Weekly comments 12/12

There was shadowing for most of this week and at the end I was so sick of it, only cause I'm not used to having to talk so much. I learned I can only talk for so long until my voice starts to go away and that it gets tiring to keep repeating the same things over and over.  But I do like that these kids want to be in this class bc its a cool class

I'd like to get this project done and move onto making explosions :----)

Something nice this week was getting a 94 on my research paper bc I've never once made a well written research paper before..........& this week I'm trying to apply to a college in canada since it'll save me money so i'm stressing all over again since i need to find a place to live and whatnot

http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/54495619739/this-past-friday-i-published-this-post-which

this post is from the co-creator of the legend of korra and avatar: the last airbender and he talks about a really huge subject in 2D animation. It's about color correction and how colors in 2D animations are affected by SO MANY THINGS. Its kind of a long read but he talks about the process they go through each episode fixing colors of the characters skin.

CGI and practical effects should just be friends

movies using practical effects, like jurassic park, are all designed by hand and controlled by the filmmakers. Animatronics, puppets, and stop motion was used to animate creatures in older films. Now CGI is used more than practical effects and people argue which is better. Another argument is that CGI is putting  practical effects out of business. Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis from amalgamated dynamics says that the both make a good team though, CGI and practical effects. 2 of the best practical effects artists, Rick Baker and Tom Savini aren't against CGI at all either. Baker says CGI is only as great as the artist behind it. But great CGI doesn't make a great movie. Savini says he likes is because you can pretty much make anything you want to in the script. So there is a place for both CGI and practical effects, they're both great in their own ways.

I prefer practical effects to CGI but I do like them both. I just like the work that goes into practical effects, everything you made yourself. They probably felt really satisfied after making a giant walking dinosaur look real and making the little kids question if they really were extinct. And they don't all look terrible, in the past they used whatever they had to make fictional creatures and gruesome makeup. So they put a lot of effort into those things and thats what I really admire.

Adventure Time dude

essentially what Pendleton Ward has; a successful TV show and large fan base with a large merchandise line is what every animator may strive for. It seems like all the fame isn't the life for Pendleton though. He's extremely introverted, he prefers to be at home rather than being forced to socialize like a successful show creator must do. Ward says all this is has worn him out. So he quit. And decided to be a storyboard artist and writer for his show Adventure Time. Just animating is what he enjoys and finds comfort in and thats enough for him. He still has goals for Adventure Time, creating a video game and writing a movie for it. But all he cares about is being happy and doing what he truly loves.

I like this article because I had no idea what the creator of Adventure Time was like until I read this. But the author made him seem kind of pathetic. "A four-day-old bowl of Fruity Pebbles lies neglected at his elbow, the milk evaporated to leave just a rainbow of crud stuck to the sides of the bowl." That didn't seem necessary to add, to me at least. He's just an introvert, I can relate to him in a lot of things. Socializing tires me out, I prefer to do things at home because that's where I'm most comfortable. But at times I do like socializing with people I'm really comfortable with. But for people like him, who are young and introverted and want to enter the industry, they should be able to quit like Pendleton and know it's okay if you're not comfortable with that life. Just do what makes you happy.

Weekly comments 11/23

This week we learned after effects so it was all demos and tutorials. We learned animation, masks, and typography.

My favorite demo this week was masks and I've always wondered how to edit more than 1 of yourself in the same shot, I would like to learn how to do that.

This week was pretty okay since I finished swim at my high school and I don't have to carry around an extra bag with me all the time. Also I saw mocking jay and it was pretty coooool.
We had 4 demos and tutorials to go along with them so that was a lot of work. But at least we get to take a small break from premiere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZtbB4D1mDQ this is a music video from one of my favorite artists and since we were talking about masks in class it reminded me of this mv. Since they use mask heavily in the entire video :P Also it's a really great song

Foley polie olie

In the video we learn that most sounds in a film are not the actual sounds that came from the recording. Because it would be difficult to pick up those sounds, instead they are added later in the post production stage. There are 3 types of sounds used in a video. Ambience, library effects, and foley. Ambience is the background noise that helps create the environment of something you're shooting. Library effete prerecorded sounds that you can find anywhere but are sometimes hard to obtain. Like explosions and gunshots. And foley are sounds specially recorded for a shot. And they are usually made from anything. In the early 1900's, foley was used during Vaudeville performances, so people have been doing foley for a very long time.

Sound is really important in a film. Just using sound you can create an atmosphere and you'd be able to tell what kind of environment you're in without looking at anything on the screen. I learned about Vaudeville in class one day and I thought it was really cool, we didn't learn about how they used foley during the live performances though so I learned something new. I think foley seems really interesting and wonder if it's a really high paying job?

Using references for animation

This article talks about the importance of using references in animation. That it isn't cheating to use references. Because you have the entire world to look at and try to apply it to your animations. Some really important references you can look at are in comic books, nature videos, or take a video of yourself acting out a scene. But don't just copy it exactly how you see it. Study it so you can apply it to your own animations.

I liked their article because I like to use references all the time when I'm drawing. Mostly for poses because drawing a natural looking pose is difficult. I think that all skillful animators got that way just because they observe the environment around them. We get a lot of tips and the one we see a lot usually say take a sketch book everywhere with you and draw. I don't think theres any reason for someone to feel like they;re cheating when they use references because how else will we learn?

Weekly comments 11/16

Oops I haven't done my blog in a couple weeks.  This week I learned that premier cc files aren't compatible with premier cs6 so twice I've lost my documentary project files. And also I accidentally deleted my file so I also learned I'm dumb.

I'm interested to start after effects bc briefly I was really fascinated with special effects and I'm curious to see how it works cause I don't have any idea. I'm more interested in special effects than I am with filming so hopefully this is really fun

Something nice this week was going to the villa open house, & I've become familiar with some of the people there so it was nice to see them again. I also already found a group of friends so if I end up going there i don't have to worry about making friends, ha

Something ehh this week was losing my project three times. I've just been having a lot of bad luck and I wanna get this over with.

interesting link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGmKmVvCzkw

it's about a virtual girl called sweetie is used to discover real pedophiles online. until now I only associated 3d characters with 3d animated movies and shows but I learned they can also be used to stop predators online.

Squishy Robots

In this article it talks about the squishy robot of the new 3D animated film from Disney called "Big Hero 6". Instead of a hard metal robot like you mostly see in media, it's a big, soft, marshmallow looking robot named Baymax. It's actually a great idea because of the softness, they are safer to be in certain places like a hospital. Roboticists around the world are researching soft, flexible robots so we can use them in our everyday lives. They can be around children and elderly people and other more fragile environments, and metal robots can be in industrial environments since they are built to last in those places. For the soft robots, instead of using gears and pistons that are on a metal robot, they can use air pressures and artificial muscles in their limbs.

I love cute robots so this article was really interesting to read. I didn't know that there could be anything but a metal robot. Think soft, humanoid robots like Baymax could exist in the future is awesome.  They seem less likely to take over the human race because of their softness. I like that there is a scientifically accurate side to this character, so its possible there can be a real robot like Baymax. I hope that cute little helping robots become a thing because I've always wanted one.

Weekly comments 2/14

This was my first week back from vacation and yeah I learned you can miss a lot and get so behind a week but thank goodness I got everything done Friday. I tried to learn everything I could from the tutorial packets since I couldn't watch the demos hopefullly I can still get by ~

Since I wasn't here for the camera demo I want to learn how to use the camera better since I only had a small chance to use it.

Something nice this week was getting all my work done and not having a bunch to do over the weekend, so I played Mirror's Edge and its super fun. I also applied to some colleges finally, I'm a bit nervous but excited about that.

Something not so cool this week, I can't really think of anything besides being nervous about taking my sat exam or waiting to hear back from colleges I've applied to. Also the documentary project seems kind of intimidating since I don't know how long it'll take to finish. Also it was Halloween so I ate a lot of candy and I am ashamed.

Cool link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl5BI9LDChg (its not anything korean this time)

If you skip to the actual interesting part around 2:00 it talks about a new dlc for assassin's creed unity called Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. It takes place in 16th century China. The character is a woman named Shao Jun, and if you've watched Assassin's Creed: Embers you'd know who she is already and that she's totally awesome and deserves a full game. Anyways it has some pretty interesting animation, instead of exploring a 3D world it's a 2.5 dimension side scroller. The art is really pretty gorgeous and kind of reminds me of Child of Light. After ac3 I lost total interest in assassin's creed but now I want to play again because of the China dlc.

movies use our BRAINS to keep us entertained--more news at 5

Because of where the audience directs their gaze, everything they see is real. And everything off to the side is fake. Scientist found out that the audience is mostly drawn to the faces and explosions. Movie makers draw most attention to the faces and physics in action films because those are the types of things that can't be faked. They also say the brain is the best visual effects tool. The way our brain works will "stitch everything together so they will make sense". The way our brains "stitch" things together is by looking at one thing at a time and taking bits from here and there and they fit together.

I think it probably makes their jobs a lot easier the way they do this. They can just use CGI for things in the background and spend more time on the big things. I'll admit I'm more into monster films than action hero movies. Because I can get sick of all the car rolling and explosions sometimes. But it seems it keeps audiences entertained so they probably won't stop.

tips for game artists

Ian Bowden from rockstar games and gameduell shares some tips about game art. Tips that he's gained over years of experience in the game industry. A huge tip is keeping an eye out for current trends but keeping it original. It's hard to know what people want so you should always try new things to keep going forward. Which was another one of his tips. If you want to keep going forward you should experiment with new things. He also says to work as hard on visual quality as you will on a mobile game as you would on a larger game. His last few tips are old tips but they are always, always relevant to any artist.  Keep a sketchbook with you, to draw anything that'll give you inspiration.

I love video game art and I've always been interested in it. So these tips are really important to me. To me, originality is important and I always try to be a little different in my work. Like Bowden says, you don't want to copy. Even though I have pages and pages of art references (poses/color palettes) on my tumblr I always use bits of it to make my art look better. His last tip is "always be humble" and I'll admit I'm not the best artist, there's a lot of room for improvement and sometimes it's hard because  I see everyone else's art and feel bad about mine. But he says to keep an open mind, which is true. The only way to learn is by watching and listening to everything.

Weekly comments 10/5

This week in class it was mostly working on our projects. After finishing our montage projects we were allowed to start our audio storytelling project. We also had an audio demo ~

I hope to figure out what I want to make my documentary about.

Something cool this week was getting super smash bros andddddd going shopping for my vacation.

Something ehh was having to miss thursday because next week I was going to miss a day and visit my aunt and I don't like missing a day every week.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5_u7piDYw

A trailer to the movie called "Cart". It's a foreign film, about these female workers who go on strike after all of them being laid off over night from the store they work at. It looks like a very intense and inspiring movie and I really hope to see it soon. I'll admit I was only interested at first because my favorite singer is acting in the film, Do Kyungsoo, but thanks to him I've discovered a really awesome movie! I believe its only been viewed at the Toronto international film festival and Busan film festival so I'm not sure when others will be able to see it. Hopefully soon~

keeping 2D animation alive

2D animated movies aren't as relevant these days since 3D animation is so popular now. James Lopez and Rick Farmiloe are trying to revive 2D animated movies with the movie Hullabaloo. They're trying to keep the style alive since it was the root of modern animation. The movie is about a scientist who returns home and finds her father is missing without a trace and tries to locate him. The team needs donations to complete the entire movie. Soundtracks and all. 

I like all these things people are doing to keep 2D animation alive. And the movie plot is new and interesting. I don't really know about steam punk but I know the style is cool looking. I really hope this film happens and its really successful as well. Cause then It'll inspire more animators to make more.

Weekly comments 9/21

Second week y'all. This week was color theory and composition. We also learned how to color b&w images in photoshop. I also understand masks a lot easier now and I wished I used them more back then. Outside of video class I learned the history of animation. Again. We also made thaumatropes!! It's like animation class last year. So weird. *Has war flashbacks*

All these photoshop lessons are helpful and I actually enjoy them. There's probably so much more to learn. Now we're getting into manipulating images and combining two things in our first project we got assigned. Plants and animals. And I kind of like it, so I'd like to learn how to do more photo manipulation like that.

Overall this week was pretty neutral I'd say, I got my homework done and got good quiz scores. I wonder how long this'll last??

Something frustrating this week was not being able to visit my dad this weekend. And my aunt not being able to visit me because of the release of the new apple phones so she was pretty swamped at work and couldn't come visit. She works at the apple store at the eaton center in Toronto so you can imagine how insane it is. Also I'm going to start having to apply to colleges soon and thats putting so much stress and pressure on me already.

Cool(?) link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFgv8bKfxEs

Alright I know not everyone is into kpop and yeah it might seem bizarre but I'm showing anyway since I think its a really cool music video. So it's from a korean girl group called Red Velvet that debuted a couple months ago. The song is called "Happiness" and the video features cut out images and super bright colors. You normally dont see cut out images in a music video like this, & I think it's cool bc its a really catchy song and it does make you happy after watching, because of the colors and singing and dancing.

But yeah the main thing I'm trying to say is i think it's REALLY COOL how all of these things can leave an emotion after watching, same with all other music videos. And the cut out images are awesome and I really want to learn how to do that!!

tips 4 documentary film making

In this article the film maker Michael Moore gives a 13 point manifesto of documentary film making. Some points that stuck out to me were "include humor", "give new information", "make your films personal", and "film people that disagree with you". Overall his points are aimed to make documentaries more personal and raw. Like leaving in the camera sounds and filming the director as well. It reaches the audience better since its like you're a part of the film too.

I agree that documentaries I've seen these days have lost their stuff. In his 3rd point he says that documentaries have turned into a college lecture and just give you information without leaving anything for you to discover. I like those types of documentaries that leave you wondering and making you want to look more into the subject. Documentaries are supposed to educate and inspire people. One thing he says though, "I think Borat is a documentary" because everything was filmed as it was, and there was no script.....it's not really an informing movie or inspiring movie either so I don't agree with him saying its a documentary.

Cinematography and video games

The video game developers for The Order: 1886 are aiming to create a new experience for gamers with their new game. They want to make the gameplay as cinematic as the cutscenes. More "filmic". And it seems like video games are catching up to films really fast since they've come this far in 4 decades. As opposed to films that have had over a century to build up. The game developers are doing this by trying to replicate certain lenses and techniques in movies. Like the depth of field and focus. Also using angles and techniques to alter our emotions we feel when watching, the same way cinematography does that to us in movies we watch. 

It's really admirable that The Order 1886 has been put off just so they can improve some things to the game. If they feel it's not ready and they can make it better then they can go ahead. That means it'll be a lot more fun to play when it finally does come out. I really cannot wait to play it. I thought it was so cool when I first watched the trailer for the game. The characters really caught my attention. And what they said about cinematography altering our emotions, they do. If the story if a game does pull you in, the cinematography will. That's why when I'm finished watching a movie I kind of forget what was happening around me since I was so immersed in the film. 

how to make your animation reel reelly cool

The first 30 seconds of your reel should have some of your best animations, if you can't catch the recruiters attention they will move on. Which is understandable since they have to watch a lot of reels but it puts a lot more pressure on you. But a make sure the ret of the reel is as strong as your beginning animations. Also try to avoid trends, like putting in something that you'd see in other animations. Because they're probably sick of it. So what's most important is thinking outside the box and doing something that's different. Just don't put anything offensive in your reel of course. 

I've read a lot of articles about making demo reels and I've seen that there's so many do's and don'ts. But one that I've seen a lot is always show something new and different, which I can agree with. Being different and standing out is really important to me and when I'm creating things like this. I feel like there is a better chance of being noticed that way. I can also agree with being a good actor and having an understanding of it can make you a great animator. After reading this article I'm wondering if they care for 2D animations anymore? Or is it all about 3D now

Weekly comments 9/14

One week down and a hundred more to go until graduation :-)

This week in video class we learned basic photoshop editing skills. I knew most of the filter and adjustment stuff but the tools like clone and spot healing were new to me. Outside of video I learned the history of film in my film studies class. Hopefully that class is somehow helpful to video class this year..

Right now I'd like to keep learning photoshop skills. I'm looking forward to learning how to edit and film when we get to it.

Something cool this week was Destiny being released. I love it bc I can play along with my friends in the game and it's really fun completing quests and leveling up with someone else. I played the demo with one of my friends and it was the most fun ive ever had playing online. My steps dad's sister also had twins this week. 2 boys, I'm not sure if I should be excited about babysitting in the future or not. 

Something frustrating was getting a cold earlier this week. I hate getting sick!!

Cool link: http://koreanhighschool.com/index.html

This is a video about the documentary that Kelley Katzenmeyer is trying to make.  It's about how the competive South Korean society impacts korean student lives. I can agree how important self image is to the students because of the media. What shocked me the most was that students on average study about 16 hours a day. Because I don't even study..........and when students feel like they don't live up to certain standards, they commit suicide. A lot of girls think they're ugly when they don't look like a certain model or kpop idol that they see on tv. They are ashamed of their eye lids and the shape of their face, and it's not uncommon for girls to get eyelid surgery or any other kind of surgery when they graduate highschool. It's really sad. I really want to watch this film, but they need donations to make it happen. 

I think it's also important for this film to be made bc other societies, like american society, will be able to see just how different ours is from theirs. 

~practice post~

gfjdnhgjfdnh

final blog post - holla

What a wicked year it's been. Glad I mostly kept up with my blog posts.

1. Why did you take this class?

I took this class because ever since freshman year I had an interest in animation and how to do it. I was hoping it would be one of my college majors and when I found out about digital media class, I thought it would be a good idea to take it and I could have some experience in it when I do go to college.

2. In general, what did you like most about this class?
I like the whole atmosphere of the class, I don't feel judged or feel the need to hide any of my interests when I enter the class. Because everyone is here for the same reason.

3. In general, what did you like least about this class?
I think because of the snow days we had, we didn't have much time to do other projects and I really wish we could've done more projects.

4. What was your most favorite project and why?
My favorite project was the 3D short because thats the project I feel I did best on. I wasn't really interested in 3D animation as much as 2D but after completing the 3D short I found out how fun it is to model and I really liked it after.

5. What was your least favorite project and why?

My least favorite was the Anibot. The anibot just wasn't cooperating with me and parts of the rig didn't work properly so it didn't turn out so nicely. The eyelid stuck out of it's head and the eyebrows didn't move either so the anibot had a weird expression the entire time. It seemed like a great project but sadly it was messed up for me :(

6. Discuss the overall effectiveness of the instructor (for example: preparation, availability, interest, content knowledge, expectations, etc.).
I have nothing bad to say. Ms Licata always gave help when you asked for it and always gave us everything we needed when we went into a project. Considering how well all of our projects turn out.

7. What are the most valuable things you learned in the class?
Besides learning how to animate and how to use different programs, that this is not the kind of class you slack off in, at all. Because all of us were chosen to be here and it would be insulting to let your grades slip when there are other people who would've loved to be in the class more than you. I also learned how to accept criticism and let other people see my work and see how we could improve. I used to never do that!

8. Do you feel that this class will help you achieve your future academic or career goals? How or why (or why not)?
I think it would help me a lot. Being in this class gave me taste of that its like being in a classroom doing animation, all the demos that we did and all the hours we've worked on projects. It'll help me because being here has made me want to improve a lot more in my animation, I have improved a lot but I want to keep going when I leave this class.

9. How could this class be improved?
I really wish we did more group projects. Especially on the 3D shorts. It would be a lot of fun to work together with others and we could get out projects done a lot faster they'd come out amazing if everyone did a part of the project.

10. Additional comments:
I am going to admit it, this year was very rough for me. Balancing both schoolwork and animation and other things at home. I am a way different person than I was at the beginning of the year. But the last thing I wanted to do was give up, I still really, really want to pursue animation. And I want to keep getting better at it. And I believe this class will help me in the future so I want to keep doing it. I can't see myself doing anything else. This was one of the hardest years I've experienced, but I made it through the whole year. And I couldn't ask for better classmates either. They're all very helpful and friendly :)

here's another reason why pets are awesome

things learned:

• adding a pet to your character can make them seem more fresh and original
• even villains seem more interesting if they own a pet
• pets could also advance the plot of the story in different ways bc of they antics.

opinions:

• I hope when people are making their oc's they don't think of adding a pet as a way to make their character immediately interesting, but as an actual useful addition to the plot
• If there's an animal in whatever I'm watching I only care about that animal and if it lives or not. 

question: Can a pet also be a character on its own and not just a part of a main character?

weekly comments 5/17

learned:

I knew at some point I would run into a problem during my animation because things seemed to go smoothly and that didn't seem right to me. Well yay something happened.

want to learn:

there isn't much to learn at this time in the year. I guess now I'd like to work on making my resume look cool.

something frustrating:

Frustrating is an understatement. The thing happened to my audio and its completely messed up no matter what I do to try and fix it. Believe me I've tried everything. The audio tracks were fine and then all the sudden they start going out of synch. Its too late to do anything about it now.

something nice:

The trig course is over and now all thats left is review. and my pool is open now and thats all i care about.

check out this link yo:

http://vimeo.com/90252137

she uses these gloves and they help her make music on the computer. I know its not animation related but u could see how they could be used to help with certain animations.

anatomy in videogames

things learned:

• Psychologists believe that we subconsciously observe the size and location of shapes when we're looking at an object.
• The process of creating gollum from the hobbit was similar to forensic facial reconstruction because of how complex and rooted the design was.
• people can be more attached and believe a character more if a character has more familiar features.

opinions:

• it's amazing how far they've come with character design. And games are more enjoyable because of how similar characters look to us.
• I think they should maintain some imagination to the way characters look, if a character looked too perfect to humans it would seem too real to me

question: I love character design and creating myself. Is there a job where I can do that?

cartoonists on youtube

things learned:

• Youtube offers more creative freedom for animators
• Animators on youtube don't have to worry about deadlines, contracts, advertisement abandonment, and censorship like television animators need to think about.
• Cartoons on youtube also appeal more to adults and young adults 

opinions:

• I really like that cartoonists have more freedom on youtube because thats what they need to do, express themselves. And the success of some channels proves that people doing cartoons for youtube is successful as having it on TV. 
• I think it's also a good way to reach people. A lot of people are on the internet and they're always connected, so people can get noticed easier and build a fan base.

question: Does this mean that television cartoons will get less popular?

weekly comments 5/11

I learned that now its more important than ever to balance regular school and animation class because its so close to the end of the year. Which sucks because it puts a lot more stress on a lot of students but I hope everyone hangs in there.

I hope that I'll be able to finish my project, very bad.

Something nice this week was completing some artwork to put in my portfolio cause I never really complete anything--I've never had to.

Something frustrating is how much I've been procrastinating on some tasks. Even really simple things like doing laundry and cleaning my room :p

check out this link:

An anime style opening for super smash bros made by a 16 year old kid and yeah I'm super jealous. Although anime isn't my style, this person's skills are amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3KUZVkco4g

weekly comments 5/4

Things learned:

I knew that at some point I was going to have to do lip synching using my own voice this year. Even though I don't think my voice is voice acting material, its fun for practice.

What I want to learn:

I hope by the end of this month I'll be able to make improvements to all the animations I didn't finish. I guess my skills have improved a lot since last year.

Something that made me happy this week:

I guess it's lame to be happy about trig quizzes but I actually understood what was happening this week and i think I actually got a nice grade. I also finally had time to work on my project at home and I got a nice amount done in a day. I still have lip synching to do though. 

Something frustrating:

I don't know about finishing my project because of how fast I'm working so far. I'm getting about 2 scenes done in one class period and the drawing is taking up a lot of my time. And there's still lip synching to do. I guess I'm going to have to pull a couple of all nighters if I ever want to finish this. 

ay check out this link:

It's an animated short about selfie addiction!

http://animationart.tumblr.com/post/84249404881/once-upon-a-amber-ren

*annoying hipster voice* UGH, thats so cliché

things learned:

• A lot of films are seen at film festivals. And a lot of those films share the same qualities. They are used to much that they've become a cliché.
• These clichés range from clowns to cannibalism. It's hard to believe these are overused because I've never heard of these kinds of films. But thats probably because I've never been to a film festival in my life.
• Post Apocalyptic is another one. Everyone has their own theory on how the world will be destroyed and what it'll look like after. Like, everyone. So I kind of agree that it has become a cliché.

opinions:

• I can't tell if this is article is for constructive criticism or they're just listing overused clichés. 
• This article should have something in there about encouraging film makers to go outside the box and create something different. ENCOURAGE THEM. Don't just list clichés and say, "Don't to this", "we've seen this too much and its become boring". It's all about making them want to create something different and achieve higher success,  not feel bad about what they've already done. 

question: I didn't know short films were allowed to be more than 40 mins long. How long is too long?

pixar makes painterly CG: its totally awesome

The video was the first thing I watched and thankfully in the article, the new texturing technique was explained a lot better.

learned:

• Artists can paint 2D illustrations over some frames in an animation, and the frames between will be done themselves while maintaining the same style as the other frames.
• The changing of styles is unclear to whether it's a step backward or step forward using traditional paintings instead of photorealism.
• The painting is put on top of the animation and it doesn't change the animation at all, because it was already created. It just makes it look cooler.

opinions:

• I love this new technique, and its similar to the one they used when making the short Paperman which I'm crazy about. But what I love most is that it combines the work of animators and painters and illustrators and any other kind of 2D art to be used. I think it's because I'm more of a 2D illustrator myself, and I would like to explore 3D animation more but there's a way to combine both, thats why I like it so much.
• I like this new technique and I hope a lot of people can start using it soon. But I don't want them to stop doing photorealism because thats what people like the most about animation, some shots look so realistic but more polished and defined. It's amazing that it can be created.

question:

Is it a long process? does it make rendering take longer?

opinion on 3D character generator

I could see why people would think this is cheating, but people need to think about how much time it takes to create their own rig. I think this character generator is brilliant for people who just want to do purely animation instead of creating characters. They can use these ready to animate rigs and learn how it works and experiment with animating it. I would rather use these for the kinds of characters you put in the background of a scene instead of using it as a main character.

It is also greatly useful for beginning animators. There's people that just want to do animation and instead of creating animated characters, just like there's people who create 3D characters instead of animating. And it's available for free for students and educators so obviously it can be used for people trying to learn 3D animation. I haven't looked at the actual character generator but it looks like it includes many different body types and even more hair, eye, and skin colors. But all in all I think its very helpful for people who want to learn and practice animation skills. They have a character ready for them and don't have to spend hours making their own character

directing comedy

What I learned:

• At certain times in comedy you've gone too far with jokes and have lost the audience. Or the joke wasn't expanded enough and it only ends being a little funny. 
• Great comedies have drama at its core. It's not just purely comedic situations, it's making light out of a serious situation that viewers can connect with. 
• Your film won't look perfect until you're finished editing. So until then you don't really know what your film looks like

thoughts:

• I saw Grown Ups 2 I probably watched about 30mins of the film and I still had no idea what the plot was, or if there really was a plot. I think they could've done a good job if there was an actual serious plot involved and not just comedy the entire way through and some jokes weren't funny at all.
• Some of these 'commandments' don't work for everyone since some people find different things funny 

question:

do you have to write a funny script or can some parts be improvised?

lighting tipz

What I learned:

• actual Legos were not used in the Lego movie so they had to make the lego brick as realistic as possible in animation. Even making them sticky with hair and dust and some having thumb and finger prints on them
• they created scenes with actual lego pieces figured out what kind of lighting they should use in the movie
• the first shot won't always look the way you want. they worked hours on the first shot's lighting and then decided they needed to try a different approach

thoughts:

• In the very last paragraph, when he states "There's always a terrifying when you can't imagine how a film will get done, and we certainly went through that on film", I can understand what he means. In every project you're trying to get done, there's so many things you have to get past to finish it. 
• these tips are very important and should be taken into consideration bc they worked tirelessly on this film and it turned out spectacular. 

how long have they been working the lighting of this movie? 

Weekly comments 3/1

what I learned:

• Friday we learned about bones and joints and it was a nice break from doing maya all the time. I also learned that I have way too much schoolwork to do and i haven't been able to do any of my animation at home yet

what I want to learn:

• I want to learn how to make a realistic tree with leaves and everything in maya. the last couple days i've just been putting a bunch of spheres on a cylinder and it looks silly 

something nice this week:

• i went to this really cute store that has a huge cozy knitting section at the back of the store and they also have knitting classes and open knitting too, aw yeah. I also saw The Lego Movie and it was amazing!!!!!!! Chris Pratt and Charlie Day are two of my favorite actors and they both starred in it, which was perfect. 

something blah:

• Just recently I lost my flash drive and that was totally my fault cause i just put it in my jacket pocket and not anywhere safer. Maybe I left it at school hopefully!!!! Also I've been sucking badly at trig and getting bad grades. I've missed English a lot lately and as a result I have no idea what The Great Gatsby is about so I'm getting not so good grades in there too. 

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cool link:

http://www.3dtutorialzone.com/tutorial?id=99

it shows you who to edit a pivot point so you can rotate thing at a certain area wooooooo

no more using film to release a movie for THIS studio

Things learned:

• Anchorman 2 will be the last movie Paramount Pictures are releasing on film.
• The newest film, The Wolf of Wall Street will be the first film released digitally, for the past 120 years film has been the format of choice for theatre presentations
• The digital format will also make it easier movie theaters to screen a 3D film, and most films these days are released in 3D.

Opinions:

• I think its great they're going digital, it seems easier and less expensive 
• Some small town theaters don't have the equipment to present digital films and they don't have the funds to buy them

Question: Why has it taken 15 years to make this move to digital from film?

Weekly comments 1/26

learned:

This week I was mostly getting caught up on my maya tutorials, I have yet to download maya (I will very soon). It's a lot more difficult than i thought it was! But I'm getting used to it more everyday so yay to that.

I want to learn:

I want to do more modeling, it seems really cool and I kinda sucked on the egg thing so I want to get better at it.

something cOOl:

My birthday was this week, woo. I also got myself a new game, assassins creed: liberation hd and I was reallly excited to play a female assassin. The game's a lot shorter than the other AC games and theres no side quests in it as far as I know but it's really fun . Only annoying part is the bad french accents…like really, really bad. I thought my 2D short was going to get a worse grade than I thought but it was actually WAY better so I'm happy about that too.

something frustrating:

I'm like 1 day behind everyone with finishing the tutorials and getting to the anibot thing. I'd really, really love to read my book that I've been trying to catch up on but there's too much work to do.

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link of interest:

it's not a super fascinating link but this is for creating text in maya !!!!!!

http://www.3dtutorialzone.com/tutorial?id=65