End of year deadline!

DEADLINE FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS: 

FRIDAY, APRIL 20th, 2012 at Midnight

all files must be submitted via our 

FTP or the shared DROPBOX file for your class

Please check that:

• your name is on all your files (first initial, last name, underscore, project name, underscore, iteration.filetype) ex, tdonovan_tapdancing_012.avi
• your images or videos are a decent size - not too big or too small, or weirdly proportioned. Good settings are: 720p (1280×720 pixels) or 1/2 that size, (640 x 360). 
• you save a standard filetype that can be opened in QT or any picture viewer: .avi, .mov, .mpeg4, .jpg, .png, .tga, .tif. (NOT .flv, .swf, wmv, .psd) 
• you used a standard codec -- by far the best is H.264
• ask me if you have any questions!

Good Luck!

WEEK 14: Animation Direction 2: Final Compositing

Can it be your last week already?

This week we're in Room 510 so you can work in AfterEffects. I'll be available to help people who need it. Please let me know if you need to book any last-minute reshoots. I'm still missing some milestones from some people. Please send me via FTP any missing parts asap. My final marks are due on April 24th.

We'll be screening everybody's work, finished or not, at our final class next week. It will be in 515.


We'll take the first few minutes to get set up and save everyone's work onto the desktop.
Please save your final project as an AVI, an MOV, or MPEG4.


Take a look at the wide variety of creative styles coming from your class! It's really exciting to see them all coming together.

WEEK 14: Character Acting 2: Acting scene, continued: Adding the final details

Lessons in simplicity from the Muppets

The eyes add a huge amount of subtle character.

We'll have a look at your work in progress which should include all major poses, breakdowns, and important facial keys.

Moving on to your third and final stage before next week's critique -

Step Three: Refining the action, adding the details.
Due in class & on FTP 04/18/12

Now's the time to dig into the details like eye blinks and darts, adding overlapping action, any bend bows or smears on the head, arms, and hands, and yes, finally, mouth shapes.

I have a lot of information for you about animating dialogue from masters of animation like Ollie Johnson and Art Babbit.

I recommend you read Richard William's chapter on 'Flexibility in the face' 246-250

WEEK 14: Modeling and Animation II - WIP critique and work period

We'll continue our discussion about 2D walks and have a look at how everyone's work is going so far. You will have some time to work in class on the final assignment which is due April 18th.

I highly recommend you map out your entire project by keying all the major poses before digging into the breakdowns and inbetweens. If you run out of time, focus on taking one section to completion. "Complete" means all the animation is finished on 2's. You can have holds, moving holds, and cycles, but the action should all be smooth and the volumes as consistent as possible.

I will be going over your WIP to find areas of improvement in the timing and spacing, emphasizing all the principles of animation we've been focusing on.

But there's always time for cartoons!

We'll have a look at a highly creative piece by Sjors Vervoort called, “Cardboard, a Cardboard animation!” While often mislabeled 'stop motion', this piece is really just traditional, hand-drawn animation but rendered on epic-sized cardboard cutouts as you can see from the 'making of' still below. If you ever find yourself thinking Flash is a pain, remember this film and think how much work it would be to create!