Animation Club

New year, new opportunities!

2012-01-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, Tea Time!

A little birdie (named JD Haas) sent us an e-mail over the break letting us know that info and sign-ups are ready and available for the Spungella on-site or online workshops.

What is Spungella?

The Spungella workshop is a casual meeting between animators during which animation clips of all levels are being reviewed - from bouncing balls to performance pieces.

For a complete list of questions/answers check out the Spungella FAQs:

Spungella Onsite

Spungella Online

Additionally, we've already got a few guest speakers lined up for the spring semester, so make sure you keep your eye on the blog for dates/times!

Free Reel Feedback from Those who Know!

2011-12-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know two things:

First things first, this friday, December 9 is the last club meeting before the break. It's been a bit of a hectic semester with Tea Time coming under new management and all, but all in all, it's been productive and it can only get better with time!

Secondly, and much more importantly in my opinion, there is a free animation reel review event on December 15 from 7-10pm at Lanesplitters Pizza in Emeryville.

Hans Brekke was kind enough to e-mail us the link with all the necessary info, but there's also some posters around the halls. You can also check things out here.

Good luck with your finals, and we'll see you Friday!

Welcome Back Animation Clubbers!

2011-12-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

I know we've been doing a lot of motivational posting lately, but here's a little more!

Art y Animacion

CTN

2011-11-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

If you didn't go, you missed out.

'Nuff said.

A Brisk, Motivational Slap in the Face

2011-11-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

Club Prez. Keaton Tips brought this gem by JR. Canest to light at club this week. According to Mr. Tips, Canest completed this in only two weeks. Think about it.

CRAZY ENOUGH - Title Sequence from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

Canest: For school (VFS), we had to make a Title Sequence and I decided to make the movie of my life and its everything in boxes and circles... It took me a lot of work... there is thousands of key frames made in after effects...

Laika's Next Flick

2011-11-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Amazing, no?

Mid-week Special!

2011-11-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

Just notes on a few things we touched upon last week that I neglected to mention in my previous post.

During our usual critique, some useful, yet under-exposed, Maya tools were brought to light by one of our lovely patrons Brandon Nason.

First things first: Motion Trails!

Motion trails will create visible paths for your selected attributes complete with frame numbers, so becomes really easy to detect problems with the flow or kinks within your animation. It looks something like this:

(The path could also look bright red with white dots showing the keys.)

But where are these Motion Trails?

Maya 2011:

Select the attribute you wish to trail.

>Make sure "Animation" is selected from the drop down menu at the top left-hand side.

>>Go to the "Animate" tab

>>>Select "Create Motion Trail", use the option box and make sure to click "Show frame Number"

Maya 2012:

Select the attribute you wish to trail.

>Make sure "Animation" is selected from the drop down menu at the top left-hand side.

>>Go to the "Animate" tab

>>>Select "Create Editable Motion Trail", use the option box and make sure to click "Show frame Number"

The Glory of Weighted Tangents:

For those of you who weren't in club last week, and who aren't already using weighted tangents, we're going to change your life...or at least change the method in which you interact with the graph editor.

While the standard (non-weighted) tangents in Maya can be rotated and moved around, the length of the tangent handles themselves are confined to a set length. Weighted tangents (once you've clicked the right buttons, of course) will give you the freedom to pull out the tanget handles, allowing you better control over your curves with fewer keys for cleaner, smoother animation!

How to:

(Click all images to enlarge)

In your graph editor, select the curves you wish to weight. You can select one key or the whole curve, it doesn't matter, either way it will weight the whole curve what ever key you've selected belongs to:

Then, still in the graph editor, select Curves>Weighted Tangents. Your tangents will then look something like this:

In this state, your curves will behave just like regular tangents, so you don't need to worry about the timing you've already nailed down (though if you begin to alter it, you'll see the tangent handles jump around a bit in length so keep an eye out). However, if you wish to have the ultimate freedom, simply select whatevert tangent you wish to manipulate (I'd do this in a case-by-case basis.) and click the "Free Tangent Weight" and "Break Tangents" buttons in your Graph editor window.

Now you will see that you have complete freedom over the length of your tangents.

If you wish for them to work together again, simply click the "Unify Tangents" button. If you wish for the tangent to not vary in length at your command, click the "Lock Tangent Weight" button

CTN Update: Don't forget to book your accommodations!

2011-10-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were planning on coming out to CTN, but who had not yet booked a hotel room, it's time to step your game up.

Keaton and I finally got our own act together last night, giving the conference center hotel (the Airport Marriott, Burbank) a call to book a room, and managed to score the LAST one (according to the receptionist) that was available for both nights (Nov. 18th and 19th). She did mention that there were four or so available the night of the 19th only, but it seems as though anyone looking to book past this point will be at a neighbouring facility -- bummer!

That being said, if you are planning on booking past this point, it might be pertinent to check with the Marriott anyways, on the off chance there have been any cancellations. Additionally, whenever you do decide to make the call, do ensure that you actually make a call. Often, during conferences and the like, hotels will have set aside a number of rooms specifically for attendees, and this usually means discounts and things associated with such that won't be available if you book online.

If the Marriott does happen to be full, then it's a nice idea to go online. If you try to book via the Marriott website, once the hotel is full, it will provide you with a list of hotels that are available, how far they are from the Marriott, and the pricing of the alternate rooms -- good deal!

It's a bummer to not be at the actual conference center for the event, but don't think that means it isn't worth coming! Make sure you get on top of things and book asap.

Good luck!

Clean Team!

2011-10-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

In case you weren't aware, each year, AAU clubs that wish to be provided with any sort of budget are required to partake in community service activities.

Thus, this weekend, Lana, as well as a few other animators, found themselves helping out at San Francisco's 'Clean Team' event. Anyone who wished to go met at one of the designated pick up locations (One of three Academy Housing Facilities) at 8:30am where an academy shuttle took them out to the event.

Upon arrival, all the volunteers were given the proper equipment - vests, gloves, tools, etc - and went to go beautify the neighbourhood. Although the activities generally vary, this week those participating were working on Monterey street medians removing old mulch, planting new flowers and things, laying down irrigation line and then coating the remaining space with new mulch. Volunteers were provided with coffee and breakfast treats in the morning, and lunch after their day was done. They were back at the Academy by 12:30pm.

If you are interested in giving back to your local community while simultaneously giving your local animation club some dolla' dolla' bills that go towards helping and/or entertaining you, don't hesitate to e-mail us, or keep a watchful eye here for more information! The next community service opportunity is at the San Francisco Food Bank!

Thanks to everyone who came out!

IMPORTANT: CTN Bus Update.

2011-10-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Campus Life Office is now the one-stop shop for

CTN bus reservation and payment!

The office is located in the Basement of Howard Brodie @ 655 Sutter Street.

Go during business hours (approximately 9am - 5pm) and ask the lovely host at the front desk where the campus life office is. They will take your ID and direct you downstairs.

A Change of Face

2011-10-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

Beyond our usual critique and some more droning on about CTN, those of us that happened to find ourselves at club yesterday managed to discuss a fairly important topic that would affect the whole club. Namely, the name!

The animation club leaders have been collaborating with Campus Life and Leadership trying to further establish a more concrete identity for ourselves as an organization. This calls for branding, and a complete face-lift for our online community (yeah, we don't like the blog design either). To begin this process, however, we decided that in order to create a solid name for ourselves...we had to create a solid name for ourselves...Nothing screams "bland" (albeit so succinct) like "AAU Animation Club".

Although in the end, it's going to be an executive decision, we would like to hear a little input as to how our club-goers would like to be portrayed/

Opinions?
Concerns?
Some insanely bad-ass idea for a sweet, sweet name? (Remember: It doesn't specifically have to say 'Animation' in the name.)

Don't hesitate to contact us with your thoughts via e-mail (aauanimate@gmail.com), or simply comment on this very post. Note: Due to time constraints, if you post later than Monday, October 3rd, your voice may not be heard! Post early if you've got something to say.

Have a great weekend!

TOWN HALL MEETING

2011-09-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Animation Club Followers!

The TOWN HALL meeting

is tomorrow at 10AM in

room 400A

This is the place and time to voice concerns you

have and offer solutions to current challenges.

For any folk who are new to town hall etiquette:

This really isn't meant to be a place for just complaints. Being professional and voicing your concerns in a logical, polite fashion is really well recieved and helps us get what we need accomplished. Woo! :D

On the off chance you missed the memo..

2011-09-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed the meeting (or were simply too negligent or lazy to take notes), we managed to discuss an exceptionally pertinent tidbit of information this week!

At long last, the announcement we've all been waiting for: Important information on the Creative Talent Network's Animation Exposition!

What is it, you ask?

In essence, it's a weekend chock-full of meeting new people, soaking in some new tips and tricks straight from the proverbial horse's mouth, and playing a little show and tell with your portfolios (if you're into that sort of thing). Most importantly, however, it's a remarkable opportunity to rub elbows with the professionals in our field.

A little bit of CTN FAQ, if you will:

When/Where is it?

This year, the event is hosted the weekend of November 18-20 in Burbank, CA.

Burbank? How do I get there?

Here you have one of two options:

A) Fly. Prices will vary pending on how posh you like to be, but I believe a cheap round trip is somewhere around $100.

B) Bus! The most frugal, and truly more fun method of transportation. AAU kindly supports our interests by providing some form of wheels at the low, low price of $50/student. So long as you're prepared for 8-hours of bus games and potential (inevitable) sing-song, head on over to the animation office on the 3rd floor of 180 New Montgomery and place your name on the sign up sheet. IN ORDER TO HAVE YOUR NAME PUT ON THE SHEET -- You must first go to Accounts Receivable department (2nd floor, 79 New Montgomery street), pay your fee, then bring the receipt to the office where they will put your name on the list. The bus leaves from 79 New Montgomery at 3:00am on Friday the 18th (that would be LATE on Thursday night or EARLY on Friday morning). The bus returns Sunday the 20th at 6pm (gets you back into San Francisco around 12-1am.)

Where do I stay?

This is truly up to you if you feel like doing a little research, but for the sake of convenience, we would suggest you stay where the event is actually held -- the Burbank Marriott . You can get full details and pricing by clicking the link, but remember -- Pack a few friends into one room and the price goes way down.

How much is the convention?
Again, you can find full details on price here, but a 3-day student pass is only $120 ($130 if you sign up after September 30).

ONLY $120, huh?
Well, perhaps a little more. Keep in mind that you'll need food, you'll probably want to buy a thing or two at the expo and, for those of us who are eligible, you'll most likely be grabbing a couple drinks nightly. I know that it may sound a little pricey, but we can not emphasize enough how much you'll truly gain from this weekend. Beyond the bits of knowledge you'll gain by going to the panels, this is really a networking opportunity of a lifetime and we can promise you'll thank yourself later. Besides, a little R&R from the usual San Francisco routine is always a good thing.

If you have further questions about the phonetics of getting/being there, or were interested in learning more about CTNX itself, go visit their website and do a little personal research. As always, don't hesitate to comment here or e-mail the (newly un-hacked) aauanimate@gmail.com.

Lastly, here's a little inspiration for the week. Here's a short by Ryan Woodward, an amazing animator who just so happens to be hosting a panel titled "Logic vs Inspiration" at CTNX!

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

A Slight Change of Plans...

2011-09-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

Remember all those cool posters and take-aways we had on our desk at the AAU Club Fair last Tuesday? Unfortunately they are no longer accurate.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the club meetings will now be held starting at 3:30pm on Fridays in room 400a.

Ah, yes. AAU Animation Club: The only way to spend your...tea time?

Our first official meeting will be held this Friday, September 9th. In the mean time, please enjoy "Going to the Store", a short masterpiece animated by David Lewandowski, the lead animator on "Tron: Legacy."

going to the store. from dlew on Vimeo.

Attention New Students!

2011-08-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all who attended Club Orientation!

The Club has sent emails to all who signed up for

more information. If you did not recieve an email,

it is due to our failure to read your handwriting...

We apologize, please follow our blog for information

or email us directly with your name :)

aauanimate@gmail.com

Animation Club Fall 2011

2011-08-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

ANIMATORS!

It's that time again...

Time for animation club to rise from the foggy depths of San Francisco Summer....

Club meetings will be held on:

Fridays from 12pm to 1:30pm

UNLESS, DUE TO A POPULAR UPRISING, FRIDAY'S ARE DEEMED UNWORTHY OF CLUB MEETINGS. POST ALTERNATIVES HERE.

please take your lunch break with us: give/receive feedback, recruit for your projects, yap

2011-07-29T13:07:00.001-07:00

Hello Clubbers, Alumni, and Miscellaneous Subscribers!

JD Haas has announced: FALL WORKSHOPS ARE OPEN FOR SIGN UP
If you haven't experienced the S.O.S workshop, here's your chance.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
http://spungella.blogspot.com/2011/07/fall-2011-spungella-workshops-sign-ups.html

Workshops

2011-05-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hey peeps!

Good chance to get some Pixar mentorship, starting this summer.

Four of Pixar top animators will hold Workshops starting July 1rst. Classes will go from 7:00pm to 10:00pm once a week

They will take place near Pixar (you'll even be able to see the front gate). You can easily get there by Bart and Emeryville go round or the transbay bus.

(If you are not going to be around over summer, you can still sign-up or ask for the Fall classes.)

Check the image below for more information:

Looking for an Animator...

2011-05-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Caroline is looking for an animator or few to help her with her thesis! ;)
If interested, email her and send a link to your portfolio.

caroline.m.raphael@gmail.com

It's a sweet little story about a boy and a girl and a slide....

Mike Midlock Guest Lecture

2011-04-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Mike Midlock Guest Lecture

Friday April 29 @ 7:00pm in room 400 @ 180 New Montgomery

Hey animation dudey dudies,

Mike Midlock is an animator at ILM who has worked on a number of blockblusters including "Rango."

He will be giving a talk about how he busted into this industry and what he has learned along the way.

Come check it out, ask him some questions, and get sucked into the vicious tornado of inspiration.

It will be a good one. Don't miss it. We hope to see you there.

Our Next Speaker! - updated

2011-04-16T14:32:00.001-07:00

*** UPDATED***

Friday, April 29th

MICHAEL MIDLOCK
ILM ANIMATOR on RANGO and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4. He is currently working on "Super 8".

--PM IN ROOM 400
180 New Montgomery.

Stay tuned for a update with the time. But don't worry, it is going to be around 8 : )

Also - we we'll still have our regular meeting at 5:00pm in the midpoint room!

Academy of Art Gallery open to Animation and Film Submissions

2011-04-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Do you want to display art or a film in one of the Academy Galleries?

Email this lovely lady:

SERITA SANGIMINO
GALLERY/RETAIL GENERAL MANAGER
415-618-3859
SSANGIMINO@ACADEMYART.EDU

Open to Alumni and current students. Put yourself out there!

RANDY LINK PRESENTING ON FRIDAY

2011-04-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

OUR SPEAKER WILL BE PRESENTING
THIS FRIDAY: APRIL 8TH
@ 8PM IN ROOM 400

Be prepared for awesomeness...

Bring yourself, your friends, and your sense of humor...

TVP ANIMATION SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION

2011-03-29T16:59:00.001-07:00

TVP ANIMATION SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION
WHEN : Thursday ,March 31 from 3:30 to 6:00
WHERE: 540 Powell St. building, Room 400 ( 4th floor)

Meet with the company representative Fabrice Debarge to ask questions after the demo.

What is TVP ANIMATION ? -

"TVP Animation is a 2D bitmap animation software, made by artists, for artists. Combining real time drawing and animation applications into a single software solution , TVP Animation integrates artists directly into their work, in order to be concentrated on creation, instead of technique. Designed for projects of any resolution, ranging from HDTV and Film to web video, TVP Animation provides a simple, powerful alternative to expensive proprietary solutions and complex multiple software workflows.

http://paperless-animation.blogspot.com/

-Thanks David :)

Our First Guest of the Semester!

2011-03-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

RANDY LINK
ANIMATOR AT TIPPET AND WETA

Randy has an awesome presentation in the works for us.
Come out for a night filled with Animation Club's specialty: Awesomeness

FRIDAY APRIL 8th
STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS

VFX Gateway. Use It.

2011-03-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

VFX GATEWAY IS THE SITE FOR OUR DEPARTMENT

Do register and check it out.

Everything you will ever need to know...
Submissions for Spring Show or 10 Second Reel are via the Gateway
Collaborations
Jason's list
Rare but valuable email updates

http://vfxgateway.com/

Club Meeting Next Week!

2011-03-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

Our meeting will be held in the usual place:

The Midpoint Room
In the back of the ILM lab
on the 3rd floor of 180 New Montgomery

new folks always welcome and oldies always forgiven if they are too busy ;)

Bring yourself
Bring your stuff

we'll rip it up for you

2011-03-11T14:40:00.001-08:00

http://www.siggraph.org/s2011/

Interested in Siggraph?
Stay tuned and talk to your student reps to find out more information!

Reminder

2011-03-11T14:33:00.001-08:00

Animation Club will be visiting the Illustration and 2D department building on Powell Street.

We are bringing dim sum so come on out, bring your animation, and have a snack!

Meet in the lobby at 5pm.

Next Week's Meeting

2011-03-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

We want to bring the 2D folk and 3D folk together :)
Next week's meeting will be at Powell!!

Shall I bring dim sum?

Some links for your handy dandy google reader...

2011-03-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

You may not have seen this site before, but it's a great resource for gesture drawing practice
http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

And, everybody should have a feed from Hans Bacher. Beautiful art direction and process notes. He also posts a lot of material from his book: Dream Worlds.

http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/

Club Time and Meeting Location

2011-02-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

Club Time and Meeting Place have once again settled into the Midpoint Room on Fridays at 5pm!

Club Meeting Next Week!

2011-02-03T23:10:00.000-08:00

Animation Club will be meeting for the first time next week!

Friday @ 12pm
in the midpoint room!

Stay tuned for our event notices, posters, and screens on the Campus Life Televisions!

Welcome Back!

2011-02-01T13:25:00.001-08:00

Ladies, Gents, and Androgynous Individuals,

It's Spring!
It's 2011!
It's time for Animation Club to begin again!

Last year we met on Fridays at 5pm in the Midpoint Room of 180 New Montgomery. This is still a good candidate for this semester. However, feel free to propose new ideas.

Don't miss out! Bring your work for critique, show a short film, share some animation news and updates on collaboratives, find team mates, attend our guest speaker presentations and club bonding events!

Also, it's never too early to sign up for CTN Animation Expo which the club will be attending and arranging transportation for in Fall 2011.

http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/

P.S. Today is Cartoon Art Museum's "free" day. The MOMA as well.

Fall Animation Festival 2010

2010-12-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 7th!
491 Post Street (Morgan Auditorium)

7PM to 9PM

Premiere of many Short films from AAU students after lecture by Misha Klein!

Guest Lecture!

2010-12-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

The moment you've all been waiting for!

Our first fall 2010 speaker is...
AARON HARTLINE

Aaron has worked on several companies including Game Refuge (producing the game Rampage), Big Idea (Veggie Tales) and Blue Sky (Ice Age, Robots, Horton hears a Who) before landing at PIXAR, where he worked on UP and Toy Story 3.

click here to visit his blogs!

Aaron will talk about his career and some of his shots, including Mr. Tortilla Head!

Friday, December 3rd, 8:00pm, room 804

Stay tuned in case there are any sudden changes.

Also, we will still meet at 5:00pm at the midpoint room. See you then!

2010-11-26T11:37:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

No club meeting this week of course.
See you next Friday at 5

THE BUS TO CTN

2010-11-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

6 SPOTS LEFT ON THE BUS TO CTN

Go directly to Powell (RIGHT NOW)
talk to Monica on the 3rd floor
bring $45

Siggraph--A blurb by Lauren for those interested or in the dark...

2010-11-16T09:47:00.001-08:00

Hi guys, So I've noticed that Siggraph 2011 as started accepting applications for their student volunteer positions. Yay! It runs from August 7 - 11, 2011.

In summary, Siggraph is one of the largest Computer Graphics Conferences in the US (and now for the very first time out of the country in Vancouver). It's hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) which is pretty much the entire computer research and development community at large. ACM is separated into different categories depending on what type of research occurs.

For example, there's SIGART for artificial intelligence, SIGEVO for genetic computations, and SIGGRAPH for computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Every year, SIGGRAPH hosts a conference, which bring us back to the open application for student volunteers. If you're accepted as a volunteer, it's a 5 day conference and they pay for your entrance fee. The catch is you work for 18 hours throughout the week as a volunteer assisting with the conference. They don't cover room or board, but if we have enough friends we can make a decent room much cheaper.

At this conference it's not so much about traditional animation and illustration but more about current and emerging technologies and explanations how they created the more technology savvy parts of films and games as well as about new ways of interactivity.

I'd still suggest any CG animator to go because it's a great experience, and guess what: it's in VANCOUVER! totally excited about that. I've never been to Canada, but Vancouver is morphing into one of the key hotspots for the animation industry at the moment.

Here's the link to the student volunteer portion of their site:
http://www.siggraph.org/s2011/for_volunteers/student-volunteers

The deadline is February 14th, but be aware that to be a student volunteer at this event is insanely competitive and a bit of priority goes to those who apply first.... granted even if you don't get accepted you won't find out until maybe in spring, so it doesn't hurt to apply just in case.

Good luck to those who apply!

Reschedule

2010-11-11T00:02:00.001-08:00

FRIDAYS GUEST SPEAKER CANCLED

Sorry all, I know you've been chomping at the bit but our presenter had a bit of a hiccup with his presentation.

We'll keep you posted on the new date and time.

Stay tuned and stop in to the club on Friday at 5!

Friday Night Speaker!

2010-11-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

Hello ALL!

This Friday, we will receive guest speaker Kevin Chesnos

Kevin is an alumni and is currently teaching at AAU, and will talk about his experience
working on Bluesky, Disney and Pixar; as well as his student days.

Friday, November 12th, 8:00pm, room 804

Stay tuned in case there are any sudden changes.

Also, we will still meet at 5:00pm at the midpoint room. See you then!

Our First SPEAKER!

2010-10-31T21:16:00.000-07:00

+++++ Update +++++++

Unfortunately, our guest won't be able to come this Friday!
We will re-schedule for later on.
We will still meet at 5:00 o'clock on Friday.

+++++ Update +++++++

The moment you've all been waiting for!

Our first fall 2010 speaker is...
AARON HARTLINE

Aaron has worked on several companies including Game Refuge (producing the game Rampage), Big Idea (Veggie Tales) and Blue Sky (Ice Age, Robots, Horton hears a Who) before landing at PIXAR, where he worked on UP and Toy Story 3.

click here to visit his blogs!

Aaron will talk about his career and some of his shots, including Mr. Tortilla Head!

Friday, November 5th, 8:00pm, room 804

Stay tuned in case there are any sudden changes.

Also, we will still meet at 5:00pm at the midpoint room. See you then!

Animation Club Meetings

2010-10-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

Just in case you haven't visited Animation Club yet, the official time is...

Fridays 5PM in the Midpoint Room!

Town Hall in a Nutshell

2010-10-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

In case you missed the town hall meeting...here are a few important tidbits.

Take note of the legendary posters around the lab of Jason Patnode. If you are trying to join a collaborative or if you want to be involved but aren't sure where you might fit in make an appointment to see Jason in Nettie and Brian's office during business hours.

VFX Gateway is the best way to stay up on department news and ALL of the collaborative projects. http://vfxgateway.com/

On that note, email updates from the Gateway might be blasting soon so stay tuned. It might be going to your AAU email so if you don't want that, go onto SSS and change your contact email to the one that you actually use. Be prepared to receive academy emails though...

Think of some SOLUTIONS for trying to manage the busy hours at the lab...

Dila (VFX) and Mandy (ANM) are the undergrad reps. Naudia is the grad rep. Need info, have ideas, or concerns about the department? They're always in the lab somewhere.

Going to CTN? Buy your ticket and book your hotel NOW. Sign up right away in Nettie and Brian's office if you want to take the bus.

Animation Club...a boring name?

2010-10-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
It was suggested to us that we consider a spunky awesome name for our club...
Any suggestions? Yay or Nay?

Club meeting this FRIDAY!

2010-10-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

Howdy everybody,

The club will be meeting in the midpoint room at 5PM on FRIDAYS starting this week.

Bring yourself and be awesome...

Animation Industry Panel: Monday October 4! 10am at Morgan Auditorium

2010-09-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

New school year!

2010-09-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

Hello everybody!!!

The new school year started!

We need to set a time for our Animation Club meetings.

Take the poll!!

and keep your eyes open for updates on CTN and other club related FUNZIES!!

Norman Modification Workshop Notes - Part 4...

2010-07-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

Norman Mod Workshop Tutorial
Part 4

Tips and Ticks originally taught to the AAU Animation Club by Joshua Slice in a live demonstration on campus, is now in a SUPER EASY written tutorial by Vaughan Weigert. Enjoy!

Here are the remaining notes for you to follow along with the Norman Modification workshop. Tips and Notes on What to do and How to do it... No pictures for these, but the notes should help you as you work. Happy modding!

EARS: Hide the Original Norman Ears...

Kit bash! Get the "ART" Model out of the resources folder (or another model with higher poly mesh/ better modeled parts) and steel his nose, teeth, etc.

Tip: You can cut off art's head and use his whole body mesh as a wrap.

-Take Art's head. delete all faces but ear geo.
(Save to folder and archive body parts. Diff versions of an ear, etc.)

-File export Art geo selection --> (MayaBinary file)
-import to scene. Unlock geo and center to pivot.
-place ear.
-delete hist. / freeze transformations
-hit insert key, hold "x" to snap pivot point to center axis (zero). Then duplicate the geo and scale it -1 to opposite/even side.

--Ears and nose parent to top controller.

-make sure channels unlocked or geo will shoot out!

HAIR
- Is more difficult / time consuming. Do it on your own or steel someone's haircut, like Andy, etc. ...
To create a Buzzcut--> dup head geo, delete faces that won't be hair.
-Select hair faces and extrude faces. Then shape.
-parent hair to "last" Norman Controller / ctrl "F".

EYEBROWS:
Done the same as the hair --> dup head geo
-symmetry ---> "Move Tool" channel box -->Turn "Reflection" on, while you pull fwd top vertices.
-extrude to give some depth.
-unlock channels.
-center to axis(zero)

-Then wrap Eyebrow geo to face (in this instance)

BODY PROPORTIONS: general shoulder/ torso, etc. size/scale...

Scale the head via head ctrl: Select the control, scale it using the Scale tool.

TIP: Neck + Head - scale xyz at same time. Don't try to squash it.

Use controllers to scale/ stretch...

TIP: preserve shoulder balls round shape and where they are (position) --> for wrapping evenly around that ball and it's pivot point.

Scaling arms/legs --> use stretch, not squash, in channel box.

TIP: to get legs/arms to stretch farther in one direction, set a key on the control when the stretch (scale) is at it's max. Then go into Graph editor and move the key point farther down or up in GE.

TIP: You may have to clean up extreme short legs with blendshapes, later, but that's alright. You aren't breaking the rig.

TIP: make the neck thicker/ more normal size.
-tweak neck size: depth of bottom verts to avoid neck stick out when you rotate Head back.

Do a lot of testing. Try different things.

FEET: up to you, can wrap them, or make huge feet... experiment. Feet "look" not as important, relatively.

SHOULDERS:
Select verts of top/ shoulders on Norman, Duplicate and scale/ move down --> slope you like. It's a blendshape so it will affect the original.
Do the same with chest, belly.

Go back to Norman Orig. and scale CONTROLS of chest, belly for size.

Keep going back and forth between Orig. Norman CTRLS and DUP Norman Blends/verts, until "character look" feels right to you.

WRAPS

ARMS:
You must unlock dup norman arms --> so you can scale "-1" and put both arms on one side for modifying w/ lattice.
-click/drag select both "lower arm" geos, create lattice.
-Make sure to turn off "reflection" and/or "soft select" if you notice your lattice not deforming geo as expected.
-scale lower arm shapes to your preference.
TIP: rotate in "world" for symmetry.

UPPER ARM/ SHOULDER BALLS: geo is centered to shoulder ball and MUST stay perfectly centered to rotate correctly.

You want to create same joint/shape of lower arm in upper arm/shoulder socket, so do this manually, pull/ drag the verts into this basic shape.
Looks like...O<===>o<====>o
-like the arms shapes. Then duplicate the geo. Remove it from Norman Orig. outliner heirarchy and put in WRAPS group.
-Combine arm geo. You will have gap where elbow should be.
-Use APPEND tool to select edges in gap and fill in.
-will have to add (3) edge loops where arm/elbow deforms.
-Delete history on arm geo.
-Make sure pivot point is at zero. Duplicate it and scale -1 = opposite arm.
-Arm will be wrapped to Orig. Norman geo. and will deform with orig mesh -for any modification you make after that via the DUP blendshape.

CLOTHES/ sleeves:
You can duplicate shoulder ball, but can't move it.
-hit "F" in outliner to locate new DUP. Remove it from orig. Norman Group and put into WRAP group.
- if arm/ shoulder groups are "facing" opposite directions:
sel one grp (or the other) and "reverse normals"
-shoulder area won't be deformed into upper arm, so triangles in geo = OK when creating a t-shirt sleeve out of this DUP shoulder ball.

*note: keep WRAP / BLENDSHAPE / ORIG CN seperate groups

Look at WRAP OPTIONS BOX options... try different combinations. Very Trial and error procedure to see what works best.

-delete hist on wrap
-wrap Upper Arm to Orig upper arm --> then with WRAP slected, select ORIG Norman lower Arm geo and > wrap> "add influence".
-wrap Sleeve to upper arm piece.
don't parent sleve to shoulder ctrl. doesn't work.

*JOINTS: don't "Add influence" to balls/ joints. They're fine the way they are.

HANDS:
-Rotate to check for lower arm sticking out funny...
--want to do same to arm/wrist geo as with Neck check--> pull verts in/out on Arm BLENDSHAPE geo, so they don't stick out of palm.
-->wrap on Norman Orig will be affected by the DUP (blenshape) Norman.
-Rotate hand down to check.
-SCALE hand size by scaling PALM control. (scale of ".6" usually a good size)

CHEST:
Duplicate chest from ORIG Norman geo for a WRAP.
(so WRAP has shared hierarchy = no wierdness, points will overlap)

-Extrude bottom of WRAP geo in side view, to pull out a t-shirt / shaped to body form.
- take sculpt geo tool and smooth it. REshape.

-go to Sculpt Geo brush channel box --> "Reflection" for symmetry.

-delete bottom faces (just bottom) to create hole.

--"relax" button in Sculpt Geometry tool, will move everything but ends/ bottom. (More control)
--"smooth" button (less Control)

-On chest wrap geo, may need to add/ insert loops or split edge to make a "COLLAR" bone shape on chest. Do again to create/ extrude a t-shirt collar up and out.
Spend time shaping it.

MORE ADVANCED - You can add geo/ loops, for "under arm" area on chest wrap. for better cloth deformation --> ie) creating a suit/ sleeves. Create a cylinder, fit to upper arm size, and proceed...

When satisfied:
-Delete hist. on wrap geo.
-remove wrap from old hierarchy and drag into Wrap grp.
-WRAP the "chest wrap geo" to Top 3 underlying (torso) geo. TRIAL AND ERROR! See if you need to wrap it to top three AND hips... maybe you need to for your work, maybe you don't. Depends how much hips move.

PANTS:
LEGS:
First, unlock Dup norman legs --> so you can scale -1 and put both legs on one side for modifying w/ lattice.

*Need to POSE norman first, with legs out in "jumping Jack" pose, to create pants that will deform better.
-Dup ORIG hips geo. Delete one half. pull verts out of middle toward leg on deleted hip geo side-->extrude edge, rotate /angle down and shape into pant leg.

Done with pant leg= ready to duplicate for other pant leg side and merge.

FIRST: *Zero out vertice that will need to merge at center, that are out of line/ center (zero axis):
scale them down. Then hold x to snap, use move tool to toggle verts' position and put back in place.

- Dup leg, scale -1 to flip, combine geo and merge pants geo. at center verts.
-Delete history
-Select wrap pants geo and "WRAP" to ORIG norman upper legs. Then select wrap pants geo and select ORIG norman lower legs and wrap-> "Add Influence".
-Do not wrap pants to ankle joints.

DETAILS:
Trial and Error!

TRY MAKING THESE DETAILS:

LIPS: like legs, open mouth (jaw ctrl) first, dup head geo, delete all but lips geo. Delete hist on lips Wrap geo, and add as wrap to head...

FURROWED BROW detail: create while Orig norman brows/face is posed --> dup face geo, pull out in front of face a bit, sculpt furrows, delete all but "Furrowed Brow" geo. Delete hist. Apply as wrap to Orig Norman Face geo.

Local Events: Nina Paley @ Cartoon Art Museum

2010-07-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sita Sings The Blues: A Benefit Screening Hosted by Nina Paley
Cartoon Art Museum/Electronic Frontier Foundation Event at the Delancey Street Foundation Screening Room: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 7pm-10pm
Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door

Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Cartoon Art Museum for a special evening with Nina Paley for a screening of her animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues, described by creator Nina Paley as “the greatest breakup story ever told.” Paley animated and produced the film single-handedly over the course of five years on a home computer, and take filmgoers behind the scenes of this award-winning film. This benefit screening will take place at the Delancey Street Foundation Screening Room, 600 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, from 7pm to 9pm on Tuesday, July 20. Advance tickets may be purchased online for $25 at http://action.eff.org/ninapaley, or for $30 at the door the night of the screening.

And for those of you on a tight budget, a free reception for Nina Paley at the Cartoon Art Museum on Thursday, July 29, from 7-9pm.

Local Events

2010-06-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

LOCAL EVENTS

34th SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL LGBT FILM FESTIVAL, JUNE 17-27, TO SHOW FIVE ANIMATED SHORTS PLUS “DOTTIE’S MAGIC POCKETS”

Dottie’s Magic Pockets by Tammie Stoner is a 50-minute TV show on DVD for kids 4 – 6. Stoner says, “I created Dottie’s Magic Pockets to reflect a diverse family. I wanted to put my heart around positive gay and lesbian images. There isn’t anything else like this out there.” The show features actors, hand puppets and animated segments. The shorts are The Girl Bunnies, Hockey by Françoise Doherty, Mouse's Birthday by Barry Morse, Red Revenge by Eunha Choi, Cat's Cradle by Ray Rea and Queer Pet Adventures Episode #1 by Veronique Courtois.

Friday June 18, A TRIBUTE TO THE TOURNEE OF ANIMATION AND PRESCOTT WRIGHT, THE EARLY SHOWS at the Exploratorium, 7:30 pm, free

For many years The Tournee of Animation was the major and often the only way to see wonderful independent animated shorts from around the world. Tonight we will look at original 16mm archival prints from the first three programs distributed (1968-1970) by Prescott Wright (1936 – 2007).

The highlights to be screened include work by Richard Williams, experimental computer animation by John and Michael Whitney, gems from the Zagreb Studio, Yoji Kuri from Japan, and work from the US, UK and other nations. A wide variety of content, styles and animation techniques will be included.

When Prescott died his library of Tournee prints went to the Pacific Film Archives with a duplicate set going to ASIFA. They recently gave us sets of the first three shows. After our screening the prints will go to ASIFA-LA for preservation. Due to colors fading and some of the shorts being dated we are only showing highlights. Don’t miss what may be your only chance to see these legendary films projected in 16mm, the way they were meant to be seen.

Guest Speaker, Jeep Naarkom, This Friday 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

2010-05-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

This Friday we have Jeep Naarkom, current AAU student and previously an animator at Electronic Arts, coming to tell us a bit about himself and about animation for games.

The lecture will start at 8:30pm. Room 140B.

We're all excited for this Friday's lecture and as usual, expect this to be a well attended event. Show up early & on time to be sure you get a seat or a good standing space.

Guest Speaker, Josh Cooley, This Friday 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

2010-04-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

Our guest speaker for the week will be Josh Cooley! He is a storyboard artist over at Pixar and will be talking a little bit about himself and his work. As always, it will be packed so come early for good seats! Same place, same time.

The Slovak Impact

2010-04-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

Next Wed April 28th: "The Allure of Hayao Miyazaki" at The Cartoon Art Museum

2010-04-13T01:57:00.000-07:00

The Allure of Hayao Miyazaki
Slide lecture with authors Frederik L. Schodt and Beth Cary
Cartoon Art Museum Event: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 7pm - 9pm
$5 suggested donation

AT THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM

If you have been thrilled by the images and touched by the heartwarming stories of Hayao Miyazaki’s animations, you may count yourself among the vast numbers of fans of this revered filmmaker. One of the greatest animators of all time, his legions of fans include the viewing audience as well as those working in the field of manga and anime, both in Japan and around the world. He is also a prolific writer and speaker whose volume of writings has been translated into English as Starting Point: 1979-1996, published by Viz Media. In an illustrated talk, Beth Cary and Frederik Schodt, the translators of this work, will explore the reasons for the appeal of Miyazaki and his films, in both Japan and the United States.
The suggested donation for this event is $5.

Frederik L. Schodt’s writings on manga, and his translations of them, have helped trigger the current popularity of Japanese comics in the English-speaking world. In 2009, the Japanese Government presented him with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his work in helping to promote Japan’s popular culture in the United States. He has written widely on Japanese history, popular culture, and technology.

Beth Cary has interpreted for many Japanese artists, including Hayao Miyazaki, at their presentations in the Bay Area. As a translator she has translated Japanese fiction and nonfiction works into English. The topics of these books range from the social sciences to literary reflections. Recently she has translated several award-winning mystery stories for the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

CO-SPONSORED BY The Japan Society of Northern California

Founded in 1905, the Japan Society of Northern California is the West Coast’s leading forum on Japan and US-Japan relations. Its mission is to strengthen cooperation and understanding between the peoples of the United States and Japan by providing programs that help to expand knowledge, increase personal interaction and facilitate discussion of important issues.

-Posted by ASIFA

Guest Speaker, Kent Brown, THIS Friday! 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

2010-04-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

This Friday Kent Brown will be giving a lecture on preparing a good demo reel package complete with awesome resume and cover letter. This is a process often overlooked by students which can make or break your chances on getting that dream job you've always wanted. Kent has worked in HR and knows the do's and dont's to applying for a job.

Same Place, Same Time (8:30 in room 140B at the 180 building)

ASIFA SF EVENT: April 1st GUMBY TRIBUTE at THE BALBOA

2010-03-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Thurs. April 1, COME OUT AND CELEBRATE APRIL FOOLS DAY WITH A GUMBY TRIBUTE AT THE BALBOA featuring The Emmy award winning feature Gumby Dharma by Tim Hittle, Robina Marchesi and Karla Gunning-Harris plus see shorts and some of the artists in-person talking about working with Art Clokey (Gumby’s creator) who died in January, 2010. Check the Balboa’s website and local movie listings for details in late March.

Gumby Dharma explores why a man would spend his 85 years on earth playing with lumps of colored clay. His world famous characters, Gumby and Pokey, and Davy and Goliath, echo the spiritual path of their creator. Art's journey takes us from the orphanage to inspiring adopted father, from the Seminary to the Hollywood movie business, and from traditional Episcopalian church values to Buddhism and Indian guru Sai Baba. It is a fascinating life and career in it's own right but also in how it gently influenced his characters and story lines for over 40 years. Clokey’s work is one of the few animation characters that have survived the test of time to become a true American Icon. Interviews with contemporary leaders in animation, including Director Henry Selick (Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) and special effects legend Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts, Adventures of Sinbad), place Clokey’s work in perspective with the history of animation and explore stop motion’s future in a computer graphics world. THIS IS ALSO A DVD RELEASE PARTY OF “GUMBY DHARMA” Details at www.gumbydharma.com

Don’t forget April 1 is the annual St. Stupid’s Day Parade at noon.

Another Great guest lecture and more on the way

2010-03-24T02:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks for coming out to JD's lecture last Friday!

It was a great lecture and another huge turn out. There will be no guest speaker this Friday, as school is out for Spring Break this week. Watch for updates for the next guest lecture, coming soon.

AAU Coming Events: Alumni Comic Book Panel

April 1st, Morgan Auditorium 7pm!

Guest Speaker, Jean-Denis Hass, THIS Friday! 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

2010-03-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

This Friday we have Jean-Denis Hass, "JD" coming to talk to tell us a bit about himself and about animation. JD is a former AAU student, instructor and is an Animator at ILM. The lecture will start at 8:30pm. Room 140B.

We're all excited for this Friday's lecture and expect this to be a well attended event. Show up early & on time to be sure you get a seat or a good standing space.

JD Lecture Postponed, Robert Steele talk this Friday!

2010-03-10T12:04:00.001-08:00

Sorry guys, due to some family concerns JD can't make it out this Friday. We will be rescheduling with JD, likely for next week. Just stay tuned for the update.

However we're in luck, our very own Robert Steele has graciously offered to drop in and give us a talking to. Join the Club for an eye opening talk this Friday at 8:30pm in the 79 Theater.

Bob Steele is a current full time faculty at the Academy and a great guy to ask questions to about story, storyboarding, layout, camera, preproduction and portfolio concerns, among other things. Come with questions and a sense of humor. He'll give you some straight answers and very likely some good stories.

Robert Steele's professional background includes: Working as Art Director and Computer Animator for various video game companies such as Sega Technical Institute, Captivation Digital Laboratories, Full-On Amusement Company Blizzard Entertainment, and Virgin Entertainment.

Project credits include Diablo 2, Diehard Arcade, ComicZone, Robocop vs. Terminator, and Disney’s The Jungle Book video games.

He also produced Commercial Animatics and Storyboards at Jim Keeshen Studios in Los Angeles, California and was a Storyboard Artist for the Widget and Mr. Bogus animated television series for Calico Creations.

He was Producer on animated short, “Monkey Love " at Jim Keeshen Studios which was a Nominee for Animated Short Film ASIFA 1996 and recipient of the Golden Gate Award, San Francisco Independent Film Festival, 1997.

UPDATE: Gest Lecture NEXT Friday, the 12th.

2010-03-03T12:23:00.001-08:00

Hey Club,

We will be doing the next guest speaker event NEXT Friday instead of this Friday. Update your calendars!

Next Friday we will have Jean-Denis Hass, "JD" coming to talk to tell us a bit about himself and about animation. JD is a former AAU student, instructor and is an Animator at ILM. The lecture will start at 8:30pm. Room 140B.

Thanks again go out to Brian Shirmer in the Anim & VFX dept for securing the room!

And thanks to you guys and gals in the club for tuning in to the blog posts and turning out for the speakers. We're looking forward to next Friday's event.

Guest Speaker this Friday 8:30pm, Jean-Denis Haas

2010-02-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Wow guys! We had a great turn out for last week's guest speaker, Michal Makarewicz. Thank you for coming out and we hope you all took something away from that event that helped you.

This Friday, Jean-Denis Hass, "JD" will be coming to talk to tell us a bit about himself and about animation. JD is a former AAU instructor and is an animator at ILM. The lecture will start at 8:30pm. Room TBA. Keep posted for Updates!

REQUESTS for GUEST SPEAKERS:
People at last week's event had some requests for Storyboard and Rigging guest speakers and the Club is going to get right on that.

Keep in mind that this group is about us students, pooling our efforts and resources to help each other. All the events, meetings and trips are ideas that people in the club wanted to do and we made the effort to get school resources and friends behind it to make it happen. So the direction of the club and its events are up to you as much as they are up to the people who posts these updates. Come to the meetings, post to the blog, speak up and we'll all listen and work together to help get the most out of our time at the Academy.

"I HAVE CLASS DURING THE CLUB MEETING":
If you have a class during our Friday meeting times, you can always step out of class for a quick bathroom break and swing by the meeting to pop in quickly for some feedback or just to see what's happening. You can also post to the blog through the critique login to ask questions or get feedback.

NEWS, LINKS and EVENTS:
ASIFA-SF recently screened the 5 Oscar nominated animation shorts over at Dolby Labs. It was a great animation community event and a rare opportunity to see the shorts as well as meet some of the creators and hear them talk about their work. Don't miss out on future events like this. The event was free with membership to ASIFA! Join ASIFA now.

Link: Animation World Network, Oscar Tour Travelogue
"Follow the animated short film Oscar Nominees annual big studio screening and schmoozing tour. This annual tour, founded and coordinated by AWN's president Ron Diamond, is an animation industry star studded extravaganza. Various editors, lead by AWN's Content Director Rick DeMott, have chronicled the tour since 2007 as they've journeyed to Disney, Dreamworks, Sony Imageworks, ILM, PDI to name a few."

Guest Speaker, Michal Makarewicz Friday 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 building

2010-02-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

Hi Club,

Our second guest speaking event is confirmed for this Friday 8:30pm in ROOM 140B, at the 180 Building. Thanks to Brian in the Animation & VFX office for helping us get the space!

This room is through the door directly across from the main entrance of the 180 building. We will post signs and don't anticipate people having any trouble finding the room.

To avoid interruptions in the presentation, we'll be shutting the door to the room at 8:45pm.

Look forward to an insightful talk from Michal Makarewicz, Pixar animator and awesome guy.

We expect this to be a well attended event, so show up early & on time to be sure you get a seat or a good standing space.

Sony Imageworks at Morgan Auditorium, March 4th at 10am

2010-02-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

Guest Speaker this Friday 8:30pm, Michal Makarewicz.

2010-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Our second guest speaker of the year, Michal Makarewicz. He is an AAU grad and Animator at Pixar.

Michal will be coming to the Academy to talk to the Animation Club about his experience at school and Pixar. He will also be talking about some shots he's worked on as well as doing a short demo of his workflow approach, using an exercise like a head turn, or short dialogue clip.

The club will be meeting for this guest speaker event this Friday at 8:30pm. Room TBA shortly.

We're going to try to have this event in the 79 theater, but if not, it will be at the 180 building in a large classroom.

Watch for updates and join us for another great talk on Friday!

Animation Club Guest Speaker this Friday 8:30pm at 180

2010-02-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

Our first guest speaker of the new year, Terry Song. He is a recent AAU grad and is currently working at Pixar as a Fix Animator.

Terry will be coming to the Academy to talk to some of the members of the Animation Club about his experience at school and at Pixar.

The club will be meeting for this guest speaker event on Friday at 8:30pm in one of the 3rd floor classrooms at 180.

Room TBA shortly! Watch for updates and join us for a great talk on Friday!

Disney on Campus event: Morgan Auditorium, Thursday Feb 25th at 10AM

2010-02-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

Industry on Campus: Monday Feb. 22! 7pm

2010-02-10T16:19:00.001-08:00

New Semester & New Club Meeting Time

2010-02-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome back Club! Here's the new news:

NEW Club Meeting Time and Day
Based on the poll we took, the majority of people would like to have the club meetings on Fridays. So we have reserved the midpoint meeting room on the 3rd floor of the 180 bldg. for Fridays, from 12:00-1:00pm.

We have reserved this time of day, so that our meetings will not interfere with finals, midpoint or final review schedules. We'll see how the time and day change goes and we can adjust the time, if need be.

Collaborative Projects: available for school credit and for those interested in volunteering.
"One So Young" and "Junior Giants" are two student collaborative projects going on at the Academy right now that are open to students who would like collaborative experience and/or would like to work on the collaborative for school credit. Watch out for fliers posted on the bulletin boards for more info, or go see Chris Armstrong on the 3rd floor of 180 bldg. for more details.

Guest Speakers, Demos and Workshop Q/A
This February is a slow month for some of our friends in the industry who have graciously offered their time to show and tell us a thing or two about animation. We look forward to arranging one or two guest speakers this month. We'll keep you posted once we've confirmed the dates and times. Be sure to check the blog for updates!

Flying Pendulum Test!

2010-01-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

I have a new animation for overlapping action, a flying pendulum.

Flying Pendulum Test - Overlapping! from Andrei Radacina on Vimeo.

I hope you will e-critique this animation the overlapping, imapact and the timing.

Regards,

Andrei.

New Animation Club Meeting Time

2009-12-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays Club!

School session will be starting up again in February and there has been some interest in changing the Animation Club Meeting time to a different day of the week.

We currently meet Wednesdays at 12:30pm, but it has been suggested by several members that we change the day to Friday and possibly change the time as well.

We thought the best way to decide would be to put it to a vote on the Blog. Please vote for the day that would work best for you and once that's decided, we will pick the time of day.

We will make an announcement on the blog ahead of time as to when our first meeting of the semester will be, which may be the second week of the Spring semester.

For now, please vote in the poll and comment below about what day and time you would prefer to meet for Animation Club.

2009-12-28T06:58:00.000-08:00

Genericwalk, Just started to learn animation, need some critique :P . I can't seems to get rid the pops of the knees..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjMnV5Qcv_8

*posted a new link just in case the video doesn't work

Rc car with Antenna!

2009-12-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hello! Please critique my new animation exercise Antenna study.

Rc car with Antenna! perspective from Andrei Radacina on Vimeo.

Rc car with Antenna! Side. from Andrei Radacina on Vimeo.

Please critique the braking joins and the vibration!

Best regards,

Andrei (http://andrewroot.blogspot.com/).

Ball, squash and stretch!

2009-12-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

Hello this is one of my exercise Ball bounce with squash and stretch.

Ball, squash and stretch. from Andrei Radacina on Vimeo.

Please critique the space and the timing, squashing and streching.

Best regards,

Andrei.

Online Club Critique login

2009-12-04T16:26:00.001-08:00

ONLINE Club Critique:

If you would like to post your animation (or animation related work) up on the blog for critique, login with: AAUcritique

Password: Critique

Once logged in, Create a New Post and upload the video file of your animation (or other file type, depending on the work) and ask for the type of critique or feedback you are looking for.

FALL ANIMATION FESTIVAL TODAY! 5pm!

2009-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Join us TODAY at MORGAN AUDITORIUM, 5PM for the Fall Animation Festival. There's a widely anticipated intro. animation, Special guest Nik Ranieri, and great submissions from your fellow classmates.

Come check out the Fall animation scene.

At 491 POST, cross street Mason.

Kyle Balda: A "Broad Strokes" 10 minute tutorial on YouTube

2009-12-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Reel Inspiration and Reference Post

2009-12-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

Reels:

People in lab are talking about these great reels!

Check out Travis Tohill's reel

And Giovanni Spinelli's Reel

Reference:

Check out this Muybridge-like video reference on scott-eaton.com Bodies In Motion Image Library page.

He has uploaded some great free content and the rest you can subscribe to.

BLIZZARD on Campus TODAY!

2009-11-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

INDUSTRY ON CAMPUS PRESENTS

Thursday, November 12^th

Morgan Auditorium - 10 AM

Calling all Game Designers, Animators, Illustrators and Fine Artists!

Hear what BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT looks for in portfolios and reels.

Learn about internships and job opportunities.

ALUMNI WELCOME!

Simply bring your alumni ID to gain entry.

Questions? Email alumni@academyart.edu.

Fall Animation Festival!

2009-11-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Now's the time to show your animated short film at the
Fall Animation Festival!

The deadline is quickly approaching:
Sunday, November 15th, Lab closing time.
For more information, check out the Festival Info Blog:
http://fallanimationfestival.blogspot.com/

Submission drop-off locations can be found at:
540 Powell, 180 New Montgomery, and 601 Brannan.

See you there!

CTN Animation Expo: Group BUS Update

2009-11-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

The Price of Bus Seats is officially down and the cost per seat is just $30. That's the round-trip fare to take the AAU Bus down to Burbank, CA.

Our HUGE THANKS to Director Sherrie H. Sinclair who made the buses possible!

For those who have NOT yet signed up and emailed Ting about a bus seat, the sign-up info below is for you!

SIGN UP: By commenting below. And we will give you our email so you can send your Name, Student ID number and Phone number to get on our Bus List.

PAYMENT: Due by 5pm THIS Friday. You can pay our good man Brian Schirmer at Room #301, on the 3rd floor of the 180 building. You will receive a waiver to sign when you pay for your seat. Once you commit to going and pay for your seat, we cannot refund your money should you drop out.

Meet to BOARD the BUSES: At Midnight on Thursday, Nov. 19th, outside of the 180 building.

Pack light, its a short visit!

IMD on Campus, Nov. 18th!

2009-11-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

INDUSTRY ON CAMPUS PRESENTS

State of the art studio devoted exclusively to performance capture feature films

Wednesday, November 18^th

79 New Montgomery Theater

7:00PM sharp!

Hear and ask about:

The upcoming film Disney's A Christmas Carol

Company culture

Motion capture process

And much more...

ALUMNI WELCOME!

Simply bring your alumni ID to gain entry. Questions? Email alumni@academyart.edu.

We're Going to the CTN Animation Expo!

2009-11-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

The CTN Animation Expo is coming up soon!
Nov. 20-22
At the Burbank Convention Center

We have buses to take us down to the Expo! The cost of a bus seat, ROUND TRIP, is currently between $45-50.We will know the exact price when we get a final number on the people who want to bus down, but the price will not go above $50.

That's a pretty sweet deal for a road trip to LA with all your animation friends on a bus!

We are trying to see if we can get around 20 more people for the buses. If we do, the price per bus seat will be closer to $45.

Whoever wants to go by bus, please comment below and let us know you're interested in a bus seat!

Part three of the Norman Modification Workshop

2009-11-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

Norman Mod Workshop Tutorial
Part 3

Tips and Ticks originally taught to the AAU Animation Club by Joshua Slice in a live demonstration on campus, 10-03-2009, is now in a SUPER EASY written tutorial by Vaughan Weigert. Enjoy!

Modding The Mouth...

THE MOUTH:
Start with fixing that giant overbite on the Original Norman... Make Curves visible again and place the Teeth back in the head so they don't collide with the head mesh.

1. Grab the Jaw Controllers and move them up or back as the case may be.
2. And SCALE the jaw Controllers to fit your head.

3. Select the "boca-burger" mouth shape surrounding the jaw and hit the "f8" key to view the mesh in COMPONENT MODE.
4. Now, select all verts of the object in component mode and move it back, and scale it, to fit into the head.

THE TONGUE:

1. Grab all vertices of the mesh in Component Mode and move it up (TY).

You may want to open the jaw and check to see that it looks right.

Brad Bird speaking at Berkeley Repertory Theater - Monday, Nov. 9th

2009-11-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Jon Carroll in Conversation with Brad Bird from Pixar
Buy your Student Ticket now!
Brad Bird is the writer and director of the Academy® Award-winning films Ratatouille and The Incredibles, as well as the critically acclaimed 1999 animated feature, The Iron Giant.

Berkeley Repertory Theater - Thrust Stage
2025 Addison St.
Berkeley, CA 94704

Doors open at 6 PM - Program begins at 7 PM
No host wine reception at 6 PM

All proceeds benefit the academic and financial assistance
programs at Park Day School in Oakland.

Nickelodeon on Campus November 10th!

2009-11-02T12:12:00.000-08:00

Nickelodeon on Campus Event!

TUESDAY November 10th, at Morgan Auditorium 5:00PM.

SCREENWRITING FELLOWSHIP
Get the scoop on the best PAID writing fellowship in comedy.

ANIMATION STUDIOS
Calling all 3D, 2D, Illustration, Games and Fine Art students.
Portfolio and Reel submissions Q&A

It will be a great networking and info finding opportunity. Come on out!

Part two of the Norman Modification Workshop

2009-10-14T16:05:00.001-07:00

Norman Mod Workshop Tutorial
Part 2

Tips and Ticks originally taught to the AAU Animation Club by Joshua Slice in a live demonstration on campus, 10-03-2009, is now in a SUPER EASY written tutorial by Vaughan Weigert. Enjoy!

Starting With The Head...

THE HEAD:
TIP: Have one duplicate (blendshape) head only. UNLESS, you want to make an extra blendshape head(s) for extreme facial animation poses, but that is something you should do LATER, when your basic norman mod is done and you're already making progress on your shot.

0. Have a reference...
1. Work in front and side view primarily. It's best to make BROAD SHAPE ADJUSTMENTS on the head FIRST, with the LATTICE tool (not vert by vert choices).

Recommended Lattice Tool Settings:
Lattice: 8x8x8
Local divisions at 2x2x2
*Make sure you can see the Lattice you created in all windows: under SHOW, make sure DEFORMERS visibility is checked on.
2. Select the blendshape head geo and in the Animation MENU, select CREATE DEFORMERS > LATTICE and move the lattice points to adjust the head shape.
If further modification is desired, and you need more or different points on the head to pull/ push,
then select the blendshape head and EDIT> DELETE BY TYPE> HISTORY on the blendshape head. The current lattice tool will be deleted from it.
The changes in shape you made will remain.

Select the head blendshape geo and in the Animation MENU, select CREATE DEFORMERS > LATTICE.
A NEW lattice will appear on your mesh which you can make further adjustments to, with a clean lattice shape.
While using the LATTICE TOOL: scale tool --> go to Channel Box Settings --> play with Soft select "Fall off" to get more or less global squash & stretch.

*HEAD MODIFICATION TIPS
- Don't move the eye lid geometry too much - you want it to hug the eyeballs.
- Same with the mouth. So when you use SOFT SELECT, make sure your soft select grabs the WHOLE mouth shape or eye socket, if you move it around.

Image Plane Setup: Setup your reference to model from. 5 steps and some tips.
1. Select Camera View
2. Create image plane.Image Plane Setup:
3. Source file into Image plane.Image Plane Setup:
Check: Cameras must be visible.
Image Plane Setup:
4. Rename Image Plane.
5. Adjust settings and movement options to line up the image with character's head size.
6. (TIP) "X-Ray" mesh view of the character can help you line up the reference to your model.Image Plane Setup:
TIP: Lock your camera view.
The Lattice tool is best for creating basic form/shape. The Sculpt brush for smoothing it out.

FOR MORE DETAILED HEAD SHAPING: use the SCULPT BRUSH -->settings "Reflection". Opacity at 1%.
Next, part three of the Norman Modification Workshop, "The Mouth"...

Part one of the Norman Modification Workshop

2009-10-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

Norman Mod Workshop Tutorial

Tips and Ticks originally taught to the AAU Animation Club by Joshua Slice in a live demonstration on campus, 10-03-2009, is now in a SUPER EASY written tutorial by Vaughan Weigert. Enjoy!

FIRST, Prepare the Norman Character for Modding Blendshapes: 10 easy steps

1. Open New Norman file
2. Go to Outliner: Expand the Norman Character Group, under "World Space", select "grWorld_Geometry".
3. Go to Attribute Editor: Under "Display" go to "Drawing Overrides" --> select "Display type": Normal
4. Go to SHOW menu--> polys only.

5. Drag Select with your mouse, all the Norman geo displayed and hit CTRL "D" to duplicate it.
6. Put your cursor over the Outliner and hit "F" to find this new group...

7. Then Hit CTRL "G" to group the selection. With cursor in Outliner, hit "F" to locate the new Group.

8. Double Click this new group and rename it "Blendshapes".

9. Then Middle Mouse click/drag this new group out of the Original Norman hierarchy.

10. With the "Blendshapes" group selected, use the Translate Tool to move this new geometry to the side.

SECOND, Setting up the Blendshapes: 4 Steps
-with a little repetition.

1. Delete any geometry on the Norman Dup that won't be used as a Blendshape...
Typically, this means you can delete the NORMAN DUP's Feet, Hands, Eyeballs, Nose and Ears.
NOTE ON FEET: If you want to SHAPE the feet/shoes geo, you can keep the Feet Geo for your Dup (blendshape) Norman.
NEED to make a character with tiny feet? It's easier to make everything else on the character bigger, than to scale the feet down. It's also easy to WRAP a Shoe Geo shape to the foot as well.

2. BEFORE selecting Norman's head to make a blendshape: go to the Blendshape Editor and check the advanced settings. It should be set to "FRONT OF CHAIN".
3. One part at a time, Select Norman Dup Geometry then select Original Norman mesh geometry and hit "Create Blendshape".

4. Then select the Original Norman mesh and look in the Channel Box. Where it says "blendshape#": make sure it is set
to "1". Do this for all Original Norman parts that have blendshapes.

Now You Can Start Modding!

It's best to have a sketch (or reference photo) of the character you are going to mod Norman into, BEFORE you start modding.

A great reference & source of inspiration for modding Norman into interesting Character shapes is the book "How to Draw Caricatures" byLenn Redman.

Check it out!

Next, part two of the Norman Modification Workshop, "Starting With The Head"...

EVENTS CALENDAR! New! in the Animation Community Links Section

2009-10-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Listing Local and primarily in-State Events in the Animation Community. We will update it continuously with club meeting times, free museum days, special events, lectures, screenings and film festivals that you can get out to.

Norman Modification Workshop Today!

2009-10-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

There is a Norman Mod workshop happening today, taught pro bono by our very own Joshua Slice.

Come learn (more) tips and tricks about modifying the school's Norman Character that will help you mod faster and achieve more creative results.

WHEN: 3:00pm

WHERE: 3rd floor, room 349, at the 180 New Montgomery building.

For those of you can't make it or are off-site, we will be recording the demonstration via Camtasia Studio (or similar) and posting it to the blog in a couple days.

For all attending today's workshop, we suggest bringing a $1 donation, which will go towards the "Putting Food in Josh's Mouth" fund.

Have a great weekend guys!

Inspiration Post: Body Language

2009-10-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a great, funny video to study.

It's a multiple person dialogue, with great subtle acting performance... and zero lipsync/ facial!

NOTE: as with ALL video content posted, some of the views expressed in these videos may... possibly... be considered offensive. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of the AAU Animation Club.

What's Cookin' on the back burner

2009-09-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

An animation community Events Calendar:
Listing Free days at museums around town, ASIFA and ACM SIGGRAPH meetings, as well as special events.

A Night Program (?!)
Once a week, in the evening, after classes are done for the day... we'll get together all ninja-like in one of the classrooms and have a "Best of " showing. Everyone who comes should contribute with a link, file or DVD of the best animation or animation related video they've seen that day, week, month, year, etc. This additional weekly event should exist to provide the group with added discussion, ideas, questions, comments and inspiration.

Field Trips:
We plan on scheduling group trips to the events and museums. Speaking of which, we're all very excited about the new Disney Museum in the Presido, which opens this Thursday. We hear it is worth several day trips and will blow your socks off!

We also foresee putting together bigger group road trips for things like SIGGRAPH.

At the moment we're all buzzing about Animation Expo which is happening soon: Nov. 20-22 2009. Club members definitely want to go and volunteer to work at the event (free admission for volunteers!). If you're interested, go over to the Volunteer Page and sign up TODAY. They are still short on volunteers at the moment, but you'll have to sign up quickly to secure your free admission to the event.

The question now is how we all want to get down there -carpool? Bus? And where we'll stay while we're there for about 3 days. If we can get club funding for a bus or lodging, we will post that info here ASAP, for now though it's up to us, so...

Comment if you'll be going!

Some good questions covered from the Town Hall Meeting Discussion today

2009-09-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Points discussed were:

Lab space & Peak lab hours:
The directors will look into opening up classroom space and possibly adding more lab space as usage and student enrollment dictates.

Peak Hours, according to the 3rd floor lab front desk, are 1pm to 4pm.

The PC lab is open from 7:30AM to 1:30AM daily and if you don't want to wait for a computer it is recommended you come in before 12:00 noon.

Approaching and working with your Faculty Directly:

1. To express interest in bringing in additional guest speakers to review demo reels before the student's last year of classes.

Outside of the guest lecturers and panels AAU brings to speak in Morgan Auditorium, like Dreamworks, etc. It is recommended that you, as students, approach your instructors and ask them collectively, to bring in a colleague in the field to review your reels in class and give you some added feedback.

As always, you should keep in mind who you are catering your reel to: what studio? and what kind of reel are you presenting? Keep it specific and you will get better feedback.

AND
2. To get more info on a course you would like to take.

Have you read the course description in the AAU catalog? Read the syllabus online? Called your advisor and they can't tell you any more about the class? Still not sure if the class is right for you...?

Email the Director of the Department that the class is in, to ask for more info. about the class: what software is used or taught. What are the projects you'll do and what skills are those projects going to teach you. Ask specific questions about the class.

If you'd like to ask more than just a question or two, CALL to schedule a meeting. That way as soon as an opening is available, you can book it.

It is strongly recommended that you CALL rather than emailing; because it may take half a day for you to get back about the time that was available and which may no longer be available by the time you reply to the email. So, CALL to book appointments.

Do we have a render farm? Yes we do!
To keep things from getting disorganized and haphazzard with the renderfarm usage it is overseen by our awesome lab matron: Galina Rozina. Once you are ready to render out your project, go to the back of the 180 building's 3rd floor lab and speak to her directly about setting up your renders.

Fall Kick-off BBQ Rescheduled for THIS Saturday -> New Location

2009-09-15T16:02:00.001-07:00

The BBQ planned for last Saturday was postponed due to thunderstorms.

Now that the weather seems to have cleared up again, we will have the BBQ THIS weekend, at Dolores Park this Saturday from 1-5.

Collaboratively Organized by clubs in: VFX, ADV, ANM, ILL, & MPT.

This event is fully catered by CASE and it is BYOB.
(No really, bring your own beer!)

Join us to start the semester off right with a frisbee, a friend, some tunes and brews. See you there!

We are unable to secure any area ahead of time, so several of us are going to show up early and steak out a space, between 9:30 and 10am. Any of you who can come early and help with this, please do, it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Check out the AAU VFX facebook page for the most current status updates on this event (if you are unsure about the weather on Saturday or any future cancellations) as well as regular postings for collaborative projects.

BBQ This Weekend in GG Park!

2009-09-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Important info about FREE FOOD!

There is a huge BARBECUE this Saturday, September 12th--1-5pm at Golden Gate Park!

Collaboratively Organized by the clubs in: VFX, ADV, ANM, ILL, & MPT.

This event is fully catered by CASE and it is BYOB. (No really, bring your own beer!)

Start the semester off right with us at Golden Gate Park. Bring a frisbee, a friend, some tunes and brews. See you there!

- VFX Gateway

It's going down in Dougboy Meadows, @ JFK Dr. & 16th Ave--spread the word.

Kyle Balda Master Class in 3D World Magazine

2009-08-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Check out 3D World magazine, June & July 2009. There is a great Kyle Balda masterclass on animating a 2 person dialogue shot, that has been passed around the labs quite a bit lately.

The lecture is called "Learn to animate the Hollywood way".

It is a two-part video masterclass. The videos have been posted on 3D World Magazine's website and are free for download: June Issue videos and July Issue videos

The magazine lecture notes are really concise and very insightful, especially for students experimenting with 3D work flow and looking for a clean way to layer in and build up animation.

The magazine is worth the purchase since it gives you the lecture notes and a CD with the Maya files containing the 2 characters, as well as individual Maya files showing you Kyle's separate animation passes. You can go right into the graph editor and see exactly what he did in his passes. What great learning material!

Look out for the Flyer around campus!

2009-08-08T21:40:00.001-07:00

Reference and Motivation post: Cameron Fielding

2009-08-05T13:19:00.001-07:00

Check out Cameron Fielding's reel

You may already be familiar with his Turok animation, but check it out again along with his girl acting clip and other great shots. JD talks about what he really likes about the Girl Acting shot over at his blog Spungella and we thought we aught to re-post it here to make sure you'd seen it too.

Great Stuff!

Norman Mod. Library Discussion

2009-08-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Now that we've got a bit of a following, it seems like a good time to create a discussion post for those who want to share their thoughts on contributing to a Norman Mod. Library at the Academy.

Please post all "Norman Mod Library" related comments here.

The main idea behind the discussion is this:

Whether or not Academy of Art students would like to have a shared library of Norman Mods.

We have set up a poll to gauge interest in starting a library, based on whether or not students think they would benefit by having the extra resources for their assignments.

This mod library would exist to give students a variety of characters to use and further modify, for personal projects and class assignments.

Students are not obligated to share their mods.

Many students spend a great deal of time modding and consider their mods a piece of personal art that they have created to make their reel stand out. It is perfectly understandable if someone does not want to share this kind of work in a public library.

The library would be available to any Academy student who wishes to use it as a resource, whether or not they choose to contribute to the library's collection.

That said, please post any questions, concerns or general comments on the subject here for all to read.

Thanks!

NEW Animation Classes!

2009-07-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

There are 2 new Anim499 Special Topics classes for FALL 2009:

LIP SYNC, Instructor Linda Bel
A master class on creating a 2 person dialogue.
Prerequisites: Advanced Animation 3, Acting for Animators,

AND

REALISM, Instructor Linda Bel
Includes quadruped walk cycles and animating various creatures.

Prerequisites: Advanced Animation 3

These classes require portfolio review for admission.
Interested students must make an appointment with Linda Bel to review their work to be considered for the class.

To make an appointment with Linda Bel, go to the 180 building, 3rd floor main office, and ask to schedule an appointment for portfolio review, for the class you are interested in taking.

Animation Club

New year, new opportunities!

Free Reel Feedback from Those who Know!

Welcome Back Animation Clubbers!

CTN

A Brisk, Motivational Slap in the Face

Laika's Next Flick

Mid-week Special!

CTN Update: Don't forget to book your accommodations!

Clean Team!

IMPORTANT: CTN Bus Update.

A Change of Face

TOWN HALL MEETING

On the off chance you missed the memo..

A Slight Change of Plans...

Attention New Students!

Animation Club Fall 2011

Workshops

Looking for an Animator...

Mike Midlock Guest Lecture

Our Next Speaker! - updated

Academy of Art Gallery open to Animation and Film Submissions

RANDY LINK PRESENTING ON FRIDAY

TVP ​ANIMATION ​SOFTWARE ​DEMONSTRATION

Our First Guest of the Semester!

VFX Gateway. Use It.

Club Meeting Next Week!

Reminder

Next Week's Meeting

Some links for your handy dandy google reader...

Club Time and Meeting Location

Club Meeting Next Week!

Welcome Back!

Fall Animation Festival 2010

Guest Lecture!

THE BUS TO CTN

Siggraph--A blurb by Lauren for those interested or in the dark...

Reschedule

Friday Night Speaker!

Our First SPEAKER!

Animation Club Meetings

Town Hall in a Nutshell

Animation Club...a boring name?

Club meeting this FRIDAY!

Animation Industry Panel: Monday October 4! 10am at Morgan Auditorium

New school year!

Norman Modification Workshop Notes - Part 4...

Local Events: Nina Paley @ Cartoon Art Museum

Local Events

Guest Speaker, Jeep Naarkom, This Friday 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

Guest Speaker, Josh Cooley, This Friday 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

The Slovak Impact

Next Wed April 28th: "The Allure of Hayao Miyazaki" at The Cartoon Art Museum

Guest Speaker, Kent Brown, THIS Friday! 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

ASIFA SF EVENT: April 1st GUMBY TRIBUTE at THE BALBOA

Another Great guest lecture and more on the way

Guest Speaker, Jean-Denis Hass, THIS Friday! 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 Building.

JD Lecture Postponed, Robert Steele talk this Friday!

UPDATE: Gest Lecture NEXT Friday, the 12th.

Guest Speaker this Friday 8:30pm, Jean-Denis Haas

Guest Speaker, Michal Makarewicz Friday 8:30pm in room 140B at the 180 building

Sony Imageworks at Morgan Auditorium, March 4th at 10am

Guest Speaker this Friday 8:30pm, Michal Makarewicz.

Animation Club Guest Speaker this Friday 8:30pm at 180

Disney on Campus event: Morgan Auditorium, Thursday Feb 25th at 10AM

Industry on Campus: Monday Feb. 22! 7pm

New Semester & New Club Meeting Time

Flying Pendulum Test!

New Animation Club Meeting Time

Rc car with Antenna!

Ball, squash and stretch!

Online Club Critique login

ONLINE Club Critique:

FALL ANIMATION FESTIVAL TODAY! 5pm!

Kyle Balda: A "Broad Strokes" 10 minute tutorial on YouTube

Reel Inspiration and Reference Post

BLIZZARD on Campus TODAY!

Fall Animation Festival!

CTN Animation Expo: Group BUS Update

IMD on Campus, Nov. 18th!

TVP ANIMATION SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION