www.animationmentor.com

[seasterling]

About the dry erase markers. If you are using a Mac, check out Desktastic at panic.com. If they could get this little app to toggle the drawing tools without hiding your drawing it would be perfect. I emailed them but haven't heard back. Maybe if they get enough inquiries they will look into it.

See you guys June 20 :bounce:

[ArneK]

I tried this Desktastic program and it works great! You can even draw on top of your Maya windows, but you have to use the Draw-on-top toggle or enable the "Draw-above key" in Desktastic preferences. Great tool, and saves me hazzle with plexiglass etc.

jedijrmax, there are current students at AM now who use OSX with only minor problems. I was told most OSX related bugs should be fixed by the fall semester..

[ravvy]

I tried this Desktastic program and it works great! You can even draw on top of your Maya windows, but you have to use the Draw-on-top toggle or enable the "Draw-above key" in Desktastic preferences. Great tool, and saves me hazzle with plexiglass etc.


Is there a good equivalent of this for windows?

[3FnD]

How do I always miss these conversations?

Jeff, I was not trying to keep from looking at the chat! I was just trying to make "eye contact" so everyone either felt I was paying attention or got that eerie feeling I could actually see them!! Haha!

And yeah, Brian, Jeff's dance was impressive simply by his incredible inhibition...I mean, most ppl would have been embarrassed to do that, so I gotta hand it to him. And I do admit to getting a little teary on Boom's interperative dance as well. Now THAT's talent.

BTW, since my mentor Jeremy Cantor has had ISP issues the whole time of school so far, Bobby has been filling in on our QnA's for the past 2 weeks and it's been totally a blast. Jeremy logs onto the chat as well (when he can) and chimes in here an there; he was at work during the last one and didn't have cam or mic, but could type stuff in. JC still does our eCritiques though.

Wednesday night's Global Q&A was one of the most cool things at AM so far, and I for one am petitioning they do those more often! It was great to have so many others in the session at the same time, and the ones who had to leave after the first hour because of their normal mentor Q&A missed out a bit!

Just keeps getting more and more cool every time you turn around! I hope we're not overselling to the freshmen, but it's only gonna keep getting better.

[Metro-Digital]

can anyone reccommend a decent webcam. Will be beginning the course on june 20 (can't wait), and havent got a webcam yet. thanks.

[stewartjones]

Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000... It's been mentioned A LOT! :D

[SkyZero]

Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000... It's been mentioned A LOT! :D

That's the one I plan on picking up sometimes this weekend, too bad the fall term is still so far away.... :cry:

[jedijrmax]

What about the quickcam orbit?

[3FnD]

metro,

the quickcam 4000 might be the way to go, so many ppl have recomended it. I don't have one but will caution you to steer clear of the one I got, the quickcam IM. It seems to need an excessive amount of light and still not that great of a picture. Rats.

[SheepFactory]

quickcam 4000 is awesome

[Metro-Digital]

Thanks for the info. I checked out the quickcam 4000 pro, and it seems really nice. I think I'll go with this model. Thanks again, and I can't wait to see whats been going down in AM. Also I see a couple of students have websites of what they have been doing at AM. Is it necessary to have one, and if it is, are there free sites available to post up info of what you've been up to, and your work, or do you have to pay monthly webspace rental? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
See all you guys in June.
Lata

[mgarward]

Also I see a couple of students have websites of what they have been doing at AM. Is it necessary to have one, and if it is, are there free sites available to post up info of what you've been up to, and your work, or do you have to pay monthly webspace rental? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
Definitely not a requirement... you have a workspace "on campus" for your assignments, revisions and a space for a public review animation. But while the assignment and comments are kept week-to-week, with a new page for comments every week, the revision, public review, and 3 sketchbook slots are 'global' and get overwritten every time you put something there. I wanted to keep a history of the work that I do for my own purposes as much as for showing my family & friends back home, so I created a web page. One of the students has a server with space that he generously offered up for myself and some others, but I'm sure there are other free or cheap options as well.

My main advice is: if you are going to do the blog/website thing, set it up now because you don't want to be wasting time on it once AM starts. :)

[rhino23]

I'm definetly going to agree with mgarward. I didn't get my blog site up until just a week ago, and only managed to get that and all my AM work done due to many a pot of coffee. So if you want to document your process, build the site now! http://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

[pollywoggles]

Definitely not a requirement... <snip>... One of the students has a server with space that he generously offered up for myself and some others, but I'm sure there are other free or cheap options as well.


Here's a thread for free/super-cheap web-sites. I use the company that charges $9.99 a year for my AM work at it works fine for me...

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49778

[sinbad]

WOOHOO! , I got an e-mail from Rosie to say I'm all paid up for the first semester and ready for orientation in 2 weeks!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

So... is orientation a week of testing and getting used to the site? What happens exactly?


p

[ravvy]

WOOHOO! , I got an e-mail from Rosie to say I'm all paid up for the first semester and ready for orientation in 2 weeks!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

So... is orientation a week of testing and getting used to the site? What happens exactly?


p

Hmmm yeah I was wondering that too - would be nice to get the basic training videos a little in advance of the course actually starting and being able to view some of the previous terms students work

[stewartjones]

WOOHOO! , I got an e-mail from Rosie to say I'm all paid up for the first semester and ready for orientation in 2 weeks!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

So... is orientation a week of testing and getting used to the site? What happens exactly?


p

Yup! It's a nice and easy week for you to get used to the Q&A's, the website, how to navigate, and how to upload work and stuff! Probably the most exciting week of your life! The site is absolutely amazing! :)

[DigitalToon2]

I was wondering how long it took everyone to find out if they were accepted? I saw one post that said about 10 days, is that about average? I'm going crazy checking my email! It's only been about 7 days since I took the test. Thanks

[sinbad]

Originally posted by DigitalToon2:
I was wondering how long it took everyone to find out if they were accepted? I saw one post that said about 10 days, is that about average? I'm going crazy checking my email! It's only been about 7 days since I took the test. Thanks


For me it was about two weeks, so sit tight and don't panic. We all know how you feel:)

[sinbad]

Hey guys, at what point did you get your student ID number so you could register for classes? Was it at the beginning of orientation?

[jedijrmax]

I know, it's killing me too. I am still also waiting to hear from them in terms of whether or not they accepted me. Even though it is memorial day weekend, I still keep checking my email!

[Slurry]

I'm just curious. Has anybody heard from someone who HASN'T been accepted? I see lots of people stressing over getting accepted but I have yet to see a post from somebody who didn't get in.


Art

[sternio]

Sternio, I'm going to post my notes from the q&a in the AM forums later today. Actually here I'll do it now while I'm thinking of it....

Thx Alison, I copied and pasted them into textfiles and saved them on my desktop. Bobby mentioned in the video news that they will be upgrading the forum. My guess is that is is going to be a standard PHP forum. Who knows what is going to happen to the old flash forum once the new one is up.

[Jozvex]

The three Super Mentors mentioned during a Q&A or something that some people did get rejected for the first term. Not lots though.

[Kimotion]

The three Super Mentors mentioned during a Q&A or something that some people did get rejected for the first term. Not lots though.

I remember waaaaaaaay back in the old days when I was waiting around, very concerned (this week's pose assignment) that I might get rejected. I only managed to answer about 22 questions on that stress test and wrote a very sappy essay.

I think the test only tests you on your ability to think. I think the essay carries a lot of weight because the three founders kept on repeating how "attitude" and "passion" were very important for an animation student.

[ttesla]

I know, it's killing me too. I am still also waiting to hear from them in terms of whether or not they accepted me. Even though it is memorial day weekend, I still keep checking my email!relax. :) you can expect their answer from tuesday because they certainly do not employ mail-responding bots to substitute humans over weekends. ;)

in regard to question 'how long someone wait for the acceptance?', my YEEHAA mail came in less than a week after taking the test.

it is the middle of the registration period's hot spot for the summer term and there are also people from the spring term who are continuing their studies, that sums up to more than 500 gays&gals for sure. they (the AM people) are overhelmed with job so just be patient and - relax. ;) they are doing their best to contact people as soon as possible.

[3FnD]

Incoming, worried freshmen:

As has been said, you essay is weighed heavily in the decision..or at least ours were. They want to find out about who you are and are probably keeping an eye out for honest passion and enthusiasm.

You'll hear back from AM staff as soon as they can possibly get to you.

You actually have one advantage that we didn't have, which should put you more at ease: inside scoop from those of us who've been there. Unless AM has changed something to improve the way it was handled last time, it will be the same.

Be calm and patient...even though the suspense is killing you!

Congratulations to everyone who's accepted! Hope you have as much fun as we are.

[My Fault]

You actually have one advantage that we didn't have, which should put you more at ease: inside scoop from those of us who've been there. Unless AM has changed something to improve the way it was handled last time, it will be the same.

Oh man Kenny, you mean we were supposed to tell them what is really going on in AM? I've been making stuff up as I go along. I was worried that if we let slip the daily beatings and mid morning gruel breaks that we would scare some of them away. Everybody work...aghhh, everybody work...aghhh! :D

[fluffybunny]

Hey Summer peeps,

For those who've been accepted for a while, when did y'all get your enrollment packet via email?
I applied with the first big rush:bounce:, but for summer term. My acceptance notice was March 9th, but I haven't seen anything from AM since then (Except the May newsletter which I got about 4-5 days later then everyone else).
I emailed AM, but it is the weekend, so I am chillin about the whole deal. I think I need to change my AM email address to one that doesn't get so much SPAM....something about AM kicks many of their emails to my SPAM folder and even though I check it pretty good before I delete it, I think I may have missed one or two :shrug:.

eric

[3FnD]

Brain, you're scaring the freshmen! Those things can be sprung on them when they begin dozing off at the mouse. We have to make it sound all nice like, until they're in--then it's too late to run! hehe.

[sinbad]

Ooh please stop teasing! I feel like the new kid starting at school....with shiny new shoes ready for the playground bullies to stamp on. Will we get a big yellow NOOB sign everytime we post something or appear in a discussion?:sad:

Anyhow: My blog is now set up.

[tredeger]

Oh man Kenny, you mean we were supposed to tell them what is really going on in AM? I've been making stuff up as I go along. I was worried that if we let slip the daily beatings and mid morning gruel breaks that we would scare some of them away. Everybody work...aghhh, everybody work...aghhh! :D

guys, chill out already. You have nothing to worry about - it's not like this at all. The folks at AM have been treating us incredibly well. In fact, next term they are going to have us focus on traditional animation and promised that each of us would be given one of our very own underclassman to do all our inbetweens. See, they take care of us.


sorry, couldn't resist.

[tredeger]

OK folks, I've been meaning to do this for a while but hey, class y'know? Anyway, I've written up a specific page on my blogsite specifically for people who are thinking about joining us with a ton of advice for those who've been accepted.

Warning: the blog is new, so the site looks broken in firefox and safari.

And a little note to all of you worrying about getting accepted and wondering about the test:

The test is a certification requirement of the State of California and administered by Wonderlic. It was not designed by AM and is a *general* assessment exam. As I understand the CA system, the test has three possible scores: 0, 1, and 2. No further differentiation is made and AM does not get a report of the actual percentage of questions you answered correctly. 0 = fail, 1 = pass, 2 = "recommend". The vast majority of students score a 1. Don't you wish I told you this earlier? Sorry. No cookie for me.

I dare say, your essay is what's most important, as it is a reflection of your passion, desire and expectations. Also, don't panic.

My advice for the underclassmen can be found at:

http://animationmentee.com/choosing_animation_mentor/

hope this is usefull, see you in class.

[My Fault]

Heck I'm an AM student and I learned a few things from that. I said it before and I'll say it again... you rock Jazz!

[My Fault]

And any question of who the craziest mentor is was resoundingly answered in this weeks critiques by Oscar, aka the angry old armless puppet. Sure it sounded like a gruff Victor Navone, but I have no proof of that. How he can be that nutz and still offer super critiques is beyond me. Awesome stuff!

[liquidik]

Yup I'm not reading this thread too much, but can anyone point me on the May AM newsletter that I have not received? Or maybe summarize it a bit...

Thanks
Gianmichele

[jedijrmax]

Hey everyone,


Quick question, we've been talking about the new people and the summer session of AM, but when exactly does the summer session start? I can't find any date on their website at all.

Oh and also, I know you guys have been talking about the quickcam pro 4000 but I just wanted to let everyone else know that the quickcam orbit is really excellent as well. The fact that it moves around following your head it really crazy to watch too. I believe that the video quality is the same for both of them, as the quickcam is 99.99 and the orbit is 129.99 I think you are just paying extra for the fact that it is situated on a little stand so it can be eye level with you.

[AKS]

I believe it starts on the 20th of June. Normally there is a week break inbetween classes, but the first class started a week late, so we're catching up that time now. I think there's a difinitive schedule in the back of the catalog that you can download off AM's site

[jedijrmax]

ahh thanks. I knew I saw a date somewhere but I just couldn't figure out where. It's been a while since I looked at that catalogue, because for whatever reason, the adobe reader program crashes each time I try to open that file, and my home computer had been down for some time. But thanks again!


~Jeff

[mikefeil]

hey all,


I'm probably straying from the topic of all the new peeps starting, good luck btw.
But anyway, I found this sweet program called RssReader (http://www.rssreader.com/) (freeware) which basically lets u look at all your feeds (blogs mostly) in one nice little program. Anyway this is totally sweet and new to me.

I'll give you all a screen shot (http://www.mikefeil.net/misc_content/blah.jpg), if your not on there throw ur rss feed link my way, I went through the entire web ring and added all the ones that are generally updated quite frequently, also for MOST of you I couldnt get your rss to work :(

anyway, fun reading for all I say. :thumbsup:

[ttesla]

My advice for the underclassmen can be found at:

http://animationmentee.com/choosing_animation_mentor/

hope this is usefull, see you in class.certainly it is! thanks! :thumbsup:

the anxiety is just overhelming meee... :scream:

[swadepgh]

Brian you are so right about the armless puppet crtitiques. Victor always give great critiques, and often they leave me rolling with laughter as well. He's nutty!

[AjaBogdanoff]

Wow, Tredeger, that list was AWESOME! I wish I'd had it around when I was starting this semester! Stuff like making sure your computer situation is all set, and you have an organizing system for your AM files... I keep wanting to throw together a quick page with all my assignments neatly organized, and even if I had the time to code the page, my assignment files are spread all over the place! I wish I'd taken care of that beforehand. :-)

All you AM newbies listen to Tredeger's advice! For he is wise in the ways of the animation school. Oooo. :surprised

[rab]

Another thing for the new folks to try to keep in mind when you do get in here.

People will leave comments on your work, someone may tell you one thing, somebody else may tell you the total opposite.

The problem is picking and choosing what your mentor would want to see. If your mentor doesn't say to change it, it might not need to be changed.

I screwed up a couple of times by trying to cram everything fellow students commented on with what my mentor said. Most of the time I should have just listened to what my mentor said...and maybe a couple of the students that are already throwing ninja stars.

Ah well, you'll soon see how it is, I just thought about it after watching the video news today.

[AjaBogdanoff]

I think one of the early lectures had some good advice.... remember, if one person tells you something, it's only their opinion. Maybe they're having a bad day, you never know. If two people tell you something, eh..... but if three people agree about a problem in your work, listen to them. They're your audience!

Of course, if your Mentor tells you to fix something, you should probably just do it. Or else.

Or else indeed.

:wip:

[rhino23]

I've seen a lot of people on here talking about which webcam to buy... I suggest that rather than spending your hard earned cash on a silly little camera of medicore quality you should pull out that dusty old digital-8/dv cam and use it. I'm using my old Sony digital 8 and I easily have the best image of anyone I have seen on AM. Sure it's overkill but it was laying around doing nothing, so why not? It also doubles as a great way to record video reference. Just a suggestion...

[jedijrmax]

I'm kind of confused about all of this 'blog' business. I do have my own webspace, but how do I make a blog? I know that in theory I could just literally type

<p> I am tired and I had a bad day </p>

..in my site's html editor, but there seems to be something more to blogs. Like... saving each blog as a file... or something because of that rss or rr editor or something. So.... do you need to have a webspace that is specifically from a company that does blogs and it gives you software to do it? Or can I use my space but I still need software to do it? Or am I just so completely confused that I shouldn't be talking about blogs anymore? I mean it can't be too hard since everyone and their brother has a blog nowadays, but still I'm confused about how to get started.

Could someone please explain and point me in the right direction?

~Jeff

[Bentagon]

use www.blogger.com

- Benjamin

[jedijrmax]

Hm, so I use that website, to essentially make an html file for me, which I store on my webspace and on my main page, I can link to the page that it made for me.


Is that right?



And so everytime I want to add a blog, I have to sign into the blogger.com site and then publish an update, which then goes into my webspace and updates the html file for the blog and then that is it?

Just making sure I understand.

Thanks!

[Bentagon]

I don't have a blog myself, but I think that's the way it works, yes. Ask someone else for confirmation, though... there are enough AM bloggers out there.

- Benjamin

[rhino23]

jedijrmax

I know a lot of AM students use Blogger, but I wanted something that I could have complete control over. I started using Moveable Type, but it was a huge pain to install, so I switched to b2evolution. It is really easy to install and use, and I don't have to be on my computer to post with it, all I need is a computer with web access and I can log-in and create/edit posts.

So to answer your questions...

You can either use your own webspace and external software(Moveable Type, b2evo, Word Press), or use an external site and their software (Blogger).

You could just type whatever in your html editor, but the software makes it easier because it does the majority of the formatting and linking and archiving for you.

Hope that answers your questions!

[melmann]

does anyone know about how long it takes from the time they recieve your packets to getting the call to set up payments? I sent my info stuff a couple o weeks ago and I was wondering when they would contact me on makin payments. Just wondering if I should call and see if it even got there....the anticipation is killin me..... yikes

[Giant]

Should have all my stuff sorted out in a couple of days, but it looks like I will be joining AM with the Summer Crew on June 20th.

I have read a bunch of the posts on this thread, but there are too many to get to. If anyone is starting up an email/AIM list for the Summer folk count me in (christophe @ cgcraft.com).

Can't wait to get to know everyone and learn a bunk-load.

Also, I will be starting up my own "blog" site/animation journal, but I would also like to recommend a FREE product I use and some of my clients that I have as well...it is called CuteNews (http://cutephp.com/). I highly recommend it. It is super easy to setup, fully compatible with CSS, archiving, news categories, commenting on threads etc. etc. Yeah it is called "News" but if functions the exact same way as a Blogger. And is is called "Cute" but...it...well i don't know why it is called Cute.

~Christophe

[jedijrmax]

Hey everyone!


Just letting everyone that got accepted into the summer session of Animation Mentor, I am making a formal email list. A few people have given me their emails addresses (Christophe, I got yours now too), but if you haven't given it to me already, do it! My email address is jedijr88@aol.com In a few days I'll be sending out an email to everyone that has given me their address and we can start to get to know each other and create a little group to stick with. This way when we start, not only are we all their to share in the fun, but also if anybody has a problem, we'll all have a large list of people we can just turn to. I will be checking to see if anybody has sent me a pm, but please I'd prefer email to keep everything organized.

Thanks guys!

~Jeff

[melmann]

nevermind my last post I was contacted today about payments. the excitement of it all. cant wait to meet you all in the halls ;)

[My Fault]

Oh man, just had to mention we got our new funky fresh forum this week. It kicks booh-tay!

And not to rub it in, but we have a big Madagascar Q&A with 3 of the ah-nee-maytors this weekend. They are so spoiling us. So all you summer and fall students, these are the kind of things you get look forward to. Yeah, your gonna dig it.

[Kimotion]

Just made my payment for summer session yesterday.

Kelly said, "Well it's about F*in time you called to pay, you freaken deadbeat! God!"

HAHA, jk.

Again, for the second time, she was so sweet and it made me want to fork over my credit card! How can one resist that voice! Her voice must be on some frequency where it calms everyone to do her bidding.

[mmkelly011881]

*matt goes into unnecessary rage!!*

it's kelli, jeffy... one more strike against ya!





pssst... behm.. behm behm.. behmbehm behm

[brit]

I have just received a email about payment and they ask for a student number which i have not got yet, should i give them a ring?

jedijrmax my email is 3d@bjohn.freeserve.co.uk count me in

[sinbad]

Yeah my employer also got asked for a number (as they are paying for the first class). I think it should be ok, but I'd like to know when we will finally get the numbers.

[polymath]

Those student numbers are needed to set up an account but I don't think you'll get those until class is about to start; they probably have to set stuff up for you. I remember there was a delay for us in getting those numbers, but when we got them, everything was done in 2 min and then more waiting. So just be patient!

[^Abe^]

Hi. I've heard that realistic physics is an important thing to understand for the beginning animator. Does anyone know of any websites or books that clearly describe the effects of Newtonian physics on objects in a way that animators can understand?
(besides AM of course)

Cheers.

[AjaBogdanoff]

I don't know about books, but there's a whole lecture on it in the first weeks of AM! :)

[Kimotion]

*matt goes into unnecessary rage!!*

it's kelli, jeffy... one more strike against ya!





pssst... behm.. behm behm.. behmbehm behm

mmKelli, "Sexy Jeffy" is already taken by ex-girlfriend #8. Please come up with another pet name for me.

[Kimotion]

Gah! I missed 90% of the QA with Jason Schlieffer, Dave Burgess and Ethan Hurd. Woke up too late and was immediately followed by a domestic squabble on my end. Am eagerly looking forward to the clip review!

[My Fault]

Yeah, great Q&A for a great little movie. Even Jason's dog got in to it!

[3FnD]

Yeah, Jason's dog was performing a "moving hold" for a while, and Jason himself did a few non-moving ones as well! I only wish I'd had a chance to actually SEE the movie before hand, but no could do.

Jeff you really should set your alarm or something when they have these Q&As.

[Kimotion]

Jeff you really should set your alarm or something when they have these Q&As.

The alarm did go off! I set it for 7:30am--2 1/2 hours before the QA--so I can pimp up, caffeinize and make sure I was fully prepared.

But what did I do when the alarm went off?

"Ah, I still have 2 1/2 hrs left til the QA. I think I'll just take a 'nap'."

The rest is history.

[3FnD]

Sounds like you did something I often do...I'm so exhausted from waking up I need a nap!

Man, this week's assignment is a killer. Maybe I'm gonna change my idea at the last minute...I have had very little time this week to animate, plus all of a sudden I can't animate anymore--I mean, even at the low level that I could a few weeks ago! Ever happen to you guys?

Sure am glad the new homework deadline changes next Sunday, not this. I need every possible second.

[Kimotion]

Saturday night (Sunday morning) at 1:14am and starting to fade. The character walk is the same with the vanilla walk: when I "finished" with the pelvis and continued to tweak the legs, every single change in the legs affects the pelvis!

I will sleep on this, cus I know when I wake up and look at what I have now, I'll be sure to notice all these kinks and will be baffled why I haven't noticed them last night.

[Bentagon]

Hi. I've heard that realistic physics is an important thing to understand for the beginning animator. Does anyone know of any websites or books that clearly describe the effects of Newtonian physics on objects in a way that animators can understand?
(besides AM of course)

Cheers.Wikipedia will probably answer all your questions and more about the laws of Newton. It usually answers all my scientific questions, at least. I think it'll be clear how to apply them on animation.

- Benjamin

[sinbad]

ORIENTATION STARTS IN A WEEK (tomorrow)!!!

I bet you lot are thinking "poor guy, I remember that, that was soooooooooo long ago...."

[doobywho]

i wish i could afford this ontop of my current student loan (going for a masters)

[fluffybunny]

ORIENTATION STARTS IN A WEEK (tomorrow)!!!


So that's June 13th?
I should have all my registration stuff in to them by Monday or Tuesday, and I'm hoping they'll give me the CC call soon thereafter.
I'm pretty sure I deleted the first enrollment packet email by accident and only got it last Tuesday after emailing them and asking about it.
I hope I have time to get Maya shipped from Studica. Is everyone's experience that they are pretty prompt? I'm going to order a Wacom tablet for sketching too. I have a 4x5 Graphire and it's "ok", but it could be alot bigger.

eric

[asimco]

I hate being under 18, its really starting to bug me how I cant join. Its such an amazing resource i cant tap. grrrr, the clock is ticking till i turn 18.

[SheepFactory]

Sure am glad the new homework deadline changes next Sunday, not this. I need every possible second.

Oh yea! . I was really stressed it was this morning. I have another case of biting off more then i can chew but have to finish it somehow by tonight :)

[jugger]

i'm relly slow with checking this thread hehe.... i think i read two or three pages out of the 340 :)
anyway, for all the new students some pics from my visit at animationtor office some weeks ago.
have fun:

http://81.169.168.8/phpbb2_13/viewtopic.php?t=345

[sternio]

Saturday night (Sunday morning) at 1:14am and starting to fade. The character walk is the same with the vanilla walk: when I "finished" with the pelvis and continued to tweak the legs, every single change in the legs affects the pelvis!

I will sleep on this, cus I know when I wake up and look at what I have now, I'll be sure to notice all these kinks and will be baffled why I haven't noticed them last night.

did you look like this
http://www.sternio.com/am/work/week_10/Stu_ex_v03.jpg

yeah this was a rough week. I spent about 3 days revising my vanilla walk, and I think the end result is worse than when I started it. I only put one day into the personality walk, and it shows as I handed in a block on 12s.

[My Fault]

Yeah, definitely the most challenging week so far but man the work done by my fellow mentee's has been fantastic!. Everyone really rose to the challenge. Can't wait to see the big finish next week before this session ends!

I put up a page that shows all my work so far here. And critiques are always welcome!
http://www.briannicolucci.com/AM-Session1.html

It's been a real blast, learned a ton and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us this summer!

[SheepFactory]

I second that , everyone has phenomenal work this week. I cant wait for summer!

[mikefeil]

i'm relly slow with checking this thread hehe.... i think i read two or three pages out of the 340 :)
anyway, for all the new students some pics from my visit at animationtor office some weeks ago.
have fun:


haha sweet dude, those were awesome. hahaha, why is carlos and that other dude diving over cubicles ?

haha crazy, looks like a great place.


oh and brian your stuff rocks so far, looking really nice. :D

[jugger]

hey mikefeil, francis showed how to move properly in the office... but by no chance taking the walkway :)
carlos felt rather inspired and started to explore out new ways trought his company and performed some nice moving holds ;)

[mikefeil]

hehe cool,


I dunno about you guys but I thought this was pretty cool
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=918+Parker+St,+Berkeley,+California&t=k&hl=en

thats where all the magic happends I guess, seems so far away.

[effilang]

Hey guys, am i getting this wrong or is it right that you are allowed to pay the whole 13k At once, rather than in individual installments for classes 1 to 6.


And just wondering, do they teach lyp sync at AM ?


ChiiooOoz guys.

[Bsmith]

ok hey guys....

apparently this animation mentor thing is pretty popular as I have just started reading into it. I have a quick question as I'm already going to school full time and hope to get a job. For those who are attending or already have done this animation mentor thing...is it worth possibly thinning out your school schedule to take this. I'm just wondering what people think about this.

*I know this question has most likely been answered somewhere in the 340 pages of this thead and I will probably attempt to search for those later...but I'm looking for quick answers.

thanks

[mgarward]

ok hey guys....

apparently this animation mentor thing is pretty popular as I have just started reading into it. I have a quick question as I'm already going to school full time and hope to get a job. For those who are attending or already have done this animation mentor thing...is it worth possibly thinning out your school schedule to take this. I'm just wondering what people think about this.

*I know this question has most likely been answered somewhere in the 340 pages of this thead and I will probably attempt to search for those later...but I'm looking for quick answers.
What? You don't have a spare week to read the whole thread? :)

Okay they say to allow 10 hours a week of class time. That is: watching the lecture, your Q&A with your mentor, and doing the assignment. I'm currently spending around 15-20 hours or more a week on it, because there's also the forums, the campus to cruise, other people's critiques to watch, and my animation always takes a lot longer than I expect to do it. I have a family and a full-time job to support them, so I cope by running on less sleep.

You will get out of it what you put into it. There are some students where all I see of them is their assignment at the end of each week. And their assignments usually aren't great. If you can spend time on campus getting and giving feedback, and time refining your work, you will be much better off. It is $2000 a term after all, and you want to make the most of it. And the feedback from everyone is invaluable.

If you really want to be an animator, then AM is definitely the way to go, and I think you want to be able to devote as much time to it as you can. At least, that's the way I feel, I just don't have much of a choice. So if you need a job to pay the bills, and school is optional in some way, then reduce those hours to leave more time for AM. That's my advice, but obviously everyone's situation and opinion will be different, so take it or leave it. :) Good luck!

[effilang]

Hey guys, am i getting this wrong or is it right that you are allowed to pay the whole 13k At once, rather than in individual installments for classes 1 to 6.


And just wondering, do they teach lyp sync at AM ?


ChiiooOoz guys.

[AjaBogdanoff]

You can pay it all at once, and I think it's a little cheaper if you do it that way, since you don't have to pay the processing fees each time.

I would imagine lip sync would be covered at some point in the year and a half long program, but to be honest, actually animating the mouth isn't a terribly important part of an animation... what you do with the rest of the face and the body language is what counts. And we'll definitely be learning that! :D

[jugger]

you can pay at once, or for every term. if you pay in rates, then its like $50 more each time.

10hours is not enough per week, thats for sure. i had about that less time available the last two weeks and i'm not satisfied.
i would suggest two days, like the weekend, if you are deadly serious about it. and it will pay off so much more than you have to put into it. i cant imagine a better way of teaching or a better animation school!

[AjaBogdanoff]

Oh, and regarding the school thing, that's your call, but if you really want to get into character animation, unless you're at CalArts or Sheridan or one of the other really top schools, I'd consider taking a semester off or part-time to focus on AM. Shoot, I'm even talking to my husband about how I could possibly do AM full-time and still pay the bills. ;) Matt's right, you get out of it as much as you put in, and I'd looove to be spending more time on this. :)

[My Fault]

Yeah, what Aja said :)

I know I am trying to lighten my work load so I can focus more on AM. I'd love to be putting in a good 8 hours a day if possible. Definitely get out what you put in!

[sinbad]

Ok I may have confused some of you about the start of orientation, basically because I got an e-mail from Rosie on the 29th May saying that they had recieved my payment, and orientation would start in a "couple of weeks" (to me that is the 13th). Maybe In the US a "couple" is nonspecific i.e. possibly three weeks. If anyone asks before I do, could you let me know when we start??

[AjaBogdanoff]

Yeah, in the US, "a couple of weeks" is considered an unspecific term. If the person means two weeks, they'll say two weeks.

I would guess that your semester starts the same day as ours, June 20th?

Enjoy! :D

[melmann]

I was told after I made my payment that a rep would contact me soon with the info but no specific time frame. ( this was friday )

[polymath]

Be patient! At the latest you'll probably get info 3-4 days before start, I remember I was all panicky and called and called and bothered Luis a lot. They'll get to ya when they're ready to! But if the date is coming up just call and make sure they haven't forgotten you :P.

[maninflash]

Oh, and regarding the school thing, that's your call, but if you really want to get into character animation, unless you're at CalArts or Sheridan or one of the other really top schools, I'd consider taking a semester off or part-time to focus on AM.

So to become a character animator, one needs to go to either calarts or sheridan or AM?

I think you're over exaggerating AM, I know many self-taught animators who are working in feature film today and haven't had ANY kind of academic animation education, online or offline, see Victor Navone biography at http://www.navone.org/

AM is great, but it's not the ONLY way.

[My Fault]

So to become a character animator, one needs to go to either calarts or sheridan or AM?

I think you're over exaggerating AM, I know many self-taught animators who are working in feature film today and haven't had ANY kind of academic animation education, online or offline, see Victor Navone biography at http://www.navone.org/

AM is great, but it's not the ONLY way.

Way to misrepresent what Aja said flash. She didn't say those were your only choices she was merely answering a question posed by someone about schooling and AM. Lets not create drama where there is none. Or at least if you are going to create drama, animate it :)

[maninflash]

Or at least if you are going to create drama, animate it :)

Point taken, thanks for reminding.

...and...exactly how do you animate drama?

[My Fault]

Point taken, thanks for reminding.

...and...exactly how do you animate drama?

Well Master Thespian from SNL would shout a lot and flail his arms, which I believe is also what passes for drama on most of the Fox network these days. :D

[Kimotion]

ok hey guys....

apparently this animation mentor thing is pretty popular as I have just started reading into it. I have a quick question as I'm already going to school full time and hope to get a job. For those who are attending or already have done this animation mentor thing...is it worth possibly thinning out your school schedule to take this. I'm just wondering what people think about this.

*I know this question has most likely been answered somewhere in the 340 pages of this thead and I will probably attempt to search for those later...but I'm looking for quick answers.

thanks


Here's my situation. And I've posted this somewhere (oh, around 5,000 posts ago) but I really don't mind telling fellow artists why AM rocks. I've bantered about this experience before in other forums, on my blog, etc. But I just hate knowing that there are students who genuinely want to learn the art of animation and be suckered into trusting huge overcrowded arts schools who don't know how to artistically challenge students.

This past spring semester when AM started, I decided to take only 2 classes at my current "art" school. I was well on my way to withdrawing from this "art" school but because of my nature to give everything the benefit of a doubt, I continued on with the "art" school since I've already invested so much time and cash, not to mention a life change.

When I found out that this school systematically kept students from learning animation the real way, while plucking a select few to learn real animation (every student still paid the same tuition for the best and the worst instruction), I realized that I needed to get out fast.

That's when my friend told me about AnimationMentor.com. Perfect timing.

In 2 1/2 months at AnimationMentor, I've learned more about animation than 2 years at my current "art" school. And I'm not exaggerating (another thing I learned at AM and not at my current "art" school is exaggeration).

Needless to say, I'm not longer at that "art" school anymore. With the exception of a very few (as Aja mentioned), a lot of schools have no ability to teach animation. Heck, they don't even have respect for the art. They just lure students by tempting them, throwing around claims like "After GRADUATING here you can get a job at Pixar-ILM-Blue Sky," in order to take advantage of a new student's understandable ignorance, having complete disregard for the art itself.

At AM, I really feel the that founders, the staff and mentors actually genuinely care that you learn. It's sad that it's a rarity these days. We are being taught by an institution that actually respect the art. And that is very rare.

Of course I'm not telling everyone to drop out of school! This is just my own personal experience: I initially approached AM as a way to "supplement" my current art school. But in a month the roles got reversed and now I'm spending full time on AM learning the 12 principles.

My only bitterness now is to fact that AM wasn't around 2 years ago, lol.

[Kimotion]

So to become a character animator, one needs to go to either calarts or sheridan or AM?

I think you're over exaggerating AM, I know many self-taught animators who are working in feature film today and haven't had ANY kind of academic animation education, online or offline, see Victor Navone biography at http://www.navone.org/

AM is great, but it's not the ONLY way.

Sure AM is not the only way. One can be self taught to do anything if they have the discipline, the support and the self motivation.

However, think of the costs. If you are willing to shell out tens and thousands of dollars on an education (where you can theoretically learn on your own) wouldn't you want to spend it on a school that's competent?

CalArts and Sheridan are awesome, but not everyone these days have the family situation, the income or the location to attend those fine schools. And if you have enough passion for the art, the above things won't be limits to your passion.

Yes you can learn by yourself. It all depends on the individual.

[Kimotion]

Well Master Thespian from SNL would shout a lot and flail his arms, which I believe is also what passes for drama on most of the Fox network these days. :D

HAHA! This reminds me of my happy-sexy dance of the seven veils on the Spacing QA. I have yet to watch it. I hope they didn't include that in there for the sake of everyone's vision health.

[sinbad]

News just in from Rosie:


"Hi Paul,

It's looking like the orientation page (which will be a page you log into to watch orientation videos) will be up around the 17th of the month- you'll have 3 days to watch it and more than likely it will be up a few more days after the start of classes.

Sometime within the next week you should be receiving an email from us with a link to set up your account on our site.

Looking forward to seeing you on campus!

Cheers,

Rosie Varela"

Yeehaaaar!:bounce:

[AjaBogdanoff]

Hey Maninflash, please don't take what I said the wrong way! I know that there are plenty of people out there who are learning to animate through a whole variety of different channels, and some of them are indeed doing amazing work (much better than me, anyhow :thumbsup: ). Everyone has to decide what's best for them, and for some people, learning to animate from books and tutorials is going to work way better than being in a school like CalArts or even an online school like AM ever will. I have a lot of respect for people who go it on their own.... I tried it that way for years, reading every tutorial I could find, trying to do walk cycles and the 10secondclub... and I was going nowhere. So people who can make that system work are awesome!

What I meant to say was that if you're already enrolled in AM.com, and you're enrolled in another school as well, doing both is going to be hard. I know that AM.com is a really valuable learning experience, and usually traditional schools let you take a semester off if you want, and I would definitely want to use my time to really maximize my AM.com experience! :D

(oh, and I'm pretty sure that Victor Navone is pretty supportive of AnimationMentor.com.... ;) )

[jedijrmax]

I was wondering.... there has to be some way to record the q and a's and/or interviews from animation mentor? Because I work full time and I hope that doesn't mean that I have to miss every single thing because they are on during the day when I am at work. How has everyone else handled this?



~Jeff

[jedijrmax]

Hey I was wondering... is there any way to record or view at a later time all of the interviews and q and a's etc... ? Because I work full time, and I don't want to miss like 90% of everything that goes on because I can't be at my computer as it is happening. What is everyone else's experience with this?


~Jeff

Sorry for the double post. I have no idea why it happened.

[mgarward]

I was wondering.... there has to be some way to record the q and a's and/or interviews from animation mentor? Because I work full time and I hope that doesn't mean that I have to miss every single thing because they are on during the day when I am at work. How has everyone else handled this?

The Q&As are really the only things that are not pre-recorded. There isn't a way to record the Q&A sessions, but they're generally held after 6pm Pacific time, since the mentors are also working. If you can't make it to your usual session, theer is a make-up session every saturday. Special interviews or lecture sessions are also usually in the evenings or on weekends. They've started recording the special sessions and making them available to watch later.

[harmonic01]

Wow, Kimotion. Your "art" school sounds like my "art" school. Innapropriately called "Art Institute". Except everybody is getting the same crappy education. I have 4 more classes to take to graduate, though, so might as well get a degree. Plus, I was able to test out of a nice bulk of classes. I'm sure AM is where you get your money's worth. I can't wait to start. :)

[Kimotion]

Wow, Kimotion. Your "art" school sounds like my "art" school. Innapropriately called "Art Institute". Except everybody is getting the same crappy education. I have 4 more classes to take to graduate, though, so might as well get a degree. Plus, I was able to test out of a nice bulk of classes. I'm sure AM is where you get your money's worth. I can't wait to start. :)

Mine is called the Academy o fArt University. You probably heard of them because of their massive global ad campaign. They spend chunks of cash on ads so they have no money left to invest in the students who are already duped into enrolling.

Funny, I have 5 classes left before getting their "degree." However those classes are jokes, so I'm not giving them another penny. I'd spend the money I got in my budget on a real animation education.

[Metro-Digital]

yay, just got an email to set up my account with animation mentor. Cant log in till June 20 though. I can't wait. See you all next term

[Kimotion]

yay, just got an email to set up my account with animation mentor. Cant log in till June 20 though. I can't wait. See you all next term

Us Spring folks are not getting a week break in between sessions, so we're headed straight into second session starting June 20. Forgive us if we all initially take out our pent up aggressions on the new students due to animation fatigue. Mwuahaha!

[mmkelly011881]

Us Spring folks are not getting a week break in between sessions, so we're headed straight into second session starting June 20. Forgive us if we all initially take out our pent up aggressions on the new students due to animation fatigue. Mwuahaha!

*gets the box and bucket ready

[My Fault]

Can you still tar and feather people in 2005?

[Animental_Sean]

I guess it's time to strap on my shiny, brand new animator's thinking cap and get ready to roll! Hello out there, just a quick salutation to say I'm happy to be a part of it, one of the fabulously talented Animation Mentor class of January, 2007! It's going to rock when we take over the animation world. This is a ONE OF A KIND experience, and I for one have been waiting for this thing to happen for a long time.

And let me say, THANKS to all the pioneers, the FIRST class of Animation Mentor, who have been so gracious in providing us newbees with all kinds of info on what it's like inside the AM Virtual Campus and being the guinea pigs for all the inevitable gliches and oddities that go along with it. It actually helped me a lot in deciding to do this. This sucker's FOR REAL!

See ya on the flip side.

Oh! I'm a bloggin'... just a little backstory so far... (http://animental-sean.blogspot.com/)

[clockwerkz]

You people coming in now in the summer.. manohmanohman..

I'd gladly pay the course fees for any ONE of the amazing aspects of this program. The Q and As, the lectures, and the mentor critiques. But what makes this school so stupendously amazing is the fact that it's basically a living, breathing entity. It's one giant collective of animation. Everyone is eating, sleeping, and breathing animation. And the founders aren't sitting on their asses either. They keep coming out with new ideas..new Q and As.. it's just rocking and rolling.
When I started, I was thinking "ok, I'll do about 10-15 hours a week on this." Yeah, ok! Maybe week 1. But after that, it's been as many hours as I can possibly squeeze into it. The only other aspects that haven changed are my 40 hours of my asscrap job (only because I have bills to pay, and AM of course), and my time with my wife and son. Everything else has taken a backseat.
Don't let me scare you..it's not like there's any time of time requirement. Everyone puts in whatever time they can. Just be ready..because this is ONE KICK A$$ program.

cW

[Maplewood54]

GOOD LORD!!! THIS THREAD HAS 342 PAGES?!

I'm a student, so I thought I'd join the ranks and stand up and be counted. Great program, the mentors are all overqualified and nice guys to boot. Plus, chicks dig the animation skill.

Many thanks to the three nuts who started this thing.

+ Christian Reese

[Kimotion]

You people coming in now in the summer.. manohmanohman..

I'd gladly pay the course fees for any ONE of the amazing aspects of this program. The Q and As, the lectures, and the mentor critiques. But what makes this school so stupendously amazing is the fact that it's basically a living, breathing entity. It's one giant collective of animation. Everyone is eating, sleeping, and breathing animation. And the founders aren't sitting on their asses either. They keep coming out with new ideas..new Q and As.. it's just rocking and rolling.
When I started, I was thinking "ok, I'll do about 10-15 hours a week on this." Yeah, ok! Maybe week 1. But after that, it's been as many hours as I can possibly squeeze into it. The only other aspects that haven changed are my 40 hours of my asscrap job (only because I have bills to pay, and AM of course), and my time with my wife and son. Everything else has taken a backseat.
Don't let me scare you..it's not like there's any time of time requirement. Everyone puts in whatever time they can. Just be ready..because this is ONE KICK A$$ program.

cW


I wish I can write positivity so well as you. I write mainly to vent.

Yeah folks, listen to him, hehe.

[Rye]

I just hope AM is still going strong come spring of 2006 cause thats when I get back from my New Zealand trip, and can't start until then

[kaveh_michael]

I'd like to post a little tiny thought about AM,

Even though I'm not a student at AM, for the past weeks I've learned a lot by just watching the assigments done by students and gathering bits and pieces of wisdom that flows out of AM through students blogs, thanks to Animation Mentor and thanks to all the generous students who share their hard-earned skills with us. :)

-Kaveh

[My Fault]

I'd like to post a little tiny thought about AM,

Even though I'm not a student at AM, for the past weeks I've learned a lot by just watching the assigments done by students and gathering bits and pieces of wisdom that flows out of AM through students blogs, thanks to Animation Mentor and thanks to all the generous students who share their hard-earned skills with us. :)

-Kaveh

Right back at you Kaveh! The work youu have put up has been a HUGE inspiration to me and many others. Awesome! :thumbsup:

[seasterling]

Anybody using an iSight on AM?

[sternio]

Anybody using an iSight on AM?

yup works pretty good.
There have been issues though

[ArneK]

Anybody using an iSight on AM?
I'm starting out in the fall semester and will be using the iSight as well. Hope it works...


A question: I'm a Lightwave user and I will spend the summer learning Maya. I'm currently using the Maya PLE and working my way through the Learning Maya Foundation book.

In order to get up to speed and getting used to the in's and out's of Maya, and not having the software as an obstacle when I start out at Animation Mentor - which Maya tutorial book(s) would you recommend I proceed with after the Foundation book?

Learning Maya and its animation tools is my first priority right now. Gotta be prepared :)

[AjaBogdanoff]

The best basic Maya book I had when I was starting out was "Maya 4.5 Fundamentals". I think all the stuff in it is still relevant to the modern Maya versions, and it was really easy to follow through all of the tutorials and stuff. Really helped me a lot.

[tredeger]

A question: I'm a Lightwave user and I will spend the summer learning Maya. I'm currently using the Maya PLE and working my way through the Learning Maya Foundation book.

In order to get up to speed and getting used to the in's and out's of Maya, and not having the software as an obstacle when I start out at Animation Mentor - which Maya tutorial book(s) would you recommend I proceed with after the Foundation book?

Learning Maya and its animation tools is my first priority right now. Gotta be prepared :)


First, DON"T PANIC. As a LWer, you should already be familiar with the general priniciples behind a 3D package and that gets you 97.35% of the way home. For the other 2.65%, I recommend you simply become as familiar as possible with the particular operation of the following elements of Maya:
5. the dope sheet, 4. setting keys in the timeline, 3. working with the viewports (creating new ones, hiding/showing items, etc), 2. Maya's navigation style - alt+mousing, etc., 1. the GRAPH EDITOR (I don't particularly care for Maya's graph editor and still don't have a good handle on it's operation).

That's pretty much it. AM does a fantastic job of really focusing on the animation aspect of animation and doesn't want you to be distracted by all the bells and whistles of one program that don't have anything to do with animation proper.

For extra credit, learn some MEL script. Exactly enough to load and run a script. - basically, put a script in the right folder, source it and run a command. That will take you 2 minutes to master. Why should you know this? Generally useful stuff. But the real reason is that it will let you start practicing with Jason Schlieffer's new script: grease pencil 3.0
Give it a shot. http://jonhandhisdog.com/melScripts/js_greasePencil_3.mel

That's it. All you need. Anyone tells you otherwise, they're just making extra work for ya ;-)
Stay focused.


Btw, in addition to the helpful hints page for new students section on my blog, I'm thinking of adding a page on how to get started with blogging/podcasting/etc. but this would take a little bit of time to do so I'd like some feedback as to whether this would be valuable. Also, any suggestions as to what you'd like to see would be greatly appreciated. http://animationmentee.com of course.

For all you current students, I just added a countdown clock to the sidebar that tells you exactly how long you have till the next assignment is due. I'm considering making a little widget of this that you can download and put on your desktop, but I'm not sure I want to be forever associated with *your* procrastination and crunch time madness, I've already got my own to deal with.

And a totally unrelated plug: Support Joss Whedon's amazing brain. Go out and buy the Firefly series box set on DVD, watch it and then go see Serenity in September. I've seen it and it is devastating in its perfection. Sorry but I just have to plug this movie wherever I can. Tremendous, astonishing, staggering, totally Joss.


cheers,
Jazz

[Nitefyre]

Does anyone else feel like that first term just flew by? :shrug:

[tredeger]

Hey, if any of you AM students are reading this and haven't yet re-upped for the next term, I just wanted to remind you that tuition is due Fri. Call Kelli. A lot of people are seeing her emails sent directly to their Junk Mail folder for some reason (including me). Maybe the spam filter is smarter than i thought. But this was actually a bill I wanted to pay. Worth every penny.

But call her tomorrow. She's gonna be slammed Fri. It isn't the regular AM number.

[kaveh_michael]

Right back at you Kaveh! The work youu have put up has been a HUGE inspiration to me and many others. Awesome! :thumbsup:

REALLY?! Wow! I didn't know you've seen my tests. Makes me feel like a real animator!

thanks :)

-Kaveh

[Animental_Sean]

How many of you are Mentees from Los Angeles? Has anyone attempted to set up any Mentee regional Chapters yet? I know there's not a ton of time for socializing, the idea would be to have a chance to meet fellow students and build a support structure, possibly go to animation events, movies, share info about local animation interests, vent frustrations, share a beer, maybe have a laugh...who knows. My unofficial title for it is the Los Angeles Animation Mentor Chapter (LAAM). Trendy, eh? We could all wear a lot of wool...

[tredeger]

How many of you are Mentees from Los Angeles? Has anyone attempted to set up any Mentee regional Chapters yet? I know there's not a ton of time for socializing, the idea would be to have a chance to meet fellow students and build a support structure, possibly go to animation events, movies, share info about local animation interests, vent frustrations, share a beer, maybe have a laugh...who knows. My unofficial title for it is the Los Angeles Animation Mentor Chapter (LAAM). Trendy, eh? We could all wear a lot of wool...

Anthea made a post to the AM forum specifically for coordinating LA AM'ers after she abandoned her inner NY'er and moved to the left coast.

Poor thing, trading the MTA for the LA 405. ;-)

But nicer weather. And hey, you guys out there just got an awesome new mayor. Villiaragosa seems like a really promising guy.

[sinbad]

OMG! Maya Complete (educational) for US and Canadian students is $279.95. The Best I can get for Brits is £240 which is almost $500! Why do we always get ripped off in this country?

Does anyone know if Studica.com ship to the UK? Or is there some law against us Brits claiming the special AM discount too? (Like "This offer is not for dirty Colonials" etc). Mind you I'll probably get slammed with 17.5% import duty by our lovely customs people.

[sinbad]

Is there any point in getting Maya Unlimited for AM? I mean are we ever going to use fur?

[Mesi]

Sinbad, I contacted Studica and they told me that they only ship to the US.

I had ordered mine from http://www.journeyedeurope.com
You get Maya Complete for 184 and Unlimited for 250 pounds (excl. VAT and shipping).

You won't need unlimited for AM.

[sinbad]

Thanks Mesi,

I ended up going with the £240 as it included the dreaded 17.5% VAT, plus shipping costs, so it works out about the same. I take it this can be upgraded to a commercial license in the future If one so wished. Anyway for the best part of the course I will only need nurbs primatives. I was just wondering, as I own Motionbuilder 6 standard edition, are there any AM'ers using this on the course. I guess the supplied Maya rigs would have to be reconstructed and characterised in MB. The only benefit would be real time playback, but the playback in Maya would be pretty much real time also with the low rez primative characters I've seen so far. Any views?

[AjaBogdanoff]

Most modern computers are fast enough to play these simple scenes in real-time in Maya's workspace, but if yours isn't, you just make a playblast every now and then to check the timing of it. Only takes a few seconds.

Definitely don't need Unlimited for AM, and IMO Unlimited isn't that worthwhile even if you do need hair and fur. Shave and a Haircut is a much better system, and I'm sure there are good fluid and cloth simulators out there, too. I've never been too impressed with the Unlimited features. :)

You did just give me an idea for this week's assignment, though.... :p

[clockwerkz]

An idea for your assignment, Aja? Ohhh boy. I can just see Ballie now, sporting new threads and a funky hairdo!

Give him a mohawk!

cW

[AjaBogdanoff]

A mohawk! Why didn't we think of this before?? So many missed opportunities! :D

[Animental_Sean]

If anyone is interested, the Animation Institute which is associated with the Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE in Los Angeles offers courses for really cheap (Like $40 for the introductory course) and might be a good supplement to AM since they only meet, like, once a week.

The homepage is http://www.mpsc839.org/_Home/home_FRM1.html and the class schedule is at http://www.mpsc839.org/_Classes/Classes_pdf/AAICAT.pdf.

They might be good supplemental classes, since they focus on related subjects like storyboarding, life drawing (including animal drawing at the zoo), perspective and lots more. I've never taken any, if anyone has and has comments, god or bad, please feel free.

The introductory course is 4 tuesdays, 7-9pm, August 2-23 to be reserved July 20th between 10 and 11 am.

Just an FYI.

[trydberg]

To the students starting summer quarter, congratulations! You don't know how lucky you are to be in this program. A rare opportunity to interact with many of the best animators on the planet.

Enjoy!

- Tom :thumbsup:

[Giant]

To the students starting summer quarter, congratulations! You don't know how lucky you are to be in this program. A rare opportunity to interact with many of the best animators on the planet.

Enjoy!

- Tom :thumbsup:

Hey thanx! I/we can't wait.

[dazed]

hi,

has any summer intake students registered for classes? I received the Proof of Enrollment JPG file via email. So I used the Student ID# in that JPG to register for class. But the "PROCESSING.. PLEASE WAIT" page seems to go on forever. Did I miss something?

[brit]

Hi dazed

I have created a new student account at AM, by following the link on the email, i don`t think we are able to register/login for classes untill the 20th.

See you there!!!

Barry

[Bentagon]

WOW! That new mentor list once again kicks some serious butt! At least if I am to believe IMDb... ;)
I do wish there where some more traditional animators between them - right now only tom gately, dave burgess, randy haycock, jason ryan and charles alleneck (for a brief period) seem to have worked on 2D productions. But who am I to complain, right? :D

- Benjamin

[jedijrmax]

Hey guys,


Just so you know for sure, in the same email that they sent you giving you your student ID number, it also says the following:


Although you can create your account, you will not be able to log in until the first day of class: Monday June 20th.


So... everything is fine. Don't worry.

~Jeff

[dazed]

The email I got is about eligibility to purchase Alias Products at educational discount. It didn't mention anything about creating account. Anyway, I had the impression that I'm supposed to log in before class starts on 20th. Now I know.. Thanks. :)

[ravvy]

Does anyone yet know when we find out who the mentors will be for the first term?

[Giant]

The email I got is about eligibility to purchase Alias Products at educational discount. It didn't mention anything about creating account. Anyway, I had the impression that I'm supposed to log in before class starts on 20th. Now I know.. Thanks. :)


Yeah, this is the same thing that I heard, and also what Jeff posted is true. However, when I was on the phone with Rosie last week, I was under the impression we would be able to log in on the 17th for our "Orientation". Maybe we will hear something this week, that will allow us to at least log into the site for that day.

[polymath]

Check out the new mentors in the list :P.

From what I recall/heard, they've got a new batch of skilled animators to teach the incoming class while the previous mentors are moving up with the 1st class.

Don't take it to be 100% true though ;).

[polymath]

Unless they've changed it, Orientation IS the first week - not before.


Now... Back to Animating!

[sinbad]

Rosie told me that we could log in to the orientation page from the 17th. Registration should have taken place by following the link on your e-mail and entering your student number and some other details and then asked to set your username and password. This is a seperate email to the one containing the j-peg image.
I'm going to try to log in on the 17th, I assume we will be initially limited to an orientation page.

[My Fault]

Check out the new mentors in the list :P.

From what I recall/heard, they've got a new batch of skilled animators to teach the incoming class while the previous mentors are moving up with the 1st class.

Don't take it to be 100% true though ;).

I know everyone is hoping to get Oscar as a mentor. Sure he's made of latex and has no arms or legs (or come to think of it, a torso) but his critiquing is very solid and when he's done you can just put him up on a shelve! :D

[SheepFactory]

wow so many new mentors!

[clockwerkz]

Since we're now on the topic of mentors, I think I can safely assume that Brian, Aja and the rest of the crew that had Derek Friesenborg will back me up when I say that Derek was extremely informative, supportive, and an all around hell of a great guy. We had a great time with the Q and As. But then again, we had Phil! Talk about a nut! Between him and Brian's drinking binges, it's amazing we got any actual Q and A'ing done!! Hehehe.

Seriously, I'd love to have Derek as a mentor again any time. His critiques were just gold.

cW

[edit] The only, only shortcoming I find with AM is the fact that now that class 1 is wrapping up, I can't go and buy Derek a beer after the last Q and A. But that's about the only negative I can possibly find!

[Shreds]

From what I recall/heard, they've got a new batch of skilled animators to teach the incoming class while the previous mentors are moving up with the 1st class.

So does this mean that the summer students aren't goinig to have the chance to study with any of the awesome mentors that were all shown on Animation Mentor's list when we decided to enroll?:sad: Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that all of the new mentor's will be well qualified and great animation teacher's, but I just don't know what thier backgrounds are yet and it is nice to be able to say, " my mentor worked on 'this movie' ." You know what I mean, those good ol' bragging rights. Anyways, I'm sure Bobby's got it all under control and would only allow awesome animators with great experience to be mentors!

If anyone has anymore info on this then I would love to hear it!
Come on June 20th!!
Adam.

[clockwerkz]

Shreds, I wouldn't worry about it. I had never heard of Derek, and he was awesome.

Not only did I have a kick ass mentor, but I was also part of a larger group that had a "roving" mentor, namely Gavin Moran. Talk about another grade A utter bad ass. He always posts a crit every week, and is available for any e-mail questions one might have.

Listen, these guys at AM know that their school's rep rides with every single student AND mentor in the program.. so they're not putting you with someone who doesn't meet their mentor standards.

cW

[Rabid pitbull]

Yes I also had Derek, he is great. All the other mentors are great, saw mant critiques from other mentors and they all are amazing! I am pretty confident that this is the feeling everyone has.

I cant belive the first term is nearly over! Learned so much and always felt like it was coming in a good pace. Animation mentor has been a really excellent experience so far! Amazing mentors, great lessons, wonderful question and answers sessions, And really dedicated students haelping each other! I would recommend anyone who want to learn character animation to definitly consider AM. I am just blown away by how well done this has been.:thumbsup:

[andy_maxman]

i am running into some intial infrastructure hiccups...and i hope folks from the first batch would be able to help me out.

1)how good is 256kb for video based classes? would i be able to receive video data in realtime or at atleast in a viewable transfer rate? or does it make more sense to push the budget a little higher and get a 512 connection?

2)while i would be using a 256 or 512kb speed at home and a T2 connection at the studio i work for, what should i be watching where?
meaning, should i watch the pre-recorded classes and the online q&a sessions at work (which makes obvious sense....) and use the connection at home for other petty things?

i am totally freaked and confused and i know not where i stand....it's insane that i have got myself into this situation....

how important are the first two weeks? as the studio i work for is shifting to a new place and the infrastructure would be setup by this month end. also i am just settling myself down to a new city ( moved from bangalore to bombay last week) alongwith my wife and kid. and i still am to unpack and set the house up.

i dont want to start three months later. i was due to start off in march but the relocating business forced me to shift it to june....

i am sorry i am ranting it out all here.......just felt like home and wanted to feel light....which i already am......*smiles*

and folks who are satisfied with the quality of your webcams...pls do let know which ones are those? if this has already been discussed before...a link would be of great help....

and if there is anything else which would help me in preparing myself please do let me know....

gosh! replying to this thread after almost a month's gap totally makes me feel like a newbie. i hope i am atleast welcomed back......:thumbsup:

[My Fault]

Since we're now on the topic of mentors, I think I can safely assume that Brian, Aja and the rest of the crew that had Derek Friesenborg will back me up when I say that Derek was extremely informative, supportive, and an all around hell of a great guy. We had a great time with the Q and As. But then again, we had Phil! Talk about a nut! Between him and Brian's drinking binges, it's amazing we got any actual Q and A'ing done!! Hehehe.

Seriously, I'd love to have Derek as a mentor again any time. His critiques were just gold.

cW

[edit] The only, only shortcoming I find with AM is the fact that now that class 1 is wrapping up, I can't go and buy Derek a beer after the last Q and A. But that's about the only negative I can possibly find!

Haha, the Q&A's were a blast. I can't say eneough good about Derek. His crits were always solid and if he thought something needed fixing he was very clear and always positive. Total Rock Star!

And I also had Gavin as my roving mentor and he was a tremendous help during the week. Great to hear he is coming on board full time.

Still can't believe the first session is almost over!

[My Fault]

Andy: First couple of weeks the assignments are mostly posing and reading. They just try to get you acclimated to the environment and really thinking about observation and planning. This could change though with this new group as I'm sure they learned a lot from us first batch of students. Make sure support knows your situation and it should all be hunky dory. Super, super bunch of people!!!

[andy_maxman]

Thanks a ton Brian....will get in touch with the support.....

[mattmos]

So does this mean that the summer students aren't goinig to have the chance to study with any of the awesome mentors that were all shown on Animation Mentor's list when we decided to enroll?:sad: Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that all of the new mentor's will be well qualified and great animation teacher's, but I just don't know what thier backgrounds are yet and it is nice to be able to say, " my mentor worked on 'this movie' ." You know what I mean, those good ol' bragging rights. Anyways, I'm sure Bobby's got it all under control and would only allow awesome animators with great experience to be mentors!

If anyone has anymore info on this then I would love to hear it!
Come on June 20th!!
Adam.

Shreds, just google the new names that have appeared, with 'animator' at the end. You won't be disappointed!

[Shreds]

Thanks everyone for replying and thanks mattmos for your info.
That's exactly what I wanted to see!

Thanks Again.
See you all next week!

Adam.

[andy_maxman]

i know its kinda week old....but i just happened to read all of Jason's replies to the Q&A's session and some of the things he mentions there were so funny and this one was particularly cute....;)
LINK (http://www.cgtalk.com/showpost.php?p=2362974&postcount=70)

to quote js -

"Our roles as animators is to try and convince the audience to believe that a bunch of pixels on screen have life & are full of emotion. It's so difficult to make something breathe, and by that I don't mean making the chest moving up and down, I mean making the audience think that the character would die if they DIDN'T inhale and exhale.."

haha! i just kept smiling to myself......:)

[jschleifer]

heh :) thanks! I'm having so much fun answering these questions.. but man, so many!

I think I finished page 8. maybe. more to go!

heh :)

[Slurry]

Hey You! What are you doing posting here?! Don't you have work to do?

Back to the Q&A forum!! Go on! BACK!!!

HEheheh :D

[Kimotion]

Since we're now on the topic of mentors, I think I can safely assume that Brian, Aja and the rest of the crew that had Derek Friesenborg will back me up when I say that Derek was extremely informative, supportive, and an all around hell of a great guy. We had a great time with the Q and As. But then again, we had Phil! Talk about a nut! Between him and Brian's drinking binges, it's amazing we got any actual Q and A'ing done!! Hehehe.

Seriously, I'd love to have Derek as a mentor again any time. His critiques were just gold.

cW

[edit] The only, only shortcoming I find with AM is the fact that now that class 1 is wrapping up, I can't go and buy Derek a beer after the last Q and A. But that's about the only negative I can possibly find!

HA! Like I said before, Mark Behm (http://www.markbehm.com/) 's group rules over all!

His ecrits are completely thorough, insightful, cranial, and he goes out on a limb to explain and to back up all of his comments. I've learned freaken sooooo much from him. And those who will have him next session: do NOT miss the QA's. It really feels like an actual classroom.

C'Mon MattKelly and Anthea...back me up here!

Can't wait till I find out who my next mentor is...of course it will rule over all because I am in it.

[tredeger]

HA! Like I said before, Mark Behm (http://www.markbehm.com/) 's group rules over all!
...
Can't wait till I find out who my next mentor is...of course it will rule over all because I am in it.

Cause it's really just a big competition. All hail.

nudge, nudge ;- )

[AjaBogdanoff]

Aww, guys, don't go worrying yourselves too much... you still have five more semesters, there's still a really good chance that you'll get to have Derek as a mentor.

:D

"I told you NO TOUCHING!"

"Opa! Nooooo!"

[Shreds]

Hey those of you that are running Blogger for thier blogsite, how are you posting your
animations through it? When I try to upload a file when posting a small window pops open
telling me that I need Hello Bloggerbot to post pictures so I installed that and that program
only allows me to upload jpegs. I've also tried Flickr. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Adam.

[Kimotion]

Hey those of you that are running Blogger for thier blogsite, how are you posting your
animations through it? When I try to upload a file when posting a small window pops open
telling me that I need Hello Bloggerbot to post pictures so I installed that and that program
only allows me to upload jpegs. I've also tried Flickr. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Adam.

I had the same issue. I know one guy using javascript code or something like that, and I have no desire to learn that!

Blogspot only allows you to upload images. The clips you see on Mentee sites are hosted from their own servers: they just linked it to the blog page.

[Shreds]

OOHH OK,
I knew you could link files from other web pages but I didn't think that students would be paying for webspace to show thier AM assignments. Thanks Jeff.

Adam.

[tredeger]

OOHH OK,
I knew you could link files from other web pages but I didn't think that students would be paying for webspace to show thier AM assignments. Thanks Jeff.

Adam.

do you guys need space? I can probably do something to help. My blog is at animationmentee.com and I thought about trying to set it up so that others could have a blog address like animationmentee.com/shreds or some such, but no one expressed interest last time I mentioned it. Also, it would take a couple weeks and maybe some knowledgable volunteers to set this up. But i'd still be willing.

[SheepFactory]

all the mentors rocked this semester but noone gives better crits then oscar the hand puppet :)

[Shreds]

Hey tredeger, I actually just set up another blog site at since it will allow me to upload any files but I don't know how much space I am allowed but it will probably do for now until AM starts up but I'll keep your idea in mind. Anyways I've got a small animation here of some bouncing balls and I was hoping I might get some feedback from the Spring AM students since you've been through it already. Anyone is free to check it out and leave comments though! Let me know what you think.

Ball_Animation (http://adamstrick9.myblogsite.com/_attachments/937929/Ball_Bounce_test2.avi)

Adam.
adamstrick9 (http://adamstrick.blogspot.com/)

[brit]

does anyone know how many students are joining this summer?

[jedijrmax]

I don't know a full amount, but on the summer mailing list so far I think I have 7 names including myself, plus one other guy a week or so ago asked to be added, but I haven't had a chance to do it yet. So.. well, I know there is at least eight! :)

[jedijrmax]

Wait a second.. guys.... what version of Maya does Animation Mentor use? I have Maya 6.0 on my computer and for the longest time thought I was fine, but then it hit me.... do they use 6.5? And do they expect that everyone keeps getting upgrades each time, over the course of the program? What has everyone else encountered so far?



Thanks!


~Jeff

[Rabid pitbull]

I think you will be fine jedijrmax. I think they are still using version 6 too. :scream: Most of the mentees who got edu license like myself have 6.5.

[jedijrmax]

Do you ever hand in your scene files when you are handing in your animation? Because if that is the case and they open it up and change something in Maya 6.5, then I won't be able to open it in 6.0. Or is this not something that happens?



Thanks for the reply.

~Jeff

[Kimotion]

Do you ever hand in your scene files when you are handing in your animation? Because if that is the case and they open it up and change something in Maya 6.5, then I won't be able to open it in 6.0. Or is this not something that happens?



Thanks for the reply.

~Jeff

Not to worry! Assignments are handed in via Playblast (either QuickTime or Win), probably similar to dailies in the professional world. It's the best way to watch the animations at the intended speed.

[fluffybunny]

I thought I heard that one mentor was asking for the scene files as well and giving some extra little suggestions or comments.
I also think I remember reading somewhere that if you save in .ma that you can simply edit the file and change it to 6.0 in the header and it will "work" as long as you didn't add any 6.5 specific features.

Of course I could easily be wrong on both accounts.

Add me to your list of summer mentees too, jedijrmax.

I just got my shipment of "stuff" from studica. I got skecthbook, painter, and an intuos in addition to the copy of Maya. I'm kind of thinking I should'nt have got the 9x12 tablet....the thing is huge :scream:

Bummer about it is that this is just my lunch break and then it's time to go back to work :sad:


eric

[polymath]

Not all mentors have Maya though, keep that in mind! Some would prefer to see traditional handdrawn assignments :D!

[jedijrmax]

Eric,

I will add you to the list of summer students, but you have to give me your email address!

The list got started, but all 7 of us (I think that is right) have been pretty busy and nobody has been talking. Realistically I never thought that all of a sudden all of these people would just magically hit it off and be sending endless emails each day. But each person did give a "little background about themselves" email to each of us. In this week's mail that is sent out, I am going to propose that I think we will assemble a list of all of our student ID's, and we'll use the summer email group list as a way of making sure that people are looking at your posted work on animation mentor.com. I'm sure that many people will look at all of our work, but it might be nice to have some of the same people constantly watching you grow and help you along the way. I'd like to have everyone in the group look at everyone's projects and try to maintain a close bond that way.

So, if you give me your email address, I will add you to the list and send out an email probably sometime later tonight, or if not by the end of the week.


~Jeff

[jedijrmax]

Also, a kind of 'unsaid' function of the email list is that, if you have a problem or any type of question, you have a list of hopefully in the end around 10 people or so that you can just send a single email to. Yes you can still reply on cgtalk or something, but you'd have easy access to someone that is potentially doing or running into the same thing that you are doing, plus getting their attention through regular email.


~Jeff

[Giant]

I thought I heard that one mentor was asking for the scene files as well and giving some extra little suggestions or comments.
I also think I remember reading somewhere that if you save in .ma that you can simply edit the file and change it to 6.0 in the header and it will "work" as long as you didn't add any 6.5 specific features.

Of course I could easily be wrong on both accounts.

Add me to your list of summer mentees too, jedijrmax.

I just got my shipment of "stuff" from studica. I got skecthbook, painter, and an intuos in addition to the copy of Maya. I'm kind of thinking I should'nt have got the 9x12 tablet....the thing is huge :scream:

Bummer about it is that this is just my lunch break and then it's time to go back to work :sad:


eric

Hey Eric,

I added you to my list of AM peers for the summer starters on my blog.(http://www.cgcraft.com/blog/blogger.html).

welcome aboard, the ride begins soon!

Christophe

[brit]

that sounds really good, jedijrmax. 3d@bjohn.freeserve.co.uk

Is it a free upgrade from maya 6 to 6.5 because i was just going to order mine tomorrow, and they quoted me for maya 6?

[jedijrmax]

Hey Brit,

No problem. I will also add you to the mailing list. Christophe, you definitely don't have to worry too much about adding the info for people. ( although you can if you want to ) Pretty much everybody that semi-actively posts on this forum and is starting in the summer, is on the "Official" summer mailing list that I have. I'll be sending out an email tonight with an update of everyone's status as well as the 3 or 4 new addresses I have acquired. And Christophe... lol you have just about everyone that is on the mailing list's blog in your "my peer" list on your site...all except for ME!!! AND I'm the one that started the list! lol.
My blog isn't very exciting, there is still a lot of it that I don't understand, but tonight again, I'll send out all the info and encourage everyone to submit all of their information (like blog's etc.) Also there will be a little poll- I am trying to create a site only for people that are on the mailing list- this is a site that will have all of the main links to everyone's pages, as well as their blogs, contact information, message posting etc. If anybody isn't on the list then I definitely suggest either posting here, or even better email me at jedijr88@aol.com Summer Students only.

Be excited for tonight's crazy cool summer AM students mass email!

~Jeff

[jedijrmax]

that sounds really good, jedijrmax. 3d@bjohn.freeserve.co.uk

Is it a free upgrade from maya 6 to 6.5 because i was just going to order mine tomorrow, and they quoted me for maya 6?

Hey bud,

I could be wrong, but I do not believe that it is a free upgrade. I know you can get a free download from 6.0 - 6.0.1, from Alias' site which just fixes little bugs etc.. but as far as I know 6.5 upgrade you'd have to purchase, although I also understand that the upgrade is a lot less than just buying the whole thing over again. Especially if it is cheaper, I would go with six, because 6/6.5, not much has really changed that you will at all come across doing AM. Alias claims some speed improvements under certain circumstances, but if this is true it must be next to nothing because I work with both versions and do not notice any substancial increase in speed with specific operations. Maybe I just haven't come across them, but then the point is, is 6.0 for what you do with AM and most everything would be more than fine until a more worthy release comes out. Using 6.0 for AM seems to be just fine; I asked about that a few posts up. I'll be using 6.0 as well. Now, if there is no price difference between 6.0 or 6.5 then... go ahead I would just get the latest stuff, but I tend to doubt they would cost the same.

~Jeff

[Giant]

Hey Brit,

No problem. I will also add you to the mailing list. Christophe, you definitely don't have to worry too much about adding the info for people. ( although you can if you want to ) Pretty much everybody that semi-actively posts on this forum and is starting in the summer, is on the "Official" summer mailing list that I have. I'll be sending out an email tonight with an update of everyone's status as well as the 3 or 4 new addresses I have acquired. And Christophe... lol you have just about everyone that is on the mailing list's blog in your "my peer" list on your site...all except for ME!!! AND I'm the one that started the list! lol.
My blog isn't very exciting, there is still a lot of it that I don't understand, but tonight again, I'll send out all the info and encourage everyone to submit all of their information (like blog's etc.) Also there will be a little poll- I am trying to create a site only for people that are on the mailing list- this is a site that will have all of the main links to everyone's pages, as well as their blogs, contact information, message posting etc. If anybody isn't on the list then I definitely suggest either posting here, or even better email me at jedijr88@aol.com Summer Students only.

Be excited for tonight's crazy cool summer AM students mass email!

~Jeff

Hey Jeff...sorry about that.lol. What is your blog URL. Will add you asap to my list of peers.

cheers!

[jedijrmax]

http://www.intelligencecubed.com/blog

Thanks Christophe!

[Giant]

Ok Jeff, I added you!

[Rabid pitbull]

Nice to see you all getting excited! It is a mind blowing excperience for sure.

I never had a request for a maya file except during a special Q&A session with Boom. This is how i figured out that the AM folks are using 6.0 still. He could not open the scene. Now this is not to say that the other mentors do not have 6.5. I would not expect the mentor to change anything and give it back so it is a moot point. The session I mentioned was to go over a assignment that some of us had problems with. Bobby then open a few files and pointed things out that were wrong, showed us what a better way to do things was and so on. But my personal mentor never asked for a scene file, we always handed in movie files. Some people do 2d some do stop motion animation. In the end they just critique your animation however it is done. Also of important mention is the fact that not all AM students doing 3d animation use maya. Quite a few using xsi, I think one using max, also other apps. The great majority are using maya. Simply because the characters and rigs developed by AM are excellent, and then you can focus on animation not apps.

Get ready everyone it is intense!:thumbsup:

[SheepFactory]

yes doesnt matter what the mentors are using since you dont send your files you just send your playblasts. I used maya for half of the assignments and used XSI for the rest.

[jedijrmax]

I don't understand how you used XSI ..... aren't the rigs only for maya?


~Jeff

[SheepFactory]

yes they are. we just got the geometry and rigged it in xsi ourselves

[My Fault]

yes doesnt matter what the mentors are using since you dont send your files you just send your playblasts. I used maya for half of the assignments and used XSI for the rest.

And I hear next semester Ali is going to use trained rabid monkeys for at least one assignment! :)

[SheepFactory]

of course! they are getting restless. maybe for the mysterious veil dance animation , I think i have good reference for it too :)

[My Fault]

Ah yeah, what do they call 100 rabid monkeys doing the dance of the 7 veils.... the Kimotion baby! :D

[sinbad]

I've decided that I'm going to animate everything in Microsoft's cutting edge 3d package:"Paint". It has a free-form select tool, a magnifier AND an eraser! You can even INVERT colours!:scream:

[fluffybunny]

I've decided that I'm going to animate everything in Microsoft's cutting edge 3d package:"Paint". It has a free-form select tool, a magnifier AND an eraser! You can even INVERT colours!:scream:


Wow! :bounce:

Just imagine that, the dance of the seven veils animated in MS-Paint.....

shudder :arteest:

[3FnD]

Jeremy Cantor has asked all of us for our maya files, and apparently he figured out how to open them in 6.0. He prefers this because it allows him to really SEE the thing, as our playblasts get further compressed and seemingly shrunk down below 320x240, then scaled back up, or whatever--it's often hard to see exact foot contacts, etc.

Plus he can look directly at our curves in the Graph Editor, and can show us, right there in the eCritique video, how he would make an adjustment or two. By watching Jeremy work our scene files, and Bobby on the videos he did, I've learned a few things about using maya that I wouldn't have known.

It also gives your mentor the ability to change your character to a default shade of grey in case the colors you chose for separating character from background are too distracting.

The mentors aren't required to look at the files, and most of them probably never ask for 'em, but it's actually helpful.

[stewartjones]

Just wanting to say 'HI' to all the guys just starting out, you're gonna have an awesome time. But, like everyones already said this thing is INTENSE! So get prepared for late nights, and early mornings! :D See ya'z in skooool! :bounce:

[My Fault]

Yeah, watching some of Jeremy's e-crits while viewing the files in Maya was very eye opening. I know I learned quite a bit about Maya viewing them.

[jschleifer]

yeah, I tried a few times to look at the maya files, but it ended up taking so much time that I began rushing through the other critiques, not giving all the students the same focus.. so I stopped asking for the files, except in special cases.

[swadepgh]

Victor doesn't use Maya. He still gives fantastic critiques though.

:thumbsup:

[jedijrmax]

You know, ... I am so excited about starting Animation Mentor, but I think one of the weakest points for me as been their contact with us. Maybe it's just me, but I would like to know if we will be allowed to sign in on Friday to test out webcams or not. And, so I can make the necessary changes to the schedule, I would like to know... well before the day before Friday. If I haven't ever come to read this thread on cgtalk, I would have never even known it was a possibility. I guess I just wish the communication was a little more open. I am called them on the phone and they were all incredibly nice, and very helpful, but ... the only reason I called them, is because I wrote them three emails over the course of a week about an important question, but never got a single response back.

I'm definitely not knocking AM as a program, because I'm sure it'll be the best learning experience of my life. But in terms of them contacting all of us, or maybe just me, I would like to have a more regular flow of updates and emails from them just so I know that things are all set. I'm sure they are busy, but I don't know, I just wish I had a little more information by this point.. Anybody else agree or disagree or have any thoughts?

Just small talk I guess.

~Jeff

No hate mail. I do not hate AM. I like AM. Ok.

[fluffybunny]

You know, ... I am so excited about starting Animation Mentor, but I think one of the weakest points for me as been their contact with us. Maybe it's just me, but I would like to know if we will be allowed to sign in on Friday to test out webcams or not. And, so I can make the necessary changes to the schedule, I would like to know... well before the day before Friday. If I haven't ever come to read this thread on cgtalk, I would have never even known it was a possibility. I guess I just wish the communication was a little more open. I am called them on the phone and they were all incredibly nice, and very helpful, but ... the only reason I called them, is because I wrote them three emails over the course of a week about an important question, but never got a single response back.


I'm 99% sure it's being busy as the one legged ball guy in a butt-kicking contest. (hmmm..interesting idea for an animation)
It seemed like it took about 1-3 days for my emails to be answered. I never called them, but I'd guess probably alot of peoples do.

That being said, I would like to know if we can log in on Friday. I tried logging in yesterday and it didn't work (obviously).

It would also be cool to know whom our mentors are, but I guess I can chill till Monday if need be......and get some sleep like Jason suggested!!!

eric

[andy_maxman]

Hi,
Made some last minute changes and i have now decided to be enrolled for the Fall classes.
Moving to a new city just when the classes for the Summer term were to begin prompted me to switch over to the Fall term.

Hey Bentagon, you are in for the Fall term, right?

cheers! and goodLuck to all the Summer campers.....justKeep_animating....:thumbsup:

[Bentagon]

I'm in Fall, allright! And we're going to kick those others' butts!


Bigtime.


:D


- Benjamin

[DigitalToon2]

It's been about 4 weeks now and I'm still waiting to hear if I got accepted for the fall. This wait is killing me. I don't think that I've ever checked my e-mail so much!

[Mojo Rizen]

Meetings are currently underway, and I should know in the next day or two if I get the green light to apply for the fall term. While some are waiting to see if you are accepted, I'm waiting to see if I get the green light to apply, to then wait to be accepted.

I'm waiting to wait, that's it in a nutshell.

[sinbad]

I agree that It would have been nice to have clearer official info, rather than information disseminating via several individual contacts. The official line is log in on the 20th, and it really is left to chance whether or not the log in will work on Friday. At the end of the day its a case of being patient.

[polymath]

It looks like on the 17th you new guys get access to a NEW separate orientation page. In any case, there are LOTS of posts for incoming students to read on the forum written by upperclass men & women, so once you get access to that, don't forget to read those first!

[fluffybunny]

It looks like on the 17th you new guys get access to a NEW separate orientation page. In any case, there are LOTS of posts for incoming students to read on the forum written by upperclass men & women, so once you get access to that, don't forget to read those first!

Yay! I just got oriented! :bounce:

I just got an email from Luis and went to the "special orientation page". There's a PDF and about a 9 minute video with all of the faces from AM.

I'll have to watch it again just to see if I missed anything.

eric

[SheepFactory]

anyone got the mentor assignment e-mail yet?

I visit gmail like every 10 seconds.. :(

[Kimotion]

anyone got the mentor assignment e-mail yet?

I visit gmail like every 10 seconds.. :(

It's gotta come out by tomorrow. It just HAS to!

[My Fault]

Wow, just got finished with our 3 HOUR! Final Q&A with Derek. What a dude!! He made sure to do an overview with every single one of us (Je3ff couldn't get back on but will get his later) even after a super long day of work and with an early morning tomorrow he still pulled it off. Man, it was incredible. What a way to finish the semester. I will try to get this up on my blog in the early afternoon tomorrow. What a great group and what a fantastic mentor!

As for next semester.... bring it on! :thumbsup:

[Kimotion]

Wow, just got finished with our 3 HOUR! Final Q&A with Derek. What a dude!! He made sure to do an overview with every single one of us (Je3ff couldn't get back on but will get his later) even after a super long day of work and with an early morning tomorrow he still pulled it off. Man, it was incredible. What a way to finish the semester. I will try to get this up on my blog in the early afternoon tomorrow. What a great group and what a fantastic mentor!

As for next semester.... bring it on! :thumbsup:

THREE HOURS????

[SheepFactory]

wow 3 hours! thats like a class.

[My Fault]

THREE HOURS????

I said it once and I'll say it again, Freisenborgers are hardcore! :buttrock:

[Kimotion]

We were all sad when our last QA with Mark ended. I haven't felt this strong a bond among classmates in such a long time. Strange, even though I haven't actually met any of em!

It went by so fast.

[My Fault]

Here is a link to a quick photo recap of our final Q&A. Wasn't able to get pics of all my amazing classmates but this gives an overall feel for the night. :scream:
Final Freisenborg Q&A (http://www.briannicolucci.com/FinalQandA.html)

[sinbad]

Wow I my email link to start orientation class! So with fingers a'quiver I logged in for the first time, and with a deep breath opened the orientation video..... and.....
.....it doesnt work.

I'll maybe give it a few hours, like.... till Monday

Its early.

Pacific time, everyone is still in bed. (1:46 PST)

Sleep well everyone..

Thats it, rest peacefully....


zzzzzzz....


............


.......NOW GET UP AND FIX THE VIDEO!! :D

(he he, dont worry I can wait:thumbsup: maybe the servers are all asleep too.)

EDIT* I've solved the problem. I beg your pardon AM, it was me. I hadn't installed Flash player 7. I'm going to hit my self over the head ten times now with the Illusion of Life.:banghead:

[sinbad]

Brad Bird is Brad Bradbury. Its true, LOL.

In the orientation .pdf, the contents page states "Advice to incoming students by Brad Bird, page 24".

WOW, I thought. How on earth did they get HIM to contribute?

Anyway its not Brad Bird, Its Brad Bradbury the AM student!

EQUALLY famous of course...:D

[fluffybunny]

Brad Bird is Brad Bradbury. Its true, LOL.

In the orientation .pdf, the contents page states "Advice to incoming students by Brad Bird, page 24".

WOW, I thought. How on earth did they get HIM to contribute?

Anyway its not Brad Bird, Its Brad Bradbury the AM student!

EQUALLY famous of course...:D

So are you spending all weekend working on your avatar? I think that's what I need to do :eek:

well maybe not all weekend, but it definitely needs some work.

I'll admit I was confused at first with the video and didn't know I had to also click the orientation button on the left to 'select' the video once the player came up. I kept hitting play and changing stream size.
Once I figured out my stupidity, the video played flawlessly!
I even cruised over to work and was able to watch the full video over Wifi! I got one of those high gain antennas and pointed it at work which is about 1/2 mile away.
Stupid concrete buildings though, get no signal inside :( I'd probably get a bit better results if I had the antenna outside instead of sitting in my upstairs bedroom...hahaha.

eric

[ravvy]

When I logged on quickly last night I saw the orientation mail had come through. I logged on quickly and the PDF could not be accessed and there were 2 videos available on the orientation page. I clicked both videos and saw both were different so I logged out went to sleep etc.


Logged on this morning and can access the PDF ok but theres only 1 video showing on the orientation page now - have I screwed something up or... ?

[fluffybunny]

Logged on this morning and can access the PDF ok but theres only 1 video showing on the orientation page now - have I screwed something up or... ?

I'm sure you're fine. I think the one video and .pdf are all that were suppossed to be there. Maybe you temporarily had access to something you weren't suppossed to see (yet?), but I wouldn't worry about it.

eric

[sinbad]

Yeah the one video says everything we need to know without actually getting in and trying everything. If you right click on the streaming video, you can even test your webcam and audio settings.



Originally posted by fluffybunny
So are you spending all weekend working on your avatar? I think that's what I need to do :eek:

well maybe not all weekend, but it definitely needs some work.


Huh? That... Its just a little photoshop job, done a while back actually. Your avatar is just fine!

[fluffybunny]

Huh? That... Its just a little photoshop job, done a while back actually. Your avatar is just fine!

oops, I in no way meant a critique of your avatar. I was referring to the "brad bradbury" advice....seemed like that's what I remember from his advice was "have a cool distinctive avatar so that everyone will know who you are".

I think I want to try adding a little more excited happy emotion to mine(and maybe some color)....the expression is almost like I'm hung over or someone died.

eric

[swadepgh]

I wouldn't worry too much about your avatars. No need to agonize or spend many hours on them. I think Brad's main point was to keep the same one, so have one that you will be happy with for the next 18 months or close to it. There are people in our class that have changed their avatars and we still know who they are, though it is a bit confusing at first. I do tend to associate people with their images.

A lot of people in the first class used their photo as their avatar or a caricature of themselves.

Ok now back to checking my email to see who my new mentor will be.

[fluffybunny]

I wouldn't worry too much about your avatars. No need to agonize or spend many hours on them. I think Brad's main point was to keep the same one, so have one that you will be happy with for the next 18 months or close to it. There are people in our class that have changed their avatars and we still know who they are, though it is a bit confusing at first. I do tend to associate people with their images.

A lot of people in the first class used their photo as their avatar or a caricature of themselves.


That's kind of what I was thinking. I don't think I'll be agonizing about it at all....if I keep a self-caricature with the ears even through subsequent revisions, I doubt anyone will have trouble remembering the "crazy dude with rabbits in his house".

However, it's a good excuse for a solid break-in of the new Wacom :)

eric

[brit]

When I logged on quickly last night I saw the orientation mail had come through. I logged on quickly and the PDF could not be accessed and there were 2 videos available on the orientation page. I clicked both videos and saw both were different so I logged out went to sleep etc.


Logged on this morning and can access the PDF ok but theres only 1 video showing on the orientation page now


You saying we missed the Directors Special Edition!!
Doh!!:scream:

[Animental_Sean]

Ok, I know I don't post much here, but I read it daily. I have to give a shout out to Brian for his excellent narrative on the final Q&A with Derek. I had no idea our mentors could pound beer like that. I have even more respect for them now. Brian, keep up the good work. You first class'ers are an inspiration to us summer newbees. Thanks for all the great posts, we're ahead of the game because of you guys.

[Kimotion]

My next mentor is Derek Freisenborg! Brian and Aja....you guys better be right about this guy!

[SheepFactory]

My next mentor is Jason Schleifer! WOOOT!! :buttrock:

[mmkelly011881]

I Like Ike!

props to old squad behm.. you are now my enemy..

Feldman forever!

[Kimotion]

All this time when I was in Squad Behm, I secretly thought the Borgs were better and more powerful!

[AjaBogdanoff]

Tony Smeed, currently working on Chicken Little!

Come on now, who else is a Smeeder? Don't be shy now... :D

[ravvy]

My mentor is Bill Diaz!

Lead Animator: Spider-Man, Big Fish, Stuart Little, Men in Black 2, Charlies Angels 2, The Patriot, Godzilla

Supervising Animator: Sharks Tale

Also animated on: Madagascar, Over the Hedge

[mmkelly011881]

stabs jeffkim in the eye with a china marker

[jschleifer]

My next mentor is Jason Schleifer! WOOOT!! :buttrock:

haha! woohooo!!! :) that rocks, ali! sweeet! :)

[daraand]

The Hand of Ike shall rule AMO!!!

or maybe.. the Furious Feldmans!! WOO!! At any rate, jeffkim you traitor -_o

hehe. Props to class 1 of squad behm!

[My Fault]

Discples of Dooley reporting for duty! Bow before our might!

Jeff, Derek kicks a great deal of butt. Be prepare to be Borged! I pulled a thorn from his paw and now he follows me everywhere,

Ali, I hear that Shhh-lifer guy is great but if you screw up he forces you to do crazy things with fruit and play 11teen hours of Quake 2 every day!

[SheepFactory]

Yes i heard he forces you to push flowers and fruit up your nose , but gotta do whatever it takes to learn animation :)

[Nitefyre]

Woohoo Pete Nash!! Pete's Posse is going to rule the campus.

Any other Pete's posse out there?

[My Fault]

Maybe it's something he picked up in New Zealand. I hear the heightened ultra violet rays messes with your brain.

[mmkelly011881]

Fellow Feldmans... follow under the blue pixel of Feld!

.

THE BLUE PIXEL SHALL RULE

[3FnD]

Anyone else get Adam Wood?!! Haha! I think he's one of the new ments. I had no idea new guys were going to be assigned to us vets (I almost used "us 2nd classers" but that sounded derrogatory). I know he worked on Mike's New Car and TS2, but I don't know where he's working now, they don't have the bios up for all the new guys yet. Should be a fun semester.

[Ika]

Ika likes Ike and pledges allegiance to THE BLUE PIXEL!! :bounce: