Great Success!

For anyone who had the misfortune of missing our first meeting of the spring semester, it was one of our best yet. We had a great turn out, with lots of new faces (and awesome names), and though we didn't really have a specific agenda to cover, we ended up with a big group critique that snowballed into discussing helpful hints and awesome upcoming events -- club affiliated and otherwise. Mandy and I also raked up enough courage to dip our toes in our budget and provided fresh, hot coffee (it was a little last minute and tea was hard to figure out) and some cookies for everyone to enjoy.

Anyways, here's a little overview of what you missed or potentially forgotten.

First things first, if you weren't aware, the Academy somehow managed to pull itself together and done something truly amazing for it's students: Provided every registered student with the entire Adobe Creative Suite version 5.5 Master Collection.  Mind blowing, we know.

To obtain yours, simply log in to your online profile (online.academyart.edu/login.html), go to your Profile, and click the Software Tab to obtain your key for Mac or  PC.

Club patron Amelia also brought to light something exceedingly useful, especially if you've never really had a chance to use the Suite. As academy students, we have full-access to the wealth of knowledge that is provided by the Digital Tutors. All you have to do is go to my.academyart.edu, and under coursework support, find the library tab. On the library page, click the drop-down menu under "Learn about our online resources"and find Digital Tutors.

Finally, the Townhall meeting is on February 23, at 10:30am in room 714.  Questions? Comments? Concerns? Here's the place to get your answers. Regardless, please come and support your peers in trying to make our department comfortable and fair to it's students.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week.

Starting things off right.

I can only assume that everyone is happily enjoying their first week back at school. Hopefully you have all of your classes well enough in order to come to the first club meet of the Spring '12 semester!

Where? Room 714 of 180 New Montgomery Street

When? Why, Tea Time, of course! -- Fridays @ 3:30 - 5:00pm.

We've got a couple pretty cool club updates and things for those who attend, so definitely try and save the date!

Additionally: Happy Superbowl Sunday! I hope everyone has a blast cheering on their favorite team. Although I've never been a big fan of Bill Maher, here's a little something to think between yelling,  dancing to Madonna, and shoving piles of delicious treats into your face. Animation by Fraser Davidson -- I'd suggest full screen.

New year, new opportunities!

Happy new year, Tea Time!

A little birdie (named JD Haas) sent us an e-mail over the break letting us know that info and sign-ups are ready and available for the Spungella on-site or online workshops.

What is Spungella?

The Spungella workshop is a casual meeting between animators during which animation clips of all levels are being reviewed - from bouncing balls to performance pieces.

For a complete list of questions/answers check out the Spungella FAQs:

Spungella Onsite

Spungella Online

Additionally, we've already got a few guest speakers lined up for  the spring semester, so make sure you keep your eye on the blog for dates/times!

Free Reel Feedback from Those who Know!

Just a quick post to let everyone know two things:

First things first, this friday, December 9 is the last club meeting before the break. It's been a bit of a hectic semester with Tea Time coming under new management and all, but all in all, it's been productive and it can only get better with time!

Secondly, and much more importantly in my opinion, there is a free animation reel review event on December 15 from 7-10pm at Lanesplitters Pizza in Emeryville.

Hans Brekke was kind enough to e-mail us the link with all the necessary info, but there's also some posters around the halls. You can also check things out here.

Good luck with your finals, and we'll see you Friday!

Welcome Back Animation Clubbers!

I know we've been doing a lot of motivational posting lately, but here's a little more!

Art y Animacion

CTN

If you didn't go, you missed out.

'Nuff said.

A Brisk, Motivational Slap in the Face

Club Prez. Keaton Tips brought this gem by JR. Canest to light at club this week. According to Mr. Tips, Canest completed this in only two weeks. Think about it.

CRAZY ENOUGH - Title Sequence from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

Canest: For school (VFS), we had to make a Title Sequence and I decided to make the movie of my life and its everything in boxes and circles... It took me a lot of work... there is thousands of key frames made in after effects...

Laika's Next Flick

Amazing, no?

Mid-week Special!

Just notes on a few things we touched upon last week that I neglected to mention in my previous post.

During our usual critique, some useful, yet under-exposed, Maya tools were brought to light by one of our lovely patrons Brandon Nason.

First things first: Motion Trails!

Motion trails will create visible paths for your selected attributes complete with frame numbers, so becomes really easy to detect problems with the flow or kinks within your animation. It looks something like this:

(The path could also look bright red with white dots showing the keys.)

But where are these Motion Trails?

Maya 2011:

Select the attribute you wish to trail.

>Make sure "Animation" is selected from the drop down menu at the top left-hand side.

>>Go to the "Animate" tab

>>>Select "Create Motion Trail", use the option box and make sure to click "Show frame Number"

Maya 2012:

Select the attribute you wish to trail.

>Make sure "Animation" is selected from the drop down menu at the top left-hand side.

>>Go to the "Animate" tab

>>>Select "Create Editable Motion Trail", use the option box and make sure to click "Show frame Number"

The Glory of Weighted Tangents:

For those of you who weren't in club last week, and who aren't already using weighted tangents, we're going to change your life...or at least change the method in which you interact with the graph editor.

While the standard (non-weighted) tangents in Maya can be rotated and moved around, the length of the tangent handles themselves are confined to a set length. Weighted tangents (once you've clicked the right buttons, of course) will give you the freedom to pull out the tanget handles, allowing you better control over your curves with fewer keys for cleaner, smoother animation!

How to:

(Click all images to enlarge)

In your graph editor, select the curves you wish to weight. You can select one key or the whole curve, it doesn't matter, either way it will weight the whole curve what ever key you've selected belongs to:

Then, still in the graph editor, select Curves>Weighted Tangents. Your tangents will then look something like this:

In this state, your curves will behave just like regular tangents, so you don't need to worry about the timing you've already nailed down (though if you begin to alter it, you'll see the tangent handles jump around a bit in length so keep an eye out). However, if you wish to have the ultimate freedom, simply select whatevert tangent you wish to manipulate (I'd do this in a case-by-case basis.) and click the "Free Tangent Weight" and "Break Tangents" buttons in your Graph editor window.

Now you will see that you have complete freedom over the length of your tangents.

If you wish for them to work together again, simply click the "Unify Tangents" button. If you wish for the tangent to not vary in length at your command, click the "Lock Tangent Weight" button

CTN Update: Don't forget to book your accommodations!

For those of you who were planning on coming out to CTN, but who had not yet booked a hotel room, it's time to step your game up.

Keaton and I finally got our own act together last night, giving the conference center hotel (the Airport Marriott, Burbank) a call to book a room, and managed to score the LAST one (according to the receptionist) that was available for both nights (Nov. 18th and 19th). She did mention that there were four or so available the night of the 19th only, but it seems as though anyone looking to book past this point will be at a neighbouring facility -- bummer!

That being said, if you are planning on booking past this point, it might be pertinent to check with the Marriott anyways, on the off chance there have been any cancellations. Additionally, whenever you do decide to make the call, do ensure that you actually make a call. Often, during conferences and the like, hotels will have set aside a number of rooms specifically for attendees, and this usually means discounts and things associated with such that won't be available if you book online.

If the Marriott does happen to be full, then it's a nice idea to go online. If you try to book via the Marriott website, once the hotel is full, it will provide you with a list of hotels that are available, how far they are from the Marriott, and the pricing of the alternate rooms -- good deal!

It's a bummer to not be at the actual conference center for the event, but don't think that means it isn't worth coming! Make sure you get on top of things and book asap.

Good luck!

Clean Team!

In case you weren't aware, each year, AAU clubs that wish to be provided with any sort of budget are required to partake in community service activities.

Thus, this weekend, Lana, as well as a few other animators, found themselves helping out at San Francisco's 'Clean Team' event. Anyone who wished to go met at one of the designated pick up locations (One of three Academy Housing Facilities) at 8:30am where an academy shuttle took them out to the event.

Upon arrival, all the volunteers were given the proper equipment - vests, gloves, tools, etc - and went to go beautify the neighbourhood. Although the activities generally vary, this week those participating were working on Monterey street medians removing old mulch, planting new flowers and things, laying down irrigation line and then coating the remaining space with new mulch. Volunteers were provided with coffee and breakfast treats in the morning, and lunch after their day was done. They were back at the Academy by 12:30pm.

If you are interested in giving back to your local community while simultaneously giving your local animation club some dolla' dolla' bills that go towards helping and/or entertaining you,  don't hesitate to e-mail us, or keep a watchful eye here for more information! The next community service opportunity is at the San Francisco Food Bank!

Thanks to everyone who came out!