Link of the Week

Hello all!

This week, we bring you a neat portfolio: Tommy Tallian

Although there's not a ton of work on his site, what's there is GREAT, and fun to look at. Tommy showcases Low Poly Modeling, which is used in video games, where it's all about optimizing performance. Because video games are rendered in real time (unlike films/tv, where it's all pre-rendered) low poly counts are necessary. The lower the polygon count, the lower the rendering time, but the more the graphics tend to slide.

These are wonderful examples of low poly models that look really polished, because the textures/uv mapping compensate for the modeling.

It shows you what you can do with textures! You don't have to have a ton of detail in your models... you can always fake it with some textures! Look at how his texture maps are laid out:

If this kind of stuff interests you, we highly recommend Polycount.com! It's a news and resource website for video game artists, and the forums are extremely helpful. Check it out! :D

- Bekah Nunn

Meeting Overview, 9/23/11

Hey guys! Hope everyone enjoyed our "Welcome to the Labs" meeting last night! It was a little chaotic, but we all had a ton of fun. Lion King 3D was SUPERB! We were so excited to have such a large group there, and the cheer that went up when the movie started was the best sound in the world. Thanks for being so awesome, everyone. :)

In case you couldn't make it last night, here's what happened:

- We discussed our "statistics" from last week and found that most of the people in the group are interested in visual development, character design, storyboarding, and feature length movies. We're going to put a focus on these things in the future, but will definitely have content related to all facets of animation at our meetings as well.

- At our next meeting, Friday, September 30, we're going to have a guest speaker! Alex Alvarado will be in town and has awesomely agreed to come speak to the Animation Student Collective. Alex is a CCAD 2011 grad, who has interned at Disney Feature Animation and Laika. Disney Feature Animation just recently hired him! This will be a really neat talk, so we highly recommend you come prepared with questions and even some portfolio work!

- The weekend after that, October 7, CCAD Alum Nathan Greno is going to be here! Nathan was co-director of Tangled and will be on campus receiving an Award for Excellence at CCAD over the weekend. We're going to see if it's possible to have him come talk to us during our meeting time, but if not, he will be the Visiting Artist, Monday, October 10th. Stay tuned for more information about Nathan!!

- This summer (in July) CCAD will again be hosting Animation on Location. "Animation On Location is a two week course where students from CCAD, live, breathe, and eat the CG, 2D, and Stop-motion Animation scene in and around the Greater Los Angeles community. This includes, but is not limited to, Graduate Schools, Industry Houses, Research Facilities, and Museums. The second week focuses on the ACM international conference: SIGGRAPH" (source). It's still a ways off, but we wanted to give a pretty decent heads up, because the cost is a little hefty: upwards of $3500. But this is a stunning opportunity, and we just wanted to make sure everyone was aware!! We'll keep you guys updated with any further developments as it gets closer.

- Another upcoming CCAD event is the Internship Fair. This will happen on Tuesday, November 8th, and the deadline to sign up (at the Careers office) is Monday, October 17th. It's only open to Juniors and Seniors, but it's a FANTASTIC networking opportunity, so take advantage of it if you can! Get your work out there and be proactive! :)

- Then we proceeded to the labs! For the most part, we messed around in the programs (see our post below for a detailed list and some valuable resources!), toured the soundbooth, and shared our collective knowledge! We handed out a sheet that had a pretty valuable list of all of the Maya 2011 Hotkeys -- if you're interested in this list, let us know on the Facebook page, and we'll make sure you get one! :)

- Then it was time for Lion King!! We all trooped down to the Arena Grand and had a fabulous time. Bekah took some silly pictures of the evening, so tag yourself on the Facebook page if you feel so inclined. ;)


We hope everyone had fun, and we'll see you next week! Come prepared with questions for Alex Alvarado!

Welcome to the Labs!

Here are a bunch of links to all kinds of resources and programs you have as a CCAD student! Look around and familiarize yourself with them. No really, try opening one and playing around in it.


First off! Join us on Facebook!




Digital Tutors helps you make movies, video games and more with the largest online video-based training and tutorial library for CG, 3D, animation and VFX.

JOINING DIGITAL TUTORS:

Step 1) Be sure to be on campus when you first setup your account. Why? It has something to do with using the school's IP address.

Step 2) Start at the school home page at - http://start.ccad.edu/


Step 3) Click on Library.


Step 4) On the left side of the screen, under Packard Library, click Subject Guides.


Step 5) Click on Animation on the right side of the table.


Step 6) Click on either the Digital Tutors logo, or the name right underneath it.


Step 7) Create an account using your CCAD email!







Lynda is a learning platform that teaches a growing range of computer skills in video format. It is used by many high-profile businesses, such as Disney, Google, and Adobe.

JOINING LYNDA:


Step 1) Be sure to be on campus when you first setup your account. Why? It has something to do with using the school's IP address.

Step 2) Start at the school home page at - http://start.ccad.edu/

Step 3) On the left side of the screen, click Lynda.com.

Step 4) Create an account using your CCAD email!



OK! Now for some of the famous professional programs that the school has to offer!!! 





Toon Boom is a Canadian software company that specializes in animation production software. Toon Boom's client base ranges from professional studios to individual animators and colleges. Prestigious customers include Studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios.


Toon Boom's Harmony is described as "the most complete animation software for professionals, offering award winning state-of-the-art content creation, animation and compositing toolsets".

Toon Boom's Pencil Check Pro is a line testing software.

Toon Boom's  Storyboard Pro is used to create storyboards that can be printed.




Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that focuses on 3D design software for use in architecture, engineering and building construction, manufacturing, and media and entertainment.

Autodesk Maya is used to create interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated film, TV series, or visual effects.

Mudbox is a computer-based 3D sculpting and painting tool.



 
 Adobe Systems is historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products. You have access to the whole creative suite! Here are some options....

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program.

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editing program.

Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to create animation, video, and interactivity products.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing software application.

Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software.



 
ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D modeling, texturing and painting.







Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software.

Soundtrack Pro is a music composing and audio editing application, which includes a collection of just over 5000 royalty free professional instrument loops and sound effects.






Modo is a polygon and subdivision surface modeling, sculpting, 3D painting, animation and rendering package.





Blender Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. Blender's features include 3D modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging and skinning, fluid and smoke simulation, particle simulation, animating, rendering, video editing and compositing.



 
Cinema 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application.



 
Corel Painter is a raster-based digital art application created to simulate as accurately as possible the appearance and behavior of traditional media associated with drawing, painting, and printmaking.



Still a little confused? 
Try researching whatever you don't understand! 
The internet is your friend!



 
Also, Rico is going to mention a website/podcast called Paperwings!  
Here's a link to what he's talking about
Hi, I'm a link
And here's a link to the specific episode that he mentioned.
Hi, I am also a link




PS
START A BLOG! 
Everyone should have one
The sooner you start one...
THE BETTER!!!

Lion King 3D

Friday night  were going to be seeing Lion King in 3D at the Arena Grand theater. The movie starts at 8:30 pm so it'll be after the meeting. The meeting is going to be in the sand box at 6:30 as usual so if you don't have a ride to the movie, fear not, you can hitch a ride with someone :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCKCSBpfL0M

Be sure to join the facebook group!

By clicking HERE

Link of the Week

So every week were going to be posting a new awesome link to a website that we find helpful, a portfolio we think is awesome, etc. So for this week I'm actually giving 2 links.
The first one is one that I'm sure everyone will here bout all the time and will be told about in animation classes. But for those who have never heard of it, CGsociety is a fabulous website. It includes not only 3d/cg work but also 2d work and concept art. Antone can go in and make an account and put their portfolio up and you will find the best of the best on this site. There's forums, job postings, etc. There's also competitions you can enter. A lot of work that you might see in 3Dworld or 3D artist comes from this site. Although a word of caution, since so many companies go to this site to look at portfolios, etc, be careful what you post. If your going to portfolio up make certain that its something that you want out there and you want associated with your name to possible future employers, don't just throw anything up there :)

 http://forums.cgsociety.org/

The 2nd link I want to give out is not as big but its a blog of Glen Keane's art. It's not actually Glenn Keane's blog but someone else posts work up some of his work from each movie he works on. For those who dont know who Glen Keane is he's an American animator, author, illustrator and director. Keane is best known for his character animation at Walt Disney Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and Tangled. Keane received the 1992 Annie Award for character animation and the 2007 Winsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field of animation.

 http://www.theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/

-Michelle Mulier-

Meeting Overview, 9/16/11

 

Hey there everybody! I hope everyone REALLY enjoyed our first meeting! We sure did!

Here's an overview of this weeks meeting: 

Friday, Sept 16^th 

We handed out packets 

We did introductions

A schedule overview

An overview of ASC

AND MINGLE TIME!

Mission Statement
We are The Animation Student Collective. Our mission is to provide an enthusiastic, encouraging, welcoming and educational environment for all those interested in animation of all forms.

The Animation Student Collective: Who We Are and What We DoWe are a collection of students from all majors with an interest or a focus in animation, in all forms. We will share our knowledge and experience, learn from one another, and enjoy the medium of animation through activities such as workshops, guest speakers, group critiques, movie nights, tutorials, and portfolio reviews.

Also, we're going to see The Lion King in 3333DDDDD!!!!!! Next week after the meeting. Stay tuned for updates!

Here's the gorgeous pictures of some of the animation faculty we promised.

Ron Saks - Charlotte Belland - Tom Richner

Dean of Media Studies - Chair of Animation - Adviser of our group

 All super super nice and super super awesome.

Ok, well we look forward to an AWESOME year! 

See you guys next week!!!