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FINAL critique - 2D Animation

2010-05-19T15:33:36Z

45 seconds long and make it good.

This class will be devoted to viewing your final projects. Attendance in mandatory. Submit all projects in advance to Professor Heintz.

10: Final Project Work Session and Troubleshooting - 2D Animation

2010-05-12T14:33:36Z

Time will be spent addressing any issues regarding creation of your final project animation.

9: The Exquisite Corpse Project - 2D Animation

2010-05-05T14:33:36Z

Today we will stitch together your various contributions to the Exquisite Corpse and screen them.
This is a 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.

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
* the animation should go through at least one loop then you can do whatever you want.
* includes your name. (You may make your name an animated element) and your name should be readable for 3 seconds.
* the animaton must be a minimum of 10 seconds long (the 3 seconds of your name included)
* 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 from MYCOURSES

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.

8B: Lip synching - 2D Animation

2010-04-28T15:33:36Z

Mickey Mousing (editing/animating to sound) is a key production skill. The following are sources:

8A: Storyboard due - 2D Animation

2010-04-28T14:33:36Z

Pitch your final project idea. I will meet with each student individually to discuss the proposed work.

7B: Story Board Exercise - 2D Animation

2010-04-21T22:34:33Z

Do a storyboard for one of the following:

We Real Cool

THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Shel Silverstein

JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Final project is assigned - 2D Animation

2010-04-21T15:33:36Z

45 seconds long. It can be anything you want. Storyboard is due next week.

7A: Walk Cycle Critique - 2D Animation

2010-04-21T14:33:36Z

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 cycle need not be humanoid, nor bipedal. (Do keep in mind that the more legs involved, the more difficult the work).

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.

6A: Cel Animation and environment - 2D Animation

2010-04-14T12:33:36Z

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.

6B: Work your walk - 2D Animation

2010-04-14T12:33:36Z

Get out of class when you have two out of three movement cycles done.

Walk Cycle is Assigned - 2D Animation

2010-04-07T16:18:56Z

Exercise: Worm Movement Cycle - 2D Animation

2010-04-07T14:35:07Z

Create a worm movement cycle.
contrast this with a snake movement cycle.

5B: Cycles, Character animation and the requisite walk cycle - 2D Animation

2010-04-07T12:33:36Z

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:

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)

Video: http://www.squetch.com/tism.html

5A: Rotoscope Animation Critique - 2D Animation

2010-04-07T11:33:36Z

Create a minimum of a 20 second rotoscoped animation on twos. (12 or 15 fps). Your source material may come from one source. Edit your source material to 20 seconds BEFORE you begin to rotoscope.

*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.

Your rotoscope should be beyond an animated version of the source material. Change the meaning, recontextualize it, take advantage of the fact that it is an animation and laws of physics, gravity and reality no longer have any bearing on the work.

Examples of things which may follow this arc:

protagonist - antagonist conflict storyline
themed movement
rhythm
pace
flocking
color
line shape
spatial relationship

Exercise: The Ball and Secondary Motion - 2D Animation

2010-03-31T13:33:36Z

A bouncing ping pong ball, deflated rubber ball, a spinning top, splatting jello.
This will be an intro to using After Effects

Secondary Motion - After you have made your different items bounce, what things can you add to sell their materiality?