So Sad ...

Today was my last day of Maya Springboard :( It's very bittersweet to say the least .... The good news is most of the people in my class are either going on to Class 1 this summer or are coming back in the fall :) So I shall torment them evermore ! MUHUHAHA! ...So anyway, the last class assignment was to make a one legged creature (I'm going to call him Pirate Pete ....because I can) do a jump! It was simple enough, although I haven't cleaned up the animation yet.  Pirate Pete let me practice the powers of the graph editor ...I'm slowly starting to feel more at ease with it. And now, my last animation for Springboard: Pirate Pete!

With That Out Of The Way ...

Tackling constraints will be an ongoing battle, I can tell already :/ But all in all, the more practice I force myself to do, the better things are coming along.  Maya Springboard is coming to an end and I have to say I'm both excited and scared.  Granted there are a few more weeks left but June 27th is approaching fast and I'm just not sure if I'm ready for it (ready for it in the "do I understand Maya" sense).  But like most things I decide to take on in life, I like to just jump in and see what happens :) So we shall see what happens! I am excited to be able to expand to the bigger AM community (Class people get to chat/see more than Springboard people) so I can be in awe of other peoples work and be inspired by them also! I'm also excited to be continuing this journey with some of my springboard classmates. This will make that transition easier I think!! Anyways, below is my "cleaned up" robot arm (version 3). I'm quite proud of it! I'm excited to see how much I grow as an animator with this school :) The people I've met that go to the school have all been really helpful and encouraging.  Everyone seems really genuine and I feel very fortunate to have found a "school" as unique as AnimationMentor.com !

The Beast That Is Constraints

This weeks assignment was to actually make our little robot arm pick up the green can/cylinder and move it over to the platform.  This also involved using constraints to allow the can to move with the claw of the robot arm ....and then allow it to be dropped onto the platform.  It was a task to get it (as choppy and unpolished as it is) to this point. I'm happy I got the darn thing to go over to the platform but I hate the process to do it ....a lot lol But it's necessary to know and I get that, I just hope it will get easier with time and practice! Enjoy my little robot arm :) ((ps: I changed up the robot arm as I had lost the ability to move the claw in my previous model :/ so this little guy is sleepy instead of scared :) ))

Mr. Roboto

The second assignment for this week is to block out a robotic arm's action of picking up a cylinder and dropping it off on the other side of the screen.  I think my idea for this "scene" is that the robotic arm is slightly apprehensive to the cylinder at first and picks it up like I pick up a dead spider ....as far away from me as possible! And then he (yes, I've decided the robot arm is a boy) gets startled when another cylinder appears behind him :D At least, that's the plan! Not sure if it's going to end up like that, but at least I've got a PLAN! Excelsior!

And Now ...

This weeks assignment (according to the syllabus) is to create two bouncing ball scenes and merge them together thus creating one scene containing two bouncing balls (at different speeds, etc.).  I felt slightly compelled to attempt such a feat before going into the Q&A.  Below is my very rough draft of that assignment! Comments are always welcome and appreciated :)

A Different POV

This weeks second assignment was to have a sphere go in a circle ....that's right, sphere + circle = assignment. I've a rough first draft done that I will share below.  It is going to take some getting used to working with the Graph Editor but I feel like with more practice and more training it will start to come easier and easier :) Here's to the future!!

 

EDIT: i didnt change much to my little animation, but i did make it loop hopefully to give it a bit more time to register in the mind :) enjoy!

A First Attempt

This weeks first assignment was to create OUR FIRST ANIMATION FOR ANIMATIONMENTOR.COM! I was very excited for this moment! ....that is, until I tried creating a simple ball animation :/ I'm not pleased with how it came out at all but after battling problems with my mouse (or lack of one ....but our mentor Arnie helped me fix the one I had so that it will work! better still, he saved me 30 bucks!) and other such incidents, I at least came out with my simple bouncy (no squash or stretch) ball. Disappointing but not disappointed :) It can only get better with more knowledge!!

What A Glorious Feeling

This weeks second assignment was to light a scene.  I had a little bit of a hard time with this one, I'll admit.  I like (for the most part) how the scene came out but I feel like it could have been pushed so much more. I now know that lighting is not my strongest skill :/ But that's okay! I also played around more with adding texture and "glow" to the scene (as well as some "rain"!).  Overall it came out well, just not as well as I was really hoping for.  Who knows? This IS the first pass ... might get some feedback to help me plus it :)

EDIT: After posting this entry on the Facebook AM site, I was given the suggestion to add a background picture and toy around with trying to make "moonlight". . . so I did!! Below are the renders of my scene complete with background and a little blue moon light :)

Notice the rain is a different color/different direction :/ I fixed that later on

fixed the rain! hopefully its more cohesive

To Infinity, And Beyond

This weeks first assignment I knew was going to be a fun one (for me). It dealt with a lot of experimenting and colors and a bit of "special effects" and while I am eagerly awaiting the day to actually animate something, the shading/lighting is probably my second favorite part! I'm not much of a modeler (especially compared to some of the amazing work coming out of AM!) but I tell you, I'm proud of how I threw myself into this project.  In about two days, I worked hard to create my most epic scene yet. I give you ... Who You Gonna Call?

This is just a taste of what the whole composition looked like. I'm very pleased with how it all came out and as an only child, I hope it earns me some praise from my mentor! ... I like being praised!

Stay Puft! Or Else...

This weeks first assignment was to deal with shading/materials.  Up to this point the work in Maya has been rendered in a most dull shade of gray. This week we learned how to jazz it up with color and shading effects! My mentor went through the process of coloring each object which was easy enough.  The color scheme in my shot isn't extreme but gets the point across nicely.  I struggled trying to connect things together that weren't really being very cooperative but in the end, I think the (almost) final product came out to my satisfaction.  ((ps: Arnie the mentor also explained how to use the "glow" tool and make certain colors/objects glow in render!!)) Below is the render of my first attempt at shading and color ... you will see my awesome use of "glow"! I'm going to be adding more to this scene I think but so far so good! Huzzah!

Who You Gonna Call?