Class 2 - Week 4 of Animation Mentor

This past Sunday we turned in our final version of our first assignment in Class 2 of Animation Mentor. It’s not great, but that why I’m in school, RIGHT?!!

OK! So I keep learning the same lesson over and over and over again. My animation is terrible when I don’t get feedback from my peers. These past few weeks I’ve been transitioning into a new job, Katie started her new job, and we’ve done a lot of celebrating/being lazy at home. Laziness at home = waiting until the weekend to really crank on my moving pixur homework. I noticed big time last term that when I get versions of my work in progress up early in the week, the suggestions and comments from my classmates and other AMers is invaluable. With this particular assignment, I had a list of about 5 major trouble spots I wanted to change as I was turning it in. The next assignment will be different!

Anyway, here’s some of the stuff that went into this stairmaster. It all started with an idea, planning, and a few sketches:

There were some initial comments from my mentor and other feedback that led me to simpler version (meaning take out the trip). And so, I shot (and re-shot) some video reference of myself and blocked it out in Maya:

Another week, another pass at blocking (I could have gone further in this round but I [blah blah blah excuses #17, #18, and #19]):

The last step is to use the final blocking and finess the smooth in-between motion that the computer spits out. It’s definitely the most straight-forward grunt work part of the process, and also the most satisfying. After an all-nighter last Saturday, I turned in what you see in the top video for review. I’m proud of the work I’ve done, but I would most definitely NOT say that it’s finished. Hope you liked it, or at least feel obligated to compliment me on it since you are probably a family member.

I’m really going to try to keep updating this thread of AM work posts regularly, but as you can probably tell I’m having enough trouble remembering to shower in the morning between schedule bullets. I’m going to do a couple more basic posts this week about my mentors, my experience, and my mushy hopes and dreams, so don’t touch that dial. Thanks for checking it out!