Category: Uncategorized Page 21 of 23

AnimSchool– CTN Expo!

AnimSchool was in full force at the CTN Expo in Los Angeles this past week!

Onlookers and interested students visited with 4 on-hand AnimSchool instructors. Many aspiring students received a personal reel review, and were able to ask questions about how the programs at AnimSchool work.

Many stopped by to see AnimSchool’s awesome promotional animation and student work.

That master of cartoony animation, Eric Goldberg, came by the AnimSchool both and was treated to a showing of our Animation Principles lecture.

He seemed to be enjoying it, laughing all along the way! What an inspiration he is.

The genius behind the genie in Disney’s Aladdin, animator and supervising animator on so many films, Eric Goldberg now appears to be a fan of our work at AnimSchool!

Matt Groening (of the Simpsons) and an entourage of friends and trailing fans swept through snapping endless photos and signing books and paraphernalia right in front of the AnimSchool booth.

From this picture, you’d think Matt Groening was an instructor at AnimSchool, but alas, not so!

Many students–and professionals as well–stopped by, thanking us repeatedly for the wonderful public release of AnimSchool’s Malcolm rig!

Some hadn’t heard of AnimSchool and were pleasantly surprised by the heart and soul we put into our work here. Many were thrilled to find a school with so much passion for characters, so excited about expressive animation, with our unique character instruction.

Some students received a personal review of their reel on their laptops and ipads, from an AnimSchool instructor. Here, AnimSchool instructor JP Sans is dishing out some great advice to aspiring animators.

Many students expressed the intention to enroll when they got back home, so it appears we’ll be seeing many of our new friends again soon!

We all reveled in the inspiring environment– an expo centered on individual the talents themselves! Many of the booths and tables were amazing character designers and artists showing their impressive work and selling sketchbooks and compilations faster than hotcakes. Here Brittany Lee tries in vain to keep up with the line of people wanting her to autograph her wonderful art book for them.

Three days later, our voices hoarse from non-stop talking, we returned home for a welcome rest. But when CTN comes around next year, we’ll be back for more!

Malcolm Character Now Available for Maya

Hi! In case you haven’t heard, our Malcolm Character is now available for Maya!

Come download Malcolm and take him for a spin!

Modelers and riggers! Download Malcolm and see what makes him tick.
(some restrictions apply)

We’ve been receiving very positive feedback on our characters so far!

You can also take a look at these How-To videos, to help you get started using AnimSchool’s coolest character.

Have a question or a suggestion about Malcolm? Come on over to www.animschoolforums.com

AnimSchool Review: Devon Roderick By Mark Harris of Pixar

AnimSchool presents: Mark Harris, an animator working at Pixar, reviews an animation by Devon Roderick!

AnimSchool Review: Camilo Guaman By Mark Harris of Pixar

AnimSchool presents: Mark Harris, an animator working at Pixar, reviews an animation by Camilo Guaman.

AnimSchool — Selections From Animation Principles Lecture

You HAVE to see these samples from our Animation Principles Lecture. It’s the amazing work of many AnimSchool instructors and friends.

Take a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEBlYUepC6o

More to come! (Also, this is not yet rendered.)

AnimSchool Reviews and 3D Appeal Makeovers!

Hello! Now lots of AnimSchool instructors have joined hands in reviewing your animation and models.
Submit yours by reading the post below!

http://www.animschoolblog.com/2010/09/3d-appeal-makeover.html

AnimSchool New Student Webcast

Hello the AnimSchool New Student Webcast will be posted soon, where we tell some exciting things about the program. Here is a quick teaser!

3D Appeal Makeover — Review of Travis' Model, Part 2!

What are the elements of an appealing female 3D face? 

3D Appeal Makeover — Review of Travis' Model, Part 1!

What are the elements of an appealing female 3D face?

Posing, posing, and POSING!

Hello! Here at 3D Appeal Blog, we will sit down with some animators from the upcoming film, RIO and talk about the dynamic between posing and rhythm & movement. This is sometimes expressed in animators’ workflows: do you block your shots pose to pose, or focus on the motion of the parts as a layered approach and worry about hitting specific poses later?

To kick off the discussion, here is contributor JP Sans of Blue Sky Studios with some ideas on posing:

There is one thing for certain: I am still new to this industry and have much more to learn. But the more I animate, the more I realize how valuable and how much work I have to put into this one principle: smart posing.

I believe that SMART posing is what separates a great shot from one that’s brilliant! Ollie Johnston spoke about how people remember in forms of pictures, not movement, and said (and I am paraphrasing) that you have to find that picture for the audience to remember: one single pose that expresses the entire scene, shot, emotion, and feeling; to find the golden pose. Sometimes I see shots that–though they are animated well–they feel somehow “over-animated”. The characters are moving so much that you cannot register any pose, and without letting a pose breathe, the audience can miss it, and so miss the impact of that moment.

I think that one solid pose can be much more effective than multiple ones. I sometimes find myself doing this as well, planning and choosing too many poses when I can just work with one great one.

Now I am not saying that ALL animation should be treated like this. You do need to consider everything: style of the film, what is needed for the performance, etc. Some shots do call for the acting to be busy and sometimes noisy, but even then, I think you want to pick a pose or two to hold. Not only to add contrast and texture, but to set them apart form all the other poses, adding importance to that beat. It will help highlight the emotion or thought in the performance. Because that is what it all comes down to: selling the emotion of the performance, the inner thinking or thought-process of what the character is feeling and thinking. Often, what the character is saying vs what the character actually means or feels.
Planning, planning and more planning!

Once you pick the pose that best represents the inner thought process and feeling of the character for that moment, it’s then when you have to spend more time on polishing it and perfecting it. Clean silhouette, eye direction, clean lines, good center mass, balanced proportions and weight. These are all part of good posing.

One example of great posing is Pixar’s The Incredibles. This film is filled with smart choices. One simple take that always comes to mind is Helen Parr’s reaction when she is vacuuming near Bob’s office. This is when the vacuum starts picking up heavy dirt. That ONE pose said it all. This shot could have easily been over-animated, but it wasn’t. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is to find the golden poses in your work. To find them, let them breath, and let the audience take in that moment, better yet, feeling; and have them remember it.

Smart poses = smart animation
JP Sans

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