week i spent a lot of my time working on a picture in photoshop that was not really related to my project. I was using it as practise to get better at using tablets. I'm thinking i may use these techniques later to create my background for machan though i'm still not sure how i'll pull it off. I began my essay last week with a mind to finish it this week. I also did my first 'stepped' animation shot in maya last week which made me feel a little bit better about where i stand in terms of how my project is coming along although to be honest i'm still not %100 per cent sure. It's a bad time or year to be slacking off and i'd done so frikin well up till now but beginning of last week i lost nearly all motivation. Seeing everyones projects coming together makes me doubt the value of my own. However being this far into the year and the project it is far too late to change. This week i plan on getting into animation more feircely and get some actual work done.

Blasting Play into Soundscapes

link to the early stages of my animation




I am much happier with the soundscape and have a list of things to change and work on this week which makes me happy. i am concerned that i am not working hard enough and not enough work is getting done especially since some of the second years have already finished their animations and i have barely started mine. Suppose all i can do is work hard and hope i finish on time.

Seise the Music

This week i completed a rough version of my sound scape which i didn't like very much at all, which freaked me out because it was kinda the best i could do. I love music but i don't think i'm too good at it. And some of the shots looked short and more panic ensued. thankfully i talked to jack asap and he gave my some really helpful suggestions and now i have some direction. I'm still worried but having somewhere to start to fix problems helps.

For the last few weeks i've been going to tafe and woking without a day off and i feel it's affecting my work at school. Having no time to unwind, rewind, relax, do homework means i end up doing it at tafe during class time instead of going to class. That's no good, thats partly to do with discipline, partially to do with the fact that i think everyone needs time off, even just one day a week. So i'm going to change my shifts around at work and put tafe before cash.

For the moment, that is all.

Machan Playblast

Playblast bitch! yeah, thats right, i came, i saw, i made a playblast. So far i'm very happy with the rough version of my animation. I'm so happy that it's only run 17 seconds over and i can see that if i wanted to i think i could cut it down enough. i think the timing is a bit iffy here and there but since this is the first run through i'm pretty happy with it all. I didn't get a chance to start my sound this week which is a bit of a disappointment and i'm also reminded that i should start creating the picture of my 'beautiful world' soon. At this stage i think the goals i decided on will be completed in time (napolian dynamite 'yessssssss'). As long as i don't slack off i think i should be fine XD For the first set of goals anyway.

Bang the Doldrums

Indeed. Well the end of the second week has come (and gone, i know late entry, i work fridays, saturdays and sundays gah!). I didn't feel so great about the second week. I've set up all but 3 complicated camera shots in my animation which i will be attempting to complete Monday. I also think i will try to at least begin my sound on Monday with a mind to finish it by the end of the week.

It seems kind of strange the way things come back to bite you in the back. I started this course because i didn't really know what i wanted to do. I knew i loved drawing and writing, i drew a lot of comics in high school, i knew i loved dancing and motion. It seemed like animation incorporated a lot of what i enjoyed and a lot of what i had a bit of talent for and thought if i worked at it maybe i could make this into the kind of job i could be happy doing. I wanted a career, i wanted to be in something different. It's only really now at the end of the third year when shersha and mathew are talking about marketing plans and schemes and what festivals where going to try and get into and what we want to do with our animations that i realise i have no idea.

Ryan has this brilliant vision for whats lacking in the animation world and Mike wants to use his final piece as a platform to try and get a show of his own going but i've got nothing. Blank. Zippo. I mean yeah i'd like my stuff shown at festivals and yeah it'd be nice to win but...marketing schemes...toys merchandise? How we will market ourselves. To market oneself you need to know what your selling. At closest guess i'd say i just want to be an animator. I'm not particularly good at modelling or rigging but i'd like to think with some practise i could be a good character animator.

So yeah i'm freaking out a bit about that. Suppose i should have known i couldn't just go on my merry way working on projects and ignoring the grand scheme of things. I'd kind of forgotten.

So i have no idea how to market myself. So shershas stuff, her scheme that some people have used to get their foot in the door i have no clue how to begin. I'm nervous that i haven't started really animating yet, i'm not happy that kavinda hasn't come back from india yet with my set and i'm nervous that even when he does get back he may not have even done it yet.

Like i said, one week to another, one freak out to the next, this whole last semester i sadly feel is going to be touch and go. This is not what i wanted for my last year. For my last semester.

And yeah i know, the mistakes are all on me.

And we're on in 3, 2, 1

Here we are again at the beginning of semester 2. In the first week fear turned to terror turned to cautious clam. I came into this new semester fairly nervous at the prospect of animating my first 3D animation especially since i planed on animating the majority of my scenes over the holidays (which i did not do). I planned on coming in for 5 hours a day every day of the holidays (i came in twice, i was only really productive once). I did however record about 90% of my sound during the holidays which made me pretty happy when Jack said it would be a good idea to get a rough soundscape before week 5. Once Jack taught me how to set up cameras i set to and got a third of the shots camera'd up which also made me feel pretty good and i'm confident that by the end of the second week the cameras should be set up. I feel like my confidence in my work is probably going to be another yo yo job like last term where litterally week by week my feelings about how well i'm doing on my animation will change. I'm prepared for that eventuality though and with any luck i'll do really well and will be confident all the time. Nothing much else to report,

Animator Cara over and out.

Review of "Semester 1"

Well the dialogue was alright but the director really needs to re-think his lighting schemes. I jest.

Semester 1 was pretty good i felt that everything progressed at a nice even pace. The idea for my animation grew and changed right up until the last week before holidays. I felt Huni and Neale did a great job at getting us though the creative process and helping us develop our plans. I was relieved when the problems we where having with the computers cleared up after only a few weeks and that they did not trouble us too much after that. The machetes where interesting and i much enjoyed making the model of Machan (which makes me wonder if we're allowed to keep those cause that would be nice). I learned a staggeringly large amount about Maya and i think the 3D lessons where the most intensive. Despite being taught so much in such a short time i feel the lessons where not too overwhelming and the video tutorials are a good thing to have. The work experience i took on may have been a bad idea just because coupled with work it left me no time to recoup before returning but at the same time i seemed to handle it ok and as everyone i know seems to say when you get out into the work place you never have holidays (or at least they are a rarity). booooooooo. what are you going to do though? get used to it i suppose.

I’m pleased I got to hand in a revised version of my storyboard with my bible but disappointed I had no time to hand in an updated anamatic. I also didn’t hand in the ‘proof’ of my file data storage stuff to Jack because I have no proof. Organization has never been a strong point of mine and actually it’s another thing I’m trying to make a concerted effort with this year (and failing just a little bit at). I’m happy with the test animation of Machan I handed in, I do wish I could have done the one of him getting up again but in a way a more emotional end is better (cause I enjoy the emotional expression of characters). There’s not really much else I have to say. I’m happy with the way I didn’t fall too far behind this year with any projects I was working on. That is all.

Next week on C’s animation tv: while I wait for Jack to send me the updated version of Machan and my robot I have started doing a 2D personal animation which I am thus far very happy with. It’s a scene from a story I’m writing, just a moment really but I’m looking forward to finishing it.

Anywho looking forward to the sequel of Semester 1 with anticipation and terror. Yay! Have good holidays everyone!!!

C Out.

'I set my clocks early

cause you know i'm always late'

So last week was a bit stressful for me but i wrote a list of everything i needed to do and every day knocked one or two things off my list. By friday i was for the most part finished i had to make some minor adjustments to certain parts of my bible but for the most part it was finished and ready for printing. i never got to revise my anamatic but i did revise my story board so that it's up to date and in my bible. I printed my bible out on the weekend and after some setbacks it was completed on sunday night. I was very proud to have finished it so perfectly on time, no massive cramming, no last minute changes, no missing parts it was all there and all done. I got to school yesterday, showed my Bible to Huni to make sure everything was on the up and up which it was and then handed it in. It's not really sticking to my 'be early not on time or late' creed but i was so happy that there was no real cramming or real stress e.g. "OH MY GOD MY BIBLES NOT DONE WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO IT'S DUE TOMORROW?!?!?" just smooth sailing and smiles. I will try to continue to work like this for the rest of the year. if i did it for the first half surely i'll be able to do it for the second half.

I am readying myself to keep working on the comps i have left to hand in to Darren and the animation i have to finish for Jack. I think i'm going to try to finish and hand in my actual animation to Jack in the morning so i can practise this...stop frame thingy magigarer that Jack was talking about. The pose to pose kind of 3D animation because if he wants us to do our major animation like that then i have to practise as much as i can cause i haven't done that before in 3D. Must practise on thursday while he's still in class with us and i can still go 'so wait, now what do i do?'. Closing in on the last week and i'm feeling pretty good about the work i've done in semester 1, i am quite nervous about semester 2 but as they say in the classics 'there ain't no point worrying bout it if theres nothing you can do to change it. best just go with the flow' yeah they totally say that in the classics.

Next week is the last journal (500 word semester review) for semester 1 YAY!

Till next time,

Same mutli-coloured hair, same blog channel.

Goodness Gracious

Great balls o fire.

So. It's the second last week and the enormity of the task i have chosen is now beginning to dawn on me. This came about when i was speculating render times and filling production schedules with tasks i don't know how to complete. Garret said something about layers last week and passes, the difference between light, animation and something else. I was literally freaking out about 5 hours ago. Ican'tbelieveichosetodo3damiinsaneidon'tknowhowtodothisiamgoingtofailthiscorse. However a memory of my mother telling me that when i have made a decision carefully to 'commit' calmed me and i remembered what i had decided long ago. To commit to making a 3D animation, or at least giving it everything i had. So i organized and re-read my notes. Set up my files, completed some unfinished tasks, wrote some questions down to ask jack and huni and finished my schedule.

As it stands the tasks i have yet to complete are thus:

Revise my anamatic.

Do 2 model sheets.

Do 1 colour scheme for my guard.

Clean up my concept art.

Do 1 coloured layout.

Finish my budget.

Do my Tracking Sheets.

Write about what inspired (my insanity) me.

The questions i have to ask Jack are thus:

How do i import Machan into his world?

How do i do lighting in Maya?

How do i use a camera in Maya?

How do i give my character eyelids?

Would it work if i animated Machan in an unfinished world and then imported him into his finished world (because kavinda hasn't done Machan's finished world yet. I should have talked to him more about it, will correct this)?

The questions i have to ask Huni are thus:

What is a tracking list? (because yes in the last 2 weeks of school i still don't know what one is)

Is a shot list compulsory and if so can i have an example of one?

The questions i have to ask god are this:

Are you kidding me with this?? i mean come ON! ease up big guy!

To which he would probably reply:

Hey i told you time and time again: don't procrastinate.

*head-desk, head-desk, head-desk

This is a calm but quietly despairing Cara signing off.

*for those who don't know 'head-desking' is when you slam your head into your desk. i know. yay for internet born phrases.

Everything's Under Control

I've got a lot of work to do but i'm fairly confident i will finish it all on time. Machan is now fully rigged, skinned and ready to roll. Theres a bit of wonkiness going on with the skinning but i'm fairly sure it's an easy fix. I know it's a weighting problem but i just can't quite remember how to fix it. Oh conscious incompetence my old friend. I have also thought of what i will animate Machan doing. I think 3 jumps over 3 objects in his rush to get to the door but in his vigour he ends up running into it instead of opening it. The filming of my video block went off without a hitch but due to the changes i have made in the story recently i got a little confused. I have written a quick breakdown of the new shots and now it is all clear in my head. I'm still planning on doing a revised version of the Anamatic for my bible. Time is indeed running short and i am disappointed to say i don't think i will end up completing as much concept art as i had originally hoped but all the necessities will be fully completed.

Onwards we forge towards the finish line. Or at least the halfway point. I have realised just this week passed that i will probably have to model and rig my guard robot alone. I feel half confident, half terrified because if i have one of those little slip ups where i have no idea what i've done and yet the character is not working for some reason there will be nothing i can do. The bug doesn't worry me so much. I'm a little worried about the rocks in my scene and especially of my lack of knowledge about combining the objects, the back ground and my two characters in the one setting. I remember last year the 3D guys had lots of issues with shrinking or enlarging characters or sets. I hope none of these problems surface for me because as i said before i would have no clue how to fix them.

I'm not panicing. I have concerns and questions, i have plans and lists and for some reason (possibly because i feel there is still room for error) i feel fairly calm. I'll be happy when my Bible is handed in.

Over and out.

And time goes on

so said the pendulum.

I survived last weeks crunch catastrophe, in part due to the fact that Jack pretty much modeled Machan and that about %90 of the stuff i was maniacally trying to complete i discovered wasn't actually due for a while yet. I finished my anamatic and handed it in though there are some changes that need to be made. I will have to revise before i hand my bible in. I am so proud to say that i pretty much rigged my Machan model a feat that if i had been told 6 months ago to do i would have probably smiled politely and replied with 'no. hell no'. I've had a few attempts at some different colour schemes for Machan and intend to finish quite a few more before i hand my bible in. I've also gone through a few a few different colour designs for my bug and am close to finishing up it's design all together. I'm looking forward to having a go at animating Machan though at this stage i'm not sure what to have him do. I'm trying to think of an action that exhibits his personality or his drive but since i've cut down his character he only has one drive; get through the door. I'll put my mind to it and figure it out though.

Till next time,

carpe diem.

The Crunch

If i knew nothing of the crunch before i am getting aquainted with it now.

I have completed a soundless version of my anamtic and am not sure f i can get sound on it by the end of the week and have only completed one coloured layout. I am a little pleased about getting at least one layout done because now i am more fermilliar with photoshop and have eliminated some technical issues with my layout and lighting. My confidence leads me belive that i will have at least my layouts done by the end of the week. This will be a squeeze though. An indianna jones finish. Which is not what my 'be early all the time, not on time or late' mantra is about. This is bad, very bad. Not to mention jack's 'finish modelling your character on your own' task which fills me with dread. i cannot complete everything i have to, i'm near sure of it which is complete balls. I'm not going to waste time listing the things i'm going to have trouble finishing. i'm simply going to say wish me luck and i hope i don't loose my hat behind the big rock door.

hasta luego

Week 1 Term 2

No catchy name for journal. This is a concerning thought. Moving on.

Week 1 went by fairly quickly (probably because i was absent for one day) however for the most part i am keeping up with my work. My storyboards and Character Sheets are completed, i have handed in said storyboards and a Composition piece for Darrens class. I have also prepared all the pictures for the creation of my anamatic. The sheets Huni gave us on Tuesday about the updated curriculum scared the buhjesus out of me. I don't know how we are going to incorporate this into our plans and i'm very annoyed this part of our corse has only been updated now. Due to the fact that i have been complaining for the last few journals i have decided to approach the remainder of this journal with jubilant cheer.

One thing i am mildly concerned about is the delightful amount of time i am taking to complete my layouts and colour designs. The brilliant greys, blacks, whites and reds i have decided to use for my colour boards and general layout has left me cheerily stumped (and not stressed at all). I am somewhat perplexed at how i will colour my happy robots and make them stand out from the background and my lack of photoshop knowledge coupled with the only version i have of photoshop being an old model only at one of the houses i live at is causing drawbacks. By the end of week 2 these wonderful colour boards/ emotion boards and layouts must be completed along with my masterful anamatic.

Oh so happy am i.

Purple monkey dishwasher.

That's all i have to say.

p.s. great to have jack teaching us animation and great to have aidie back (i really mean this part)

These So Called Holidays

My holidays where not really holidays at all. The work experience i took on ate up a lot of my time and any other time i had spare was used up by my normal job. It was difficult to do my homework and i have yet to complete my bible despite the fact that a lot of it is due on tuesday of this week. I think it was a good idea to do work experience but i will not be doing it again unless it requires less time or i finish my corse. Third year is proving to be my busiest year yet. I wish i'd had time to chill out and unwind but unfortunately that didn't happen. It will probably have to wait till next holidays.

One Down

Three to go.

The last week of term one was good, got all the work done on time although i was disappointed i wasn't able to get a hold of my project from last year. I talked to Huni, i got everything together, and made a plan for the holidays. I enjoyed scanning though i didn't really seem to have the hang of it like some of the other guys did. I am concerned now about the amount of time i have. I have taken on some work experience at an editing company during the holidays. With that, work and other such commitments i'm already worrying about having enough time. On top of that i'm sick. I know now that i'm an adult being sick doesn't count as an excuse but when you're working weekends and doing work experience during the week and you come home at night tired, coughing, voice gone, nose running the last thing you want to do is draw.

I will persist. I will work, i will gain experience, i will knock my animation bible out of the park. cold be damned.

I hope.

Tired. Sleepy. As always wish me luck.

Till next time, space cowboy.

Snakes in Spaceships

Yesterday when i closed my eyes i saw meshes and joints. Like when i saw Alice in wonderland and when i looked at the cheshire cat i could see how they would have modeled him. It's trippy how i'm beggining to understand 3D so clearly. I mean i'm not good at it yet (i moved the friking leg!) but i'm understanding it, understanding the concepts now and it is so weird. Anyway, on with the show.

This week went by pretty well. I was a little stunned to learn first drafts of storyboards are due next week but i should be able to knock them up over the weekend. A tragity befell me and i lost both of my usb's on tuesday so i no longer have some of the files i'd been working on. I don't know when i'll get another one and at this rate i'll only have one maybe two saved versions of some of my work which after spending two years creating up to three copies and four copies of work gives me the heeby jeebies. I'm used to backing up, backing up, backing up. Used to keeping work on up to three or four different devices (computers, usbs, ipods etc). I'm very disappointed. I have to move on and suck it up.

Darrens class went well, the computers are working now and we caught up on all the work we lost out on last week which eased my mind a bit. Like i said, the maya class went well this week. learned lots and was happy to be quite hands one and practical. My brain felt slightly melted by the end but for the most part it was all good work and practice. Nothing much else to report. Going to see Cobra Starship tonight (a band) and to save on the work i have to do over the weekend i am doing my journal now instead of on monday night.

Fangs up, cobra style.

Back on Bullseye

(Back on the Animated Horse)

I got three versions of my thumbnails done. I re-wrote my script. I’ve gone over Jack’s videos and done some practice on the skeleton by myself. I’m back.

I feel the maya lesson last week was intense and to be honest I’m not sure if I could even begin to re-create what we where taught. However I’m going in early on Tuesday to give it a wack. Despite the fact that I’m on time with the thumbnails and the third version of my script I feel as a class we might be falling behind a bit. I could be wrong, I am a little paranoid this year.

Darren’s class left a lot to be desired due in great part to the programs we have been ‘provided with’. Once we got hold of the edited versions of our videos which took a few hours they where eventually transferred onto our computers. While a handful of the class (5 or less) where able to access and edit the files on fusion Ryan and I spent our time logging onto computer after computer all of which where unable provide a working version of fusion. Together we accessed 9 computers on which fusion did not work the rest that where not taken up where broken (did not switch on, would not log on). Later that week Ryan experienced these problems again in a different class going through multiple computers before finding a fully functioning computer.

I will return to Darrens class this Wednesday hoping instead of knowing weather these computers will work which is unacceptable. Last year and the year before we ran into such problems; programs that did not work, crucial programs we where not provided with for months, buggy computers that turned off by themselves, computers that deleted our files, computers that corrupted our files, W drives that would not work (also for months).

This year had gone so well. 5 weeks had gone by almost without interruption by crappy computer systems. We where even being allowed to access the videos of Jack’s Maya class on the internet (something media students should ALWAYS have had but until now a luxury that only foreign students where given). Now the problems have begun again and I am not comfortable with the idea of learning maya essentially from scratch on computers that will crash and corrupt and fail when I need them to work smoothly and efficiently. It’s bull.

Aside from that massive rant everything is going well, back on schedule as it where. I left Darren’s modeling class half an hour early to talk to a manager of an editing company about work experience. It went well and I may be doing some paid work experience during one of the holidays this year. Darren’s modeling class is great. Productive, enjoyable and I finished my model before I left. I am eagerly looking forward to how this model will be scanned into the computer and how this class will proceed. It’s good to be back.

Ride like the Wind, Bullseye

Dropping the Conshi Ball

Well week four rolls around and work finally catches up to me. A months not too bad i suppose. At the start of the week i came in early on Tuesday to catch up on the Machete work i was supposed to do the Friday before in Darren's class. I unfortunately I forgot the second draft of my script for Huni to clear and the Machete i made in the morning before school started was wrong and i had to make it again. None the less i caught up on the work i has missed out on.

During the week however i was very distracted, i got a rush of creativity and ended up drawing, writing and editing personal artistic ventures instead of focusing on my school work. I was also helping my friend move out towards the end of the week. I couldn't seem to take my mind off Alice in Wonderland (great movie, but a simpler story than i expected, hope to see it again before it goes out of the cinemas) and all this was was to the detriment of my work.

I didn't get my thumbnails done like i should have and while i have a rough draft of my thumbnails since the script has changed so have the plans for my story board. I will endeavor to do my thumb nails and hopefully a pineline before the week begins so i will be ahead of my work again. I'm also trying to fit in some time to go over the recorded Maya sessions in Jacks class as well as some practice time. Maybe i'll come in early again on Tuesday to work on that. Juggling has never previously been my forte.

Til next time sports fans.

*or lack there of*

Through the Looking Glass

At the end of my third week things are continuing to move along well though we are now well and truly through the looking glass. I handed in my assignment a few days early and re-wrote my script. My progress at maya and my increasing ability to answer questions correctly in class is delightful to me after years of confusion and struggle. I'm getting new ideas for how i want to 'shoot' Machan all the time and am looking forward to re-drawing my storyboard (as the one i drew during the holidays is now outdated).

Seeing animations done by other students is a heartening experience as well as an educational one because not only am i seeing what is capable for a student to achieve but it has also been great discussing and breaking down how fantastic animations could be better. It seems i end up saying the same thing all the time. I'm enjoying myself, i'm trying to stay conshi*, succeeding so far and maya is all the more challenging and all the more accessible.

I'm disappointed that i was not able to work on my model with Darren on Friday but that was my choice and I have arranged to catch up what i missed out on tomorrow. Juggling everything is difficult and i get idea's for other short animations all the time and find it a pity that i am not able to attempt to create some of these. I haven't even had time to review the Maya tutorial videos Jack makes in class or find any time for precious practise and revision either. I know this is very important especially with my history but alas, alack i'll have to keep trying to fit it in somewhere. I will be downloading Maya for my computer soon but am leaving it for a bit longer so as to make sure i have it in the more crucial months of production.

As with all students who don't know what they want to be when they grow up, i ask the same question as Alice sometimes too:

“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road do I take? she asked. Where do you want to go? was his response. I don't know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter.”

* Cara speak slang: Conshi meaning conscientious

Till next time boys and girls, adios.

Captain's Log Stardate Week 2...

The second week of school went as swimingly as the first. I presented the first draft of my script to Huni and we disscussed improvments. My understanding of Maya also improved however i have become a little more daunted by the idea of what i have set out to do. I think this is because the more i learn of Maya the more i see how vast it's capability is and how very little i understand. I enjoyed doing a 'man' walk cycle and remembered how much i enjoyed doing 3D animation last year. I was a annoyed on Friday when i showed up to school at 8:30 (half an hour eariler as everyone was instructed to) and then an hour later was notified that Clint wouldn't show up at all. Though i suppose drawing at Max Branner's at the Glen for a few hours isn't such a bad replacement. I digress.

I wrote up my treatment and on the weekend wrote out my assignment too. I still have to re-write my script and draw up some large drawings for the Modeling class we have with Darren on Friday afternoons. All those Modeling videos we watched where really good for motivation and really seemed to amp up the whole class for the modeling excercise. So far i'm feeling pretty good about the work level and am still keeping up well/ finishing homework early which is a habit i'm really trying hard to embrace this year. Nothing more to report.

Over and Out.

In the beginning…

Everything is usually right as rain; this is true of stories, movies and apparently the first week of school.

During the holidays I spent a lot of time trying to come up with doable ideas for my animation this year mostly to no avail. On the way home one night I saw some tail lights lit up on a parked car that reminded me of this http://mikepmitchell.deviantart.com/art/Death-of-Neon-146175937 characters eyes and the ancient Steam-Boat-Willie style. I thought ‘what if I could try to place that old black and white style in a modern character’. That idea became a little teenage robot I named Machan (‘friend’ or ‘Mate’ in French). Originally the idea was quite complex as I thought our animation this year would be quite long (about 5 mins). Machan was supposed to represent teenagers and the world was supposed to represent adolescence. The beautiful world through the big doors was supposed to represent adulthood and the robot guarding the door was supposed to represent the shitty trials teenagers go through to get to adulthood. I was going to represent this through the dialogue between the guard and Machan as well as the visuals that would show up in Machan’s tv-like eyes. Machan was also going to speak different languages to represent the fact that he was ‘teenagers’ in general not just western teenagers. His headphones/ears and eyes where supposed to represent the hold technology has over teenagers and how much it is integrated into their lives these days. Towards the end of the holiday I did some concept art as well as a test animation to show to Jack and ask how doable my ‘tv eyes’ idea was.

The first week of school gave me some more confidence in my choice to go with 3D this year, a style I have little competence in. Jack is a reassuring element and it is mostly on the strength of his knowledge that I decided to choose 3D. The fact that the animation is supposed to be so short meant that I needed to rehash my Machan idea but part of the reason I love the story so much is that it is so malleable. I easily cut it down (taking away the metaphors, conversation with the guard and the guard following Machan into the beautiful world) and wrote a script for it within the first week. I felt the brainstorming we did with Huni was very productive and helped this editing process. I was surprised at how quickly work began and how soon due dates are set but I came at this year with an idea that I would have to be working doubly hard all year so it wasn’t difficult to adjust to the idea that things where happening so quickly.

As I said, this is just the beginning.
Week 1, Miss Tune signing off.