www.animationmentor.com

[BadMange]

I apologize if this has been asked/suggested before, but I was wondering if there will be a less expensive, less involved version of AM online where you could pay a monthly fee to gain access to the discussion forums, view the exercises and possibly post your animation to get one of the AM online instructors to give a generalized critique? Or buy credits to download the videos from the site?

I just forked over $40+K for art school, my loans are going into "Collect!" mode, the wife and I are buying our first house and expecting our first child, and I'm freakin' broke! And I want to attend AM Online almost as much as I want to be a character animator. So a lesser version of the AnimationMentor experience would suit folks in my shoes pretty well, methinks.

Any comments from the masses/AnimationMentor gods?

Thanks for reading,
-Bad Mange

[keenasmustard]

Bad Mange: I do vaguely remember someone else asking a similar question to this. (I think it's a great idea.) I think they mentioned the idea of charging a "subscription" to the areas of the site you mentioned. I think I also vaguely remember one of the AM guys responding to it, saying that they'd take it into consideration. (I could be wrong though!) Check out this link, if you haven't already: http://home.netspeed.com.au/mlanham/am_faq.html That's a link to the FAQ's from here that one of the members kindly typed up. The answer to your question might be in there. It's a pretty huge read, but worth going through anyway.

[oshiroii]

BadMange, I don't think they would do that. The things you list is AMonline, except for the video lessons. So I don't think it would happen. You might get acces to the forum, but I don't think instructors will personnally comment anything for you, except maybe on the forums. But you never know, they're really nice guys so there might be a chance :hmm:

I think it would be better if you'd just wait until you can afford the whole thing. You don't have to subscribe know, you could always join next year or something like that.

[alexandrecollac]

Hey Shawn, Bobby and Carlos. When we are going to have another newsletter??

Waiting anxiously for updates:thumbsup:

See ya

[BadMange]

I think it would be better if you'd just wait until you can afford the whole thing. You don't have to subscribe know, you could always join next year or something like that.
:rolleyes: Heh heh, you obviously don't have huge school loans, a mortgage and a baby on the way. :cry:

[animboom]

Hey, guys. Bobby Beck here from AnimationMentor.com

Lots of great things going. The unoffical AM online forum seems to be going well. Carlos and I have been popping in from time to time as well. But our main focus right now is in getting AM online ready for the upcoming launch Date.

There will be a new newsletter shortly. It will be a pretty small one as most of the more important announcements will come in October. So stay tuned.

It's important to note that things have changed for the better since we announced the site back in June of this year. From the feedback from our Mentors and fellow Forum Junkies we learned more of what people want and more of what WE want from the project.

So (BADMANAGE) to answer your question if we are going to offer a subscription based membership we will not be offering this. At least right away.

At AnimationMentor.com our major goal is not to stuff everyone into it. It's to take a student and help them individually get better and focus their talents and skills. To be a part of AM online will hopefully be a very special experience. Not everyone will be able to get in, but for those who do we really expect great things. So with that in mind a subscription goes against what we want to offer. When someone gets into the school they will understand that their experience will be focused and solid. It will become more clear to the students when they actually see what's in store. :)

Anyways, keep swimming, and keep rockin'!

-BOOM

[Cyro]

For those who didn't get in because of the limited seats, hopefully there will be a download section where we can try out the tutorials first and be prepared for the class once it's re-opened, since tutorials are pre-recorded anyways. I guess that's the main idea behind a subscription membership. Sorry if someone already metion it but this is a really long thread so I didn't read all of it.

[ASteele85]

Can anyone give a rough estimate as to how much a 12 traditional art class schedule costs? Thanks in advance.

[mmkelly011881]

guys.. nooone has gotten in yet... registration doesnt start till december!!

[oshiroii]

True, havn't you read all 700 and 61 posts? tssssk shame on you :D
Anyhow, it's now Septembre, that means that in like 29 days or so it's ocotober, and THAT means :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: big announcement Yush, kay, I'm off and back to my stop staring book :D (I'm so proud I've got it :thumbsup: )

[alexandrecollac]

Hllo Bobby, nice to see you again.

Thanxs for the info, i´m still waiting for the news. I´m also glad to know that our little community have gelped you to develop even more the AM Online. (i sent you a private message about this, pls check)

[BadMange]

Thanks for your reply Mr. The BOOM! And btw, it's my Mange that's bad, not my Manage! :D

-BadMange

[mikefeil]

im just getting ready to sell my car for this..haha

or my soul


either way im doing this 100 %

[agreenster]

First-come first-served is going to be a blood bath. We'd better start making a forum specifically for those who dont make the cut just so there's a support group to weep with. :D

[Phearielord]

mmm.....that might be a very good idea agreester!
i'm already stressing about getting in! :D
I've set up a tent infront of my computer so that i can be the first in line when registration opens ;)

[AjaBogdanoff]

Ha, that's a good one. We need a top ten list, "You know you're excited about AnimationMentor.com when...."

10. You've signed up for the "private newsletter" under six different email accounts. You know, just in case the other 5 don't work.

[oshiroii]

I suppose number 1 would be: freak out about it too much.
It may be my filosofy of life, but my opinion is: relaaaax. You can't subscribe until december, so why stress now? Just be sure to get a job or set up some: get-shiroii-in-AMonline foundation. :D So you'll have enough money incase you'll get through. If you don't, you could try next month or the month after that. In the mean time, concentrate on what you want to do: ANIMATE. If you worry too much you'll make crappy animations, so relax and wait till october for the important anouncements, see if this is your kind of thing and start stressing as soon as you filled in the form. Again, in them mean time, just relax and animate :thumbsup:

-shiroii

[Mooncalf]

In the mean time, concentrate on what you want to do: ANIMATE.


Hear hear! As much as I want to get into AnimationMentor.com, as much as we ALL want to get into AnimationMentor.com, the bottom line is this:

Don't wait around for it to happen. Start animating now! Get into it, go experience the world, take it in, and breathe it out through your characters.

Many of us will not get into the program. If I don't get in, yeah I'll be disappointed. For about five minutes. And then I'll pick myself up off the dirt and start animating, because AnimationMentor.com will not make or break my animation career. :) It's a good attitude, motivation, and perseverence, and a good attitude, and... you know what? There's an old joke that goes like this:

Tourist: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

Native New Yorker: "Practice, practice, practice."



'Cause, listen, I've been there-- sitting back, waiting for the education, and knowledge, and experience to come to ME. I've done that over and over and over, and really, it doesn't work like that. I wish it did.

Waiting until AnimationMentor.com starts up won't get you anywhere. You know there's people who will be practicing their animation whether they get into the program or not, and they'll be animating even before the program starts... they're doing it right now. So, hey, be one of those people. :) No reason not to be.


Here's another old chestnut....

CGTalker: "How do you get to Pixar?"

;)


- M

[clockwerkz]

The best thing to do is just to relax. The bottom line is AM is here, it's looking to open in Jan, and from the sheer volume of support, they're not going to have a problem filling to capacity. Which means that there will be more terms after all.
Like Keith Lango said, it's all about practice, practice, and more practice. So regardless, we should all still be practicing.

So bottom line: don't let the first come - first serve thing scare you, or in anyway undermine your enthusiasm. AM is soo going to rock, and we're going to give it an awesome turn out to ensure it's success through future semesters, and we'll turn a new page in the world of learning animation.

cW

PS- in case any of you haven't gone to the pre-AM site, check it out at: http://animationshare.proboards30.com/

Hey Adam, did you get my e-mail with the leads? :-) Just trying to help out in any way.

Hey Mooncalf, we pretty much posted the same thing lol.. I have an answer for your question on how to get to Pixar..
A: Easy.. you cross the Oakland Bridge, then you need to... :-)
Actually, I drove by the studios in January when my wife and I were vacationing in California. Very inspirational. Took some pics of the front gates.. I tried to get in, but they don't have any tours. Then I contemplated busting out of the car in a full sprint to the front, but that wouldn't have gone well I'm sure (i.e. getting caught, arrested, probably ruining any hope to ever work there, etc). :-)

[agreenster]

Waiting until AnimationMentor.com starts up won't get you anywhere. You know there's people who will be practicing their animation whether they get into the program or not, and they'll be animating even before the program starts... they're doing it right now. So, hey, be one of those people. :) No reason not to be.

http://10secondclub.org/files/2004/8/2569.mpg

[Mooncalf]

Hey Adam,

I have to admit, I'm a little confused about your response to what I wrote...

But just in case, I'll take the worst possible interpretation, and then say this:

I apologize. It wasn't my intent to call anyone "stupid," or "lazy," and I realize that what I said might be taken that way.

What I meant, earnestly, is that self-motivation is terribly difficult. I struggle with it constantly, and I daresay a large percentage of everyone else does, too. I was only trying to offer a bit of motivational speak--and I certainly would never want to condescend to anyone.

If anyone was insulted by what I wrote, I am truly sorry.

- M

[oshiroii]

Adam, do you already have a WIP thread for this anim? I'd rather post any comments there than here, way of topic ;)

[agreenster]

Oh--I'm not offended! Stop apologizing you silly silly mooncalf!

I was just sideways mentioning that 10SecondClub is a great place to keep up with your skills, and a great place to practice. I just posted that link to kind of encourage others to keep working, and set a good example cuz I do it too! I'm such a good little animator.....awwwww....... :)

Naw, I dont have a wip for that, just email me with crits. I'm struggling with the walk in.
adam@willanimateforfood.net

[Stychentyme]

I agree with Mooncalf and clockwerkz. We all want to get in,... but not all of us will be in the first term. There will be more opportunities, though, we just have to be patient. And yes, practice in any way you can while you're waiting.

I know that I'm going to be disappointed as well if I can't make it in,.... hell,... I'm still not sure if I can even afford it! :eek:

Hey, Mooncalf! I hear you about waiting for the knowledge to come to you,.... I've been there myself. Pity it doesn't work that way. However, when you do go out there and grab that knowledge for yourself,.... the end result is more satisfying. :thumbsup:

Stych.

[Mooncalf]

'k 'k... Sometimes I overanalyze things. :) Also, my foot has an uncanny ability for ending up in my own mouth half the time, so.

Yeah, I think we're all in this together...

And hey, for all of us who don't get in the first time, just think of this: As awesome as AnimationMentor will be for everyone who gets into it the first time, it will probably be even better for the SECOND round of people, after the mentors have done it once and have a better idea of what to expect. (even after all the beta testing they're doing)

The best time to see a play is the night AFTER it opens. :)

(of course, that's still not going to stop me from trying to get in with the January herd)

- M

[Remi]

Money management skillz...DON'T fail me nowwww!!!:)

[Landis]

Hey everyone! Did a search for my name to revive an old thread of mine and I saw this one! By the way, feel free to visit the ol' girl (the thread) and enlighten me...its the home for all of my Maya questions..I swore I was supposed to be learning an animation package but usually it feels as though I'm hurdin' cats!

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=140706&page=5&highlight=landis


Anyways, I heard about the A.M. some time back...couple of weeks ago I think. I am very interested but I am taking so many classes right now (5...a different one for every day of the week). I think that A.M. is a great idea. I almost went to Siggraph this year since I now actually live in a place where conventions come to...well...other than military or "gun and knife" shows (hey if you like these its cool...I do to...but not exclusively!).

Moving right along... I would have loved to meet the team and other artists from the 3d community especially all of the Blender heads that I have learned with and shared ideas but have never been able to meet! I guess that is a part of the industry that I have yet to really get enough of (that is, spending time with others who share the same passion). It sounds like that is what A.M. is all about. Man, maybe I should sign up....ahhhhhhhh! Too much to do! Nah...never too much...I love this stuff (if my wife saw that sentence she would kill me). Ok, enough blabbing...back to the books. Good luck guys and have fun!

Cheers,

Landis

P.S. Bentagon...I feel horrible to have my URL floating around in this room given the skill level of some of the thread's animators but hey...I am learning...so watch out Boom! LOL! Kidding, kidding. I know all you current animators are laughing so hard right now after viewing my little assignments on my sight and I am sure Boom is hunched over in his tall chair, petting the cat on his lap thinking "BAH!...simpleton...he is LIGHT YEARS behind me...when he is as good as I am now I will be THREE times as good as him STILL!" (insert Boom's sinister laugh here along with the screaming meow of the cat leaping off of Boom's lap after having been scared away by all of the evil laughter).

Phew...thats all I got...man...2 jokes about cats...I am a freakin' weirdo!

Later,

Landis

[olioli]

Hey guys and gals,
I'm glad to see this forum up and running again. I recently just bought a dvd from an animater Jeff Lew (matrix, killer bean) and am learning quite a bit :buttrock:
Here's the link if anybody's interested http://jefflew.com/

The dvd is called learning 3d animation with jeff lew.

[mmkelly011881]

Landis,
Nah Man you are mooooooore than welcome in our little community here... its a pleasure sir :)

love your designs and models.. i havent seen too much of your animation yet but i hope to see more.. everyone can improve ( i can surely as i'm just a bit above incompetant so far :)) theres always time.. good luck and keep the community going

[oshiroii]

olioli, I've seen the DVD's, but I feel it's more for complete new people. It covers the techniques and dives into some of the things like, gimble lock and splines, but I think it's more for people who are completely new to computer animation. Don't get me wrong, it's a great training, but if you're already animating with computers I think it might be more usfull to buy a good animation book, which really dives into the princeples.

Landis, I think it's me, but I totally didn't get your post! I understand you want to get into AMonline. Kay, so what's up with the link, it's a link to a blender to maya thread??? The rest I understand, but the PS? What link? There is no link about an animation???? CONFUSED :D

[Bentagon]

It was his site I brought up as an example of what exercices we could do in the Animation Students community (balloon, canonball, regular ball). It's basically also what brought up all of those copyright issues in our little forum.

- Bentagon

[agreenster]

Dude, you're going to the Academy of Art in San Fran? That's a good school. If I were to go back to school, that's where I'd go. Heck, that's where Shawn, Carlos AND Bobby went. They all live in the Bay area, and pop in to AI all the time, so Im sure you'll meet them eventually!

[Landis]

olioli,

Thanks for the link! I remeber the first time I saw Jeff Lews work (killer bean). I think that was actually one of my first issues of 3d world mag. Good stuff. I will definately be checking out the dvd...maybe I will get the school to buy it! LOL! Dude, I spent the entire intersession (the period between my summer classes and now) watching Gnomon videos. Everyday, all day until the library closed. The librarians thought I was a crazy freak! Most of them are pretty good vids though...the only way I can describe them is like after Neo first plugged in and said "I know Kung-Fu".



For those of you reading this that are new to animation (like myself),

A decent place to start (or if you are hard up for cash and if you just picked up Maya then I am sure you are siting on your cardboard box office chair eating Raman Noodles ) then swing by Digital Tutors website. The vids arent quite as good as the Gnomon vids in my oppinion but the guy nearly offers everything you need to get up and running for free. Also, it never hurts to get multiple answers to the same question......I own about 12 maya chacater animation and modeling books that all have a chapter on texturing but by god I read everyone of them! So, dont just watch 3d buzz vids or Jeff Lews...watch em' all!


mmkelly011881,

Thanks man! I appreciate it! Yeah, you havent seen very much animation because I am learning as we speak. ALot of kids ask me at the school why I am going there since I have already had my hands in 3d quite a bit...well...I want to animate. I look at it TOTALLY different than everybody else does I am sure....and I am also convinced that alot of people would laugh if they heard the reasons why I am doing it. Basically I feel that is the next step. What good am I if I can birth a perfect character if I cant breath life into his lungs! He or she might have great proportions, excellent textures, great lighting, awesome character Bio/Analysis, exsquisite edge loops....yada yada...but if the character cant look back at you from the screen and smile at all the work you have done to bring him or her to life then whats the point!


agreenster,

Oh yeah baby...AAU (the artists formaly known as prince...uhh...I mean...AAC). Its a great school so far...but I am kind of bummed out because I am taking a few traditional classes that I have already taken but they will not accept the transfer which is understandable because then they would be saying that the art classes from the community college I went to prior to the military are as good as theirs! This is obviously not true but they dont want to take any chances. Speaking of traditional classes, the Academy's are very good. As a matter of fact I am almost as excited to tackle my figure modleing (traditional sculpture) class this semester as I am my animation classes! The more I get involved into 3D the more I appreciate older peices (especially Leo and Mike's work). Actually Stanford University has an entire garden of sculpture that my wife and I plan to go check out.

Anyways, when you say AI I assume you are talking about the Art Institute here in San Fran....yeah...heard of it and I get the impression that there are hard feelings between the 2...not sure why...probably because mine is redilculously expensive when compared to AI which doesnt really mean anything other than the fact that AI students are out doing stuff this weekend and I am not...LOL! But I am sure that there are kids out there that think the more expensive one is better...I dont know...I think its up to the student how far he or she goes....not the school or software. You can cramb a spoon down somebody's throat but you cant force them to swallow!

I hope to run into Bobby and the gang...that would be great. They have people come from all over the industry to talk to the school quite often from what I hear so its quite possible. Also, I hope to hit up Siggraph next year for sure so we all definately need to hook up! I would love meeting alot of you from the community. There are alot of people in the forums who have helped me and I would like to thank them in person.

Ok, thats my novel...hope you like it.

Cheers,
Landis

[GlenGramling]

i put my email address in the first day, the site went up, right now im aboutto graduate with a BFA in Animation, and i still cant wait to be involved in this.

[cg219]

This maybe a stupid question, but is there an age limit for this or is it open for anyone??

[JoshBowman]

A idea/suggestion to Bobby or Carlos,

With the first come first serve sign up thing, i am wondering if you think it would be worth getting those who want to get into AM to sign up every month, as in the first 20 people to sign up at the start of each month get into the course the following month (for part A). I'm just wondering what you guys thought of this idea or whether it has been discussed before because i personally don't want to save up for this and then find out I'm 471st in line and it's going to be 3 years before I get to the top of the list.
What do other's think of this?

[3dSnail]

The thing I'm worried about is, if I dont get the money (and i still dont know how much it is), thta would mean Id have to wait for 1000000000 people to finish before i get another chance

[clockwerkz]

Landis:


Let me just say that it's awesome to see you on this thread. Everytime I've bitched and complained to myself about how I have to work (I'm in Law Enforcement) and that it takes away from my studying or craft, I go to your site which quickly shuts me up. I've been inspired various times by the way you were in the military and made time to work on Blender to come up with Airman and Bronx.. awesome characters. You have talent, and after you're done at the Academy of Art, you're going to be an animation ninja my friend.
Quite honestly, if Animation Mentor didn't come around, then I was going to have a sit down with my wife and figure out how to get to San Fran to study at the Academy. I don't know how, but somehow we would get over there!

cW

[animboom]

Hey, YO! What's up folks. Just a quick hello...

Just a couple answers to some of the questions:

AnimationMentor is open to all ages.

AM pre registration will begin in December. Classes will begin in January. AnimationMentor is a Quarter Based school. So if you miss one quarter you can get in to the next.

Hang in there as some updates are coming soon. ;)

-BOOOM

[cg219]

Oh kool. Thanks for the response.

[Dimebag]

Hi whats up DDDists, think I couldnt find a better timing to become a cgtalk newcomer! Anyway me and my buddies are seriously looking forward to just switch school and put our K's and hopes on Animentors. We're being totally screwed here, but we might have had a darn usefull period of practice se we think we could be just roasted enough to grasp some of AM divine wisdom. I just read 20 page yet and i'm still cleanin the place of all that drool I droped. I also read it was supposed to be launch last fall, did it ? Well can't wait to have more infos so we can seal the deal. Here's my e-mail just in case a technical problem occured funguss@hotmail.com :D So that's it and hello again to the cgtalk people, this cold one is for you.

Matt

[Bentagon]

welcome to cgtalk dimebag :)

can't wait for the updates!!

- Bentagon

[alexandrecollac]

To the ones that are interested our Pre AM Online Community is now located at http://animationgroup.proboards30.com , everyone that want to join us are welcome.

[immerzeelpictures]

man! I feel like a junky!

I'm just checking my mail, Google, CGTalk, AWN, www.animationmentor.com and the Unofficial FAQ every day, eagerly awaiting new info on Animation Mentor.

I have watched the trailer 10 times (3 of which are totally frame stepped through).

This can't be healthy.

Hi my name is Pascal and I am the first to admit I am an AM info addict.

[Dimebag]

i know what u mean junky dude. Personally I feel kinda like Jim Carey in Batman Forever, tho I never really had a perticular recent interest for green spandex.

[olioli]

hey landis,
Great job with your Airman characters!
Cant wait to see them in action :bounce:

[olioli]

what do you guys think of the academy of art college ONLINE...I'm just thinking "just in case". does anyone have any info regarding this school.... I want to learn animation, but I'm in Dallas Tx :banghead: and I can't just pack up and leave :cry:

[Landis]

clockwerkz,

Thanks bud! Yeah, I have a buddy that got out a couple of days after me and he was going to be a police officer...man he was nervous. Anyways, from what I heard its very similar to the military in many ways...as a matter of fact I ALSO heard that the majority are prior military! Again...off on a tangent...your in there man....just keep crankin' it out...I use to almost be MORE inspired when I was out on the flight line than I am hear in the city ESPECIALLY when I was in up to my neck with the AIRMAN...nothing like being surrounded by reference material! LOL! Hang in there man. Show your buds that you work with some of your stuff....you would be amazed at how much they can keep you going as well! If I only had a nickle for every time one of my bro's would say "hey man when are you going to animate the AIRMAN?"...as I thought to myself how I needed to LEARN how to animate first! LOL! Thats where I am now. By the way....just got back from my anatomy class today.....AWESOME! Best class ever to date! Man I am just STUFFING the rifle full of powder over here...just cant WAIT to pull the trigger!

Oh...I almost forgot (which also covers olioli's question)...if you find yourself waiting for AM to open (or if you end up being on a waiting list) then go ahead and sign up for an online class at the Acedmy (Landis ducks as clockwerkz swings at him for acting like money grows on trees). I wont go into detail about the pro's and con's of online classes in general but I will say this... all the animations on my site are from an online class I took this summer (yeah I know...I was taking some classes "at" the school and some online which is strange since I live here but I needed it as a pre-requisite for some classes in the fall semester and there wernt any being held "in-house" during the summer). Anyways, this class was actually the first online class I have ever attended and the only one that I would have liked to avoid taking online sicne it was my major and for the fact that if I felt comfortable taking a stab at it on my own I wouldnt be attending yet another college at the age of 25...lol! In short it worked out...the teacher I had (and all of the others I have had) was very flexible and extremely helpful. The disadvantage to taking online classes AT THE ACADEMY are that I find the materials needed to be a bit more pricey. Example: the school has discs to draw on...I dont...and the school knows this, so, flash and a wacom tablet are required. As silly as this sounds it works (though I really would have liked to give the discs a whirl). Flash supports what is called onion skinning which is basically the fillping of papers an animator does to check his work. Now, before any of you get your undies in a bunch, the school does NOT allow projects to be tweened (flashes auto inbetween) and even a student can tell if something has been tweened as opposed to inbetweened by hand. ANyways, as you can see that was quite pricey...and I have heard that if you take foundation classes online each student in the class is asked to purchase a plaster cast model that the teacher ALSO has access to. This way he or she can better measure your skills since every student has the same references in their home (and they are VERY pricey).

Let me know if you have any other questions about the school or anything. I by no means know everything (I think even the more advanced animators inthe thread will tell you how little they know more than a newer student would)...but I will be more than happy to share what little I DO know (or am learning rather). Keep checking my site...for this semester I even plan to post my Anatomy notes from class! Hopefully someone will be able to get something from it.


Cheers,
Landis

[clockwerkz]

Hey Landis,

Thanks for updating us with your journey through the academy. I didn't know that the academy had on-line courses as well. That is pretty cool. Actually, after seeing that you were going there I went on to their website and requested a catalog out of curiousity.
I think what makes AM so great is that a lot of those guys are from the academy. I personally cannot wait for January. I'm going nuts like the rest of these guys, checking my e-mail daily and waiting for any kind of news.
If you don't have any legal issues with posting your notes, that would be very cool. Maybe put them on your site or something.. I saw your animations that you did over the summer.. nice stuff!

cW

[absolute_d]

This is just awesome, I am very excited to take part.


Hello all, just getting back into the art of animation after a forced break (had to deal with real life - got married had a couple of kids) but am very excited to reenter and learn some things. I've been poking around the forum and the community here looks very solid. I've got a very small professional history but have done 'paid' work in the past. I hope to develop some relationships here and actually place myself into the industry in the future.

Thanx for readin - look forward to getting to know some of ya.

D

[olioli]

is it october yet :bounce:

[Phearielord]

lol!
Come oooon October!
:bounce: :bounce:

[animboom]

Many of us will not get into the program. If I don't get in, yeah I'll be disappointed. For about five minutes. And then I'll pick myself up off the dirt and start animating, because AnimationMentor.com will not make or break my animation career. :) It's a good attitude, motivation, and perseverence, and a good attitude, and... you know what? There's an old joke that goes like this: Bobby Beck from AM online here:

You are so right, Mooncalf. It's all about the practice, good attitude, supporting your fellow animators and giving back to people. When you give you do get back. It's so true.

Sometimes we learn something and we may not want to share it. But in school Shawn, Carlos and all of our other buddies would always teach each other. When we were learning there was not much of a character animation curriculum at the Academy so we just bounced off each other and made it happen.

Can you learn animation from home just with books and practice? Yes, but you will get so much more by meeting people, sharing your experiences and making new friends. That is how AnimationMentor has been designed. Even though it's on the net we wanted to bring something to the world so people wouldn't have to move to LA or San Fran to get the training they so desparately wanted, and try to give them a "personal" experience and not just a monitor and text.

As for other online schools teaching animation. We can always learn from each other and always, hopefully, help more people this way. We hope AM online really brings learning to people in a whole new way. We also designed it by bringing some pretty ninja talent to people.

This whole school has been designed By Animators and the sole purpose is to teach animation the way we always wish it could be taught. With quality and focus as our main goal. This project has our names on it so it is more than VITAL for us to make sure it is the best it can possibly be. Yee haw!!! ;)

Expect the new Newsletter some time next week. :)

-BOOOM

[Bentagon]

Next week? Great :D
WIll the price be on it?? My parents and I have recently been discussing about what to do after this last year in highschool. I'd love to take a year off and do animation mentor, but after that, I'd like to go to Supinfocom in France to learn all about what has to be done for an animation movie. The school's pricy though, so I hope AM Online will be cheap enough for us (me) to handle if I take a part-time job.

once again inspiring words, bobby!

- Bentagon

[AjaBogdanoff]

Even though it's on the net we wanted to bring something to the world so people wouldn't have to move to LA or San Fran to get the training they so desparately wanted, and try to give them a "personal" experience and not just a monitor and text.

I have got to stop reading this thread before I try to go to sleep. :D

[SheepFactory]

Wow Bobby! Can you make the wait any more harder for us? :)
I cant wait for the next newsletter!

Ali

[mmkelly011881]

i've intentionally not been posting in this thread to keep my blood pressure low and balenced :)

[keenasmustard]

Landis: Very cool work. Gee, ANOTHER ex-serviceman! (I am too! :)) What is it with ex-servies becoming animators? It's got to be the most drastic career change you could think of!

Anybody else who might be able to answer this: A while back, someone asked how much an art course would cost, and after scrolling back, I can't remember seeing an answer. They were asking in relevance to the comment by AM on the FAQ site "the cost of a full course will be comparable to the price of a 12 week traditional art course". I was telling someone here by word of mouth about AM, and when they asked the same question, I realised I still couldn't answer that myself.

Would someone please clarify for us what a US (I'm assuming that's what is being used as the example) 12 week trad art course would cost - especially seeing I'm sure similar trad art courses in different countries outside USA would vary greatly in price?

Thanks in advance. (I know there is still no official answer to the question of "how much?" but the example provided is like saying "how long is a piece of string?" to people outside USA.)

[oshiroii]

I just googled some stuff up:

http://www.cheekwood.org/classes/adultclasses - It wouldn't be really expensive compared to this! :bounce:

http://www.gnomon3d.com/courses/analog_drawing/figuredrawing.html - This is like 450 for just 2 lessons (2 weeks) :eek: Ouch, that would be a little bit more expensive.

Hmm, I've looked at some other sites and most of them don't have really high prices actually. But do you guys mean with "the cost of a full course will be comparable to the price of a 12 week traditional art course" I mean, is this for the full training? Or just part of it. If you could do AMonline for a year and it would be compared to 12 weeks of traditional art class, that sounds pretty cheap :p (please let it beeeeee)

[Dimebag]

All I hope is that this school is elligible to my local student financial aid program. Personally I highly doubt... just so that I won't have too much deception. I'm gathering infos about canadian gov' opening but it never really been open minded with local youth. I had all troubles to get some financial help because my college wasn't "public", I couldn't imagine what they'd say for some foreign american online courses... well at least I had a dream...

[RayenD]

I hope they charge low enough to make it affordable for people all over the world (not only in US and other rich countries) - and at the same time I hope they will have really nice financial profit from it in long term. Bobby, Shawn and Carlos are probably not some kind of charity organization after all (or are they? ;) ), so I'll understand any price even if it will be too high for me.
I really would like this school to be a big sucess - there is so many other schools which just charge alot and do not teach that much. That won't be the case with AM, I am sure.

Bobby, Carlos and Shawn - I know that it is in the FAQ, but I and I think many other people would really like to have characters avaliable in other formats than Maya. XSI dropped prices to very low level ($495 for foundation version, which can be used comercially), lots of people use Max and C4D. At the same time you can't use Maya PLE for AM and Maya edu version is around $500.. and you cannot use it commercaily. So it would be really cool to have characters in Maya, XSI and Max formats at least. (of course if you don't have some big deal with Alias... I don't mind buying maya for my personal use if AM price would be lower because of it)

Also.. I have another question.. there will be many people in AM at very different skill level. Some will be complete beginners, some will be working pros and everything in between. I mean even at A level. There could be a situation when for one person a specific assigment will take 2 or 3 weeks to understand and complete but for other person it will be a week or less. It can in theory cause the situation when the class level will be spreaded all around.. or put too much of workload on some mentors... and people will not be able to finish in time. What do you think about it?

What about time zones? Live q&a etc... some people sleep when other are awake.

Can't wait for your school to start - I predict a lot of fun during the course :)

[oshiroii]

you can't use Maya PLE for AM and Maya edu version is around $500.. and you cannot use it commercaily.

For as far as I know you can use Maya PLE. I'm quite sure AMonline will be sure not to forget about PLE people. They'll probably have some PLE's installed at there office. It would be kind of strange to pay for a school and after that, they make you buy some 500 $ software too.
You can't use it the student version commercially, but do you want to start your own company? I mean, if you'd get a job, the company will have the liscenses, you won't have to bring your own PC, so you could still play with it at home :D


Also.. I have another question.. there will be many people in AM at very different skill level. Some will be complete beginners, some will be working pros and everything in between. I mean even at A level. There could be a situation when for one person a specific assigment will take 2 or 3 weeks to understand and complete but for other person it will be a week or less. It can in theory cause the situation when the class level will be spreaded all around.. or put too much of workload on some mentors... and people will not be able to finish in time. What do you think about it?

What about time zones? Live q&a etc... some people sleep when other are awake.

Can't wait for your school to start - I predict a lot of fun during the course :)

I believe it's quite individual. If I remember correctly they said something about learning on your own pace. You could complete the cource in one year, you don't have to. They want you to learn as good as possible and won't let you behind. You pay them!!

Of course these arn't official statments, just some of my opinions and knowledge :D

[Bentagon]

Didn't the newsletter say there were two types of subscriptions you could make? The first one being every course = 3 months, full program = 1 year, and the second one being every course = 6 months, full program = 2 years?

- Bentagon

[RayenD]

For as far as I know you can use Maya PLE. I'm quite sure AMonline will be sure not to forget about PLE people. They'll probably have some PLE's installed at there office. It would be kind of strange to pay for a school and after that, they make you buy some 500 $ software too. You can't use PLE. It's only for personal use, it means learning at home, for educational purposes you have to buy edu version. Edu version won't open PLE files.

It's a bit of gray area though, but in newsletter they say you can't use PLE. Personally I'd not use it anyway, because of huge watermarks which cripple your viewports and renders to the point that you can't see what is going on.

About buying soft for AM. This is exactly what I think AM will be good at and differ from other schools. They will sell us their knowledge about animation and art, not some software seats and a bunch of manuals to use in the lab.

You can't use it the student version commercially, but do you want to start your own company? I mean, if you'd get a job, the company will have the liscenses, you won't have to bring your own PC, so you could still play with it at home
I already did start my own company long time ago. I am freelancing a lot. I own some 3D packages but not Maya, because right now I am on long term contract with company which can equip me with Maya, so I don't need to own it right now. I am sure there will be a lot of people at AM (probably more than we think) who work and already have a jobs in the industry.. and some freelancers too.

For people like that investing in educational version of software makes no or little sense, because software has to earn money, not sit in the corner, especially if they own other software already - but well, you can always upgrade from edu version, I am not sure what Alias policy is, I'll figure it out. Anyway I don't mind buying Maya if they give me good deal.

[clockwerkz]

For the whole program situation: Folks, remember, there are other programs out there that are very good and aren't as expensive as Maya. Animation Master is an excellent program.. if anyone is having issues with the whole Maya/PLE thing, then maybe look into picking up Animation Master. If I'm selected for the first AM group, and the only thing stopping me is a problem with using Maya or PLE or whatever, I'd go buy Animation Master. I'll find free rigs somewhere and go to town. This really shouldn't be a problem. :-)



cW

[SheepFactory]

Indeed , I am sure in the future the anim mentor rigs can be easily ported to other packages too. I already modelled\rigged the characters in the trailer for XSI since thats what I plan on using. i'd gladly share em with the community when the time comes and if the mentors approve.

[oshiroii]

RayenD, You seriously can't use the PLe for educational use?! OMG, this PLE thing has got some nasty little things build into it. You really need to be careful when using it :eek: IMO it's kind of stupid, Personal Learning Edition, but not for classes :hmm: guess the "personal" isn't there for the show. :D

AUCH!. I obviously didn't knew your background :D Glad to know it's not just "n00bies" but also a lot of Industry guys :thumbsup: (of course I already knew that :rolleyes:)

Sheep Factory, AMonline will provide these, right? At least for the most common packages I assume (including AM and Blender of course) That's what I understood :hmm:

[SheepFactory]

no AMonline only provides the models for Maya. At least thats what I recall Bobby saying to me.

[Remi]

I'm working on LW models. I'll release them as well if AMmentors allow as well.:)

[RayenD]

Oshiroii, unfortunately you can't use PLE in any educational institution. It's only for playing at home and for your personal enjoyment - and files aren't interachangable bewteen two versions.(otherwise Alias would not sell any copies of Maya educational licences). So if AM would like to provide us PLE compatibile files, they would break PLE licence (I guess ;)).

Don't worry about backgrounds hehe.. we can learn from each other a ton. Meeting like-minded people is one of the cool things AM can give us.

It should be pretty easy to port rigs to other package, I may do it myself (and I'll share if I get a permission) depends on what I'll use at that time. But, the deal is I don't really like to rig anymore, (I had to do 3 rather complex rigs lately, not counting tons of rigs I did in the past, grrr).. I'd rather animate than rig stuff. Call me lazy ;) So if AM would just give me a ready character I'd be very happy. If not I'll find a workaround it's not that big deal (I still have a pencil somewhere)

[olioli]

I agree with clockworks, I own Animation Master v11 and it's working out great for me. I also have Maya 5 unlimited that was purchased for me as payment for a remix job I did. I just installed but haven't played with it...It honestly looks very overwhelming.

Then again, I'm a musician, and I've NEVER animated in my life before. I bought Animation Master to learn at home, then I got bitten by the animation bug and have decided to hit it head on and invest in learning how to do it...So in regards to oshi, if accepted, I'll be a total beginner :buttrock:

[creative destructions]

Oop, wrong thread.

[Magenta_]

By the way guys, how many AMnewsletters have you received ´till now?,

[olioli]

Hello all,

I was reading an article on art schools and came across this interview with John Kricfalusi (ren and stimpy).

Tell the Story! An Interview with John Kricfalusi http://mag.awn.com/index.php?article_no=1600&page=3
(continued from page 2)

Judging from graduate students' portfolios, Kricfalusi believes art and animation schools don't teach useful fundamentals to their pupils.

Dr. T: You seem to have a pretty dim view of how students are trained in today’s animation schools and programs. Have you ever thought about forming your own school or doing your own textbooks on animation methods and production?

JK: Well, we might start a school up here. Some of the quicker learners here, I’m just now promoting them, and having them explain to some of the other people just artistic principles in general. Which they don’t teach in school anymore. I don’t care which school you’re talking about — they do not teach art in art schools anymore, and it drives me insane. I cannot believe the portfolios that come out of the art schools. I tell them all, just get your money back because they didn’t teach you to draw! Even if they’re talented. Talented people can teach themselves, but there’s only so much you can teach yourself because every single person has weak points, things that they don’t see. If you don’t have somebody to point them out to you, they’re going to stay weak. The whole point of paying $30,000 a year is to get somebody to tell you that you’re wrong, not that everything you do is wonderful and creative. The animation schools don’t teach even the fundamental, basic concepts of animation; they don’t teach you how do construction. They say the words “construction.” They don’t teach you how to do line of action. They say “line of action.” Everyone’s familiar with the terms, but nobody does them.

Dr. T: What do they teach, then?

JK: You got me! They teach five-minute life drawings. Everybody brings in these scribbles! Just pages and pages of scribbly life drawings. And I ask everyone, “Ah, why does this look like a scribble?” “’Cause I did it in five minutes.” Why would you show a potential employer something that you drew in five minutes? How do I know you can draw a finished drawing? I know you can make scribbles, that’s great. What good is it? And I ask the teachers too. The only reason they do it is because sixty years ago the Disney studio — when Don Graham was teaching — supplemented their life drawing classes with gesture drawing classes. But you don’t give gesture-drawing classes to people who don’t already draw well. If you can already draw the human body and you know how anatomy works, great — now you can do a quick sketch. But they’re teaching you the last step first. So, if you don’t know how to draw anything yet, go ahead and draw really fast! How the hell can you learn anything? You can’t see what’s there in five minutes. You can’t do line of action with that. But meanwhile, the pose doesn’t have any line of action — because the model doesn’t know anything about animation. He’s not doing a gesture that has a line of action. But they still do it because the last generation of teachers did it, and the previous generation of teachers did it, and so on back six generations or something. But no one knows why they’re doing it anymore. They only do it because it says in the curriculum: “You must have gesture classes.” You know what I equate it to? The fall of the Roman Empire.

Dr. T: How so?

JK: Because a few scattered bits of information from classical Greece were saved during the Dark Ages. Nobody knew what the hell any of it meant or what the thinking was behind it, so it became dogma. So the schools now are teaching dogma. They remember the words, but they don’t remember the meaning behind the words. :banghead:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I posted this cause as a new beginner in animation, I would HOPE that any animation school that I would want to attend would teach solid animation principles...that are applicable.

Hey Boom, as an educator does this make sense to you.
oli

[animboom]

About buying soft for AM. This is exactly what I think AM will be good at and differ from other schools. They will sell us their knowledge about animation and art, not some software seats and a bunch of manuals to use in the lab. Thank you. Someone understands what we are trying to do with AnimationMentor. ;) You can use whatever software you want to use. Most likely we will ask people who've build the rigs in other softwares if we can purchase the rigs they made so we can make them available on the AM online web site. The reason for this is only to let other people use whatever software THEY want. But as far as software training and what not we will be offering our students maya.

Mostly Maya is being offered because it is the most widely used software that many studios use and it is also what we are most familiar with as a commercial package. And finally... hee hee... it's because new people starting out get very "stumped" with "which software should I use" and they stay confused and overwhelmed. We're trying to get to the core.

Maya edu can be purchased as a student of AnimationMentor at the student pricing. If you want to use XSI, Lightwave, stop motion, traditional, sand whatever, that's totally fine. As long as you are applying the lessons we feel are important.

Software is like a pencil. Everyone has there favorite pencil type, make, model and hardness. But the animation comes out of the pencil only becuase the person driving that pencil knew how to make it sing.

Judging from graduate students' portfolios, Kricfalusi believes art and animation schools don't teach useful fundamentals to their pupils. Not to toot our own horn, but that is exactly why we wanted to create AnimationMentor.com. It's build by artists, for people who want to be artists. It's getting to the core fundamentals someone will need to be a good animator and have the skills to get a job.

You can go to Cal Arts (which I feel is the best school for animation, personally) and spend 65k+ for your 4 years. If you have the money then go for it I would highly recommend it. AnimationMentor.com is a school. It's not a tutuorial, it's not an online tutorial place. It is an art school and it has real people running it.

Price will not be announced in this newsletter. It will be coming soon. Sorry for the delay on this. I'm sure our price will upset some and make some people feel fine.

-BOOOM

[oshiroii]

Software is like a pencil. Everyone has there favorite pencil type, make, model and hardness. But the animation comes out of the pencil only becuase the person driving that pencil knew how to make it sing.


:applause:

[mmkelly011881]

thanks for the responses bobby,

any news on how the schedule will be?
for example.. should i take off thursday nights so that i can meet up and get live feedback on my animation?

[BarryRIT]

Thanks for the continuing updates Bobby!

Just wondering, for those of us not lucky enough to attend this past siggraph, might we see some of those preview videos you guys showed off?

Thanks!

[RayenD]

Price will not be announced in this newsletter. It will be coming soon. Sorry for the delay on this. I'm sure our price will upset some and make some people feel fine.
I've already collected 2 full fridges of kitkats :)

Thanks for update Bobby. Hope to see you guys online at AM, till then good luck with everything you do.

[clockwerkz]

An Interview with John Kricfalusi

...Even if they’re talented. Talented people can teach themselves, but there’s only so much you can teach yourself because every single person has weak points, things that they don’t see. If you don’t have somebody to point them out to you, they’re going to stay weak...Yup.. Amen to that. :applause:


cW

[immerzeelpictures]

I ditched my girlfiriend, sold my dog, flushed the goldfish, unplugged the phone, put Coca Cola in my infuse bag, moved the computer to the toilet.

In other words. I am ready!!

[oshiroii]

Thanks for the continuing updates Bobby!

Just wondering, for those of us not lucky enough to attend this past siggraph, might we see some of those preview videos you guys showed off?

Thanks!
I like that idea a lot.

Pllllleeeeaaaaaassse :bowdown: :love:

:p Would be really intresting to see, might give us an even bette idea of what we're waiting for. Maybe we will never sleep again after seeing it, until January of course


thanks for the responses bobby,

any news on how the schedule will be?
for example.. should i take off thursday nights so that i can meet up and get live feedback on my animation?

Thanks!
:O You talk like you're already in! Did you get in for a test round or something??????

[mmkelly011881]

nah, i'm just saying..
if i do get in, then the schedule would be an important thing to know ahead of time l'il buddy
gotta give the boss some advance notice.. otherwise i wont have any form of being able to pay for it :eek:

besides i have a fool proof plan for getting in... gonna borrow some of those kitkats from rayenD

[oshiroii]

:D I don't think he should have mentioned kit kats. Somehow I've got a feeling that Bobby will be fluided with Kit kats. OOOOr we could of course buy all the kit kats in the world and he won't be able to get kit kats anymore, guess who's got the power? Muahahahahah, year kay, maybe my plan isn't that solid :D

Schedule will be nice yes.
"Dude, you gotta work tonight!"
"what! I can't man"
"you heard me, everyone is sick, the whole store depends on you alone"
"sorry dude, I gotta talk to Bobby Beck"
"[store owner drops jaw] OMG"

:D hahaha. hmm, it's getting too late I guess ^_____^

[keenasmustard]

Me: (I know there is still no official answer to the question of "how much?" but the example provided is like saying "how long is a piece of string?" to people outside USA.)Oshiroii: http://www.cheekwood.org/classes/adultclasses - It wouldn't be really expensive compared to this! :bounce:

http://www.gnomon3d.com/courses/ana...uredrawing.html (http://www.gnomon3d.com/courses/analog_drawing/figuredrawing.html) - This is like 450 for just 2 lessons (2 weeks) :eek: Ouch, that would be a little bit more expensive.
Thanks Oshiroii for answering me. You highlighted my point exactly. I guess the answer has to remain "how long is a piece of string" for now. I'll go and buy a big roll of string in the meantime and be patient.:shrug:

[Landis]

Well, I know I always seem like I have something to say but I just want to help...basically I try to say what I wish someone would have told me in the beginning.

Heres the deal, as for schools teaching this and that I totally agree, however, I find it really comes down to 2 things...the student and the school. Obvious right? So, what do I mean? Well, back in the day the FIRST TIME I was "going to school to be an artist" I was really more or less a kid with a bit of talent under my belt and virtually no logic up stairs. I quickly got bored with "the notion of" my art and thought I would try the military out. It wasnt long after enlisting that I realized school wasnt so bad...lol! I soon found myself reading animation books with a flashlight in the middle of a desert under my sleeping bag thinking how ironic it was that I was now frantically searching out the same knowledge that once bored me but now I was doing so while trying to juggle national security!

So, stay in school, dont do drugs, buckle up, and dont eat the yellow snow. No but seriously...the school I am going to now does the best job they can. I am still learning so obviously my oppinion is limited, although, everyday I see good people (teachers and students) spoon feeding other people (again, teachers and students) knowledge but it doesnt do anygood if nobodies hungry.

The Academy is good....I personally wouldnt suggest going there (or anywhere else for that matter) to learn modeling or texturing (I think you can SUCCESSFULLY teach yourself that without devloping too many bad habits) but for animation I decided to get the goods from someone who has already been down that road and on more of a personal level as opposed to books and tutorials. Now, I am sure that alot of people will hang me for what I am about to say but out of ALLLLLL of the various phases (other than story) I have come to the conclusion that animation is the least forgiving. Textures could be crap (or non existent), model could look like a lump of clay, but if the animation is kicking then everything else seems to disappear. Switch it around and I think you will agree that it doesnt work as well. Thats why I chose to actually go to school for animation...I think it deserves that extra bit of attention that I am sure AM will deliver.

Before I go I want to leave on this note...

Remember that the schools are trying to cram sculpture, figure drawing and anatomy all into one little teenage animator and THEN topping it off with a dose of animation only to kick them out the door to find a way to feed themselves in the end and most of them probably end up eating their demo reels to stay alive! Hey, least it's good for something right?!

Art schools are trying to raise an artist while specialty animation schools focus on one area...games...animation...animation in MAYA...the list goes on and on and there is absolutley nothing wrong with that! As a matter of fact I wouldnt be surprised if thats how it all was intended to be in the beginning but after endless lists of needs were addressed, the curriculum ended up looking like artist soup and at this point you bet your ass that the schools are sticking to their guns because all of them are doing it so if one stops then it looks like they are lacking something rather than attempting to develope a new concept!

I think it would be best if the schools were to focus on what they do best and allow for private organizations such as AM to do what they do best (in this case animation). We shouldnt expect Universities and Acadmies to generate animators anymore then we would expect AM to birth fine artists! All in all a small handful of schools are doing a pretty decent job and I believe that the Academy is one of them. I chose my school because it had a good reputation and it had SUCCESSFUL industry professionals teaching there. AM wasnt out when I was looking for schools. Now that it is I am not looking to drop out of the Academy and put all my eggs in AM or anything but what I am looking to do is attend both (cash and time permitting...in that order).

Anyways, I hope this helps someone.

Landis

[oshiroii]

Keenasmustard: I think I'll have to disappoint you. I just checked out a Vancouver film school thread, here on CGtalk. In that thread they also refer to a few other schools and those are all super super expensive. If AM will be anything near that, then I don't think I ( and probably a lot of others) won't be able to do it for like ... a few more years or so :cry:

[olioli]

Hello all,
This may be a bit of a stretch, but I was wondering if anyone knew where or whom I could possibly get some models for maya to learn and practice animation. Since I'm poor, it would awesome to get a hold of a free character or something...but since that may very well be unlikely I would also be willing to lease or buy a model so I could play with at home and learn this animation thing. Thanks.

[titaniumdave]

http://www.andrewsilke.com/generi_rig/generi_rig.html heres one free maya rig.

[mmkelly011881]

lots of free rigs out there for maya.. just gotta know where to start
one good way to find it is to click on that search button at the top and type in free rig maya

a few good ones

macaroniKazoo's Primo Boy Rig
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=168324

Andrew Silke's Generi Rig
http://www.andrewsilke.com/generi_rig/generi_rig.html

Package Man
http://www.rigging101.com/

and IKJOE
also http://www.rigging101.com/


and to give credit.. i believe that packagemand and ikjoe were made by goosh and lluis llobera

[daraand]

http://www.simplymaya.com/

has SOME free (and good!) maya tutorials on animation as well :)

[olioli]

thanks everyone :bounce:
cant wait to play :buttrock:

[immerzeelpictures]

Will the newsletter come today? I hope so. Bobby said next week a week ago, so it should be this week.

The suspense is killing me!!

[clockwerkz]

Hopefully the newsletter comes today. I keep checking my e-mail(s) frequently!


cW

[Bentagon]

me too... I'm getting more and more excited every second! I'm even taking life drawing classes because of it now :thumbsup:

- Bentagon

[alexandrecollac]

They didn´t send the newsletter :sad: , till now.

Just sit and wait.....

[Landis]

WOW! Just finished reading the "Unoficial A.M. FAQ" and I must say that I am pretty excited! The only problem now is that I have absolutley no idea how to change the day from having 24 hours to 30...hopefully someone is working on an invention as we speak. Well, :rolleyes: I guess I can plan on running into some of the first batch of graduates at next years Siggraph (in L.A.). ThatwayI can pick their brains and possibly recieve a bit of feedback. I definately plan on attending A.M....its only a matter of when I can do it. Guess I am in the same boat as you guys right now; keep doing what I'm doing and keep checking my inbox for the newsletter. :cry: ...WHY MEEEE?! Sorry...just wanted to type that...thought it went well with the little emoticon.

Cheers,
Landis

[RobW720]

The only problem now is that I have absolutley no idea how to change the day from having 24 hours to 30...
get all the robots to vent at once. yay futurama. except that only gave them a week... we need more robots.

[Landis]

LOL! Nice.

[alexandrecollac]

I would like to know in detail in what consist the AMOnline program to each course, what they are going to teach in each part of the one year course?

Maybe they are going to give this info in the next newsletter

[oshiroii]

Anyone got the newsletter yet? It's monday now so....

[kujo79]

has anyone found out when registration start yet? i recall someone mentioning september. i checked the site...and its the same. if anyone has info, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Bentagon]

december.

- Bentagon

[kujo79]

thanks, do u know what day exactly? theres gonna be alot of applicants and i wanna make sure i dont miss it. i know ure gonna mention the letterhead. i used to get it, but i havent gotten the new one

[Bentagon]

there is no new newsletter yet ;)
anyways, I don't remember them giving a specific date, but I'm guessing it'll be the first.

- Bentagon

[alexandrecollac]

Hello Kujo, they didn´t send the other newsletter, we are all waiting :wise: , they didn´t told us the day that it is going to happen. They just said that the subscription is going to be in december and the course will start in january.

Prices are a mistery too.

[animboom]

Thanks for being patient with the delay in the newsletter. There will be a fair bit of new good info for people to soak up. At least people can't say we're spamming them too much. hee haa. :scream:

-BOOOM

[DangerAhead]

This thread needs to be terminated. It's just a bitch session now.

[Stychentyme]

......."This thread needs to be terminated. It's just a bitch session now."

It is? Since when?

Seems like a pretty sociable thread to me.

[kujo79]

animation mentors can spam me all day long....wooohoooo

[Rabid pitbull]

Spam away.:scream: It will be nice to get more details in the newsletter, really getting excited about this now. Now all of you reading this thread need to go on vacation in December!!

[clockwerkz]

......."This thread needs to be terminated. It's just a bitch session now."

It is? Since when?

Seems like a pretty sociable thread to me.
Yeah ditto.. what's so wrong about people excited about a new form of learning from arguably some of the best talent in animation today? More over, what's wrong about us all drooling over it? :-)

cW

[DangerAhead]

Eh. I suppose you're right. I guessI just wanted to bitch... I'm done now.

I just can't wait for it either so I keep checking back every now and then and discover the date has been shifted back more. grumble grumble.

I feel like we've all been "teased."

[maninflash]

I have a few suggestions based on guessing, if Carlos or Bobby ever read this forum,

I think it would be more reachable to a broader range of people if they break the mentoring into packages, price-wise, like maybe some people (probably me too!) wouldn't be able to afford the whole animation course but want to have only professional crit on their animation excercises they've done. This could be the basic package, maybe the next level up would be crit plus access to use the reference videos and images, and so on.

Nowadays, almost every city has an art school with animation course, so, if animation mentor is going to have a one course, one price, that would cost as much as AAC or Ringling, it's pointless because the only reason most people can't get animation education in the first place is because they couldn't afford it, not becasue they were located on a desert island somewhere in Pacific ocean with Tom Hanks. :)

[AjaBogdanoff]

maninflash, I have to disagree.... If you look back on the almost 60 pages of posts here :D , I think you'll find that AM.com has more than enough "demand" for their product. I certainly hope they don't charge an arm and a leg, but I seriously doubt that they'll have trouble filling seats at almost any price. Personally, I'm ready to sell half of my stuff and live in my car if I get in. :D (I could run my computer off the cigarrette lighter!)

And yeah, a lot of big cities in the US have an art school with an "animation course", but how many of those go deep enough to really teach someone what they need to get a job in the field? I mean, I live in a small town with three colleges and a community arts school, and even then, there's nothing for me here. The closest actual animation program is 2 hours away at a technical school, and it takes 3 years and something like $90K. Heh. And even then, I wouldn't be learning from The Incredible Misters Baena, Beck, and Kelly! :)

So yeah, maninflash, I wouldn't say it's "pointless" by any means. ;)

[maninflash]

Yes, well, maybe I got it all wrong after all. I thought Animation Mentor is going to bring animation education to talented people (not talking about meself!) who could NOT afford good animation schools.

But if it's just another great animation school which only happens to be online to make money and of course teach animation, then I'd take my comment back.

You know what I would do if I were going to start something like that, I would only charge my overhead and forget about making any profit, you have no idea how many talented people are out there (again, not myself) who could become the next Olie Johnson or Frank Tomas or John Lasseter if only they could afford geeting into Academy of Arts in Frisco or Ringling.

Just my thoughts, not to be taken against AM, it's a good idea regardless of how much it's gonna cost. I personally would sell ALL my stuff INCLUDING my car to get in, only problem is, I don't have a car. :)

[Stychentyme]

Yes, Maninflash,.... I guess you did get it wrong after all.

Animation Mentor is going to be an Online Animation School to teach anyone who wants to learn. It doesn't just happen to be online,..... it being online is the whole point! The idea being that anyone with an internet connection can attend.

No-one knows yet how much the school is gonna cost,.... but it IS gonna cost! I don't believe it will be the most expensive school around,..... but it's not going to be the cheapest. The classes are being taught by people in the industry. This is going to be a massive undertaking. You can't expect industry professionals to take time out from work and teach classes for no money.

I might not be able to afford it myself, and many others will be in the same boat. But, I understand that they have to charge what they feel is fair and right. In the end, whatever the cost turns out to be, I'm sure it will be worth it.

[keenasmustard]

Nowadays, almost every city has an art school with animation course, so, if animation mentor is going to have a one course, one price, that would cost as much as AAC or Ringling, it's pointless because the only reason most people can't get animation education in the first place is because they couldn't afford it, not becasue they were located on a desert island somewhere in Pacific ocean with Tom Hanks.Maninflash: Your comment gave me a giggle! I am located on a desert island somewhere in the Pacific ocean. (well actually between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean lol)... Australia! We have animation schools, but they are few and far between and from what I can gather, no where in the same calibre as Ringling etc. Then there are people here from smaller nations, who have even less on offer to them. That's one of the points of AM, that no matter where we are, whether it be LA or Timbuktu, if we've got access to it via internet, we've got access to people who are legendary in the business who want to teach us! I'm not having a go at you, but I couldn't resist responding to the geography issue. :)

I do get your point though. People who DO have access to the better schools around, might scratch their heads and wonder whether doing AM as well as their BFA is worth it. From what I've gathered from the excitement in here from people who have been or are still at art schools, I think the answer is yes.

And yeah, a lot of big cities in the US have an art school with an "animation course", but how many of those go deep enough to really teach someone what they need to get a job in the field? I totally agree with this comment from Aja B. With the exception of the "better reputed schools", there are plenty out there who teach some "Mickey Mouse" "ridgy didge" stuff, and by the time you finish, you wonder where all your money went, you don't feel you learnt anything useful, never mind anything about getting a job. No offence to the few excellent lecturers out there who love to teach and are good at what they do (they're really the exception to the rule), but did you ever wonder how good some must be, if they're teaching full time, instead of being out there in the trenches themselves? Many have never even worked in the industry.

That's the obvious difference with AM. The fact that we're provided with assistance with showreels and have someone "in the know" to actually critique it for us, is a sensational opportunity. They know what companies are looking for and they know what they are looking for NOW, rather than "5 years ago" when some lecturers actually set foot into a studio.

[maninflash]

Okay, it seems that I'd gotten it all wrong! "...End of story, see you later."

But still, I think breaking down the Animation Mentor into different packages price-wise would make it more accessable to not-so-wealthy people, wether they care about them or not.

Michael

P.S. Keen As Mustard, :)

[AjaBogdanoff]

Hey maninflash, don't go! We don't mean to gang up on you. :)

You're definitely right that having different price plans would help out people who can't afford the full-blown program... and who knows, maybe they'll do it after all!

[oshiroii]

Hmmm, I believe it is already split up in different packages. The whole course consists out of 4 parts, 1 being the easiest and 4 the hardest. So if you think you're a super ninja animator you might want to skip to level 2 or 3 (after a test I suppose) This would mean you could do a "workshop or whatever you want to call it" for 3/4 months and do the others later, or not at all. This might help a little bit with money problems, since you don't have to pay for a full year/course.

Please note that I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe I've seen Bobby or Shawn mentioning it in page 11 or some page way back.

-shiroii :D

[alexandrecollac]

Finally they sent the newsletter :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[My Fault]

I can't believe that Bobby is leaving Pixar! Anyone doubting the dedication these guys have for Animation Mentor are nutz. Wow, Bobby, you rule!

Much BOOMing and Kit Kat eating shall commence :)

Brian

[alexandrecollac]

:eek: I just ... don´t have words.....


Please January come as fast as you can

[animboom]

Yo, Bobby Beck here.

Before anyone worries about why they did not get the newsletter we are switching newsletter services and just wanted to get it to the first batch of people. We will be resending it again by weeks end. I hope you all enjoy, and thanks again for all your support.

I'll take you up on those Kit Kats baby:scream: YYEEEEE OWWWW

-BOOOM

[mmkelly011881]

GAAAHAHH IM AT WORK AND CANT CHECK MY EMAIL... stupid stupid stupid... only 4 more hours


edit: nm THANK GOD FOR WEBMAIL!:bounce:

edit again: GAAAHH no Quicktime!

Just keeps on getting better :)

edit yet again: FINALLY GOT TO SEE THE LESSON PLAN WOOOHOOO!
unbelievable work guys.. i cant wait.. can i just give you my first born child as payment??

btw Bobby Carlos and Shawn, incredible thing you are doing here.
great to see such dedication to a project, laying it all down to bring animation to the world

good luck to Bobby on this being your full time "Thing!"

hopefully AM: Online will become a long term project and maybe one day i'll be teaching next to you all :)

[SheepFactory]

I am ready and waiting with my trusty credit card!

:)

[My Fault]

I'll take you up on those Kit Kats baby:scream: YYEEEEE OWWWW

-BOOOM
My credit card is waiting to not only join Animation Mentor but also to see just how many Kit Kats the BOOM-meister general can eat at one sitting :)

[oshiroii]

Goody! I didn't go to sleep!!! Actually I did, but I got this master animation idea, so I got all excited and when I logged on to MSN, a good friend of mine told me about the new letter :D I can't sleep now! The site is going soooooooooooo slow, WHY ARE YOU ALL DOWNLOADING RIGHT NOW!!!???
I'm off reading!!!

EDIT: OMGOGMGOGMGOGMGOGMGOGMGOGMGOGMGOGM The teaser is SOOOOOOO cool 5:30 minutes, drool, It's so cool, I'll never manage to sleep again this night OMGOGMGOGMGOGMGGOOGM. ti's so cool, I WANNA JOING NOW!!! :D

[nimajneb]

UGH! This is going to be like trying to sign up for classes at college, with a school about the size of a small city all trying to get into the same course. Lucky this is going to be online, someone would get trampled to death.

[Jozvex]

Yay, that second teaser was really cool.

Now I must compare every letter of their newsletter to the unofficial FAQ...

[immerzeelpictures]

I am satisfied ..... For the moment. HUNGRY ! neeed mmooooreee.

Well the next one is going to be the seperator of men and boys (also feminine version). Pricing.

Well I can't sell my soul anymore, some horned fella got that one already.
Hope it will be within my budget and I get in with the first wave.

I think it will be crowded with lots of elbow work. I have my helmet (and groin protector against the dirty bastards) on stand by.

But I am very happy with the update, even if the tone in this message seems kind of negative.:thumbsup:

[erilaz]

Greatest respect to Bobby for such dedication. You honour us all. I'm serious mate, this is an inspiration.

But enough seriousness! The teaser class is brilliant! I can't wait to get going with this thing! I'd use a lot of bouncy smileys, but I'd probably be banned from posting so many. :D



One small question. I have a holiday in Cambodia coming up between late december and mid january. Is it likely I'll miss out on enrollment? I REALLY don't want to miss out on the first sitting if I can.

[clockwerkz]

I cannot agree with erilaz anymore. Bobby is putting it on the table. Dedication, commitment, and inspiration at it's best, my friends. More importantly, it's leadership.


I'm finally able to type after just being blown away and awestruck. I even caught myself drooling at one point. That newsletter was more than worth the wait. My credit card is ready to go!!


cW

<edit>
I just watched the sneak peek again. I can't believe the amount of pointers just tossed in there! That whole section from Carlos Baena on eyebrows.. I kept saying to myself "Nooo $h!t!!" And arc reversals in action.. just mind numbing.

[Mechis]

Does anyone know if these videos/critiques are going to be downloadable onto a computer? I realize that this leaves them open to piracy, but it would be nice to be able to watch videos over and over again or to store for future reference, without having to download them each time.
Thanks,
~Mechis

[jono338]

OMG. He quit PIXAR. I wonder if he told anyone he was going off his medication?

Just kidding. Hang on. No, that IS crazy! Well, I can't imagine it, anyway.

It certainly shows they're serious about this thing, but it hasn't done anything good for my pricing paranoia. Breathe. Keep breathing.

:)

Cheers,
Jono

[mayakindaguy]

Well, what can I say...oh, why not... :bounce:. Sorry, just couldn't help myself.

And

here's a :thumbsup: for Mr. "Boom" Beck for taking charge of A.M. Really appreciate the fact that you're dedicating your full time to the program. Wow.

Oh, does anyone remember how registration works. Are we still going by the order people registered for the newsletter originally or is there going to be a stampede of people on the day registration opens?

Well, either way I don't think I'll sleep a wink the week before registration starts. Oh, no...
that's not a good idea. I might accidentally doze off.

Now if I could only figure out how to freeze time like that Evee girl from Another World. It's quite simple, just push index fingers and abra kazaam! alla kadabra! ollie ollie oxen free? *mumbles and mutters @#$%@#$%@"

[Mechis]

I got a pm about my earlier post, so I just want to make it clear that in no way, shape or form am I planning on pirating or sharing videos. I just wanted to know if the vids were going be downloadable (for easy viewling later) or if they were going to be in flash and non downloadable.

Thanks,
~Mechis

[andy_maxman]

with every mail from AM i get jitters and goosebumps and i keep scrolling through the page wishing if i could read it all together.

makes me cry to be onboard the AM bus in january and if i'm not - hey AM crew you will be repsonsible for breaking this little guys little heart...

sob!sob!

andy

[olioli]

Does anyone know the price of a 12 week animation course at a large traditional art school?
Just trying to prepare myself for the price anncouncement...

[JoshBowman]

I hope they don't do it in order of who signed up for the newsletter, i just changed my email address and even though i was one of the first to sign up for at the site i would now be almost the last because i had to resign up.

[RobW720]

oh, i dunno. depends on the school it can be between a grand and two grand. maybe more maybe less.

[andy_maxman]

I hope they don't do it in order of who signed up for the newsletter, i just changed my email address and even though i was one of the first to sign up for at the site i would now be almost the last because i had to resign up.
hey it never occured to me.
i submitted my work email id and what if i shift my job by dec-jan? how would i be notified?

to the AM crew-
is there an option to submit an alternative email id as a safety measure?
thanks
andy

[oshiroii]

Does anyone know if these videos/critiques are going to be downloadable onto a computer? I realize that this leaves them open to piracy, but it would be nice to be able to watch videos over and over again or to store for future reference, without having to download them each time.
Thanks,
~Mechis

I've got the teaser on my hard disk right now. I couldn't download it properly, but somehow I got a pop-up with the link. I inserted that in some other browser and I had a direct download. That's pretty nice. I suppose it could be like that with the full working AM too. Besides, if you use IE you have this nice "temp folder" in which eveything is stored, so you'd have it on you harddisk anywayz if you set up IE properly. Plus there are quite some softwares on the market to capture streaming video, you could also use a video capturing program to capture the entire screen etc etc etc. I'd personally love to have the vids on a hard-disk, just for reference, reviewing lessons etc. Pirating AMonline would be like the most evilist crime ever. People are working really hard for this, being incredably generous to give the n00bies such an oppertunity. If you'd pirate AMonline it'd be a real shame :hmm:

About piracy, AM is not about the video's, but about the community and the communication with the teacher. You'll get a teacher who will talk to you, judge your work, give personal advise and tips. That's what it's about. Of course the video's will help and I'm sure you can learn lots of things from it, but it's all about communication (and I suppose you could make some good insider contacts too :p)

[Bentagon]

Bobby, I have a question (I've asked this at the preparation forum too, just to be sure you read it http://216.40.206.219/boardimages/grin.gif)

I want to become the best animator possible, and since I'll only be 18 next month, time is not a problem. What would you advice?? Take the 1-year option, and when that's finished, practice practice, practice, ór take the 2-year option, with the ability to practice on the basics more, and get critique on my improved versions of my animations (since we'll have one talk in a week and it's 2 weeks for one assignement)?? What's the best? I'd personnaly say the second, but since you're a pro and creating these lessons, you'll probably know best http://216.40.206.219/boardimages/wink.gif

thanks a lot! And before I forget, tremendous newsletter! It gets me hyperhyped up again! Truly inspirational thing you've done there!

- Bentagon

[nimajneb]

My guess it with all the interest it'll likely go by lottery.

[alexandrecollac]

One question is not answered yet.



How many are going to be the first luck guys???

[RobW720]

nevermind this post :-D

[Mike Pauza]

Bobby:

I know you guys don't want droves of students because it will water down what you are offering. But, this thread has over 75,000 views...WOW!!! I'm afraid that if you only take say 300 students at a time, that most of us will never get a chance to enroll.

Please, please, please...if demand is MUCH greater than you can supply, please reconsider selling the DVD's, or hire more animators! What good is stellar animation training if most people who want it can't get it?



Thanks for your efforts. :):):) -Mike Pauza

[oshiroii]

I visit this forum like 3 times a day. I visit with every update. I visit just for fun. I visit just to check if maybe my userCP might be broken and there's some huge announcement I didn't got noticed from. I visit out of bordom. I visit sometimes even over 3 times a day. As long as the 75 000 is IP independent it is all me!!! :D

[Bentagon]

Correct, and most of the replyers replied lots of times. I think more then half of my total post count is in this thread :p

- Bentagon

[Matias]

Bobby:

I know you guys don't want droves of students because it will water down what you are offering. But, this thread has over 75,000 views...WOW!!! I'm afraid that if you only take say 300 students at a time, that most of us will never get a chance to enroll.

Please, please, please...if demand is MUCH greater than you can supply, please reconsider selling the DVD's, or hire more animators! What good is stellar animation training if most people who want it can't get it?



Thanks for your efforts. :):):) -Mike Pauza
that could be great.. Mike! but,..

1: More animators its very risky (at this time).. i mean.. AMOnline its a new online school, lot of things have to be tested.. if their like it.. if students like it.. if they can handle it..and lot of other things.. or problems that they will have to work on in the future. Im sure they will succeed in all the ways possible , but.. all things have their own time to grow up..


2: I think that AMOnline is offering a dedicated training to their students.. so.. maybe selling dvds is not on their mind right now, but could be then.. ;)


Im sure that all the people here in this threat, want to have a place in AMOnline.. so we have to wait.. couse this guys are really working hard to turn our dreams into a reality.


Hope.. :)

matias.

[mlanser]

75000? than i don't wanna know, what the animationmentor's site is dealing with!?

[alexandrecollac]

Hello all,

i received a strange e-mail yesterday from some animation mentor mailist and i don´t know if it is real or some of this fuc.. as.. virus. I just want to know if somebody else received this mail too and if the Animation Mentor guys are sending this????

[titaniumdave]

I just got the email too, actually I got two of them.

[Andreyev]

Yap, I've recieved the same... I think that this is from AM.

[Holyvirus]

I got the two emails too.

Yo, Bobby Beck here.

Before anyone worries about why they did not get the newsletter we are switching newsletter services and just wanted to get it to the first batch of people. We will be resending it again by weeks end. I hope you all enjoy, and thanks again for all your support.

I'll take you up on those Kit Kats baby:scream: YYEEEEE OWWWW

-BOOOM
That is the reason why, nothing to worry about.

[Elysium]

Yup....Also got 2 of 'em...:curious:

[snku]

i got them too
i think that they setup a mailing list that the subscribers can use to discuss with eachother about AM.

[Bentagon]

That ánd, more importantly, you can change your e-mail adress. This means no more useless mails being sent.

- Bentagon

[eek]

i got two emails, then another from someone called: xtaz.mentor <xtaz.mentor@terra.com.br>

To: <animationmentor.com@mylist.net> Subject: [Animationmentor.com] just to say hell
Hi Mentors and list :

Its a pleasure to participate in this list, the anxiety is big for starting to work and to participate of this ingenious system of education with the monsters of the world-wide animation .....

Good Luck to all

Peace

Xtaz


Now i dont want 75,000 mails hitting my inbox!

eek

[Andreyev]

:-) I have received the same, but didn't pay too much attention to this letter...
Well, let's hope for the best!
:hmm:

[Andreyev]

Well, I guess everything is clear now about this XTaz :-)
Did everybody receive a new letter just now?

[optical op]

Received a couple of mails about this too, and it does look sooooooo cool. But, I have yet to find out about the cost. No doubt something like this will not be cheap! But hey, if you want the best, you need to pay top dollar. Lets wait and see

[animboom]

Hey, all. Bobby Beck here. Yes, the email is from the new newsletter service. They make new lists send out this email as a way to have your name taken off if you choose to. I have made it as a simple link on the newsletter in case anyone looses this email. No biggies, I hope. Sorry for the extra email.

We're not about sending spam so I do aplologize for the added email (or two).

-BOOOM

[mahir]

I received my 2 e-mails too.
There's no special benefits for those who get them right? *secretly hoping that there are actually :P*

[Opelfruits]

i feel left out, i didnt get any emails:sad:

[oshiroii]

So I'm still subscribed right? I'm sure I can get to any up-coming letters if I wouldn't get one, but still.... No secret confermation links? Just to be sure :D

[eek]

Right, just for clarifacation the two emails weve gotten: ' Welcome to Animation Mentor' that bring up this page (http://mylist.net/listinfo/animationmentor.com) are nothing.

So basically they re-sent the newsletter, using there new server, right?

And this taz.mentor is just some whos subscribed to this mailing list and not newsletter?

ok....


OK?:curious:


eek

[Bentagon]

I think the new server allowed members to send emails as well, what this xtaz guy was doing. I've just got another email, though, that says this option is now switched off. Or am I wrong??

- Bentagon

[clockwerkz]

I recieved two e-mails from AM mentor as well. Plus that xtaz e-mail and I also got an e-mail for penile enlargement. What the hell is going on around here???

Hehehe, just kidding. :-)


Seeing that preview again (teaser 2.0) gets me going. This is going to rock.

cW

[mr_wowtrousers]

Hmm, I've not received any emails either and signed up a few weeks ago . . . I would like to at least get confirmation that I am on the list.

[titaniumdave]

Seeing that preview again (teaser 2.0) gets me going. This is going to rock.

I downloaded it to my desktop so I can watchi it over and over and over. :thumbsup:

[mlanser]

i've received the two mails as well as mainly everyone here. but it took some days between adding myself to it and finally get an email.

[immerzeelpictures]

Mike Pauza has a point. Even if there are reoccuring pageviews on this thread from the same posters, but don't forget there is an AM interested group outside of CGTalk (hard to imagine nowadays)

I do not know any figures and suck at math to give a scale to this, but all I do know is that the ratio Mentor/student will be VERY off balanced.

The number of mentors are the limiting factor. I suggest Carlos, Bobby and Shawn should visit the same doctor as Michael Keaton in Multiplicity (but with better results).

Another point will be the subscribe date, this will be brutal. I think seats will sell faster than the average rock concert. I will bet on max. 1 hour, if the AM server holds. I hope this thing is liquid-cooled and iron-plated to withstand the heat and load.

Maybe a sort of lottery (register until certain date, random select max. candidates which can enter the course) can solve this peak load and give everybody an equal chance.

I also know that AM is about Quality, not Quantity and it is hard to give everyone a place. Lots of people will miss the first boat and if it is as popular as I think it is, there will be a loooong line for a looong time.

So you will have to be or very lucky or very patient to get in.

[keenasmustard]

I recieved two e-mails from AM mentor as well. Plus that xtaz e-mail and I also got an e-mail for penile enlargement. What the hell is going on around here???

Clock, you're a crack up! :D

[RayenD]

Another point will be the subscribe date, this will be brutal. I think seats will sell faster than the average rock concert.


We don't know the price yet, but personally I don't think it will be that brutal...

[mlanser]

We don't know the price yet, but personally I don't think it will be that brutal...
Let's hope. but otherwise this will cause, that it's gonna be sold out faster than a britney spears concert.

[Andreyev]

Let's hope. but otherwise this will cause, that it's gonna be sold out faster than a britney spears concert.

Yeah you so right dude :)
Well, about the price - especially I will not buy it - I think it will cost too mush for me (well, in Ukraine prices are diferent from USA, you know...). And I don't have such a good internet connection to make my studying suitable enought :)

[Magenta_]

hi there, have anyone tried to post to animationmentor.com@mylist.net (http://by15fd.bay15.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=F193456241&a=c436eb3558f303cfa0a328b1a540d5d8&mailto=1&to=animationmentor.com@mylist.net&msg=MSG1096262444.12&start=731494&len=2462&src=&type=x)? when i visit AnimationMentor.com Archives (http://mylist.net/private/animationmentor.com/) the page shows this : "No messages have been posted to this list yet, so the archives are currently empty...". i don´t think no one have posted anything yet...unless it is reserved for the animationmentor group for a while...and if this is true i guess we should wait a little more hahhaahha, ok i think now i´m loosing it...time to go to sleep!

[brit]

Hi

I was wondering if you could be a bight more specific to how many hours a student is expected to spend on there work, obviously i want to be the best possibe animator i can. I also know a part time MA in animation i would be expect to do about 20 hours a week, i wanted to know so I can ascertain whether it is feasible to fit around full time employment.

Cheers

[clockwerkz]

brit,

I work full time, so I'll be planning to give as much attention to AM when it starts in Jan, assuming I'm one of the first people in. I'm clearing a lot off my plate to really focus on AM. Remember though, there are two options you can do. The 1 assignment a week option, or the 1 assignment every 2 weeks. So if you're strapped for time, you can do the extended assignment option. :-)


There hasn't been much activity on this thread. I refuse to see it just wane away, though! Hehehe.. I guess we're all just on holding pattern for the next news. I hope Bobby's doing ok.. has he posted ever since what was to be his last day at Pixar?

cW

[Bentagon]

I still have a question: will I be able to subscribe in december for starting in september/october? So I don't have the risk of having to be in line even then...

- Bentagon

[keenasmustard]

Bentagon: I'd like to know the answer to that one too. I'm thinking of coming in with the second intake if I can and would like to know when that will be and if I can remain in the "queue"?

Also, to keep the thread going (Clock, I still check this every day I can!), people mentioned Kit Kats a fair while back, what's that all about?

[RayenD]

people mentioned Kit Kats a fair while back, what's that all about?
An old joke from 90's ;)

[clockwerkz]

Wow this thread has really gone dormant. Anybody have any word on AM? Maybe secretly all of you have already signed up and are taking classes and I have been lef behind?? That would suck for me.


cW

[olioli]

not knowing the price is killing me :bounce:

[Mooncalf]

I'm sure the thread will pick up again once there's more news, or more newsletters. :) My enthusiasm hasn't died, and I'm sure no one else's has, either. We're all just waiting, waiting, waiting... and you know what they say about those who wait: good things come to them. ;)

Meantime, hey everyone, why not hop on over to:
http://animationgroup.proboards30.com

A bunch of CGTalk regulars, (and specifically regulars from this thread!), have been practicing basic exercises in anticipation (no pun intended) of AMonline. Come on over to critique and get critiqued! I've already learned tons of stuff, and I know I'm going to learn a buncha buncha more.

The water's fine, and the folks are friendly beyond friendly. So what are you waiting for? Bouncing balls, pendulums, and whatever else we can come up with. Don't wait for AMonline to start your education, eh? :)

- M

[Mooncalf]

- double post... sorry -

[titaniumdave]

Thanks for the link Mooncalf, just signed up. :thumbsup:

[clockwerkz]

Very true, Mooncalf. I just like seeing this post and seeing new info. Plus I really hope Bobby Beck is doing ok. Remember he split from Pixar and I don't think he's posted since? Maybe he took a little mini vacation? :-)

cW

[skelly6]

heh heh... if you look up the definition of "vacation" in the dictionary and then figure out the exact opposite of that definition - that's what Bobby's doing right now. :)

I think he took about a 10 minute vacation after leaving Pixar before jumping into AM:Online fulltime. He's already doing a bang-up, and is heavy into the beta-testing phase too...

Glad to hear you guys are still excited! Sorry we can't be posting as often as we like - we're working hard to make sure we get the school polished up all nice and shiny in time for January!

It's awesome that you guys are doing practice excercises, by the way! Keep it up! That enthusiasm will take you far...

shawn ;)

[clockwerkz]

Well, after the 120% you all are putting into this, I think you all deserve a vacation! Hehehe. Hey that's awesome though, that he dove into this full-time. Lot's of guts and dedication.

:)

[animboom]

Vacation? Haa haa haa.

I haven't posted for a bit because I've been pretty full on AnimationMentor and getting some awesome stuff ready for the launch.

-Deep in beta testing mode currently.

-The next Newsletter will be "the one" everyone has been waiting for. Basically we unleash all the juicey stuff people have been waiting for. ;) Hang tight. We will be looking to get it out most likely sometime in early November.

Life is good and I am definiely staying creative and challenged. Word up!

-BOOOM

[clockwerkz]

There, you see Mooncalf? I told you not to worry... :wise: hehehe j/k




cW :)

[Mooncalf]

Hey Shawn and Bobby,

Thanks for the quick responses.... it's like, every time someone posts in this thread, a big AMonline signal is spotlighted into the cloudy skies above Gotham, and before you can say "To the Batcave, Robin!" the Mentors show up to inspire and tantalize us. :)

Thanks again, Bobby, and Shawn, and Carlos, for putting together this amazing opportunity, and always being there to answer questions, and get everyone super excited.

Seriously, the pumped-uppedness that AMonline has caused... man, oh man, I hope I can be that inspirational someday.

Here's looking towards December and January.... now back to working on my side-steppin' guy. :)

- M

[oshiroii]

I wanna have the newsletter now :cry:


^.^ lol

[L.Rawlins]

So....... 'Animation Mentor' requires its students to have the appropriate software before-hand then?

Because that's not a cheap problem to solve (legally) and would suggest that this online course is going to work out horrendously expensive, compared to 'real-world' institutions that pay for the software licenses and teachings through 'tuition fees'.

Or are we expected to complete the online classes through the 'Learning Editions' and trials of software? Which gives you about 30 days to perfect your work and/or limited saving capacities.

Or are the mechanics of this 'AM' incorporating the basic animation tools through a GUI for us all to perfect the teachings equally?

I read a handful of posts in this expansive thread but found no evidence of this question being posed or answered. Though, admittedly, I hadn't the time to read every post here so this may be a question already answered.

[titaniumdave]

Or are we expected to complete the online classes through the 'Learning Editions' and trials of software? Which gives you about 30 days to perfect your work and/or limited saving capacities.
Maya PLE is free and doesn't have day limits or save limits. Anyways you're learning animation so really you could use any software. Probably the only difference off the top of my head are the tool names which is easy to get over.

[Bentagon]

If you'd read the FAQ on www.animationmentor.com (http://www.animationmentor.com), you'd have seen that the course is meant for all kinds of animators. Their software will be maya, but they keep on saying that it's about the artist, not about the tool.

I watch that sneak peak every three days :D I just can't wait!! I want to do this sooo badly, I'd even take two or three jobs I hate!

keep on rockin', mentors!

- Bentagon

[alexandrecollac]

The question of the SketcH01 is good and no, nobody asked some similar question like this. Don´t know if the AM Online guys thought or will think about this matter in the time when they will announce the prices, because they told us that this is going to cost similar to a normal college course, but in the college course we can use their software for "free", we don´t have to buy some Maya or 3DMax license. So in a normal college class you pay only for the class, different of AM Online that we are going to pay for Classes + Software license, and that maya version is not that cheap, if you go to other countries where the dollar is very expensive this start to be a BIG problem. Don´t know if they are going to consider this to set the prices. Don´t want to be against them too, i´m just trying to speculate about this matter, i´m one of the guys that is more enthusiastic about this course.

I hope Bobby, Shawn and Carlos keep this INCREDIBLES work, love everything they posted so far. Keep going guys

[titaniumdave]

Well this isn't a normal college course. :) I think its something bigger and better. As far as software goes, like I said maya ple free and there are other free versions of the big name software. If you want a commercial license then look at the cheaper software, ie xsi foundation or animation master. But like I said earlier they're not teaching you cg they're teaching you animation. The theories transfer over to any app. Alot of people that learn animation outside of school use books so which software did they use?

[Rabid pitbull]

The question of software definitly has come up before. They have said that you can use whatever you like, just that they will only explain how to get said result using maya. They have also stated that yes it can be done with the maya ple (yuck watermark though..), it will not time out and is fully featured. Also it has been said that a maya educational version will be available for like $495 as well.

I think the cost of software will be small compared to the overall program cost anyway. I am planning on using xsi foundation since it is a very capable animation package, I am willing to figure out the translation from maya to xsi on my own. Again this program is focusing on animation and not software, they have said that there a 3 lessons explaining the maya toolset the rest will focus on animation principles.

[fattyLees]

So....... 'Animation Mentor' requires its students to have the appropriate software before-hand then?

Because that's not a cheap problem to solve (legally) and would suggest that this online course is going to work out horrendously expensive, compared to 'real-world' institutions that pay for the software licenses and teachings through 'tuition fees'.

I don't know how it is at other schools, but I went to AAC errr university now I guess...anyways, there was tuition PLUS lab fees that equaled about 150 a semester or more. Paying $500 for a program doesn't seem too bad considering you would pay more in lab fees at a school over the course of a few years. That is of course if you plan on paying for software...did I say that outloud?

[titaniumdave]

I wonder if signup for this would make you able to buy student versions of the various apps.

[Bentagon]

I think the newsletter said you will be able to buy the Maya student version, and that AM Online was trying to get an even cheaper deal with Alias.

- Bentagon

[alexandrecollac]

I know all this about the software is just the tool, but what i was trying to say was about prices, in a normal College course. My concern was about payng for example $600 in a normal college and the same in AM Online, but if you compare in a normal College you would have the rights to use their dependences and softwares what is different in AM Online where you are going to pay only for the classes ( you will need a computer, fast internet and software). So i thought that it was not going to be "fair " paying the same for less. But with this info of fattyLees about lab fees things changed in my mind.:)

[dimension10]

$600?? where are you taking classes?

[clockwerkz]

Folks, this has been covered already. The point is that they will be teaching animation, and it's not a "how-to" in using programs. You could do this class with a piece of paper and a pencil.
Secondly, I believe they made mention that they are working with Alias to allow students to purchase the academic version of Maya, and it's NOT Maya PLE. It's a full fledge version of Maya, but sometimes they just have a 1 year license option or something. And I think that's in the ballpark of about 500 beans or so, US dollars.
I think if worse comes to worse, and you can't get Maya, then just pick up something like Hash: Animation Master, and basically figure out the differences, which won't be many. If you do go with Hash, Jeff Lew puts out a great DVD that will get you started.
So therefore, the program isn't really the issue. What they'll be teaching can be applied to anything.

fatty: I was following that piece you were doing on Dan Ackroid.. "DIsney channel for freee.." Did you ever finish that one? That was looking really good. :)


cW

[arona]

really i think its a great place. but theres some points in it:

i think these classes couldnt involve all aspects that animation has, but they can give some things that probably usual colleges couldnt.

and again i think that they can not make an mateure one a good animator, they can change a professional(or maby at least intermediate) one in to a more professional one. this could be especially good for these stages. i just dont want you to waste your money, time or both and on the otherhand maby at last be a weak point for AM online :shrug: .

im one of those who signed up and obviously its good for all of us to knowing more about this...


and at last that these are just my opinions, you know better what to do :D :thumbsup: .

[titaniumdave]

Ofcourse education alone can't do it all for you, its only half of the equation. The other half is you practicing and pushing towards your goals.

[arona]

i mean even in the education case, they cant give all aspects. theres differences in usual types of classes and online. even that online one(especially this one with great animators for teaching) has many powers than usual ones it has its weakneses too.

[andy_maxman]

just wanted to bump in and say .....
here i go with my usual bouts of 'goosebumps' ....***shivers***
i'm dying to hear the mentor scream - ' all onBoard '
amen!

[alexandrecollac]

$600?? where are you taking classes?That was just an example, i´m not taking any animation course.

arona - I agree with you they can´t talk about everything in animation, they don´t even know everything about it. But it is not their point, i think. Some things are over expected in this thread (don´t know if i said the right words), the purpose of AM Online is not to make you a super ultra high ninja animator, what these guys are going to do is to teach a high level course covering every aspect of animation they know or they can, and the best, it is to all. You don´t need to submit a portfolio or travel far far away to go to college you can do it from home but the rest of course depends on you. You make your own destine.

I have a question to the mentors, i think i already asked this but no one answered me.
I know we will have the option to choose between two paces in the course (one year or two), but i really don´t know how much time i´m going to need to follow their taught, i don´t know too much about animation, and i have this problem in my mind, i´d never been in any animation class and i really don´t know how much time i would expend to learn and master a new animation concept. I know too that every body is diferent but i want just something to use as abase when the time to choose my pace comes. Ahh, another thing, if i choose the pace one in the part A of the course and realise that things are going to fast i´ll have the option to change the pace in the middle of the course or in the next course???

[Bentagon]

Since I'm guessing pricing will be different for the fast courses and longer courses, and that you have to pay per course, I think you'll be able to change after finishing one of the courses, but not in the middle of one.

@arona: Of course they won't teach you everything. But I think they will be able to turn total newbies into good animators, if the student is passionate enough. It'd be stupid if they taught you everything, anyways, because learning new things is one of the great parts of animation!

:bounce:

- Bentagon

[olioli]

Since software won't be an issue, I'm planning on using Animation:Master :applause:

[RobW720]

hey, I have a question for yall.

SO we have the faster pace and the slower one, but what if someone picks it up really fast and gets super devoted to it. is there a super pace?

though going to school full time and working weekends it might not be an option for me, but someone out there might blaze through it and want to go faster.

[agreenster]

SO we have the faster pace and the slower one, but what if someone picks it up really fast and gets super devoted to it. is there a super pace?

though going to school full time and working weekends it might not be an option for me, but someone out there might blaze through it and want to go faster.

I dont think the concept should be who can do it the fastest. It's not a race. If you find yourself having free time, then maybe you should do another revision on your animation (or better yet, go to the park or the beach! Or go play some basketball or something! Sometimes I think CG artists forget to LIVE). Even the masters feel there was always room for one more pass. I'd hate to see a thread on CGTalk pop up with posts like, "Oh YEAH?!?! I did Animation Mentor in 4 days!!! OMG Coffee is my best friend!!!"

While I think Animation Mentor is a fantastic opportunity for people to learn from very talented people, there is the possibility of going a bit overboard....everyone is in this huge hurry, when animation really takes a LOT of time and patience....

Easy does it....it'll happen

[titaniumdave]

Well I think the fast pace is probably as fast as you should go. I'd suggest if you finished learning whatever concept it is your learning and have finished you assigned excercises that instead of just pressing on take another pass at it like agreenster and also create your own excercises. You can learn tons of concepts and theories all day but it doesn't matter if you don't take the time to actually put them to use a practice. I learned that lesson the hard way. :argh:

[Martina Lengyel]

Very interesting project

[daraand]

I dont think the concept should be who can do it the fastest. It's not a race. If you find yourself having free time, then maybe you should do another revision on your animation (or better yet, go to the park or the beach! Or go play some basketball or something! Sometimes I think CG artists forget to LIVE). Even the masters feel there was always room for one more pass. I'd hate to see a thread on CGTalk pop up with posts like, "Oh YEAH?!?! I did Animation Mentor in 4 days!!! OMG Coffee is my best friend!!!"

While I think Animation Mentor is a fantastic opportunity for people to learn from very talented people, there is the possibility of going a bit overboard....everyone is in this huge hurry, when animation really takes a LOT of time and patience....

Easy does it....it'll happen

Agreenster you hit it on the nail! I remember this passage from another animation book and I want to share it:

"Art [Babbit - animated queen in Snow White and Geppetto in Pinocchio] maintainted that an animator should be something of a Renaissance man. He should be well-read and be well versed in the arts, including painting, drawing, music, dance and films. In other words, in order to portray life, you needed to understand life." - Tom Roth

Brilliant stuff guys ;)

[oshiroii]

Weew, tons of updates :D Uhm, the software (maya PLE) was questioned before by me. Just wanted to point it out.

I also would like to ask the people to document before they start asking. Now, we're on 65 pages of AMonline information. I recommend reading either all the 65 pages, or the official FAQ (the unnoficial one are notes of the 65 pages so it might save time) I mean, there are some people who are new to this thread and they ask a question that is already asked. I don't want to be a mean, rude or anything like that, but I think it's completely unnecesarry. If you'd go to the maya forum and ask what a spline curve is, they'd tell you:"go to cgtalk.com, log-in and use the search button" We just went talking for like a page about stuff that was already covered. :hmm: Kinda .... usless

My opinion about the 2 cources:
The prices are probably going to be different, but, I think the 2 year cource will be cheaper compared to the one year course. Since you get 1 lesson in 2 weeks instead of 1:1.
I think you can get more out of the 2 year course, because you've got more time. You can relax. You might want to go to friends over the weekend, but you had a busy week. Now, you can relax, because you've got a whole other week to work on the exercices and to learn the materials. You'll give a lot better work then you might have when you would have done it at night, because of the no-time-thing. You can also spend 2 weeks revising the teachings, experimenting with the exercises, polish the exercises. I'd deffinitally go for the second course. :D (and of you have the opportunity to not spend the whole week behind your computer :p)

[steveblake]

..anyone had any experience with ACME OnLine?

http://www.acmeanimation.org/
"PUT YOUR WALLET AWAY! THIS SITE IS FREE!

...a web-based community where a wide variety of professionals from around the world provide engaging challenges in animation, storyboarding, book illustration, comic art and life drawing to a wide-open community of learners and visual arts enthusiasts. This is were you can gain perspectives on your art and animation from peers and professionals from six continents."

...thinking about it - sounds lot like CgTalk...!

:)

[clockwerkz]

I thought I would share this interesting little tidbit with all of my fellow prospective AM students. :-)

There's a local radio station down here that has this morning show radio contest called "You can't win." The premise is that there are a series of 6 questions.. every morning, they take a caller, and they start with question #1. If the callers gets it right, they move on to #2, and so on so. If the caller gets all 6 right, they win a messload of prizes. In fact, every day that someone doesn't win, they add a new CD from Best Buy. They're up to like 120 CDs right now.. and that's just one of the prizes.

Anyhow, question #3 was "65% of all Americans never do this, what is it?"

The answer: 65% of all Americans never get their dream job.

So what does that mean? Well, that means that 35% of people do. And I'm sure that the averages about the same worldwide, assuming you're not under some extreme dictatorship or something. So that's about less than half. Those aren't bad odds. So keep a chin up..there may be hope yet!


cW

[titaniumdave]

Well I say 100% of Dave gets his dream job. :thumbsup:

[agreenster]

Anyhow, question #3 was "65% of all Americans never do this, what is it?"

The answer: 65% of all Americans never get their dream job.


I would say that has more to do with complacency rather than inability. Most of us here are serious enough to get that dream job, that we'll just keep on working until that's accomplished. Most of my friends (both CG and non) got kind of complacent, or satisfied after they graduated college and sort of took whatever job was handed to them. They settled down, popped out a few kids, and are going to live out their lives. (which is totally fine) They may not get their dream job, but they're happy.

Me, on the other hand, will never be happy until I'm doing what I want to do. I wouldnt be satisfied with a graphic design/ad agency job. I had those, and I just dont like em. I want to animate characters. So, because of my stubbornness, I will probably be one of the 35%. Granted, I may never get that job I set out to get (ie: some bigtime filmstudio), but I may find something I like even more along the way. Who knows. Regardless, I wont be looking back with regrets with what could have been.

[mmkelly011881]

i'm surprised it's not more than that (65%)... people dream big

and i would have to agree with Adam, its mostly about not being complacent... if you work on your stuff enough eventually you will be able to do what you need to... you just have to make them think that they need you by having kickass work... they gotta wonder how they ever got along without you

[clockwerkz]

agreenster:

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say you'll definitely end up in a major name studio the way you've been plugging away. :-)


cW

[agreenster]

agreenster:

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say you'll definitely end up in a major name studio the way you've been plugging away. :-)

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Someday...

But right now I'm just super excited about the game studio interviews I have coming up! To me, major name studio or not, all I want to do is work on cool projects, and grow and learn as much as I can. Getting paid to do animation trumps mopping floors for money any day. (which yes, I still do. Twice a week. Builds character. :cool: )

[oshiroii]

Tell us about the result Adam. It would be so cool if you'd get in the Industry. You're a great animator, they'll hire you! :thumbsup:

[clockwerkz]

Hey Adam..

Dude, hello??? Game industry is hopping mad right now, my friend. I wish you the best of luck. I sent you an e-mail a while back with a couple of companies I had heard were hiring. I thought and still think it's a matter of time. Anyhow, yes, please let us know how it all turns out. With one year of AM, you're going to be Ubber Ninja, bud. Like you'll walk into the room and startle people because of how stealthy you are and stuff. :-D


cW

[oso]

pin yin ni kan de dong ma ?翻译一下，拼音你看的懂吗？

[mechaXB]

oso: ?!

agreenster: gl ! :)

[Rye]

Is the website supposed to be up and running? For some reason I can't view it. I'm using Mozilla, does anyone else have a problem seeing it?

[andy_maxman]

Is the website supposed to be up and running? For some reason I can't view it. I'm using Mozilla, does anyone else have a problem seeing it? couple fo things mate...
you might need a flash player for mozilla or you must enable popups for the site. it should work fine then.

link for flash player - http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

[anvar]

Does anyone have any clue as to how many spots will be available for each class? I know there will be a limited number of spots just because each mentor can only have so many "apprentices". And the number of mentors is also limited. But are we talking about 20 seats, 50 seats, or what? I would just like to see what my chances are of getting in.

Thanks,

Nima Anvar

[andy_maxman]

I would just like to see what my chances are of getting in.

Thanks,

Nima Anvar just thinking of the numbers scares the sh*t outta me........

[Bentagon]

yeah, me too :S

but all of those info will be given in the november newsletter.

- Bentagon

[clockwerkz]

You guys shouldn't be freaked out with the seating. Understandably, everyone wants in on the first class, but the mere fact that AM is in the works and is now an option should be comforting. Just think of your situation pre-AM, and how this prospect is groundbreaking.


Rye:
As for the Mozilla browser issue, over at the pre-AM students site, Bobby Beck posted a poll on whether people would mind using IE for AM. The majority answered no, they would not mind using IE. This actually triggered me to check out Firefox after hearing so much about it, and I fell in love with it! So now I'm using Firefox, and I haven't had any problems loading up AM. In fact, it first blocked the pop up, but it has an easy function to allow pop ups from AM. If it doesn't work, then I don't have any problem using IE at all. But as far as viewing their current site, I don't have any problems with Firefox (Mozilla).

cW

[GrafOrlok]

Oooooh, I've been working too hard. I haven't been keeping up with what's happening here at CGtalk. This is simply outstanding news!

[olioli]

does anyone remember what models the students would be using for AM. I can't remember if Bobby mentioned it. I saw from the video they used two little yellow guys, are those the only models or are there others. I guess it wouldn't matter, unless you were going to use another 3d app.

Just curious

[oshiroii]

Models will be provided by AM

[splintah]

hey

wow 67 pages
i read the first 10 or something

really cool and very very interesting
i already signed up

but one thing i am not shure about:

its gonna be about 30min of documentary video per week
and one video critique on your peronal stuff per week (i guess max 15 min)
and it will cost the same as an ordinary 6-8 hours a day animation school ?

[maelstrom]

i can't wait to sign up! :bounce:

[vizjac]

You guys shouldn't be freaked out with the seating. Understandably, everyone wants in on the first class, but the mere fact that AM is in the works and is now an option should be comforting. Just think of your situation pre-AM, and how this prospect is groundbreaking.


Rye:
As for the Mozilla browser issue, over at the pre-AM students site, Bobby Beck posted a poll on whether people would mind using IE for AM. The majority answered no, they would not mind using IE. This actually triggered me to check out Firefox after hearing so much about it, and I fell in love with it! So now I'm using Firefox, and I haven't had any problems loading up AM. In fact, it first blocked the pop up, but it has an easy function to allow pop ups from AM. If it doesn't work, then I don't have any problem using IE at all. But as far as viewing their current site, I don't have any problems with Firefox (Mozilla).

cWI have signed up for the AM newsletter quite a while ago, I got one in Sept, has there been another? Where is the pre-AM students site? Is this for everyone? HELP ME!!!

[olioli]

...so November's newsletter is the "big one" huh :bounce:

[Bentagon]

I have signed up for the AM newsletter quite a while ago, I got one in Sept, has there been another? Where is the pre-AM students site? Is this for everyone? HELP ME!!!There was another one in october. It included the message that Bobby Beck was quitting his job at Pixar. The pre-AM site is here: http://animationgroup.proboards30.com/. It's for everyone, since it's unofficial. Some of us cgtalk members have set this up due to our incredible excitement!

- Bentagon

[Bentagon]

:bounce: november!
now where's that newsletter ;) ?

- Bentagon

[My Fault]

Was it wrong to write in "Bobby Beck" for president? I think he'd do much better then W and Kerry. His "No Kit Kat Left Behind" policy will surely catch the eye of many a voter! :)