How is my assignment going?

Very slowly is the answer to that. I was ill for a few days (really pale, weak, dizzy and nausea) not fun and made it hard to focus on a screen and remember things. Think I watched the videos like 5 times then decided to wait till my illness had passed. I am better now and have got on the way but I sadly don't think my character will be as good as I had originally planned, I'm still not happy with it. He is very basic and I'd prefer he had more... personality... originality. I am considering shrinking him down and making him a little boy instead. I think that might be more fun.

If I am going with the boy idea I was going to make a basic toy or bicycle and make a similar scene to the reservoir down the road. I've tried making some trees, they are pretty basic too though. Any way, you will see what I come up with by Monday :) If you have any comments on it then please let me know and I will play with it more... even if the assignment is finished. I like to make things right :D

Taking Notes

I've been taking notes to record everything we are being taught but I've realised how long it takes me as I am writing in so much detail, 24 A5 pages for 3 lessons... bit much. Funnily enough in my last Q&A with my Mentor I was caught out taking notes. I was just writing away writing what he had just said when I heard my name so I looked up and I had been put on cam. Made me jump and everyone laugh though. For those that don't know; whoever is taking the lesson, coffee talk or Q&A can turn your webcam on and show you to everyone in the session. One of the reasons the is a rule that you must always wear clothes to them :p

Any way, my note taking has been helpful as I have a system thats very organised so I can quickly find a bit that I wanted to remember how to do but I have now decided to dumb down my notes so I can be quicker at it but with the main bits still there. That way I can spend more time on my assignments. I was just trying to do what I did for my CAD lessons, my notebook for that was amazing, people were always asking to borrow it; think I even made copies for my friends who were struggling too. Always made me smile when I saw people looking up how to do something in my notes. Maybe one day I will type all my notes up and make it into a book along with tips I learn about animating during my life. Wish I could of done that with CAD notes but they mysteriously vanished :(

2nd Springboard Assignment!

This week is split into 2 sessions. I wasn't expecting that but its fine :)
The first session is about modelling and teaching us how to do it so we can make a basic character. I'm actually really enjoying messing with it to make a character that appeals to me. I've never really gone into modelling with Maya before so learning new things. My fellow classmates have set a challenge too. To see who can make the cutest character, my original plan has now changed slightly... I love challenges!

The 2nd session is to build a set for my character and place 2 or 3 cameras in different angles. Then put my character in the scene. I reckon this part will be quite simple as I already know what it discussed in this tutorial but should still be fun.

When I've finished it I will post a few images to see what you think and so you can see what I came up with.

Oh and also found out something... We don't get grades in Springboard! Gutted but not going to stop me doing my best :D

Also, here is a picture of me brought up on webcam during our Q&A :) They are so enjoyable and fun I can't help but grin!

Finally got my first lecture video!

Woohoo! It all began this week and I've been taking my time to make sure I get it all right. I really do want to do my best.

Any way, our first lecture video was full of stuff! Below is what was discussed in it.

• Simplifying workspace, short cuts
• Basic UI elements
• Preferences: Undo = infinite
• Tracking and Zooming in the different views
• NURBS definition
• NURBS Primitives: Sphere, Cylinder, Torus, Cone
• Basic interaction tools: Select (q), Move (w), Rotate (e), Scale (r)
• Panel display options: 1/2/3, wireframe (4), shaded (5), textures (6), lights (7)
• Marking Menu: what the heck?
• Channel Box: Translate, Rotate, Scale
• Outliner: part 1
• Saving versions - .ma vs. .mb: Always save as .ma
• Using the integration “Help” feature in Maya for tutorials, reference, etc.
• Character / Tools section: downloading and opening .zip files
• How to make a .zip file for upload
• Submit your work (Assignment Sessions)

From what we were taught in the lecture we were given an assignment. This was to create a series of NURBS and transforming them to match an image we were given. Then save it as a zip file and upload it. I took my time with this assignment as I wanted it to be perfect or as close as I could get any way. (Some of my perfectionist habit coming through). I took Screen Shots as I made each NURBS object so I can show you how I did it and where I started but firstly here is the image we were given and my final version.



Here are my progress shots with some close ups and even when I used a camera to check that balls weren't going through the cone or other balls.







To do this assignment I actually came up with an idea. I downloaded an app called 'Afloat'. It basically allows you to make some software transparent so I made the image we were given transparent and then placed it over maya and then adjusted each object to fit over the image. I also just put the image over the top normally and kept minimising and opening it over maya to check it looked right but it was a huge help in making it as exact as possible. I did of course make sure through other views that they were sat on the shelf and not going through other objects though.

1 Week to go!

I've been put through another 3 weeks of orientation and it was killing me as I am really excited about it but as I've been kept so busy for most of that time its distracted me from the waiting! I have heard from my mentor though! His name is Said Abdul Ghafoor and his website is www.saeedag.com I have also found out that my Q&As are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6pm GMT (10am PST) and that my first lecture is next week.
I'm actually really nervous now but I'm sure I'll be fine and its just my excitement. I want to work harder than I have ever worked before, I want to be one of the best and most committed students Animation Mentor has ever had and I will blog what I do as soon as I've done it.

Please give feedback on my work; good or bad... don't worry about what you'll say, I can take it and I'd rather know if anything looks wrong or could be better so I can learn but please give a reason, don't just say 'its rubbish', please say 'its rubbish because...' or something along those lines. I'd really appreciate it :)

Been busy but kept me distracted

Apologies for not posting for ages. It was my uni bike clubs rally and as I've been in London I had been kept in the dark about the organising but with 2 weeks to go I found out that they had no bands booked! So I quickly searched for bands and luckily next day I found 'Storm' and then a mate pulled through and found the other a few days later... talk about cutting it fine. The rally did go brilliantly although I was pretty exhausted after it, I did enjoy it.

I marshalled from 11am on Friday until 1am Saturday then got woken with a start at 8.30am by someone sneaking their hand in my tent and pulling my ankle so I slid across my airbed, think I yelled "Ahhh! Somethings got me!" Really scared me at the time and for some reason my first thought was an animal. Any way, that got me up and I marshalled again until 9am on Sunday, watching the sunrise in-front of a huge bonfire, the bands, the entertainment and seeing everyone enjoying themselves made up for it though. I did get an hours nap at 9am on Sunday too but it was scorching in the tent an hour later so I woke up and I was surprised again but this time because I was surrounded by balloons and a space hopper! Must of been over 50 balloons in my tent, was very colourful but surprising to wake up to. Wish I'd taken a photo now.

After all that I'm still not home as I went to visit my mum and saw she was very stressed because she had run a deal with Groupon and couldn't cope with all the bookings and phone calls so I decided to help her by answering the phone and taking bookings and card payments. Been doing that for nearly 2 weeks now and seems a bit silly going back to London when I'm meant to be going to Red Bull's Flugtag in Roundhay Park, Leeds this weekend and then a welcome back party in Sheffield for my friend who's been travelling for about 6 months. I do miss having a bed and my own space though, my drawing suffers when I'm at my mums as I have many siblings and its busy all the time. Good thing I have a good laptop and my mum and boyfriend have good internet or I'd be spending a lot of time in coffee shops for my springboard course. Although coffee shops would be more relaxing... mmm will have rethink my plan.

UPDATE

I went to the Red Bull Flugtag in Leeds. I loved it although it was really slow and I think poorly arranged in some areas, it also rained so I got really muddy and wet but it was just so interesting and I was always curious how each team would do and what performance they would do. Oh and something awesome! One of the teams was called To Infinity and the Pond and they had come as characters of Toy Story and their craft was Buzz's wings and RC! Below is a picture I took of them and one I found on the internet. Even better... they won! Got tons of points for creativity and performance, didn't fly that far though, was only a few feet. Silly way of doing it in my opinion as I think the distance should be more important but still entertaining.