AM's 2008 Summer Showcase Reel

It's up and posted over on AnimationMentor.com
Go Check it out.... Cause it is AWESOME!!!
I just hope that I can be so talented one day ;)


http://www.animationmentor.com/quicktime/summer08showcase/


Enjoy!

How's it going Net???

Hey Everybody!
Some good friends of mine were recently giving me a hard time about not keeping up my blog... So here it is... a new post... Tada!!!!
This is, or was I should say, my progress reel for my second class at AnimationMentor.com
Class Two for me was quite a difficult time. I had trouble finding the time to devote to AM...and it shows in the reel too. I have learned a terrific lesson from my time spent struggling though... and that is to really... no, I mean REALLY... concentrate on your planning first. I had gotten to the point that when I got behind on the 1st assignment(freelance worked picked up and an expected cold/flu)...then the planning for the 2nd assignment suffered... then I got behind on that assignment (because the initial planning was crappy and I had to redo stuff)... so by the time that the 3rd assignment rolled around... again I cut short the planning... and it looks the worst of all the assignments...

Lesson learned though... So far I've taken a lot more time to do the initial planning and it has helped me along so much... I'm further along now in class three than I've ever been... and who knows... I might actually be able to go into an actual refining stage with this one *grin*
Nothing to show yet for class 3, but like I mentioned... I'm able now to try out my skills on stuff like overlapping action and follow through and nice arcs... oh and spacing... I've rather sucked at spacing so far in the past... so we'll see how it goes... wish me luck aye!!!

Here's the link to the class 2 reel on YouTube



I had trouble uploading it... the audio is supposed to be all under the first animation... the 180 'turn around'... but I'm tired of fusing with it... and it's not like I don't have other stuff to do *grin*

Till next post... Cheers!
~Net

AM Class One Progress Reel

Hey Everybody... things are fabulous for me... and I hope that they are fabulous for you too!
So I have recently finished up class one at AM... as you may have noticed with the posting of many of AM'ers recently to YouTube and the like.

So this posting is all about Progress... I recently, just this past weekend on my break from AM, have gone through a lot of my old photographs and videos, etc.... and I came upon Gold, pure Gold!!! I found some of my old animations that I had done when I was at SCAD... and they are soooo crappy.... it's just some amazing fun!!! I totally wouldn't want to post this stuff normally... but ... it will give all y'all out there a great comparison... and let you know just how great AM really is... and remember... this is only with the completion of class one for me :D



I did get a very small bit, I'm talking small amount here... better by the time that I left SCAD. My reel ended up looking better than this playblast because I learned a little about modeling and lighting... and I know enough about composition and editing to hide my mistakes... at least some of them *grin*... so here again was my final reel from SCAD...




And now... what you've been waiting for.... my reel from AM!!!




Now as a disclaimer... of course there are mistakes,

(and of course YouTube adds in it's own new mistakes...I've noticed this a lot with the bouncing ball assignments... often it will look like the animators never let the ball hit the ground in some spots... but it's just bad YouTube... I think that by the end of time at AM I will figure out how to post better quality video to my own site... for sure!!! But I guess that YouTube will do for now...)

And of course these samples have not been lit, or rendered... they are just a string of playblasts linked together...nothing fancy... but the animation itself... tons better... tons better *grin*

It's Week 9 already!!!!

Wow... I can't believe that it's week Nine already. Time has been passing by quickly... like a task that you love... like playing outside in the summer... you don't want the day to come to an end!
It's been a lot of hard work... but I think that I have been reaping the rewards. I'm getting a little better with each assignment. Getting a little bit more comfortable with the flow of things.
I wouldn't say that I've gotten the flow absolutely figured out yet... That's my big challenge at the present... and really for the upcoming assignment this week. We are on the 2nd week of trying to get Ballie to walk(the character that looks like a ball with legs, no arms or face) So just this previous week we had to make him walk 48 frames, 2 full cycles, just in stepped mode.
So you may be wondering what 'Stepped Mode' is... well, I'm trying to figure all of tis out too *grin* A pretty good internet resource on the topic is http://www.navone.org/ This would be the website of Victor Navone... who works at a small company you may have heard of, Pixar :D... and he teaches at AM!!! I have to admit... I've really enjoyed watching his critiques... he's really, really good at it... very thorough... He was one of the first mentors to give an e-critique for the 11 second club... you can check them out here.
My time spent in the blogging world has slowed tremendously as many others before me... if I have extra time, I'v been spending it within the virtual walls of AM... it's a great place... there are forums to check out, chat rooms, and buddy lists, e-critiques to watch, workspaces to visit, and critiques for me to give on friends Public Review spaces. It is very immersive... and it's to the degree that you want it to be... So I am sure that you will understand my lack of frequent posts... I am soaking up as much AM as I possible can... while I have the time to bask in it's glory *grin* (Actually, Alumni get to hang out there on the AM site in their own area as well...and in the forum areas too... but I'll still drop into the blog once and a while in the future... when I'm a rich and famous alumni of AM that is *grin*) I will post up some of my work as soon as I can... but most likely not until after week 11 or 12 of the class one that I'm in now.
I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Shawn Kelly, co-founder of AM and awesome ILM animator, on a VES award! And the Pixar family for taking home the Oscar this time! Go Team!
And I'd like to thank all of the AM community for helping me in my journey to become an animator... your help has been priceless! As we say in the south... Y'all ROCK!!!

take care of yourselves!!!... till next time

Cheers!

~Net