3DTeachers.com - Resources for Teaching 3D Modeling and Animation: November 2009

Going back to the Basics . . . Traditional Animation

Here are a few traditional tutorials from the Angry Animator.

Lesson 1: The Bouncing Ball - This is the first lesson taught to an animation student. This tutorial breaks it down into a simple series of steps, and shows the basics of flipping and rolling paper.

Lesson 2: The Walk Cycle - Most people can't wait to make a character walk. It's advanced, but I've tried to simplify it, showing the 4 main poses of a walk cycle, and how to build the walk around them.

Lesson 3: Dialog - A very simple approach to creating effective dialog, using only six mouth shapes.

The CryENGINE® 3 Educational License is available to educators

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CryENGINE® 3 Educational SDK is for internal, non-commercial use; and is available only to educational institutions. We do not license individual student or group projects. Course leaders will have access to all available CryENGINE® 3 support materials - and students can access a specialist educational community area of www.crymod.com, to share experiences, showcase projects and help each other achieve amazing results with the CryENGINE® 3.

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The 11 Second Club – Portfolio Building.

The 11 Second Club is a monthly character animation competition open to everyone. It was started to fill the void left by the 10 Second Club and sponsored by Animation Mentor.

Basically, each month the site posts a new 10 second audio clip and you are challenged to create an animation with it. Entries can be in any medium, from CG animation to traditional 2D animation and stop-motion. This is a great way to start developing your character animation skills and building an animation portfolio.

It is a fun challenge and leaves the creative door open to how you use it. The focus is to work on your animation skills and not be held back by the modeling and rigging. Here are the available rigged characters for the following formats, Maya, Blender, 3DSMax, and SOFTIMAGE|XSI. They also suggest to avoid spending a lot of time on lighting/rendering/etc

Here is the actual site address. http://www.11secondclub.com/

Here are a few examples:

DEMO REEL DOS AND DON'TS WITH CARLOS BAENA

Here is a great demo reel resource from Animation Mentor, Demo Reel Dos and Don’ts with Carlos Baena. Let me tell you Carlos Baena is awesome, I saw him speak and hung out with him a couple years back. He is a Pixar Animator, Animation Mentor instructor, a very inspirational speaker and entertaining speaker, and comes from the beautiful Canary Islands of the coast of Spain.

This is a four part video series covering the common mistakes animators make when creating their demo reels and how to tailor your demo reel to stand out from the rest. It is worth checking out.

http://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/replay/20080709carlos/carlos1.html

A - Z of CGI Clichés – 3D World Magazine

I just received the December 2009 issue of 3D World magazine; check out the article, A - Z of CGI Clichés, it describes the commonly over-done CG techniques and practices within today's CG community. Students and amateurs tend to lean to certain themes and cool effects; it becomes quit oblivious if you spend time on any CG board or gallery. I think we have all done it for one reason or another. I drew Marvel characters when I was younger and created Star Wars CG models when I started 3d; I think we have all done it. There are just certain things that have a “coolness” factor, a recognizably to peers, or some things are just new and trendy, like sub-surface scattering.

It seems that the classroom and community boards incubate a number of these clichés and some are even a part of my curriculum. I don't think we are the only ones; I have seen some pretty interesting college program demo reels - yipes. The good thing is, my students have stopped turning in Mech Warriors or dragons, but I did recently see some psychedelic mushrooms, a few electric guitars, tons of sports cars and cell phones.

Now I do understand why some things tend to be a bit more common in the schools, like animating flour bags. Some exercises are great skill builders. Cell phones are great for modeling practice, they can be completed in a few days, no one has the same project, tons of reference resources, and they can go through the whole process from through to the final render with out taking up too much time. They are good technical skill building exercises and lets face it, modeling a Lamborghini is much more exciting than a garbage truck or mid 80s Chevette.

With all that said, if a “cliché” project is well executed and demonstrates exceptional skills, put it in your reel and be proud of it. Just keep the industry “clichés” in mind.

http://www.3dworldmag.com/

Awesome 3D News! The Unity Game Engine has been Set FREE!!!

Unity the game development tool has just been let free and now everyone can their game. And what is Unity? It is a multiplatform game development tool, designed for a number of different platforms including PCs, consoles and mobiles. One of the best things is that there are tons of resources, tutorials and training videos all over the web and the learning curve is pretty easy. Let me tell you this program is awesome; it fully

integrates with most of the major 3d applications. All you have to do is hit save in your 3d application like Maya, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Cheetah3D or Blender, and Unity will bring it right in, including most textures, rigging, and animations. Then you can jump right in and build your worlds. The best part is that it is free with just about no restrictions, “FREE for personal and commercial use!” WOW!!!

Press Release:
Today at the Unite Conference, Unity Technologies, the leading provider of the multi-platform game development platform for Web, PC, Mac, Wii and iPhone, announced that version 2.6 of its Unity Platform is available and that the feature-packed Unity (formerly known as Unity Indie and priced at $199) is now available at no cost at http://unity3d.com/unity/download to make it possible for all developers to get access to the best development platform available. Unity Pro will continue to be priced at $1,499 per license.

(Full Article)

Free HDRI Maps Part II

I just came across another great resource for HDRI maps, the website FictionalHead.com. You have to become a member to access them, but it is free. The site seems to have tons of resources, but I have not used anything else yet.

High-Res HDRI Map Pack 03

High-Res HDRI Map Pack 02 (Abstracts)

A collection of 20 abstract maps for making your abstract messes even more messy.

High-Res HDRI Map Pack 01

Awesome Charity for Digital Students to Support - Child’s Play

Anyone dare to challenge Digital-Evolutions?
Donations need to be received by December 20th

What is Child’s Play?
Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over 5 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With almost 70 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child’s Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, so please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own.

When gamers give back, it makes a difference!

Check out the site and find your local charity: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Contact me if you dare to challenge. We are starting Monday, November 16th.

Scholastic Deadline is Closing in . . .

Check your state for deadline. http://www.artandwriting.org/SubmissionGuidelines/Index

FILM & ANIMATION
(FORMERLY ANIMATION, VIDEO & FILM) Moving images viewed on a monitor, television or projector.

Special Instructions: Works must be submitted on DVDs which must be playable on a television DVD player. ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER DISK. Identify computer software used, if applicable in the materials/description section of online registration. The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers strongly encourages use of original or public domain music. See copyright release section of guidelines.

THESE WORKS CAN BE COLLABORATIVE. Register all students in the project.

Hand-drawn, computer generated, or stop animation. Documentary films, narrative films, commercials, experimental video, etc.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

VIDEO GAMES
(NEW ART CATEGORY 2010) Video games use technology, storytelling, and visual art to create an interactive computerized game.

Special Instructions: Video Games will not be judged by the Regional Affiliates. Instead, they will be judged at the national office. Video Games must be submitted on CD-Rom. Do not send physical artwork. Adaptations of, or sequels to already existing video games are not accepted. Students should provide a 1-page, single-spaced explanation of the materials submitted as well as the overall video game concept. Up to 8 detail images may be submitted for Video Game Concept.

Special Deadline for ALL Video Games regardless of region: All Video Game submissions must be received by Friday, January 29, 2010 and sent directly to:
Alliance for Young Artists & Writers (Video Game)
557 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

THESE WORKS CAN BE COLLABORATIVE. Register all students in the project.

Character sketches, storyboards, and other illustrations that present a proposal for a potential video game. Students may film playable video games. Students may submit playable games for PC or Mac.

Animators are some of the happiest workers in the World

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Animation Mentor's survey of professional animators shows you why being an animator is one of the most fun jobs on the planet! You'll learn why animators love their jobs, what they enjoy most and why animation is a rewarding career.
In addition, you'll see how professional animators view animation as an art form and what they see as the future of animation. You'll also find out how trends in the industry are impacting animators and how they are positioning themselves to thrive as the industry grows.
You'll also learn all about careers in the animation industry and get insider advice from professional animators about what makes a person successful as an animator. You'll see why having a great demo reel is important to getting a job as an animator, and how finding a mentor and networking in the industry are great ways to advance your career.
Learn more now.

http://www.animationmentor.com/report/AnimationMentor-IndustryReport.pdf