The Power of Command+D

A new favorite tool shortcut in Maya that I am loving is 'duplicate' which is achieved on a Mac with the command+D keys. It has made life a little easier :) This weeks second assignment was to play around with different camera angles and poses of our character (or we could make new characters).  My first attempt is pretty safe/cookie cutter. It's my character reaching for a mysterious floating orb ... A basic pose and basic camera angle. The second is parent character holding the hand of a smaller character I created through changing the scale through the attribute editor with a similar camera angle as the first. The third scene is hard to tell from the angle but I created a toy box with three "dolls", one of whom is reaching up for the main "life sized" character. The camera angle is that of the dolls in the box. I quite like how this one came out ... It is a little hard to read as you can't tell from this angle that they are in a toy box but I still like how it came out. The last picture is a little snapshot of a great movie moment from Singin' In The Rain !! I "built" the simple lamp post and positioned my guy on top. The camera angle is pretty straightforward as I wanted to be able to see the entire scene clearly. That's it for this week! On to the next !

What A Glooorious Feeling! Part2

What A Glooorious Feeling! Part1

Breezing Through ... Yeah, RIIIGHT!

Above is my *final* shelf project! After getting some helpful critique's from fellow AMers and becoming more comfortable with the controls in Maya, I feel this final shelf render is better than my previous ones! It was a lot of fun and a lot of work but it finally all came together :)

This week will have two assignments. The first is a hierarchy figure.  We are supposed to create a whole body rig/model that has assigned joints and such to it.  The idea is to show how to group things together in a realistic fashion (if you move your elbow, your forearm+hands go with it, etc.). I feel like I've done an adequate job, especially since I only have one day to complete it (assignments are done the day before the next class).  The fun part of the project was modeling a head. I tried to use Phillip J. Fry from Futurama as my inspiration (the only part that came out Fry-esque is the hair, but at least I know who it is!). Behold Fry Phillip Jay!

Who's Up For Round Two?!

Most excellent! Being the semi-ambitious person that I am, I went ahead and did a second shelf :) I like how this one came out! It isn't much different from the first one but I did add a couple of things to make it more of a character than a complete copy of the homework assignment. I think I'm ready to build a face/body!


Excelsior!

I have successfully (I hope!) completed my first Animation Mentor project! I'm very happy and excited to continue on! Thanks to everyone for the help!!

Our mentor Arnie gave a lot of tips and tricks with working with the NURBS for this project (nurbs=shapes on shelf). One that I've found very helpful already is scaling down objects, like the cones, by typing in the decimal of how much smaller you want on object. The other, more difficult way (for me anyways) was using the "scale" tool :/ Typing in how much smaller it needs to be is a ton easier! I'm ready for project #2!

Excelsior!

The Official OFFICIAL First Class

Yours truly just completed the first class of Maya Springboard! Our mentor was great (Arnie Mecham).  He was really nice and ...wait for it .... super nerdy about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Muppet Babies (of all things!) so I'm sure this will be a most interesting 8 weeks!

The first class consisted of introducing ourselves to the rest of the "class".  I think we've got a good, diverse group that will be fun and productive! Everyone is super nice. The youngest of the group is 19 and the oldest being 43 (I think?!) so I'm smack dab in the middle :) The real test will come Wednesday when we start working in Maya and messing around with the software. . . Speaking of which, I ought to get to making that shelf!

Excelsior!

The Time Has Come!

First official class starts next Monday at 5 p.m. and I am beyond READY! Plus, I finally got to find out who my mentor for Maya Springboard is : The "Hamburger Guy" Archie Machem!

http://arniem.com/reel/

He has some pretty hilarious work on there :) I'm ready! First step HOOOOO!

A quick pencil test from Beauty and the Beast by the amazing Glen Keane... is it sad I'm happy computer animation is a tool as I don't think I'd be able to catch this kind of heart and emotion with my piddling little doodles :/ But thanks to Glen Keane for giving me hope!


Here's another pencil test from Ollie Johnston (one of the "Nine Old Men" of Disney) for Pinnochio.  Also amazing work that shows the great skill of an amazing animator!

Two works of inspiration while I sit and continue to wait for Maya Springboard to begin!