The Art of Animation:Master

[Rodney]

Sure, I did send images ... and yes I do have documentation ... & yes, I'm a lawyer, so I don't need one  net yet anyway ....

 

I haven't forgot your legal background... but I was curious about why you had?

 

I guess what I was placing between the lines of my last post was that if your creations are legally covered... there should be nothing stopping you from posting your character.

 

If given the chance to listen to me or your wife though.... I'd say... always listen to the wife!

[vf124]

I haven't forgot your legal background... but I was curious about why you had? 

 

I guess what I was placing between the lines of my last post was that if your creations are legally covered... there should be nothing stopping you from posting your character.

 

If given the chance to listen to me or your wife though.... I'd say... always listen to the wife! 

 

Rodney, Sir, you can always make me smile ... any hoo, the wife's a better atty than I

[modernhorse]

Rodney et al,

 

I think I lost track of this thread somehow. I haven't finished my last round on tAoAM . Am I sposed to post progress here or a new thread or ... ? I'm still on the Door's Stuck, now using Rabbit (and its going better thank you) but am no where near completion.

 

Do I have to start over every month that I don't complete it within the month timeframe? Will I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Will my molars ever come in? If I pee on an electric fence will I get a shock down there? (okay sorry that went too far).

 

I'd better go.

Doug

[Rodney]

Doug,

The 'Monthly' postings are just a new place to start for people who would like to join in. It also adds the element of a deadline which some feel is a very important thing to learn how to deal with early on.

 

So, to answer your question you can post your progress here or in the new thread.

It might be best to post into the new thread and if you have the time just comment on your experience with the exercises you've completed thus far.

 

Eventually, the August course will be appended to this archive and we'll start the cycle all over again for each month.

 

Thanks for asking!

 

Rodney

[Rodney]

Exercise 1: You're the director is primarily an exercise in familiarity with the A:M User interface.

 

A few questions that will help you understand A:M better include:

 

What is the function of a Library?

What is a Pose?

How do Libraries and Poses relate to the concept of a Talent Pool?

Here are some Exercise 1 Keekats as imported by some of our illustrious Alumni:

 

Dan Roberts

 

Christine (Rogue66)

[Rodney]

Recent discussions with some A:M folks reminded me of the importance of animating 'existing' characters to learn the art of animation. This doesn't mean you can't add your own characters... please do!

 

For those that are considering rolling their own characters keep in mind that the frustration factor may end your journey before it's even begun.

In other words, If this is your first time through The Art of Animation:Master following the exercises as closely as possible is recommended.

 

Animation:Master has so many tools that can distract the artist from the goal of mastering the art of animation. It's hard to stay focused isn't it?

 

One of the first things people do is dive in and start modeling their own character.

I know that's what I did! There is nothing particularly wrong with this (it's fun!) but there IS a reason why The Art of Animation:Master begins with the use of pre-made characters.

 

Consider the KeeKat character... an enormous amount of talent and work went into the creation of the character, the splinage layout, the rigging and more!

 

You can find out more about KeeKat and his creators here: Keekat Character Study

 

Using the experience of others to build your characters upon is ALWAYS a good idea!

 

Hash Inc's product is a powerful tool in the hands of any artist. However, it's important to realize the emphasis is on animation. After all, it's name is Animation:Master; not Model:Master, Decal:Master, Render:Master, etc., etc., etc.

 

Of course A:M does have these other tools in abundance as well but the focus remains on Animation! No other 3D animation program excels at it like A:M.

 

Once you've mastered the basic art of animation with Animation:Master there is nothing to keep you from creating your own worlds and telling your own stories.

Your imagination, talent, and experience make it happen.

 

For those joining in... Welcome to The Art of Animation:Master.

Let the journey begin!

[Rodney]

Some specific tasks you are mastering in Exercise 1 include:

 

- Creating a New Choreography window

- Accessing the Model (Actor) Library

- Accessing other parts of the Library

- Drag and Drop / Right Clicking

- Views/Render Modes

- How to determine available shortcut keys

- Navigating the Interface

- Accessing a characters basic Poses/Pose Sliders

- Rendering/Accessing Render Modes

- Changing Camera View

- Accessing the Render Panel/Render Dialogue

- Choosing Render Formats (TGA, AVI, MOV)

- Changing Render Filenames, location and *sequencing

- Frame (Rendering) Range

 

* Not covered in the online tutorial for this exercise

 

Once you've tried the exercise with Keekat try it again with another character.

Occassionally Right click and look at some of the options that are available in each of the menus as you are familiarizing yourself with them. You may not need the options that appear now but it'll help to know they are there later.

 

You can usually find a processes shortcut key by looking next to the command on the menu (for instance right clicking and selecting view reviews the shortcut keys for the various views) or hovering the mouse cursor over a toolbar icon. Shortcut keys can save a tremendous amount of time and streamline your workflow

dramatically.

 

Additional Assignments

For those who have mastered the basics of Exercise 1 see if you can add the following to your toolbox of experience:

 

- Create multiple views via multiple windows

- Create your own Library

- Add models, actions and other resources to your personal Library

- Memorize the shortcut key list!

- Create multiple Cameras for multiple Views

- Explore the options of the Render Panel/Render Dialogue

- Know why rendering to TGA over AVI and MOV formats is commonly preferred

- Change the sequence format of your render to accomodate workflow

-- Render a single frame out of the middle of an animation (i.e. frame 15 out of a 30 frame animation)

 

*For Mac users Tysono71 posted the following to help in the quest to upload gif animations. Thanks Ty!:

As far as making animated gifs on the Mac, there is a free application called GifBuilder at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imag...gifbuilder.html which works very well.  You can open your quicktime into it and it will rip the frames out and create a gif.  It also can use image sequences like targa files.  I was going to use gimp but this was tremendously easier.

 

 

Completed all these assignments?

Show your progress!

[Rodney]

At the end of Excercise 1 There is an introduction to Shortcut Keys. These keys can prove to be VERY useful so keep them handy.

 

Z - Zoom

Shift Z - Zoom fit

M - Move

T - Turn

7 - Default Render

8 - Wireframe Render

9 - Shaded Wireframe render

0 - Shaded and Wireframe render

 

On the number pad:

0 - Bottom View

1 - Camera View

2 - Front View

4 - Left View

5 - Top View

6 - Right View

7 - Bird's Eye View

8 - Back View

 

*And try this!

Hold the "Z" key down and drag an area in the modeling or choreography windows with your RIGHT mouse button. Dynamic Zoom to Fit! Wow.

 

Here (via link from "The A.R.M.") is a more extensive list of Shortcut keys. If you don't want to use them now... that's fine... but remember they are there. They may be useful at a later date.

 

A:M Keyboard Shortcuts

[Rodney]

Morphy,

Nice Character! Please forgive me if I think Keekat is a little cuter. Ha!

 

Glad to have you aboard for the second time through.

 

I think you'll find the answer to the question in the first post (who created the flowers) to be quite interesting. Check it out!

[Morphy]

Thanks, Rodney.

 

I might try to use this little guy for a couple of the exercises - maybe the chorus line or take a walk - but I'll revert to the library characters for stuff like opening the door. I have to admit that I never quite got round to rigging this guy's hands, and they're pretty much just flat paddles. Rigging is a lot of work, isn't it?

 

I'm really tempted to try to make my next 'creation' more ambitious, but I suspect I need to do a lot more easy toon-type stuff first... I've been thinking that some sort of toony Frankenstein monster might be fun - then when I get it to animate I can start jumping up and down and yell 'It's ALIIIVE!!!'

 

I agree with you about KeeKat. I think he's my favourite of the supplied figures.

(I did wonder a bit when I saw those flowers, BTW, but I assumed that similarities to my effort were probably just coincidental!) When I do that exercise again, I'm going to make a pot or vase to put the plants in...

[Morphy]

Another shot at exercise two...

 

As it's my second time through the book, I made a few additional assignements for myself, like creating my own 'dance' in an action window, and messing around with lights a little bit.

 

Here's a question or two: I have two klieg lights in this. I created *one* new light, then used it twice by dragging it down to the choriography twice, and found that I could still give each of the two instances totally different settings (which was nice).

 

So does this mean that you only ever need one light of each type in the 'objects' section, then use different instances of it in the chor? Is there any reason why you would ever want, say, two bulb light objects (as opposed to two instances of the same light?)

[Rogue66]

IT'S ALIVE!!!! And it's cloned!!! Wow! I'm inspired! I think I'll be able to work on something today now. been rough week. been hesitant about all this. But I better now

[Rodney]

Morphy,

While you 'could'use the same lights and just change them in the choreography having individually set (and saved) lights can help in the management of a project/scene.

 

There is a lighting discussion that got started a while back... It'd be nice to see it resurrected. If I find it I'll do just that.

 

Rodney

[Rodney]

Very interesting dance Morphy!

Looks like you have him rigged pretty nicely.

[-TC-]

Wow, nice work Morphy. Your character is alive.

 

Im away at the moment and havent been able to use A:M (a whole 2 and a half weeks with out it ) But ive still got these forums to keep up to date. Just about another week and a half to go then i should be posting up some stuff.

[tysono_71]

As far as making animated gifs on the Mac, there is a free application called GifBuilder at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imag...gifbuilder.html which works very well. You can open your quicktime into it and it will rip the frames out and create a gif. It also can use image sequences like targa files. I was going to use gimp but this was tremendously easier.

[Rodney]

Tyson!

That will get the Mac users fully into the game of posting animations of their progress.

 

Thanks Much!

[Rodney]

For those that would like to join in we are off to a slow start in August but still moving ahead...

 

I blame SIGGRAPH! Yeah.....

 

Please check out the ongoing progress here:

The Art of Animation:Master - August Progress and Commentaries

[IanTWD]

When I follow exercise 14 I get to the end ok where I am applying the "marble" to the bottle but when it renders it is in one color. either the color for the first atribute or the second ... any ideas as to whats wrong?

 

 

um never mind....

for the record I had not actually rendered it so im the problem

...

 

 

[Rodney]

Wow! This past month went entirely too fast.

Here we are at a new month.

 

Anyone care to add their comments and/or progress report to close out the month ? I know of several people that made good progress.

 

Click this line to go to the current round of updates (September)

[Rodney]

-------------------------------------

The Art of Animation:Master

Exercise 2: Chorus Line

-------------------------------------

Approx. time to complete: 20 Minutes

This exercise is a quick one! It is comprised of an introduction to the basic concepts of Populating, Lighting, Actions, and Rendering.

 

Turn to page 21 in The Art of Animation:Master and begin...

 

Web/Online ( 5MB )

or

Download Zip ( 4.5MB )

 

--------------------------------------

Experts in the Forum feel free to offer advice and suggestions at any time.

For technical difficulties running this excercise an email to me at: rodney.baker@comcast.net would be appreciated. I'll compile a list of known problems and forward to Hash Inc. for resolution.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following immediately after Exercise 2 is a discussion about Animation.

This discussion begins on page 27 and ends on page 36.

 

Topics discussed:

 

Talent Pool

Keys to Animating

The 10 Animation Ingredients (updated for computers)

-Pose to Pose

-Anticipation and Overshoot

-Follow through

-Exaggeration

-Timing

-Balance and Weight

-Secondary Action

-Attitude

-Staging

-Squash and Stretch

 

We'll try to look into each of these in depth!

If you have insight into any of these areas please feel free to join in.

 

Before we do delve deeper, check out the excellent presentation on The History of Animation by Hash Inc's very own Ken Baer!

[vf124]

Starting up again for a new month!

 

Hi Rodney,

 

Glad to see you are still " kickin' " ... sorry I've not been around lately ... been fine tuning my short flick w/ the help of "Anzovin QuickStart 2 CD set" ...

 

It's absolutely amazing how much A:M ground "the professor" covers ... although he speaks rather quickly, as well as moves at a rapid pace ... I'd recommend the QuickStart 2 CD set to any beginner like myself

[Rodney]

Gale,

Thanks for hanging with me! Always glad to have you here.

We are still plugging away and trying to smooth out the rough spots in the New Users Forum. On the one side I sometimes feel like 'The Army of One' and at others I marvel at the contributions to the New Users Forum. This forum has only been around for a few months, so the jury is stilll out I suppose.

 

One thing is for certain.

The best is yet to come!

 

Rodney

[Reikster]

Wheeee! Here I go

 

Okay, had to get that off my chest

 

I think this is where Rodney wanted us to stick this stuff up, so here goes.

 

I'm sitting down and doing the exercises..boom boom boom! all in a row. One per night at least for the first few. I'm gonna try embellishing a little just to try and push myself to go a little further.

 

For example, here's Keekat attached at the bottom.

 

I'll be self critical first of all, but please be brutal .

 

1) I should have put Keekat more in the spotlight, but since I didn't do any test renders before dumping the thing off to NetRender, I'm cutting myself some slack....hey, it was late too...and now its early.

 

2) The motion is a little slow and doesn't really convey the snap and emotion of the final pose.

 

3) I didn't frame Keekat exactly right to optimize the look of the final pose. (see number one).

 

4) I'm not very impressed with my utilization of the On2 codec. Needless to say, the real Targa's make Keekat look alot better. I will be experimenting with this to try and get it better.

 

 

Okay, now I have some questions......bear with me cause I can be extremely pedantic and/or nitpicky

 

1) When I first tried this out, I did camera->new constraint-> aim at-> Keekat. That's all fine and good, but when I come along secondly and make a path and constrain the camera to that, it breaks my aim at constraint. I know I need to check the translate only box in path constraint, but when I do that, shouldn't the aim at start working again? I had to delete the initial aim at constraint and make it again (after checking translate only).

 

2) Now I didn't fiddle with this much, so I might be able to figure it out on my own. It seemed like once I drew a spline (path) and constrained the camera to it, I could no longer edit the CP's to move the path around Hopefully that's not true, it seems like it could be a pain. I also made A:M disappear by deleting the path before I deleted the constraint. *oops*

 

3) What's up with that "consolidate" command? I used it to bring Keekat's .mdl into the 'project' folder so that NetRender would work right(ie find all the data files), but it made this huge directory structure. I was expecting it to pack everything into the .prj file. Is there a better way to bring all the resources together without getting too complicated?

 

4) Okay back to an animation question To fix the problem of Keekat's tail being below the ground plane initially, I tried to simply move the master tail target thingy at frame zero so that it was above it, then smoothly let it go back to where it defaulted to at the end so that the dynamic pose could work right. I had it selected at the final frame and thought I keyframed it appropriately in the default position, but as soon as I went to frame zero and twiddled with it, the tail was hosed at frame 90. The way I fixed it was to add a null and constrain the tail target to the null, gradually changing the enforcement from 100% to 0% over the 90 frames. This is probably "okay", but somehow it seems like the wrong way to do it.

 

5) I think this is the last question. Are there any parts under an action(chor or reusable) that automatically make a keyframe without pushing the keyframe button? It seemed like the enforce percent made a keyframe for me without my asking for it specifically. I always thought you had to specify each and every change. I also thought that if you change anything without making a keyframe, it is a global change (i.e. for the whole action time period).

 

6) oh, I guess I kinda have one more....but I don't know if I am remembering this right. I'm pretty sure I changed the frame range in both the Choreography properties and the timeline(which I think is just for realtime playback), but when I openned the project in NetRender, I still had to manually tell it my frame range. Should I be setting this somewhere else in the project too?

 

okay, I'll give everyone a break now and get ready for work. Hopefully I can get enough time in tonight to do the Chorus line

 

ttyl,

 

eric

kk001.avi

[Rodney]

Eric,

Glad to have you onboard.

I did move your post over from the archive... How in the heck did you find that first?

 

There are great things coming up for The Art of Animation:Master and you are the most important part! Each month we'll borrow a page from Disney's "Plusing" concept and move to the next level.

 

Soome notes regarding your work thus far.

The On2 codec is going to be problematic for some viewers and require a download of the codec. I used to have it myself but on my new system it's not there. I'll download and see what I can see.

 

 

You have some good questions.

Give me a little time to get the 'correct' response versus my own opinion on a few of them.

 

Anyone else out there care to comment or join in?

Everyone is welcome!

[Reikster]

Eric,

Glad to have you onboard.

I did move your post over from the archive... How in the heck did you find that first?

 

Sorry about the Archive thing. I didn't know if I was 'posta Post in the sticky, so I didn't now I know better

 

 

Soome notes regarding your work thus far.

The On2 codec is going to be problematic for some viewers and require a download of the codec.  I used to have it myself but on my new system it's not there.  I'll download and see what I can see.

 

 

 

I'm happy to use any Codec that works best for everyone. It looked like On2 compression and quality was awesome from their site, but as with most things, it must take some fiddling to get the results that they have. Maybe it's that two pass thing, I don't know if Ulead MSP supports dual passes :-/ that's what I'm using to convert the Targa's to a movie. Ulead wants to make Mpegs and AVI's. I think alot of people use the sorenson, but isn't that a ".mov" quicktime deal? Maybe I can integrate that into Ulead if I d/l Quicktime

 

Well, I better eat lunch and get a few other things done around here for my Lunch break

 

eric

[Rodney]

Sorry about the Archive thing.  I didn't know if I was 'posta Post in the sticky, so I didn't   now I know better

 

You are welcome to post in either place... the sticky or the archive. The sticky is preferred for reasons I'll go into here.

 

At the end of each month the monthly collection of posts will be moved over to the archive. A few may stay behind where they add instruction to the exercises and help people through them.

 

The problem with posting in the archive it that most people won't see it there. If they don't see the post... you won't get feedback.

 

I'm still trying to determine the best way to balance the old with the new and keep everything accessible. I'll be glad to entertain all suggestions. If something doesn't work... We'll adapt. The combined post with all exercises was favored over separate exercises though. I'm not sure everyone cares to see 19 or 20 stickeys every time they enter the New Users Forum. Hmmmm.....

[Reikster]

The problem with posting in the archive it that most people won't see it there.  If they don't see the post... you won't get feedback.

 

 

I was kind of thinking the other way...sort of. My brain kind of ignores the sticky's for some reason and I have to consciously pay attention to see if they have new messages in them.

 

 

I'm still trying to determine the best way to balance the old with the new and keep everything accessible.  I'll be glad to entertain all suggestions.  If something doesn't work... We'll adapt.  The combined post with all exercises was favored over separate exercises though.  I'm not sure everyone cares to see 19 or 20 stickeys every time they enter the New Users Forum.  Hmmmm.....

 

 

If you think people can handle a set of questions 20 times as big as my first set, I'll save them up

 

Actually, I think you mainly meant the "done" exercises, but I was thinking part of the point was to ask questions and get feedback. Maybe progress should go as separate messages and the completed 20 will go into the sticky

 

I made a little progress on exercise two tonight, but then it disappeared on me Oh well, it wasn't too much so it's easy to redo :-D

 

time for bed. gotta get up early and go flying tomorrow

 

eric

[Rodney]

Thanks for the response!

 

You said in part:

Actually, I think you mainly meant the "done" exercises, but I was thinking part of the point was to ask questions and get feedback. Maybe progress should go as separate messages and the completed 20 will go into the sticky

 

Stickeys are usually put there as information that is must read. In the case of The Art of Animation:Master, entries for the *current* month should be added there. Images (still or animated) are the best method of showing your work.

 

At the end of each month I'll move the posts over to the archive.

 

The whole process seems a bit confusing so I'm testing a few different ways to optimize the individual exercises. I'd like to have the exericises separated as that would allow maximum particiapation and feedback with a focus on the lessons and the skills they are trying to teach. A menu system pointing to each of the 19 exercises (separated out) is being considered.

[Rodney]

For those contemplating Exercise 6: The Door's Stuck

There is an updated Shaggy with his "fixed hand clench" at the Free Models page:

 

http://www.hash.com/freemodels/characters.html

 

Look for him at the bottom.

Thanks James Hash for the update!

[Morphy]

Hi Rodney...

 

Sorry if I seemed to drop off the face of the earth for a while - some 'real life' issues, then a broken computer, and then a birthday (and recovery period from the birthday!)... all this stuff kept me away from A:M, but I'm back, feeling as if I've forgotten even the little I'd learned about A:M.

 

I think I need to re-enroll in the newbie class please!

 

Morph

[Rodney]

For those completing the exercises... the archive and the monthly are again merged for the time being.

It seems one of the best ways to highlight the work of those that have completed the exercises.

 

If you are working on exercises from The Art of Animation:Master but haven't had a chance to post... here's an opportunity!

 

So... who's in for October?

[Obnomauk]

Hey Gang,

 

If you all have a moment please look at this topic:

 

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8730

 

at the moment I am looking to get a feel for how many users would be interested in signing up for an 'apprenticeship' on a short film project with one of the Fellows. I think we still have some organizing to do in order to get it off the ground so for now I am kind of looking for a show of hands.

 

This will hopefully allow everyone to take the next step in learning A:M and improving their skills.

 

So if you are or would be interested please click the little button right at the bottom of my post here that says PM and send me a Private Message (so as to not clutter up Rodney's forum here.) I'll take a little count and this will also let me set up a basic list of who is interested so if/when we get the program off the ground I know who to contact.

 

Remember if we do this apprenticeships will only be available to those who have received a certificate from Rodney here so keep up with those TOA:M exercises

 

-David Rogers

[Rodney]

The opportunity to have a Fellow/Mentor on tap to help get through the rough spots and work on structured projects is something I would have really liked to see when I was first starting out. I hope some of you will take advantage of the opportunity.

 

This is something of a poll of interest... so you need not have completed the exercises to let David know of your interest.

 

Graduates don't always check back in here so spread the word to them too if you keep in contact.

 

Looks like a great idea.

[pia12254]

Hey there,

 

I've been on AM for awhile but I'm going to complete the Art of Animation Master and get the certificate so that I can participate in the internship. I think it will actually be kind of fun to go back through the exercises.

 

Is this the correct forum to post finished exercises in? If not, where do I post those at? Thanks!

[Rodney]

D,

Glad to have you aboard. There are a lot of people that will help you through any rough spots. Definitely check out the online videos!

 

If you haven't had a chance to check out the beginning of this discusssion I highly recommend it: Introduction to The Art of Animation:Master exercises

 

This *IS* the place to post your results from The Art of Animation:Master!

[pia12254]

Allright,

 

Just finished exercise one. (I've never been one to appreciate the process...unfortunately I'm very "end result" oriented...)

 

 

I'll post exercise two shortly.

 

As I'm looking back through the book I realize that I have actually already done a few of the exercises so I will probably just post those when I reach that section. Hope that's ok.

 

Thanks!

ExerciseOne0.tga

[pia12254]

Sorry for posting a .tga...it doesn't seem to be as easy to view.

 

Here's a .jpg.

 

 

Hope that helps!

[pia12254]

Allright,

 

Here's exercise two...

[Rodney]

Allright,

Here's exercise two...

 

Wow... that was quick! Both 1 and 2. Nice.

 

For the sake of those that are contemplating the exercises, was there any difficulty... anything you think was a tough spot to get through?

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those needing a pointer to basic information on Exercise 1 try here:

Exercise 1: You're the Director

 

and

 

Exercise 2: Chorus Line

[Rodney]

To anyone looking in.

 

The ability to convert files is a basic skill that, while not covered in TAOA:M, is one that should be mastered early.

 

If anyone has any problems converting from TGA to JPG or GIF say the word and we'll steer you in the right direction.

 

Formatting constraints and requirements are something you'll run into every day you work in the animation industry. For our part here in the forum the following skills will be required of you. Extra credit is given to those that think of the better ways to build a mousetrap of course.

 

- Conversion to/from TGA to GIF and/or JPG.

- Conversion to/from TGA to animation file formats. (GIF, AVI, MOV, etc.)

 

The following skills are also highly recommended to ensure success:

- Upload files to the A:M Forum or other website

- Link files from another website into the forum

 

Did I miss anything?

[pia12254]

Allright,

 

Exercise three. Go rabbit!

[pia12254]

Exercise Four.

 

Sorry for the crappy quality...I should be able to start posting actual video links from my website soon. Hope you can see this.

[Rodney]

D,

You are really moving through those exercises.

You are a madman D. Pace yourself!!!

 

As for the quality of the gifs... I'm still a big fan of gif animation despite the issues with it. I expect less quality from the format but it delivers the goods in a quick efficient way. No problem here.

 

If you have the option I highly recommend creating your animation with looping.

For those that want to see the animation with (more or less) the same timing usually the second loop through after the animation has fully loaded is where they'll get to see that.

 

For those that don't know... hit refresh and you'll be able to see the animation again.

 

I like that background/layout.

Keep it up!

- Rodney

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That was Exercise 4 courtesy of pia12254.

You too can make a pitch. Come on... join the fun!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Exercise 4: Make a Pitch Information

[pia12254]

Exercise Five

 

Exercise Four

 

Ok, I finally got my webspace up and working so here are a couple clips for you to check out.

 

The first link, Rabbit Walk, is the final result from Exercise 5.

 

The second link, Knight Pitch, is similar to what I posted above. This one is a little longer and better quality. I actually had it end with the quote "There's no crying in baseball!" but it was distorting the audio so I got rid of it. Just imagine that it's in there!

 

These two clips I had actually done previously...didn't do all this tonight. I'm not that much a glutton for punishment!

 

Ok, I think that's it for today...Exercise 6, The Door's Stuck, will be a bit trickier me thinks!

 

Later.

[Rodney]

These two clips I had actually done previously...didn't do all this tonight. I'm not that much a glutton for punishment! 

 

Good Grief thats a relief!

 

In any case... Fine work! You are going to go far.

 

Just to keep the sports fans calm... He is obviously in one of those dual diamond baseball fields... He IS NOT pitching from the outfield! hehe

 

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Entertainment and 7th inning stretch show provided by pia12254.

You too can take a walk with Exercise 5: Take a Walk

[Rodney]

Alright you lurkers... I know you are out there...

 

Even if you aren't working your way through the exercises you are welcome to comment, critique and even issue challenges based on what you see.

 

Flip through The Art of Animation:Master. Is there something you'd like to suggest, ask or demonstrate?

Have your old rendering of exercise 7 gathering dust on a floppy disk?

 

This is a whole lot more fun when people join in together and cheer one another on. Just read back through this post and you'll see what I mean.

[Pengy]

Here's my exercise1,changed the camera position a bit

[Pengy]

Exercise two

cancan.mov

[Rodney]

Nice job on 1, 2, and 3 Pengy!

 

I always find it facinating how people add their own style into these exercises. A:M really allows artists to be themselves and express themselves in their work.

 

While not always the case, other applications seem to produce much of the same look despite the artist behind the effort. My mind actually expects that to be true with A:M as well but I am continually surprised and inspired when people posts their renders from the exercises in TAOA:M. The same exercises executed by different artists with differing perspectives can produce wonderfully unique works of art with minimal effort. That's nice.

 

Keep it up everyone!

 

With apologies to Dan, Doug, D and Pengy, here is a extremely simple example of what I'm talking about... same exercise but subtle differences in the execution produce very different artistic results. Proof positive that little things make a difference. Nice.