13 November 2008
Today's Topic: FINAL critique ALL Sections Together
This class will be devoted to viewing your final projects. Attendance in mandatory. Submit all projects in advance to Professor Oyzon.
6 November 2008
Today's Topic: 10A: Exam, Course Eval, and Troubleshooting
We will have a brief exam based upon vocabulary and concepts taught this quarter.
The remaining time will be spent addressing any issues regarding creation of your final project animation.
30 October 2008
Today's Topic: 9B: Watching that corpse
This is a week 9, do it all in one session event.
Submit your videos an hour prior to the end of class and we will string them together, add sound and watch them.
Today's Topic: 9A: The Exquisite Corpse
Today we will stitch together your various contributions to the Exquisite Corpse and screen them.
You will be given a flash movie as a starting point. Create a minimum of a 10 second animation incorporating the movie.
REQUIREMENTS:
* ensure it begins with a white frame
* ensure it ends with a white frame
* includes your name. (You may make your name an animated element).
* the animaton must be a minimum of 10 seconds long
* export it as a quicktime movie and turn it in to the prof of the day by one hour before the end of class
Download the flash files here:
http://it.rit.edu/~ero/2DAnimation/081/media/
This loop may suggest different forms and movements. It could merely be the start of a chain of events. It could be just one part of an articulated figure.
Use any method of animation you desire: tweened or frame by frame; photoshop or flash. Alas, not enough time for stop motion, but rotoscope or the layering of video is a possibility.
23 October 2008
Today's Topic: 8B: Lip synching
Mickey Mousing (editing/animating to sound) is a key production skill. The following are sources:
Today's Topic: 8A: Storyboard due
Pitch your final project idea. I will meet with each student individually to discuss the proposed work.
16 October 2008
Today's Topic: 7A: Walk Cycle Critique
Walk Cycles are due today. CRITIQUE
Submit 3 looped movement cycles. The length of each individual cycle is dependent upon how long it takes the character to make a complete movement before returning to its starting position.
The loop should be seamless. (That is, if I hit "repeat" on the video player, there will be no skips or jitters between cycles).
The three movements should be distinct. They may be distinct via kind of movement (walk, run, hop, jitter, crawl, etc.) They may be distinct because the characters have different kinds of movement. (One tends to mosey, one is nervous and jittery, another is zombified).
Bonus points for all three loops being the same length of time and all within the same movie.
Do not concern yourself with the background. The character(s) and movement will be sufficient.
Remaining time will be spent working on the final project.
9 October 2008
Today's Topic: 6B: Work your walk
Get out of class when you have two out of three movement cycles done.
Today's Topic: 6A: Cel Animation and environment
Multiple cycles (movie clips) can be used in conjunction with one another. Characters have their own cycles, as do environments.
Examples:
Old Popeye
Class Assignment: Flock of Seagulls (not the 80's band)
Here's a tutorial that covers lots of ground at Creative Cow.
Part 1
Part 2
Some important concepts are the notions of looping and staggering loops within a composition, then nesting compositions into others.
2 October 2008
5B: Cycles, Character animation and the requisite walk cycle
Cycles and loops are efficient and the staple of all early animation, Scooby Doo, and (oh yes) game animation.
Introduction to tweened animation using Flash.
Character Animation and Movement
Examples;
- A variety of looped movement cycle examples
- Walking Dots
- A beautiful step by step tutorial on how to do a walk cycle
- A visual overview of a walk cycle
Character Animation
- The Importance of Timing
- The Language of Motion (arcs, curves, etc.)
- Suggesting Weight
- Movement Cycles (walk, run, swing, etc.)
- Facial Animation & Expression
- Gender & Race
- Energy Level and Attitudinal Suggestion
- Limited Environments of Recreation (MMOs, Real-Time, etc.)
REFERENCE: Walking Dots: A study in motion with varying interactive attibutes (gender, weight, mood)
In-Class exercise:
Create a worm movement cycle.
contrast this with a snake movement cycle.
Project: Movement Cycle
Create three different types of movement cycles. Examples: dance, skip, jog, walk, roll, swim, skate, etc.
The cycle need not be humanoid, nor bipedal. (Do keep in mind that the more legs involved, the more difficult the work).
Today's Topic: 5A: Rotoscope Animation Critique
Create a minimum of a 20 second rotoscoped animation on twos. (12 or 15 fps).
*FOR THE PARANOID: Minimum means you should target 20. There is no penalty for going over. You will not necessarily get a higher grade for a longer movie. Mo' is not necessarily bettah.
A resolution of 720 x 480 is preferred for display purposes if you have desire for personal glory.
Source material that is less than this size can be transformed (expanded) prior to rotoscoping.
Grading criteria:
There should follow a narrative arc: meaning a perceivable increasing complexity over time and then resolution.
It is not sufficient to throw a bunch of filters at this and call it done. The original footage should be reinterpreted and clearly have your own take on it.
Examples of things which may follow this arc;
- protagonist - antagonist conflict storyline
- themed movement
- rhythm
- pace
- flocking
- color
- line shape
- spatial relationship
25 September 2008
Today's Topic: 4B: Secondary Motion
Examples:
After you have made your different items bounce, what things can you add to sell their materiality?
Today's Topic: 4A: Cartoon Physics
Basic kinesthetics
- Gravity
- Inertia
- Axis of rotation
- Acceleration and deceleration
- Anatomy of movement
- Ease-in and Ease-out
- Squash and stretch
- Hyper-realities (Roadrunner, Southpark, Beast Wars, Simpsons)
- Alternate-realities
Stylized Worlds (aka Cartoon Physics)
Class Exercise: A bouncing ping pong ball, deflated rubber ball, a spinning top, splatting jello.
This will be an intro to using After Effects
18 September 2008
Today's Topic: 3B: Rotoscoping
EXAMPLES:
- Fleischer Brothers: Minnie the Moocher, Superman
- Ralph Bakshi: Fritz Lang: Lord of the Rings, American Pop
- Richard Linklater: Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly
Demo:
After Effects to Photoshop and back again.
Project:
Create a minimum of a 45 second rotoscoped work from at least two different sources.
11 September 2008
Today's Topic: 2B: Adding sound to your animation
Sound adds very much to the atmosphere and general tone of the animation.
Examples:
DEMO Adobe Premiere and its sound editing ability
Today's Topic: 2A: Stop Motion Animation
- Harryhausen: The Lost World, King Kong and Jason and the Argonauts
- Lucky Strike
- Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
- Aardman Animation: The Wrong Trousers
DEMO of iStopMotion
4 September 2008
Project I - Experimental Animation
Create a 20 second frame by frame animation on twos. This means a rate of 15 frames per second. The resolution should be 720 x 480. (Those using stop motion software, do select a resolution closest to this).
Grading criteria:
At least one of the following attributes should follow a narrative arc. A satisfactory resolution of multiple attribute arcs will result in a higher grade.
- rhythm
- pace
- flocking
- color
- line shape
- spatial relationship
This is certainly ambiguous and very open ended. Class examples and discussion will provide context. (Another way of saying, do not miss these first few classes).
Today's Topic: 1B: One frame at a time
Oskar Fischinger - was noted for his abstract animations paired with popular music of the day. His contribution to Disney's Fantasia was the abstract movements to J. S. Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor sequence for Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940). He quit without credit because all studio artists simplified and altered all his designs to be more representational.
The thing to note about his work as you embark on today's exercise that the heart of animation is the manipulation of graphics over time.
A good example of work based upon his notions can be found in
The building blocks of animation:
- Line
- Color
- Motion
- Shape
- Environment
- Time
Last week, you made flipbooks. This week we do the digital version of this. There are myriad ways to attack the problem. Essentially all we need is a way to string a series of individually drawn images together. We could use Flash, Fireworks, Imageready, and others. Over these 10 weeks we will attack the animation problem a variety of ways. Today we will use Photoshop.
Helpful links:
www.adobe.com/go/vid0027 for an introduction to the video layer.
Exercise: Experimental Animation. Create a 20 second frame by frame animation in twos.
Today's Topic: 1A: A little theory, a little history (An overview)
Beyond Mickey
- George Melies' Trip to the Moon
- J. Stuart Blackton's Lightning Sketches
- Little Nemo
Why do we see animation the way we do? How do we make it? What are the different kinds? (This will all be on the exam, by the way).
Class exercise:
Flipbook
2 August 2008
Welcome!
And so we begin...
This class blog is designed to serve as your interactive syllabus, class outline, and project timekeeper. This will be where I post readings, assignments, and information about the class.
A quick intro to its use:
Use the tabs at the top to navigate to specific sections (like the syllabus and the course outline), and the calendar on the left to find materials related to a specific class meeting.