The Art of Animation:Master

[Rodney]

There are a lot more things identified to move on to after completing the exercises in The Art of Animation:Master. With the help of other alumni we'll keep adding and identifying more things that are optimum for moving on to after Exercise 19.

 

There are of course the Miscellaneous videos that are just below the exercises on the video tutorial page.

 

There are a few links and some information on The 'annotated' Art of Animation:Master discussion. Sorry to say I haven't been able to make it what it needs to be.

 

... and definitely don't forget that completing the exercises automatically makes you eligible to throw your hat in the Apprenticeship Program should you so desire.

David Rogers maintains the list of authorized Mentors and a list of people desiring to apprentice. From what I hear there is some outstanding work being produced via the Apprenticeship Program. Can't wait to see it.

 

Once again, Congrats go out to Mike and Mark!

I'll try to post your certificates by close of business today.

[PF_Mark]

There are a lot more things identified to move on to after completing the exercises in The Art of Animation:Master. With the help of other alumni we'll keep adding and identifying more things that are optimum for moving on to after Exercise 19.

 

There are of course the Miscellaneous videos that are just below the exercises on the video tutorial page.

 

There are a few links and some information on The 'annotated' Art of Animation:Master discussion. Sorry to say I haven't been able to make it what it needs to be.

 

... and definitely don't forget that completing the exercises automatically makes you eligible to throw your hat in the Apprenticeship Program should you so desire.

David Rogers maintains the list of authorized Mentors and a list of people desiring to apprentice. From what I hear there is some outstanding work being produced via the Apprenticeship Program. Can't wait to see it.

 

Once again, Congrats go out to Mike and Mark!

I'll try to post your certificates by close of business today.

Like Mike said he has some exames to study for and I need to take care of some Xmas stuff but after that is done say new year whats stopping us from creating the next step from The Art of Animation Master? I think that we could use the tutorials and having some original work in between. Ok thinking out loud but what if we decided on another tutorial then a completly original animation using what we learned from that tutoral to creat then another tutiorl etc. Or we go back to the beginning and to a TAoAM advance were we redo everthing but the requirement is we do not copy the tutorial we use what is learned in a original animation.

 

So tell us more about this Apprenticeship Program Rodney first I have heard about it?

 

and the complection date is Nov 25 2004

[Rodney]

Mark,

To be honest, I don't know a lot about the Apprenticeship Program.

 

Here is the genesis of the idea courtesy of David Rogers and the Fellows.

 

Apprentices and Mentors

 

Look in the discussion for two ideas in particular that could effect you. Specifically, that one of the minimum requirements to be an apprentice is completing the exercises in TAOA:M and the other that David Rogers maintains lists of apprentices and mentors and matches them up from time to time.

 

Other than that I don't know a whole lot.

[Willog]

A big well done to Mark and Mike, you both worked off each other really well.

I haven't posted much here lately as my Laptop is dead and has gone for repair so I am using my main puter which I have had to bring back to the house from my art studio. Anyways I have also been trying to get to know a bit of website design so that I could make my own. I have started to get the site populated and have posted my Animation Master tutorial exercises there so to save me uploading to the forum and using up forum bandwidth it may be a bit better for me to ask you guys to take a look there.

The url is http://www.bill.moore.dsl.pipex.com/

 

If you navigate to the tutorials via the animation link at the top of the page you should get to see my work so far.

 

Anyways it's real nice to be back and hope to soon be with the likes of Mike and Mark and getting on with some home brew stuff :-)

 

Cheers n Beers

 

Bill

[hypnomike]

Hey Bill, you are storming through the exercises!

 

Your take on the door's stuck is the best I've seen so far!

 

As you progress remember the little points you pick up along the way, for example in your door's stuck Shaggy blinks. Add the blinks to your "say that" exercise and see the difference it makes.

 

We can only post up to 1 meg on the site without using links.

 

So that you get some feedback I'd advise you to say when you finish each exercise and put an individual link on your post.

 

You may know how to do this but I'll tell you anyway.

 

Visit your website and right click on the animation you want to link.

 

Click on properties, highlight the address and copy it.

 

Do your post and paste the link into your message.

 

Your lowres "door's stuck" can be found at http://www.bill.moore.dsl.pipex.com/Art/im...kdoor_small.mov

 

Hope this info helps.

 

BTW, nice website your building there.

 

Cheers.

 

Mike

[racreel]

Exercise 7, say that.

saythat2.mov

[Willog]

Hey Racreel ... I like it, especially the waving tail. like most cats they tend to wave the tail slow like that when they are angry, so a nice choice in my view.

 

Bill

[PF_Mark]

A big well done to Mark and Mike, you both worked off each other really well.

Thanks Willog I hope to continue the fun. I really liked your "The door is stuck Animation. I thought it was really funny and well done

[Rodney]

I think I've linked this one before, but back in 2001 when The Art of Animation:Master was just in the idea stage and the 2001 Rig... well... was inaugurated, there were a few brave animators that took the "It's a Pitch" theme and ran with it.

 

Good for inspiration, study and viewing pleasure.

 

Bat Swing and Ball Throw - Feburary 2001 Animation Contest

 

One might even be able borrow a prop or two if you wish to expand on the "It's a Pitch" theme.

 

Thanks to all those old Masters that provided thier project files for everyone to study. *Note: Not all projects contain all images and props. Some are not compatible with v10 and up as well (I think). But the movies can still be seen.

[Willog]

Wow !!! some eally nice inspiration to go from on those movies Rodney, I think when I have done a few more exercises I may well go back over the whole 'Art of Animation' exercises and do a sort of retake on them and taking more time to perfect some of the areas I haven't dwelt on for quite long enough.

 

Thanks for the kind comments Mark and Mike, just hope we don't lose you from here now that you've both sort of graduated :-)

 

The one thing that this forum acheives big time is the gradual development of ones ability to look deeper into a small piece of action, and develop it into something different. I guess the 'Door's Stuck' and 'It's a Pitch' are great examples of this.

 

I think you could say that 'Every curve is a learning curve' and I aim to enjoy all the curves I make :-)

 

Bill

[racreel]

Hey Racreel ...  I like it, especially the waving tail. like most cats they tend to wave the tail slow like that when they are angry, so a nice choice in my view.

 

Bill

Thanks Bill!

We have two cats, so I see that alot.

 

Richard

[Rodney]

Just a note to Mike and Mark.

Finishing up your certificates but got distracted working on v12 CD content.

Personalizing the certificates is important (to me)... otherwise I would have just posted them already.

 

It's a good cause... so please forgive!

[Rodney]

I should also note that we've lost a few spliners along the way!

 

Christina, D Piat, Hutch, Pengy, Doug H... (who am I forgetting) where are you? Was it something I said?

 

You are missed.

[hypnomike]

Hey racreel!

 

I echo Bill's remarks, great work on "Say That".

 

Rodney, no problems with the delay, if we don't have patience we've sure picked the wrong hobby.

 

I should also note that we've lost a few spliners along the way

 

Do you mean lost altogether or from the begginers section?

 

I come across Pengy and Hutch in some of the other forums but it's been a long time since I've noticed D Piat.

 

Ah well, must be off now, power point exam coming soon, see you later.

 

Mike

[Hutch]

Haha, sorry to abandon you Rodney. I just moved on to my own thing. I may return to do some more exercises if I get stuck. It wasn't anything you said

[racreel]

Exercise 8, custom sedan with neon side strips.

 

Richard

[hypnomike]

Cool sidestripes Richard.

[Rodney]

Thanks for checking in Hutch. I know everyone is busy these days.

I see Pengy all the time in #hash3d but thought I should give everyone a hard time (and the puppy dog teary eye-thing) to let them know they are missed.

 

Just trying to keep everyone in the game.

[Rodney]

Richard,

As Mike said nice touch on the car tutorial.

Those are some serious tires too.

 

Now that we have animated distortion cages we may need to add on to that exercise and make that car burn it's tires and tear off down the road.

[racreel]

Now that we have animated distortion cages we may need to add on to that exercise and make that car burn it's tires and tear off down the road.

I thought about adding some tire smoke, but decided to wait for the "Smoke, Wind, and Fire" tutorial.

 

Here's exercise 9, flowerpower, with some animation.

 

Richard

flower.mov

[Reikster]

I'm checking back in too

 

hehe...I'm still working on Ex. 4.....modelling something a bit too much, I think :-/

 

anyways, also animating a little short with Thom at Cornell too, have maybe 10% done.

 

I bought a nostromo n52 accessory pad thingy. I really didn't want to remap all of the keyboard just so I could all of the major hotkeys for a particular usage right at my fingertips so this really comes in handy.

 

Right now I've got it set as:

[camera] [front]

[top][play]

[back keyframe][back frame][ahead frame][ahead keyframe]

 

along with one button set as shift and another set up to do a hacked job of rotate around vertical axis, but that's a little bit shaky.

 

they've been working great, but this amination stuff takes a bit longer than it ought to

 

well, hopefully I'll be checking back in soon with a finished Ex. 4, it'll be at least a week even working hard on it.

 

ttfn,

 

eric

[Pengy]

Aww ain't it nice to be missed With the amount you've been working Rodney we didn't think you'd notice. I got sidetracked again, Sam Buntrock helped me figure out a problem I'd been having for 3 weeks so i didn't want to interrupt that creative flow. I will get these finished..keep your eyes open. Congrats to you guys for getting them done and I look forward to seeing some of your own stuff really soon.

[Rodney]

Pengy,

I knew you weren't far away... although it seems every time I'm in #hash3d lately you had just left. I haven't taken it personal... yet.

 

Well we've accounted for 3 out of the missing.

 

I've seen Doug Horning posting in the main forum lately but Christina and D Piat... best to send the hounds to sniff them out I think.

 

They can't hide forever!

[hypnomike]

Great work on the flower Richard!

 

You've quite literaly brought it to life.

 

Nice work with the lighting too, well done, you're working at some pace, keep it up!

[racreel]

Great work on the flower Richard!

 

You've quite literaly brought it to life.

 

Nice work with the lighting too, well done, you're working at some pace, keep it up!

Thanks again!

 

It's rained here all through the 4 day weekend, so I've had some free time to work on this.

 

Since the flower was boned in the tutorial, it seemed silly not to animate it.

 

Richard

[Rodney]

Richard,

Your flower scene was very theatrical. Nice storytelling.

 

You can feel the emotion as the flower greets the new day.

Being able to convey a story silently is a great indicator you have what it takes to succeed in animation.

 

Althought silent, I could almost hear the musical accompaniment.

[racreel]

Richard,

Your flower scene was very theatrical.  Nice storytelling.

 

You can feel the emotion as the flower greets the new day.

Being able to convey a story silently is a great indicator you have what it takes to succeed in animation.

 

Althought silent, I could almost hear the musical accompaniment.

Thanks Rodney!

 

I've also done some work on John's modelling tutorial for the Osprey, though I haven't done the engine part yet. It is here.

 

Richard

[hypnomike]

I've also done some work on John's modelling tutorial for the Osprey, though I haven't done the engine part yet.

 

Hey, that's a cool model.

 

Excuse my ignorance but what's an Osprey??

[Rodney]

Excuse my ignorance but what's an Osprey??

 

Umm... I've been thinking it is a bird.

Don't tell anyone I don't know either.

[Reikster]

This is what I thought of when he said Osprey:

 

V22-Osprey

 

but, I think it's a bird too

 

eric

[racreel]

Hey, that's a cool model.

 

Excuse my ignorance but what's an Osprey??

Yes, an osprey is a bird. But, in this case, it's a model that John has done a modelling tutorial for. His post is here.

 

Richard

[Willog]

I do like the Flower anim Richard very cool to go that step further and make such an impact with emotive movement, well done.

 

I also took a look at the Osprey tutorial after your post about them here, and waw what a great help they are for someone new to AM like me :-)

 

BTW Richard did you get any joy in downloading the actual Flash movies as all I get are htm files with 'Not Found' on them. and I did right click in an attempt to 'save as'.

 

I would love to have these on my hdd so I could watch them just in case they get moved in the future

 

Damn this forum seems endless with new stuff to learn and enjoy :-)

 

 

Bill

 

After some looking into I find that the Engine movie does download, but the cockpit movie link has a htm at the end instead of swf.

Just thought I'd come back here and mention it.

[Rodney]

I believe the following should be the direct link to the Osprey cockpit tutorial.

If you Right Click and choose Save Target as you should be able to download to your harddrive.

 

http://www.s1.hashmirror.com/ftp/users/Joh...uildcockpit.swf

Note: I think it is 33.6MB so dialup users... beware!

 

Thanks to John (Artbox) Henderson for his excellent modeling tutorial.

[Willog]

Just completed Exercise 10 got to say that this was so enjoyable, the one thing that concerned me before buying AM was whether I was making the right choice regarding modeling. I know that this exercise only scratches the surface but it has convinced me that learning further will be a great experience.

 

The plane turned out not too bad but really needs more effort from me, as I stated in an earlier post I will be calling back to these tuts to give them the benifit of a little more experience with the software.

 

Kind regards folks

 

Bill

[hypnomike]

Nice work Bill.

 

I have to agree that was also a favourite exercise of mine.

 

Years ago I had a polygon based raytracer and never came close to building anything like the FW190.

 

This exercise really demonstrates how good spline modeling is.

 

Let us know what you think of the giraffe exercise, I found it more difficult than the aircraft.

 

Keep those posts coming Bill!

[PF_Mark]

Hi guys wanted to let you guys in on whats new. I am building a system for my daughter while upgrading mine. This will take a few days but I have had an idea about an animation. Seeing some of us are done TAAM book I suggest that we carry on with this. My idea is kinda like a co-animator challenge system with the idea of using the tutorials as a starting point. I thought about combining a couple of the tutiorals and making completely original animation. After I build these systems is when I am hoping to begin. So I would post here stating my start date and what I am going to be doing. I would post the end date with a link to the finished animation. Anyone wanting to take up the challenge would post saying so and while following the guide lines set create a original animation using the guide lines. So below is what I am going to attempt in my 1st challenge

 

1) My animation is going to have at least one repeatable action in it

 

2)It will have a Kinematic constraint (exe#6)

 

3)It will use Dynamics (exe 17)

 

There would be no time limit (we are all busy people)

 

Anyone that has completed TAAM is welcome to join in and take on a chalange or make a challenge. This can include any tutorial or feature that is avialiable in AM but ref. like links to tutorials or instructions would be required.

 

So what do you guys think? is it something you are interested in doing ?

[Willog]

Thanks MIke for the comments on the Plane exercise.

 

Here is my 'Giraffe' tutorial, got to say very unformative and I had to work hard to figure out the couple of problems I encountered with decaling and holes appearing over the couple of five point patches. However some re-adjusting of the splines allowed me to apply the decals ok.

 

Oh well, on to some 'Lip Posing ' now.

 

Oh !!! sorry Mark nearly forgot to comment on your idea of a joint animation project, got to say it sounds very interesting and normally I would jump in head first, but I have many commitments over this festive season and I do really want to concentrate initially on my modeling skills before embarking on a fully fledged animation project. Anyways I got a bit to go yet to complete the AOAM so I must concentrate on those exercises first.

I hope however that some of the guys are gonna join with you as it would be just great to watch the project grow. Damn I'm nearly talking myself into this one :-)

 

Best of luck with it Mark

 

Bill

[Reikster]

One interesting thing that I did while I was in school....way back...5 years ago was take an animation class. We didn't get tons of stuff made or modelled, it was a 3 credit class at a major university (WSU). Blah blah blah, we used like Maya 1.0 on ancient SGIs and suppossedly some of the more ambitious graduates of the class have gone on to do real stuff, I think one guy worked at Cyan on Myst(a previous student, not one of my classmates).

 

 

Anyways, on to my point. The class project was "the door". One of the people who had taken the class before had a door modelled for us that was our prop. We were given no other finished models. This was our entrance and exit segue and indeed the only real criteria for the project besides the time of about 30 seconds.

 

So my thought was that it could form an interesting basis for a collaborative effort for A:M like Mark was suggesting. I'm not saying a door per se, but some common prop or set that each person could creatively explore.

 

it's just a thought

 

eric

[hypnomike]

Great giraffe Bill, and nice to see a face to your name!

 

I had the problems with holes appearing on my girraffe, it seems that sometimes you fix one and another appears.

 

Worth doing though, it makes you think about how to use the program rather than just copy.

 

Mark, your idea and Eric's variation sound interesting.

 

Yet another variation would be to expand on the current AOAM exercises. To some degree that's already happening, I've yet to see two "door's stuck" that were the same.

[Rodney]

So my thought was that it could form an interesting basis for a collaborative effort for A:M like Mark was suggesting. I'm not saying a door per se, but some common prop or set that each person could creatively explore.

 

I want to incourage you to collaborate I think the experience would be most rewarding.

 

There is a variation on the door theme that I'd like to eventually see taken up as a community project but right now I don't have the time to commit to it.

 

In order to allow a large variety of styles and themes it's a time and space traveling story. The doors are portals to exciting worlds. The doors don't necessarily have to look like a door either.

 

If you do decide to work together on a project I would encourage you to start out with a really simple project... exagerate the simplicity even. Keep it interesting but simple. Once you finish that one it'll let you know whether you are prepared to tackle bigger projects.

 

It could be something as simple as making a scene or as has been suggested expanding an exercise.

 

All my projects are huge... don't follow my lead.

Instead... finish a project that is of workable size. You'll be glad you did.

 

Mike and Mark - I've got two days off starting this morning so it's certificate time. After I get a little sleep I'll put the finishing touches on them and post.

[PF_Mark]

[quote name=Mark' date='Dec 1 2004, 01:28 AM]

1) My animation is going to have at least one repeatable action in it

 

2)It will have a Kinematic constraint (exe#6)

 

3)It will use Dynamics (exe 17)

 

Ok I was trying not to give to much of what my animation would be but there has been some good comments about props. Let me add some more to my idea.

 

1 just like "it's a pitch" create a bowling action that will be used on three characters. This has to be a reuseable action you can adjust and addon so rabbits ears moving.

 

2 the bowling ball to the hand just like the door is stuck

 

3 the bowling ball hitting the pins exe

 

props we would use exe# 17 bowling ball props. I was thinking of using my video editing Unlead to paste in or expanding on the #17 animation

 

So we combine 3 tutorials into one animation and to add humaor I playing on Ziggy dropping the ball on his foot. That part is my original take on the project so I call dibs on that one

[Willog]

Just completed exercise's 12 and 13, I must play around with these a lot more as they do introduce some really great possibilities for future projects. Seems the more you go into this the more there is to learn, still, I haven't become daunted so far. I am really enjoying it, even when things go wrong it seems I learn even more by finding out where the problems reside.

 

I am hoping to get the exercises complete before the Festive season and I get swamped with Grandchildren :-)

 

Not sure If I can attach two pics so I just posted the AI pose, the O pose is on my Web page in the anims section

[Willog]

OOps forgot to put the Backbone tutorial pic on here so here it is ... sorry folks

[hypnomike]

Well done Bill, I'm sure you're on track to finish before the Christmas hols.

 

Did you try out the rig with the resolute walk?

 

I notice that the knee bones are pointing outwards instead of forwards, I would be interested to know if it made any difference when animated?

 

Keep up the good work Bill.

[Rodney]

Mike and Mark,

I do apologize for the delay.

 

Here are the links to your certificates:

Congratulations to Mike Gibson!

 

Congratulations to Mark Allan!

 

And a special thank you to Pengy for supplying the current team image.

Part of his combined exercise image was selected because it captured several exercises all in that same image.

 

Thanks to all for your outstanding participation.

 

*Looks like I accidentally used the same giraffe for both certificates. Oops.

[Rodney]

William,

That giraffe looks amazingly real... you haven't been to the zoo with a camera lately have you?

 

I think you are taking after Mike and Mark here and you may be setting a new speed record.

[hypnomike]

Hey Rodney!

 

Thanks for the certificate, you've really put a lot off effort into them, it is appreciated.

[Rodney]

You are very welcome. It was fun to see your work appear on the screen.

I wish you well in your continued endeavors.

 

I know you won't be far away but you will be missed.

It was fun while it lasted but now you are ready to move on to biiger and better things. Now where is that sobbing emoticon.

[Willog]

Thanks guys all appreciated, not in any hurry here really it's just that I am lucky to have the time and can play with this when others have to work.

 

Enjoying the experience anyways and to me that is the most important thing of all.

 

Here is the Marble exercise hope it comes out ok on here :-)

 

Regards

 

Bill

[Rodney]

Hehe.... Willog's Brew.