Www.animationmentor.com

[fig]

You are correct, it’s been recently revised. I think they felt like the short film class was putting too much emphasis on the short film production and not as much on the animation, so Class 6 is now focused on tweaking previously animated shots to be used on your reel.

[SplineMax]

Got an invite email for the Coffee talk event with Victoria. Just registered. Anyone attending it ?

[fig]

I’m on a Mac so I won’t be able to do the CoffeeTalk (not compatible), but I viewed the recording for the last one and it’s really good. Definitely worth going to to get more info, Victoria is great and super helpful.

[TimothyB]

Anyone getting an additional monitor ? Its been recommended by AM to have an additional monitor of similar resolution.

A 2nd monitor has been a big help for me just in the workshop. We watch the mentor’s desktop using GoToMeeting service, which is like you’re looking at his monitor. So I have that on one screen and the AM Q&A on the other.

Most video cards support dual displays these days, and are so easy to setup. Once you’ve done it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived with one screen.

Maya forces a ton of windows to access a lot of features over and over. Graph Editor, Dope Sheet, Hypershader, Tool settings, Attributes, dragging some to another screen can help, or a high resolution display.

I recently bought a new monitor for Maya, wanted a larger screen with 16:10 ration and 1920*1200 resolution. These days most larger screens have gone the 1080p route for computers, like some big plus for movies, which makes no sense, you actually get less resolution for your money and a wider screen that’s awkward for 99% of PC use, 1080 horizontal lines instead of 1200.

In the past, upgrading from an old 20inch with 16801050 to a 24inch 19201200 was a nice upgrade. Now you only find 19201080 displays that’s like half the resolution upgrade from before. Expensive displays like Dell Ultrasharp IPS displays still have the better resolution, but again are costly. Luckily I found a nice display that’s large and cheap with 19201200.

This display:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11503005

A whopping 27.5inch screen, full 1920*1200 resolution with low price (especially considering how rare that res is). Despite the higher resolution, the size generally displays things larger thanks to the 27.5inch size. That makes it easy to sit back comfortably and make sense of the dense Maya interface, which I was going for. It’s not an IPS display, so viewing angles suffer, but not bad considering the size, and I don’t need a studio quality display for using Maya.

[SplineMax]

Good then, I’ll setup a dual display soon.

And regarding the payment, As anyone paid through the credit card method ? I’m getting my payment transaction rejected. First of all the payment page doesn’t ask for a CVV/Verification code !
How in the world is it supposed to accept payments without asking for a CVV number ?

[bramvq]

Good then, I’ll setup a dual display soon.

And regarding the payment, As anyone paid through the credit card method ? I’m getting my payment transaction rejected. First of all the payment page doesn’t ask for a CVV/Verification code !
How in the world is it supposed to accept payments without asking for a CVV number ?

First I had the same problem that the payment was rejected. But after calling the bank I found out that they didn’t clear enough money to pay the full amount. There is a monthly limit on the credit card that the bank has to change in order to pay for AM. I hope this is why you got your payment rejected also.

About the CCV Verification code, they also didn’t ask me for it, and the payment got accepted. But yeah, it is kinda weird that they don’t ask for it.

[dren]

-What does AM actually provide to their students? I know we get models/rigs, but when I see their student demo reels, the characters have hair and clothes and they’re in settings and stuff. Do students have access to, say, a “storage closet” of sorts, where they can get things that they need for their work, or do they have to model that stuff themselves? Based on the fact that AM doesn’t teach modeling, I would hope that they provide the models that I see in demo reels. I’m only interested in animation and don’t want to spend hundreds of hours modeling when I could be animating

Hi, pixarfangirl!

You’ll be happy to know that AM does provide all kinds of props and sets for your animations. Here is the official word on this via Rosie Varela who got a concrete answer from us over on Facebook:

“All rigs for the AM program are provided, and we also have a prop library. I checked with our amazing tech/alumni Alexiss and she said there are a few sets there as well. She also mentioned something neat that I didn’t know- she said that the folks taking Maya Springboard workshop are working on modeling some sets in that class. Maya Springboard is an optional workshop for accepted students to take prior to starting the core program if they need more skills with Maya.”

Hope this helps!

[SplineMax]

Alright, I was emailed the link to setup my AM Account. Spent the whole day messing with the site and watching all the orientation videos.

[BrianHarris]

As Dren said, the does seem to be a props library. My workshop teacher showed us where it was in the library section under props, which even had spot showing you can submit your own to grow the library. Some are simple, like a table and chair made of cubes, some more detailed with full shaders. Though, when it comes to what you actually turn in for your work, nothing fancy is needed, just simple enough to get the idea across for the playbast to assist the animation.

Though, later, you can go back and refine your animations with shaders, lighting, better props and sets to make more presentable for your demo reel. Which I keep hearing is the focus now at the end of AM, to polish and prepare all your work, compared to the intensive short film project that some people still are working on long after the AM.

Some modeling skills can go along way to help you. As my workshop mentor said, a studio might get a flood of AM grads with demo reals all featuring similar characters, which can become boring and bland. While dressing up your scene and character makes it stand out and shows more of your creativity, as simple as say a cowboy hat. If you can’t find that cowboy hat, sometimes a request in the forums will do just the trick, where an experienced modeler or friend could whip it out at a moments notice.

I’m looking forward to Class 1. The workshop will help your get well settled into the moving around maya, organization, preparing your scene to animate and settings, simple simple modeling (I did well since I had experience prior), script editor to create custom shelf buttons, playblasts, graph editor, etc. So I already feel like I have a head start would good inside knowledge.

[BrianHarris]

First I had the same problem that the payment was rejected. But after calling the bank I found out that they didn’t clear enough money to pay the full amount. There is a monthly limit on the credit card that the bank has to change in order to pay for AM. I hope this is why you got your payment rejected also.

About the CCV Verification code, they also didn’t ask me for it, and the payment got accepted. But yeah, it is kinda weird that they don’t ask for it.

When I made the Class 1 payment, it went through, but right after my BofA account was frozen until I called to verify recent transactions for fraud security. After I called confirming everything was okay, there was still a 2 hour wait for the status to be lifted. So take precautions if you got any other payments to make.

[BrianHarris]

Don’t know if anyone posted this already, there was an Animation Mentor panel at the first CTN Animation Expo November 2009, and recently they were gracious enough to post the 38 minute session online:

http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/animation-mentor/

The link includes a description for the panel, bios and more. I was in the audience there and entire expo was what finally got me to apply at AM.

[KangtheMad]

I’d look through the forums in AM, but they are temporarily closed for the break.

I’m deciding on a new phone. Anyone been able to use their iPhone apps to view the flash videos? If so, what apps are you using?

Or, anyone know if the AM site supports HTML 5?

Much thanks!

[fig]

Hey Tim, my guess would be no on both counts. Pretty sure the videos are all flash which would mean the iPhone wouldn’t support them, and at this point the AM site wouldn’t be HTML5 as it’s not a very universally supported standard yet.

I can let you know for sure next week when the site reopens and I’ll give it a shot on my iPhone. Class 1 here we come

[KangtheMad]

Hey Tim, my guess would be no on both counts. Pretty sure the videos are all flash which would mean the iPhone wouldn’t support them, and at this point the AM site wouldn’t be HTML5 as it’s not a very universally supported standard yet.

I can let you know for sure next week when the site reopens and I’ll give it a shot on my iPhone. Class 1 here we come

Thanks Chris. Yeah, that’s what I thinking. I know the AM site is all Flash videos, but I was hoping someone figured out how to convert them into mp4 or something… dang Adobe and Steve Jobs can’t come to an agreement…

You must be excited about starting class 1. It’s gonna be a blast.

[Khare]

Hey guys! I just got accepted into AM for the Fall Term 2010 and I’m really excited. Coming from a generalistic 3D school gave me a lot of trouble and made me doubt my ability and almost made me quitt animation in this past year, but I believe I’m ready to give it another shot 100%. This time I gotta hold down a full time job which will make it more difficult, but certainly not impossible. I know this has been asked before but can anyone share experiences with combining a full time job and AM, specifically from class 3 and onward. What is your typical week like?

Regards,
Khare

[micgaz]

Hi Fredrik,

great that you are soon to start at AM, you are in for a hell of a ride!

I can tell you a bit about the workload on you with AM and a full time job… I just graduated after 18 months doing that. Its doable, but it does get increasingly hard as you go up the classes obviously. In the first 3 classes I was able to get my AM stuff done during the week by putting in 5 or so hours a day after work. This got me the weekend free pretty much, which I think really helped to keep me fresh for the latter classes. Of course this is just the way I juggled it, you could find any number of ways to cope in those early classes.
Not to underestimate their importance of course, but not too harsh.

From 3 onward things really get going. The advanced Body Mechanics class is so important, and so hard that I just threw myself at it and had to say bye-bye to free weekends.
I was starting from scratch as an animator beginning AM, and had never tried an acting shot before… so classes 4 and 5 were even more challenging. I was easily spending more time on AM than my paid work by here.

Class 6 is another step up. But the good news is that by this time your eye will have improved a load, and you can see (and know a range of tricks to fix) a whole heap of things wrong with the shots you pick for your reel. I worked through 5 shots in C6. Its exhausting.

I am really not trying to worry you, the opposite really. The truth is that AM is such a buzz that you’ll just happily knuckle down and get it done. I absolutely loved it.

AM and full time work, bloody tiring yeah, but an incredible and life changing experience.

Hope thats some help.

[Polg]

Hi,

I’m curius that anyone who finished AM, his carier was changed because of that.
I don’t know maybe some new job propsal or something becuase of AM graduation.
Also freelancers , do they get more interesting projects because of AM graduation ?

Paul

[Khare]

Hey Michael, thanks a lot for sharing your experience with me. Congratualations on finishing AM with a full time job! You got the drive for sure
I fully expect it to be challenging but hey, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger right? I saved up for a year to afford it but with dept on my back from a former school I just think I should maintain a job.

So how’s your life been after AM Michael? It must be exciting I’m sure!

[fig]

Tim, I don’t know that there’s a way to convert the vids as they’re somewhat copy protected. I’ve had the same thought though, it’d be great to have them available in another format. If I figure anything out I’ll let you know.

Fredrik, I’ll be working fulltime though at least Class 1 and 2 so I’ll keep you updated on how things go, feel free to drop me a PM.

Paul, a lot of AM students have gone on to work at major studios on a variety of projects. There’s lots of info on the website, some of the alumni are mentioned here: http://www.animationmentor.com/community/alumni.html

[LFT]

Only 24ish more hours!