Yeah, considering that the new term is just starting and they’re getting a ton of new students in I’d imagine things are rather slammed, you picked a rather busy time to apply 
I had some questions last week after I got my acceptance and they were very responsive.
Looking forward to hearing about things from all you new students.
Hi Brian, regarding the QAs and other live event hours, you’ll have them generally during the evenings, so it’s not bad for those closer to the US compared to european AMers, and they happen during the week, not really on weekends.
Drawing would certainly help a lot in your animation, as every animation you’ll do requires a lot of planning, mostly done on paper. Those are only stick figures, as you’re encouraged to concentrate on things like lines of action instead of details in your drawings. Knowing the basics of Maya would also be quite helpful.
Right now they’re program is mainly focused on biped characters, but there’s already been request for quadruped animation. The principles are almost the same I guess, but adding that to the program would be a plus.
Yes, there is a ton of mentors at AM, and almost each of them has his own way to achieve something. It’s always great to be able to learn from so many people as at the end you’ll build your own workflow based on the methods you prefer the most.
Regarding the fact that they’re mainly focusing on 3d, as I understand, it’s because of the current trend of the market, which is mainly 3d.
Hope that those answers have helped clarify a few things
Chris
Thanks Chrisbyk for the helpful replies
I’ve started writing the short answer essay questions. I’m not sure how to approach the questions on “short term” goals, followed by “long term” goals.
I figure the short term goals is after succesfully completing AM it will help you get your foot in the door to many studios, a suggestion once mentioned in this thread, then I figure continue to build upon the skills learned at AM to become a more well rounded animator, update demo reel with new skills, etc.
Though, long term, how do I approach that? It’s almost like those essays you did back in school where you write what you’ll be doing 10 years from now, then 20 years, etc. Which I happened to run across one I wrote 17 years ago when cleaning my room, I had ILM on my mind even then, so I’m a little behind . So do I just talk about the best case outlook, like achieving your dream? Continue to study to take things even further, never quiting to be a better animator than you were yesterday?
If anyone replies, thanks, but actually, typing this was pretty helpful in gathering my thoughts too.
I was just going to say that you kinda did great by answering your own questions
Hi guys, I have just watched all the videos on the AM Enrollment. and am now checking out the Academic programs page.
Has anyone else looked at a program called Flipbook I am thinking of buying it? but I thought I might check out the competition first.
ToonBoom “From $199”
Flash “$699”
Plastic Animation Paper “Free - 695euro”
Pencil"Open Source"
Anyone got any ideas, I was gonna get flipbook but the toonboom offer atm is very good. Plus learning toonboom or flash would be a desirable skill! although Flash is not really very simple when it comes to tradional style aniamation.
As someone who does a lot of flash work, it definitely wouldn’t be my choice for character animation. It’s great for some things, but for pencil type animation Toon Boom or something similar would be a much better app.
I’ve played with Flip Boom, which is their low-end animation app that’s more targeted at kids, and it’s actually really fun. Think there’s a demo you can check out.
hey MCHammond,
i would recommend you flipbook and PAP (Plastic Animation Paper - free version).
Jason Ryan (www.jasonryananimation.com) has some very cool tutorials about flipbook.
cheers
ademation
Oh, I just got too see Jason Ryan at CTN Animation Expo where he spent 45 minutes in flipbook doing a quick stick figure animation, sort of like the quick demo video thay have at DigiCel’s website for Flipbook. He was pretty quick in it, using a tablet PC, probably wacom enabled, to draw right on the screen, along with a usb numeric keypad to quickly flip between keys or the timeline (since often on a tablet you can’t use the keyboard with the screen turned around).
After he got the animation done, he then timed it better by moving the keys around, followed by adding some inbetweens. He then showed the example of how to export it in a way to attach the animation to the camera in Maya for s a guide. Though, it wasn’t a separate window like in the flipbook website demo video, what I saw, was more of an overlay on your camera view that was moveable/resizable.
Looks like nice software to do quick thumbnailing that would be nice for AM, but expensive for just that. Using a tablet can be economical, some good ones off ebay for $400-$600 work great. Much easier to take with you compared to a small cintiq, especially if you don’t need that kind of accuracy.
I just put up a short 52 second clip from CTN Animation Expo with Jason Ryan. Also included a really short 54 second clip of ToonBoom. Not much really:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqhzu_ptYps
Thanks for the info Brian! Looks like it would have been cool to be there:(
How is everyone else doing? Even though i have access to the site, im dying to get started.
I have watched those orientation vids so many times its getting sad now:) I am just so anxious and can’t wait to start:bounce:
Hehe, very nice --> new term, new students and alot of fun and to learn =)
I’d also recomment Flipbook aswell, its awesome!
So, whoever needs help or a suggestions, contact me at AM: Ersin Alkan.
Cya!
For the people who got accepted for the loan with no problems how old are you , have you been building credit?
Sent my application this last weekend and just did the Wonderlic test today. I spent the last few days looking over practice tests, and a 12 field paper filled with notes I didn’t even need.
So, has anyone qualified to defer their loan for AM? It seems to be an option now. But I guess I should worry about getting approved for the loan, or even just accepted into AM. I know I have good credit, work full-time, good wage, homeowner, but I bet lending is tough right now. What are the interest rates they usually offer people lately? I just don’t know what to expect having never done a loan beyond a car or home.
Hey Brian,
I noticed you haven’t gotten an answer. But i know mine will not help but just wanted you to know someone saw your post.
For me i never got a loan, I’m doing the Payment plan option. Works way better for me. Instead of getting my self tied up in a loan. You said you get good wages, If that’s the case i would look into doing the payment plan option.
At lease that’s what i think. This is when payments are due.
Tuition will be paid in installments by term which will total $18,375.00 for the 18 month course:
Class 1 Tuition $3,125.00 USD** Due: March 5th, 2010
Class 2 Tuition $3,050.00 USD*** Due: May 28th, 2010
Class 3 Tuition $3,050.00 USD*** Due: August 27th, 2010
Class 4 Tuition $3,050.00 USD*** Due: November 26th, 2010
Class 5 Tuition $3,050.00 USD***Due: March 4th, 2011
Class 6 Tuition $3,050.00 USD*** Due May 27th, 2010
** Includes Registration Fee of $175 USD
***Payment Processing Fee of $100 USD
I know, i didnt answer your question about the loan, but thought i would try to help somehow.
I need some help, you guys.
How many of you use Vista?
Because I do, and I haven’t run into many problems at all until now, when I have to use Quicktime Pro and get the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000. I’ve already bought Quicktime Pro and registered it, but I have never been able to open the Quicktime player because of the damn ActiveX Control error, and believe me, I’ve tried to follow the solutions I’ve searched for online and they don’t work for me, mostly because they’re too complicated/too broad in giving directions/download links don’t even work anymore.
As if that wasn’t enough, I search Amazon.com for the webcam AM recommends and ran across this on the top review posted:
“Now, let’s talk about a few things that weren’t so good about this webcam. The biggest struggle I had was with Windows Vista. Even though the box proclaims it is certified for Vista, I had numerous driver issues. The Logitech 9000 worked in Vista just fine, but for some reason at random intervals it wanted to re-install its drivers. One thing you should know if you purchase this camera is that when installing it you will want to make sure you have the installation program check for updates. I found there were two driver updates for the camera during install. However, even with these updates I continue to have that random re-installation issue.”
Damn it, I am NOT looking forward to juggling school with my stupid Vista technical problems. Should I just upgrade to Windows 7? Would that make it any better?
I’d really like to hear your thoughts.
Brian –
I got accepted into the Winter 2010 term for AM and I couldn’t get the loan through SallieMae. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to do the payment plan so AM gave me the option to defer out my enrollment. You can defer up to 3 terms (I think). I know I deferred out until Summer 2010, but I have a feeling I’m not going to get the funding by then so I’ll have to reapply in a few years when I know I can get the funding from saving up. To find out more about deferring, contact Victoria (victoria [@] animationmentor.com) and ask about deferring options.
The loan is very hard to get. I’ve had two cosigners with great credit scores who got denied for the loan. If this happens to you:
Consider saving up for a while and paying out of pocket for AM and applying later for a smaller loan amount. Lenders are more generous with smaller loan amounts.
Find a cosigner to cosign the loan. Remember, the loan terms and conditions state you can remove the cosigners name off of the loan once you have made 24 months of on-time payments.
Good luck and I hope you get accepted!!
Just bought Digicel flipbook and the anamie book just arrived :D, but my mum made me give it to her so she can wrap it up for XMas for me :(!
Hi dren,
Thanks for the input. I do recall seeing your trouble with getting a loan earlier in the thread and sorry to hear things haven’t improved for you even with 2 co-signers. But good to hear you can start some of the course. In summer, did they give you any idea what improvements they are looking for to qualify by then? Your FICO score, income, and possibly still need a co-signer?
I wonder if the co-signer, while great credit, needs a good job, homeowner, and such to insure they can cover the payments if the student falls behind. My brother and his wife tried to get me to co-sign for a car loan, I refused, along with parents and such, I didn’t want to get stuck covering for some $280 monthly payment to protect my credit. The next month he was fired, dodged a bullet there. We all still helped him out a bit until he got a new job.
The 24 month remove co-signer option. I’ll have to check again, maybe it was in the detailed, “yes I understand that…” at the end of the application, but I don’t think it’s a guarantee. Possibly more of a minimum time before you can “request,” or up for parole, but they might still have review you once more, meaning, it could be denied. I’d love to say to a potential co-signer that it’s a 100% guarantee that they can remove their name, so I’ll have to ask Victoria about that.
In fact, maybe I should fire some questions her way to show my commitment or interest, possibly standing out over silent applicants.
Can you apply for a smaller loan? I thought the loan, or the way it was worded, had to be the full amount of the tuition. Making it sound like I couldn’t put say $5,000 down and loan the rest to make it easier to qualify. I suppose that’s another question to ask.
I hope I do get accepted, but I do know there’s always a chance of being rejected with no reason why as a policy I think, so I won’t let myself become too upset if it happens. I don’t want to delay too long to prepare for a new career, my current one hasn’t been very secure. It’s finally showing signs of stabilizing, with corporate allowing job performance review raises again. Though, I missed two 5% raises over that time, and was hit with a 3% pay cut during bargaining. If they do another round of layoffs and I lose my job, I’m a bit worried. While I have 8 years of experience at a newspaper, the whole industry is suffering and I only have high school and a bit of junior college just before I was hired, so I won’t stand out over those with degrees.
DreamThinkLive,
I’m contemplating some kind of payment plan, but being a homeowner, I don’t want to hurt my savings too much if I have to make a repair or lose my job in this economy. My income is good, but not the greatest to cover so much every 3 months or so, not unless I turned my life upside down to do it. If the economy didn’t collapse, I could of done an equity loan without putting a dent in what remains, but now, 84% of homes in my county are underwater mortgages.