Animation

FINAL BLOG POST

         My sophomore year of animation I learned how to use the programs Adobe Photoshop, AfterEffects, And lastly,  MAYA.  These programs were difficult for me to get used to at first but I feel like I still learned from them. I have also discovered how to manage my time and not procrastinate projects because that makes completing them on time almost impossible. I have collaborated with others and worked together to have a good product. I have made everything from bouncing balls, hammers, and bee movies to more professional and complex projects such as the final project which incorporated 3D animation, green screen, and explosions.

        I learned this by going to google, going to the help section, and asking my peers or Netterville. But I mostly learned these skills from the help section in Photoshop, MAYA, or After Effects.  I have learned how to use many tools on my own though. 

         This is important because in the real world I won't have the help of others so I will have to rely on myself and the internet. If i were to always rely on others I would never learn anything for me.

        My greatest strengths would have to be working with others and being a strong leader. My weaknesses are that occasionally I will get off task and it then becomes very difficult for me to get back on task. when I have my mind set on something with no distractions I can finish quite quickly. 

      I've improved by learning how to eliminate distractions which I usually do by listening to music to get into the groove of things.

      In the real world I'm going to have to know how to get rid of distractions. I'm going to need to find a schedule for myself that will allow me to work effectively and E-Comm has taught me how to manage my time effectively and it has also showed me how being distracted and procrastinating can have a bad effect on the product.

       Some things I would've changed would have to be near the beginning of the year I didn't manage my time well and procrastinated so my products weren't as well made as I wished that they had been.

       Overall I this class been a lot of fun and I've learned a lot from Mr. Netterville. I didn't always understand what to do but eventually I understood and was able to finish everything. Thank you for your time Mr. Netterville, I had fun!!!

Technical Tutorial Post: I am going to teach how to apply a special effect to a video clip or picture inside after effects.

1) open the picture or video in after effects



2) also open desired effect into after effects

3) get the pen tool and outline where you want to have the explosion to come from

4) select the object you've outlined and apply the matte tool to it

5) add the special effect behind the matte and play footage to see if it looks correct.

6) Congratulations! you are done!

Professional article review post: The article I read was speaking on how working at Pixar animation studios is like. The person they interviewed was saying how long it took to animate objects, how difficult it is to get enough money to attend college for Pixar is, and that it's a very demanding job and hard to get accepted into.

The author was saying how Pixar's standards is very high and they interviewed multiple employees to support this claim. A weakness for this article could be that they only asked how hard it was to get accepted.

I believe that the reason Pixar is so hard get accepted into is because they have quite a bit of pressure on them since they're considered the top animators or elites. They make very professionally done movies or short films and don't really have time to mess around with amateurs.

The authors general conclusions are that Pixar is an extremely successful business, this makes their standards much higher than the other average animation companies. The people who they hire or take it on usually make it huge if they know what their doing and can become top animators. It is difficult to get hired there because if you're an animator that's the place to go and it makes sense why people are upset.

I feel like they could've done a better job of gathering information of things other than how difficult it is to get accepted but rather the more positive side of the argument. However, the author's argument does support the main claim. The evidence is convincing and I did eventually understand what he was saying.

What I can gather from this article is that if I ever wanted to work at Pixar I would have to work very very very hard to get there. 

Working for pixar website:  http://www.animationarena.com/working-for-pixar.html

New bounce

3D Logo

Ice Cream 

          Professional Project Review Post: "Toy Story" is about how it is okay to let the old things go as you age, while it may be tough to do, it's better for everyone if you do. This was told through Andy and his toys that he had as a young kid and throughout the trilogy the toys go through all these adventure to get back to Andy. In the third movie he decides instead of storing them away he should give them to this little girl. He struggles doing it but in the end he knows that she would play and love them the same way he had when he was her age. In each one of the movies the animation technique gradually gets better and better. I could apply their skills to my work by modeling my on creations off of their like using similar ways to recreate hair or lighting. I have learned how to use lighting and a walk cycle, while they may not be at the level that is used by animators in "Toy Story", I could improve and work my way up to being close to their level. I believe that this creator did very well with their texturing and color schemes because no two characters are alike. I don't think that there's much room for improvement actually, they're the best of the best. All in all I believe that the movie "Toy Story" is an excellent example of an animated movie. 

Here is a link for more information on the movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story_(franchise)

       Hammer: Made in MAYA using the polygon tool, lighting, and the cut tool. 

        Polything: Made in MAYA using the polygon tool, sphere tool, sphere tool, color palette, and the subtraction tool. I rotated and moved the spheres then subtracted them from the sphere to make it hollow and have holes.

            Personal Blog Post: The scope of my story animation was to describe a very tired bee's life and how exhausted he is after a long day at work. The bee is very happy when he sees his bed because he can finally rest. I came up with this idea because of my previous animation from last year was about a bee and I wanted to improve upon that concept. From this project I learned how to prioritize my time efficiently and effectively. I also learned how to transition from scene to scene without transitions. What I could do differently would be making the bees have more movement and flow better especially in the last scene. I am pretty proud of my artwork so I would most likely keep that the same. I would try to stay after school more often so I am not stressing over getting it all done in class and most likely improve my planning skills so I can finish my projects faster and have them look great. Over all I would like to become a better animator and I'm sure by continuing along in this class I will achieve that.

        Ball Animation: For this animation we learned how to properly use the grass paintbrush tool, the gradient tool, and lighting/shadowing tools. I was taught how to use Null to move the ball. I would like to go back later in this year and improve this animation.