Homework for Monday October 10th

A. Turn in EVERYTHING you have produced this semester to the MIDTERMS folder!
Make a folder marked "lastname_firstname" and place inside it the following folders:

• character_designs
• model sheets for every character, in full color.
• environment_designs
• environment designs for your story in full color
• storyboard for your animation
• (exported as "three pages horizontal", PDF.)
• prop_designs_video reference, and_extra_artwork
• any additional important artwork you have created to help us better understand the story.
• animatic (exported at a quarter resolution)
• the animatic for your film. It should be loaded onto the server in the folder, and should play without errors!

B. For homework: Continue animating!  Have at least 9 seconds of your film properly animated! This will help you keep a good schedule as we continue to work on your film! To be working on a great schedule you need at least 12 seconds animated by Wednesday!

C.  Create a PRODUCTION SCHEDULE for your film! Make a professional calendar that shows me your plans for accomplishing your film! Include these moments:

* Lineart

* Color

* Sound Effects Recording

* Compositing (putting your film together)

• Be Specific!  This should be a document you put together, not a list of notes in your sketchbook. The more prepared you are, the better we can plan the second half of the semester as a class. I need to know what kind of special effects or techniques you are thinking about using, so we can make time for them.

Homework for Monday, 9/26/2016

Next week is the start of the animation section of class! I need you to complete the following for a grade by Monday. 

#1 FINISH DESIGNING EVERYTHING!
At this point, each of you should have a full preproduction package for your film. This weekend:

• SCAN AND COLOR YOUR CHARACTER AND ENVIRONMENT DESIGNS!
• Make all changes to your storyboards and animatic. Label every scene and section of your storyboard accordingly.
• Export your storyboards from Toon Boom Storyboard Pro.
• Produce FINISHED, COMPLETE, PROFESSIONAL environment designs for your story, with color!
• Produce FINISHED, COMPLETE, PROFESSIONAL model sheets of your characters with color!
• DO NOT LEAVE THESE MODEL SHEETS IN YOUR SKETCHBOOK!
• Export your Animatic from Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, and bring it to class ready to turn in!
• Pick six(6) seconds of your animation to start with next week.  Pick a section in the middle of your story so you have time to work on your craftsmanship.
• Bring your StoryboardPro files to class. We will open them up and create scenes based on the work you have.

#2 REVIEW "The Making of Wakfu (located on the server)"

• This video contains a TON of useful information of the professional animation process. I want you to watch this video (if you have not already) and make notes. Be prepared to talk about this film in class on MONDAY!

#3 Continue improving your ENVIRONMENT DESIGNS!

• We are going to spend a lot of time this semester making the best environments we possibly can. I want you to continue doing research on them and  present to me ideas you have for using your environments further on Monday.

#4 Film ACTING reference of the six seconds you want to animate.

Your reference can go over six(6) seconds. But from now on, you will show me reference footage of the sequence you are about to animate. We will make sure you have quality reference to work with!

Our New Reviewing System for the Next Stage of Class

As you continue refining your artwork, we will need to make sure everyone has good opportunities to view your work and have it reviewed by other students! Because of this, you will need do the following by next class:

1. Create A blog, specifically for this class, that documents the progress of your animation as you go.
2. Create A youtube or Vimeo page that you can embed to your blog with in-progress clips of your animation.
3. When you create these two sites, you must UPLOAD a .mp4 of your animation to youtube for easy viewing. 
4. Post images of each of your designs to your blog and the server, inside the "Animatics and Designs" folder. 
5. Continue updating this work. When we are out of class, we will post comments for each other. Details on how will be covered next class!

Homework for Monday:

1. Continue working on your storyboards and animatic! Bring a new animatic and storyboard to class, fully exported!
2. Begin work on your character designs. Produce at least preliminary character designs and 1 environment design for your characters!  Warning: THESE WILL BE REVISED!
3. Come up with a list of sound effects, music, or special effects you may need for your story!

STORYBOARD PRO REVIEW:

Hello Class! Hope you’re enjoying your holiday! Below is a short review of any materials you may need to refresh yourself with to storyboard and animatic to the best of your ability!

Hotkeys and shortcuts:  Remember you can go to the settings to create shortcuts! To do so:

• open your preferences window under —> STORYBOARD PRO ——> Preferences.
• Clicking the Grey box next to the Clear button, followed by typing the key you want will let you create hotkeys for yourself to navigate Storyboard Pro Easier.
• Create the following hotkeys:
• Under LAYER:  Add Layer ( L )
• Under PLAY / Navigation: Play: (Shift + Spacebar)
• Under Storyboard: Add Panel: ( P )
• Under Storyboard: Add Scene: ( Shift + S )
• Under Storyboard: Duplicate Selected Panels: ( Shift + P )

When creating a storyboard and animatic, you are primarily working with 3 different goals in mind:

1. Create Quality Drawings
2. Create Prop[er sequences and timing.
3. Create Proper exports for animation.

Creating Quality Drawings:

Remember to use the layers to the right of your artwork.

Creating Proper Sequences and timing:

• Under Windows: Select Timeline.  Below you can see an example of the timeline panel. Create a movie by adjusting the timing of your panels. Sliding your panels for easy use can be done by clicking between each drawing: (Seen down here at 15:01)

• Remember to name each panel and include all of your information for your story!

EXPORT SETTINGS:

Go to FILE -> EXPORT -> MOVIE and FILE -> EXPORT -> PDF. Settings are below:

Homework for Wednesday August 22, 2016

Your homework for Wednesday is this:

1. Purchase a pack of 4x6 blank index cards! You can find these at any store!
2. Using 12 of those index cards, draw a very simple story that you would like to animate this semester as your big project! (Treat it like storyboarding!)
• keep your drawings simple! We will throw them away very soon!
• for now, your story can only have one or two characters!
3. Bring your idea and index cards to class! I will use them to teach you writing and story development!
4. Bring the rest of your unused blank index cards to class! We will revise in-class that day! 

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BELOW ARE NOTES FROM THE CLASS:
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Purpose of class = Efficient and Creative animation production.

Goal of class: Produce a FULLY COMPLETE 45 second film.

• Give yourself MORE TIME THAN NEEDED!
• I have given you plenty of time in the class schedule!

When writing your story, focus on character performance!

• you want character-driven stories more than plot-driven stories!

QUESTIONS ABOUT CLASS:

• Are we going to be doing mini-exercises
• yes!
• How would you start thinking about a story?
• METHODS:
• Method 1:  The single sentence approach.
• You use a simple sentence with a single action or goal as your focus.
• My example:  “A kid drops an ice cream cone on the floor by accident.”
• Start super simple, and ask a single question:
• What can I add to it to make it ______ (more funny? make it more sad? add drama? etc.)
• Method 2: A character acting sequence that you can use in your portfolio. (Use contrasting actions!)
• Example: A character likes to hug people… and hugs someone who does not like hugs.