WEEK 2: Game Dev 2 DESN2017 Assignment 1: Run Cycle Due Next Week!

Great news! Animation Mentor has granted George Brown students permission to use the Stewart Rig provided you:
1) Properly accredit the Stewart rig in their work, as defined in the terms of use.
2) Do not re-post or share the Stewart rig -- in other words, each student must download the rig directly from the Animation Mentor site.

Here's the link!
http://www.animationmentor.com/free-maya-rig/

Continuing with run cycles - here's a good place to read up on runs:
Richard Williams' "Animator's Survival Kit" pgs 176 - 200

Please do NOT use bad reference from the Internet such as AngryAnimator or Anime. Even the helpful Preston Blair is confusing to students - don't copy his drawings, they are too stylized for a normal run. Only source information from battle-tested, quality animators with high-end experience. 90% of the information online on animation is not usable at this level.

Digital Tutors has a great tutorial on runs but I will caution you it veers into territory you do not want to focus on for this cycle such as character sets, scripting for mirroring poses, and editing rotation order. You can learn these if you want but I want you to focus on just animating great poses with great timing using great reference.

http://www.digitaltutors.com/lesson/25052-Introduction-and-project-overview

This is one of the nicest game reels around - and for good reason, it belongs to Jonathan Cooper, Ubisoft Montreal's Animation Director on Assassin’s Creed III. Some killer realistic runs here:

Jonathan Cooper Demo Reel 2013 from Jonathan Cooper on Vimeo.

WEEK 2: Asset Dev 2 DESN1086 Milestone 1: Character Concept Due Week 4

You still have a couple of weeks to complete your first milestone: Character Concept.
If I were you I would aim to have completed my bio and thumbnails by this week to give me another 2 weeks to complete the revised thumbs, and rough in the sketch for the final.

Bear in mind that you will be animating this character so be ready to simplify the detail.

Here are some great resources we looked at in class and a link to a general beginning course in Digital Tutors.

Happy sketching!

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1052-Beginners-Guide-to-Concept-Sketching

WEEK 2: Game Project Dev 4 DESN3012 First Milestone Due Next Week!

Milestone 1 is due in class next week. Late projects will not be marked.
Please verify all naming conventions and formats so you don't lose marks for simple errors.

Progression from Horton Hears A Who -
from reference to blocking to animation to final

By today you should have finished all your rough animation so you can spend the last week adding details like facial animation, fingers and overlapping action.

Please check in with me so I can tell you where to focus your energy to get the best results for this assignment.

Please remember your project must be approved in order to receive a grade.

This is an excellent example of a scene progression from Blue Sky's Jeff Gabor:

Here's an idea for an upcoming project - a contest for aspiring animators - short animation ID's wanted for "Catsuka" is a bi-monthly French animation show. "...best new idents will be selected - 5 and 10 seconds maximum, 1920x1080 HD resolution, on white background" - check out details and examples. Some really great short actions: http://www.catsuka.com/nolife/habillage/

Here's one example but there are a ton more on their site:

Catsuka on Nolife TV channel - Ident by Merwan Chabane from Catsuka on Vimeo.

WEEK 1: Game Dev 2 DESN2017 Assignment 1: Run Cycle Due Week 3

Welcome to Game Dev 2!
Please remember to sign in at each class.
This is a portfolio-building class in which you create a series of increasingly complex models. Use your time productively so you don't fall behind or distract students around you. You will not be permitted to use this lab for gaming or web surfing except at designated breaks.

Your grade will be the cumulative total of 5 assignments DUE IN CLASS.
These assignments are due:
WEEK 3, 6, 9, 12, 15

Assignment 1:  Run Cycle
Value: 20%
DUE DATE: WEEK 3 Jan 24th  @ BEGINNING OF CLASS on BLACKBOARD

* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks. 

BRIEF:

Create a looping run cycle. 

Using the Eleven rig, create a run cycle animation for a bi-ped. The character should run with urgency as if being pursued or conversely being chased. Secondary animations a broad range of movements and timing are encouraged to add life to the character.

SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING:

A) Thumbnails of key poses – minimum 6 key poses
B) Video file of 3D run cycle
C) Character Bio – A written summary of your character. Consider his/her backstory, motivation,
abilities, appearance etc.

REQUIREMENTS:

Filename: 

DESN2017_A1_YOURNAME_thumbnails (.jpg file) 

DESN2017_A1_YOURNAME_runcycle (.mov file)
DESN2017_A1_YOURNAME_bio (.doc or .pdf file)

EX -
DESN2017_A1_BIEBERJUSTIN_thumbnails.jpg  (last name first, please!)

DUE DATE

SUBMIT TO BLACKBOARD WEEK 3 IN CLASS

Please compress all images and videos to keep them small using the following guidelines:

Videos:
Quicktimes, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Handbrake, Adobe Media Encoder, Quicktime Pro and more to format your videos. I use the 11-second club guidelines for all submissions:
http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

Images:
JPGs between 500-1200 pixels along longest edge, 72-300 dpi/ppi, max 5MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Photoshop, Gimp, and online programs to compress files.

Text:
.Doc or .Pdf

Sample Rubric for all assignments:

WEEK 1: Asset Dev 2 DESN1086 Milestone 1: Character Concept Due Week 4

Welcome to Asset Dev 2!
Please remember to sign in at each class.
This is a portfolio-building class in which you create your own character design and animate it in 2D! Also you will be building a simple 3D prop model for your character. Use your time productively so you don't fall behind or distract students around you. You will not be permitted to use this lab for gaming or web surfing except at designated breaks.

Your grade will be the cumulative total of 5 assignments DUE IN CLASS, each worth 20%.
These assignments are due:
WEEK 4, 7, 10, 13, and 15

All the assignments are your own choice but must be approved by me to receive a grade.

Assignment 1:  Character Concept. Value: 20%
DUE DATE: WEEK 4 Jan 30th @ BEGINNING OF CLASS on BLACKBOARD

* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.

CLICK HERE for the PDF for this assignment
CLICK HERE for the PSD template

This is a 5-part assignment:

SUBMIT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:

A) Thumbnails – minimum 6 thumbnail sketches

B) Revised Thumbnails – minimum 3 revised thumbnail sketches

C) Revised Sketch – minimum 1 refined sketch

D) Final Concept – final render

E) Character Bio – A written summary of your character. Consider his/her backstory, motivation,

abilities, appearance etc.

FILE NAMING:

1086_A1_YOUR-NAME_thumbs.jpg

1086_A1_YOUR-NAME_revthumbs.jpg

1086_A1_YOUR-NAME_revsketch.jpg

1086_A1_YOUR-NAME_final.jpg

1086_A1_YOUR-NAME_bio.doc or .PDF

Ex - 1086_A1_BEIBER-JUSTIN_thumbs.jpg

Format:

Traditional (ie pen & ink, markers, paints etc)

Digital 2D art (Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter etc)

150 dpi, 800 pixels x 1200 pixels, .jpg

Landscape orientation

Character bio submitted as MS Word document or PDF.

When working digitally, work in a minimum resolution of 300dpi. Use of references such as

photographs and 3D models are encouraged but final art must be your own and must deviate

substantially from the references used to be considered original content.

Use the character template provided to present your artwork and include the following information:

Project Title

Artist: your name

Character’s name

Date: month, day, year of submission

WEEK 1: Game Project Dev 4 DESN3012 Milestone 1 due Week 3

Welcome to Game Project Dev 4!
Please remember to sign in at each class.
This is a portfolio-building class that will give you time to complete your own pieces and to get feedback from industry pros. You could find yourself working on a game here at school or in the industry.
This class is strictly a work period and no lectures or formal instruction will be given aside from one-on-one critiques. Use your time productively so you don't fall behind or distract students around you. You will not be permitted to use this lab for gaming or web surfing except at designated breaks.

Your grade will be the cumulative total of 5 assignments DUE IN CLASS, each worth 20%.
These assignments are due:
WEEK 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15

All the assignments are your own choice but must be approved by me to receive a grade.

Milestone 1:  ex 5-10 second piece of animation. Value: 20%
DUE DATE: WEEK 3 Jan 23rd @ BEGINNING OF CLASS on BLACKBOARD

* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.
It is recommended that you show work in progress next week so you can spend the following week on revisions and polish. Playbasts are fine. No rendering required.

FILE NAMING:

3012_ m1_lastnamefirstinitial_001.mov 
ex: 3012_m1_donovant.mov

Please read my post about file sizes, aspect ratios and codecs. We will go over this in class.

What types of pieces should you create? Well, SHORT ONES. Keep it simple. You should animate 20-30 short pieces over the year or two if you can for practice and expand on the ones you like best. By the end of term you should have 5 pieces of 5-10 second of animation or concept work.

some great ideas to get you started. 

Think ahead to what you would like to put on your demo reel. What makes a good demo reel?
2 big things: brevity & quality.
Avoid obvious n00b mistakes like having obnoxious content or a style so niche that would only appeal to one tiny studio. The rest is common sense -
-keep it short 30-90 seconds MAX - <2 min if you're a professional.
-only show your best work - be ruthless and cut everything that doesn't quite work
-make each character unique in their movements and personality
-try to find new rigs
-show your range

More advice here:
http://www.animation-addicts.com/2012/12/17/the-perfect-reel/

Welcome back! Game Dev 4 3012, Asset Dev 2 1086, and Game Project Dev 2017

Welcome back!! 

Think of all the great 70's TV you millennials missed. 

I have 4 courses this term - all on Thursdays in 503 or 503 and one on Friday in 603 from 12-3. If you need to ask me a question, feel free to drop by.

My email is tdonovan@georgebrown.ca

Please include your email in the text of the message as I will only see your name and there may be a delay while I look up your address.

Please sign in at each class with your working email address. I track attendance and look forward to reading any comments you may have throughout the course.

All the outlines are linked off the Outlines tab.

The Help form is for urgent questions. These get forwarded to my email directly. 

Please familiarize yourself with all the hand-in parameters including file naming conventions, formats, and size limits. I am pretty strict on these things. All projects will be handed in to Blackboard this term. No late projects will be accepted without prior approval. Always ask BEFORE the deadline if you expect your project to be late due to serious unforeseen circumstances.  

Looking forward to our term! 

WEEK 15: All assignments due in class this week

Motion Studies - your blended cycles are due

Asset Dev - your turntables are due  http://blog.digitaltutors.com/modeling-quads-triangles-use/

Game Dev - your final animation is due

Hooray, you're done! 

Happy holidays to all my students! This is one of the funniest Christmas toons from one of my favorite studios: BirdBox. Their stuff is the epitome of simple, snappy timing and loads of appeal. 

WEEK 14: Asset Development 1 DESN1083: Assignment 4 due next week!

One week left to go!
Please let me know if you have any questions about your marks for your last assignment.

By now many of you have figured out how to animate a basic turntable in 3dsMax. I'm sure you know where to get great tutorials to help with lighting and rendering as well. In case you're still not sure, here are a few that might help:

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/539-Beginners-Guide-to-3ds-Max
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/858-Introduction-to-Lighting-in-3ds-Max
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/348-Introduction-to-Rendering-in-3ds-Max

Models by Don Toledo, Silicon Knights

WEEK 14: Game Project Development DESN 3010: Milestone 5 roughs due today!

One week left to go!

I look forward to seeing your planning material for your last project which is due next week.

Here's some great advice from a Sony Imageworks animator, Matt Munn, on bridging the gap between being a student and being a professional.  Here are some of his key points:

• remember you're not alone :)
• get feedback - many senior people are willing to share their expertise with you
• collaborate - work with your fellow team members to get the best performances
• stay passionate about your work!

Here's a sampler of Matt's animation from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs