The Animation Podcast: Talent Development and Summer Internship Programs

 

The Animation Podcast is a great collection of classic animator interviews.  I have listened to them all and if you have a long car ride coming up, download them all for the ride;  it will be well worth it.  The latest interview is very interesting which explores Disney's Talent Development Program.  Put it on your iPhone today so you have it for that next traffic jam.  - Cornell

In the latest podcast: 

“You learn everything from every production that you’re on, even if it’s, you know, a commercial that lasts three weeks. You learn something from it.” It’s finally here – my exclusive podcast for Animation Mentor! It marks a few firsts: my first podcast in over a year; my first roundtable with five guests; my first women guests! Since this is an exclusive, you’ll need to head over to Animation Mentor to listen and download the show. My focus for this show was to grab five artists at Disney who recently went through the Talent Development Program at Disney and talk about how they got there and what it’s like to work at the studio. My guests include Story Artist Jeremy Spears, Visual Development Artist Lorelay Bove, Rough Inbetweener/Jack of all Trades Joe Pitt, 2D Animator Sarah Airriess, and CG Animator (and Animation Mentor alumni) Kira Lehtomaki. Please leave your comments and feedback on this this post. I’d love to hear what you think.

Don Blooth Animation Resources

Now some say traditional animation dead, but it is not and it will never die.  Check out Don Blooths Animation Tutorials, they are not free, but worth having in your library.  - Cornell

Don Bluth Animation Tutorials So, you want to be an animator? Learn from an Animation Master, Don Bluth, through his animation tutorials which are jam-packed with phenomenal techniques and secrets. Get inspired with expert Tips that will instruct you how to design entertaining characters and show you how to develop fresh ideas quickly. These DVD tutorials are intended to expand your understanding of both Traditional and CG animation techniques.  With these informative lessons, you too can have a successful career in the animation industry. Don's highly instructional animation dvd's will motivate you to greater heights whether you're a young student or a seasoned professional.  All your animation technique questions will be answered in these awesome tutorials. Learn More

About Don: Bluth's passion for the Art of Animation is the driving force that fueled his film career for a period of more than four decades. According to Bluth, he was not driven to animation but extremely attracted to it mainly because of the sheer beauty of its look. Don grew up on the early Disney films, Snow White, Bambi and Pinocchio. He was only four years old when these pictures inspired him. He knew immediately that someday, it would be part of his world. Bluth is considered by some critics to be unique in that he successfully challenged the powers of the ‘Mouse House,’ as a serious competitor, bringing to the silver screen such memorable milestones as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and Anastasia.’ All in all, Don and his partner, Gary Goldman, produced twelve animated features and three video games including, Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace.

Carlos Baena: PLANNING: INCREDIBLES

Carlos Baena is one of my favorite animators.  Yea there are a lot of great animators out there and honestly I do not know that many, but he has skills.  I hung out with him one night and on top of being a great animator, he is a cool guy to hang with.  My wife is also from Spain, but from a different island and made sure I did not butcher his name.  Emphasizing the wrong vowel could get you to say whale, but I am sure he is used to Americans mispronunciations by now.   Either way, He visited Denver to speak at one of the local schools and his presentation on animation was just phenomenal.  Now nothing beats talking with him in person, but here is a portion of the presentation similar to the one he made that day.  Now I know The Incredibles was not that recent, but I just came across this presentation and I had to share it.  Check it out! – Cornell

http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/resource_tips_planning.html

Animation School Guide from Animation Magazine

Choosing the right school is really tough these days; there are tons of options and promises from schools.  And with many schools it is just a business, making money is more important than provide a quality education.  Schools have to pay for their program, that is a given, but choosing a school is not something to take lightly. 

As a teacher, parents are always asking me what to do.  Should we go into debt?  Will there be jobs? Does a school really make a difference? I think it is different for every student, so there is definitely not one answer.  I have visited a number of schools and there has bee a huge range quality and costs.  I think there can be great teachers anywhere, but what I always tell my students is that your peers can push you that much more.  So you want to be surrounded by the best in the price range you can afford.  Also a good school with a great scholarship, wins over a great school with tons of debt. 

On another note, some what I call “pay schools” (schools that look at your stock portfolio vs. your art portfolio) have their advantages for a select group of top students.  These students will be marketing tools for the school, which means that they will do what ever it takes to get them a top internship and/or industry job.   So as I said, there is not just one answer.  Here is a guide that I came across, hope it helps. – Cornell    

 

http://www.animationmagazine.net/school_guide_2010.html

130 Free XfrogPlants Now Available!

Download free 3d plant and tree models from each of the 30 XfrogPlants libraries!

Three to nine 3d plant models are included in each of the 30 species below, and best of all, they are completely FREE! Download the plants, browse their documentation PDFs, try them in your favorite software and see firsthand our high quality modeling work. If you like them, buy and download any of the 3d libraries, instantly from our shop.

Our Botanical experts go out in the field and photograph each plant, for their references and to capture firsthand the leaf and bark textures.  They then compare the plant in Nature, to established printed research work, and build 3 to 9 ages of the plant. This set of ages is required for ecosystem work – to give enough variation for instancing the models across a terrain. And if you own Xfrog 3.5, you can easily edit any of the models for additional variations !

DAZ Studio 4 (free)

DAZ Studio 4 has just been released.  It is a free 3D figure posing application and animation tool similar to Poser.  It is free, but if you want to have unique character models you need to buy them and they do have a extensive library just for that.  Now It does come with a default characters and a few props and poses, but is a bit  limited.  There is also a library of free models and props, still limited, selling them is where they make their money.   Now I  have not spent that much time with it yet, but it is fairly intuitive.  

This version seams to be free, but there is a buy button and they interchange ‘try’ and ‘free’ occasionally.   Version 3 was a free app but here are two versions, DAZ 3 and DAZ 3 Advanced.  Daz 3 is the core application which is FREE and basically the main differences with the advanced are rendering features and a few modeling features. 

  

The software can be found here: http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio

Here is a link to the feature comparison. 
http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio/comparison?_m=d

Pitch Party Contest

Animation Magazine’s Pitch Party is an opportunity for your students to pitch their ideas to the CG community.   Animation Magazine opens up an entire section of the publication to individual advertisements that pitch student’s ideas.  The deadline is coming up soon, so if you can’t get your students to pull it off this year,  you can plan for future publications.  It is $375 per pitch which can be pricy for students particularly in this economy, but some schools have sponsored the student teams and others have set up local contests submitted the winners.  It is worth checking out and the submission issue is great to share with your production classes. 

http://www.animationmagazine.net/pitch-party-2011/

SketchBook, Mudbox, & Maya Webcast

Autodesk offers tons of great resources and throughout the year host a number video webcasts demonstrating key skills and techniques.  They are awesome and worth checking out.  This session look very cool; it walks you through the design process from a sketch to final render.  See you there.  See you there.
– Cornell   

Entertainment Design with SketchBook, Mudbox, and Maya 2012

Wednesday, June 8, 2011, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PDT

This webcast, presented by Autodesk Technical Specialist Marcel de Jong, illustrates how to realize concept designs from 2D sketch through 3D rendering. It entails the design and construction of a realistic sci-fi motorcycle of photographic quality using the latest tools and concepts in Autodesk^® SketchBook^®, Autodesk^® Mudbox™, mental ray^®, and Autodesk^® Maya^® 2012 software, also highlighting the interoperability between these products.

Some of the concepts discussed in this session are image plane construction in Sketchbook for Maya, base modeling in Maya for Mudbox, detailing in Mudbox, HDR lighting in Maya (IBL's), and rendering a design project with mental ray. This project speaks to both entertainment and design customers.

Registration is free, but you'll need to register to gain access to the webcast.

Register Now

Visual Effects Society Scholarship

VES is Proud To Announce New VES Scholarships In Honor Of: These scholarships may be used in conjunction with any other financial aid or scholarship, except for others offered by the Visual Effects Society. To be considered for these scholarships, applicants must provide a url to a digital portfolio of their work, completed application and supplemental materials as referenced in the application process. Visual Effects Society Peter Ellenshaw Scholarship The Peter Ellenshaw Scholarships will be awarded to one VES member and one student (either in high school or currently in college) who plan to attend two (2) or four (4) year accredited schools in pursuit of any type of graduate or post-graduate degrees or certificates in fine or graphic arts. Peter Ellenshaw’s contributions to the field of visual effects were primarily as a matte painter and his artistic talent is highly regarded in the world of fine art. For this reason, the education sought by the recipients of these scholarships is not required to have any relation to visual effects, per se; however, that education must focus on some type of visual art. Visual Effects Society Douglas Trumbull Scholarship The first of the Douglas Trumbull scholarships is available to VES members who wish to continue their education in all aspects of motion pictures in order to expand the scope of their careers, and the second is for students seeking degrees in film or television. Douglas Trumbull was an inventor and innovator in the field of visual effects. He has produced and directed several projects which included special venue projects and two feature films. The Douglas Trumbull Scholarships will be awarded to one VES member and one student (either in high school or currently in college) who plan to attend any type of industry-recognized school or training program in pursuit of broadening their skill set in the field of visual effects. Douglas Trumbull’s early contribution to visual effects was as the inventor of the slit-scan photographic technique. Later, he would break into directing, and finally settle into the production and creation of visual effects. For this reason, the education sought by the recipients of these scholarships is not required to be relevant to visual effects, per se; however, that education must focus on motion pictures. Visual Effects Society Albert Whitlock Scholarship The Albert Whitlock Scholarships will be awarded to one VES member and one student (either in high school or currently in college) who plan to attend any type of accredited schools in pursuit of certificates of completion in order to gain marketable skills in visual effects. Albert Whitlock’s contribution to the field of visual effects was as a matte painter on more than 500 projects. For this reason, the education sought by the recipients of these scholarships is required to be relevant to visual effects, per se; however, that education may focus on any type of visual art. Because Albert Whitlock was such a prolific matte painter, he focused on completing those paintings quickly. He always referred to himself as a craftsman rather than an artist; he continually tried to demystify his work, stating that his craft was something that could be learned by anybody willing to make the effort. For complete rules and to submit your application please click here. SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE: Friday, June 17, 2011, 5:00PM (PDT)

ANIMAG TV: Behind the Scenes

Check out  the Animation Magazine's Animag TV.  It is a online video library for animations, trailers, and commercials.  This is nothing really new, but the really cool part . . . “The Making of” channel.  The collection is small, but it is still in its infancy.  I think over time it will be a great source for the classroom. 

On Animag TV, I came across the Genesis sequence" from 1982′s Star  Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  I always knew of its importance, but I have never seen the making of this sequence.   It was the first completely computer-generated sequence in a feature film, created by the Lucasfilm division. It just beat Tron (1982) into release to take the honor of being the first film to use computer-generated images (CGI).  AND the team that created it eventually formed Pixar!  Check it out.

http://www.animationmagazine.net/animag-tv/

CGArena: April - May 11, FREE Digital Magazine Issue Now Available

CG Arena is a free downloadable CG Magazine with great articles and tutorials.

• Interview with Cris De Lara
• Photoshop: Painting Megaman
• 3ds Max: Making of the Dream Place
• Modo: Making of My Little Fishes
• Photoshop: Making of Sentinel
• Maya: Making of Turkish Butcher
• Gallery - Showcase of latest 3D inspiring art

http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/ezine/apr11_issue.php

Free Software: trueSpace7.6

trueSpace7.6 Features - Full version available FREE

If you are a designer/illustrator, artist, animator, or creator of interactive entertainment, visualization solutions, or corporate training, then trueSpace7.6 is for you.  trueSpace7.6 is a fully-featured 3D authoring package that will let you model, texture, light, animate and render 3D content. As well as traditional images and movies, you can also make 3D content for online shared spaces, and for Virtual Earth.

 

 

Molecular Maya (mMaya) featured in 3D World magazine

http://www.3dworldmag.com/?p=32257

I found a really cool article in the latest issue of 3D World.  I have done a lot of micro molecular modeling and a handful animations and this is a really cool plugin for Maya.  AND it is really easy to use.  I tried it out today and it is straight forward.  The video series covers just the basics to get you started and is very well done.   The cool thing is, whether you are a scientist or an animator, MolecularMovies.org has a series of tutorials for beginners through advanced users.  The site has tons of other resources as well.   It is defiantly worth checking out.     

 

Here is Eric Keller’s four part video series on using the nMaya Plugin:

Autodesk Softimage 2012 - The Incredible Power of ICE - Webcast

Autodesk Softimage 2012 - The Incredible Power of ICE Webcast
Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PDT

In this webcast, Autodesk Technical Specialist Mark Schoennagel will take you through a comprehensive tour of the Autodesk® Softimage® Interactive Creative Environment, better known in the 3D industry as ICE. ICE is a powerful, node-based, multi-threaded visual programming language found only in Autodesk Softimage 2012. ICE is used by studios around the globe for creating stunning particle effects, deformations, character rigs, and now with 2012, procedural modeling effects. During the webcast Mark will take viewers through the basics of ICE, creating and deploying user created tools as well as dive into some of the more advanced capabilities of this amazing technology. If you are in to visual effects this will be one webcast you won't want to miss!

Registration is free, but you'll need to register to gain access to the webcast.
Register Now

Free 3d Scanner – DAVID

We are lucky to have a 3D scanner.   But if you don’t?  Here is a great ‘free’ alternative -  The DAVID Laser Scanner.

DAVID offers a starter kit with more precision equipment, but you probably have all you need at home.  Assuming you have a computer.  So what do you actually need to scan?

What do I need to build a 3D scanner?

- A camera (e.g. web cam) For better results, choice  one with low noise, a glass lens, and high resolution camera for capturing surface color (gray scale is better for surface geometry)

- A hand-held line laser (If you are good with a soldering iron . . . you can get a Line Laser for $4 http://www.dealextreme.com/p/red-laser-module-focused-line-3-5v-4-5v-16mm-5mw-5928)  And you might have one at home already, I got a Black and Decker line laser for father’s day a few years back.  The thinner the line the more accurate. 

- Two plain boards in the background (poster board)
- A Windows PC
- Our free software DAVID-laserscanner  (Download)

 

I personally have not tried it yet, but this is my focus this year and I will and will compare it to a our present  scanner.   I know that one advantage is you can open your eyes during the scan providing you uses the right laser. (*Use at your own risk) 

Here is the website:  http://www.david-laserscanner.com/ 

 

Here is a video overview.

Vue 9 Pioneer FREE

We stopped using Vue at version 5, not that there was anything wrong with it, basically our budget is not limitless.   Vue 9 Pioneer is fully functional, but is still limited compared to their other packages, including a water mark in the lower corner of the render.   Also due to the activation restrictions, it doesn't work out for a lab setting.   They state in several locations:

Note: Due to activation restrictions, Vue Pioneer is not fit for classroom use. If you are a school and want to install Vue in your computer lab, we recommend that you choose a Vue Infinite or Vue xStream Educational License rather than installing Vue Pioneer. 

But you and your students can use it at home. Check it out – Cornell

Here are examples of what the pros have done.

5280 Comic Book Classroom

Comic book enthusiasts and animators are friends or one in the same.   I know many of the university animation programs  are partnering up with local high schools, so I thought it might be of interest to you all and  maybe your area has similar initiatives.  This year a group of Denver area comic book enthusiasts and educators  founded the 5280 Comic Book Classroom .    It is nonprofit organization that presents comics as an educational tool,  creating programs to  provide alternative approaches to literacy, learning, and character development.  Check out their site and initiative.  -  Cornell

http://5280comicbookclassroom.org/

Making of . . .

I don't know about you guys, but I am the one who buys the DVD “special editions”. I love watching the 'making of' section of the DVD and probably watch it more times then the actual movie itself. I even bought a movie just because I heard the 'making of' was good. It was “The Core”.

Recently I can across an awesome site, www.MakingOf.com. It provides a behind-the scenes look at the film industry through interviews with filmmakers, actors, directors, writers, producers and pretty much the key players.  So if you are teaching a specific area of the industry, you can share those interviews based on that topic. The categories are broken down to directors, editors, production designers, special effects/vfx, actors, producers, costume designers, cinematographers, composers, stunts, screenwriters, camera / elect. Dept, casting directors, and art directors. But with that said, the bulk of interviews are with directors, with over 120 videos which is great and 90 or so with actors. The remaining categories tend to be a bit limited, but the site is still relatively new and dynamically growing. Either way, check it out. – Cornell

Autodesk Media and Entertainment Education Showreel 2010

Check out the 2010 Autodesk Education Showreel released in November.   Students content from all around the world were chosen and then compiled into an awesome reel.   What an honor for students who were chosen and  I think it was a brilliant idea from Autodesk.  Students will be vying to be apart of this reel in future years.  Great Job guys, let keep on pushing the bar!  - Cornell
 

Unity Powers Scion's Ultimate Car Customization Experience

Unity is a great tool to have in your toolbox and on top of that, it has a great license – free.  When we think of game design, we think of Mario and Doom.  At least I do, but that might date me a bit.  These game engines are being introduced into a number of fields from medical, military, forensics and marketing.  One of Unity’s strengths is web interactive and here is a very cool marketing tool developed by Works Zebra using the Unity engine.  It ran a bit slow, when I first logged in, but it is a lot more fun that the old Flash car sites.  Check it out . . .  Cornell

Unity 3 is a game development tool that has been designed to let you focus on creating amazing games. If you've tried Unity before, see whats new in 3.0. If this is your first time, take a look around or try Unity for yourself. http://unity3d.com/

 

3D Development Platform Takes Interactivity to a New Level

Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity development platform for highly interactive 3D content on the web, iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, Android, Wii™, Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3, today announced that Unity is powering the virtual visualization experience for Scion’s Canadian website that went live in the last 24 hours at www.scionnation.ca.

Scion brings Toyota brand quality to the table but with a distinct twist - delivering designs and vehicles custom-built for personal expression that target a different market with an entirely distinct mission. Scion set out to build vehicles tailored to the needs and tastes of a new generation of trendsetting drivers. The outcome is a complete range of iconic urban vehicles that combine attitude, affordability, quality and fuel economy. Each Scion offers a broad array of dealer-installed Scion accessories and TRD Performance Parts that give every Scion driver the means to boldly express their personality and individuality.   (MORE)

http://www.scionnation.ca/scion/build-price/tc#build-your-scion