Week 1 - Browsing, video, Global Q&A!!!
So I've had a chance to check out the "campus" which is very cool, including lots of resources, a forum for the latest gossip and get news, student pages and a TON more.
My favorite section so far is the video section. It has a lot of stuff to orient us newbees to the program, and get us pumped for the course, as well as really good tutorials and the live Q&As, which (if you're not familiar) are amazing because it's basically a huge video conference, with the Mentors video always up, and they can select students to show up in the other video window to ask a question or just introduce themselves.
But it's not just for the fact that so many students can interact with each other and the Mentors that makes this REALLY rock, but the very fact that the Mentors are there to discuss animation with us on a regular basis! So far I've been involved in two Q&As, one was a GLOBAL Q&A, which had the three faces and founders of AM, Bobby, Shawn and Carlos answering our (all 350 or so of us) most indulgent of prying questions as well as those about the program itself. They're really high energy, fun, smart animation gurus who we are blessed to have running the show. It was a great time. The video was pretty choppy because of the number of people logged in, but good sound, and I even got to ask a question! I was so nervous I don't even remember what I said, except maybe something about thanking the first class for how open they've been and plugging Siggraph (AM will be there, I'll get a chance to meet them in person). I didn't really have time to prepare for them putting me up on video (through my webcam), so the first shot they got of me (remember, the video was really choppy) was me with a face full of nachos which remained up for a REEAAALLLYYY long time 'til the screen refreshed! Oy. The very fact that I was able to recover from THAT first impression that I'll never get back was, I think, remarkable in itself. I've been playing with the idea of having my Avatar (a computer likeness, like a caricature or other image) be a goofy shot of me with nachos all over my face.
A few notes I made were:
1) There will be a Star Wars Q&A coming up with Delio Tramantozzi, Charles Alleneck and Kevin Martel! That's going to be extremely cool, I can't wait to see what they have to say.
2) There's a book by Shawn's mentor, Wayne Gilbert called "Simplified Drawing for Animation Planning" that's recommended reading, but we shouldn't go out and get it yet, they're working out a discount for AM students.
3) They related to us an advanced animation topic called "force" (no, not THE force), apparently a tough concept and one of the specialties of Mr. Gilbert.
My favorite section so far is the video section. It has a lot of stuff to orient us newbees to the program, and get us pumped for the course, as well as really good tutorials and the live Q&As, which (if you're not familiar) are amazing because it's basically a huge video conference, with the Mentors video always up, and they can select students to show up in the other video window to ask a question or just introduce themselves.
But it's not just for the fact that so many students can interact with each other and the Mentors that makes this REALLY rock, but the very fact that the Mentors are there to discuss animation with us on a regular basis! So far I've been involved in two Q&As, one was a GLOBAL Q&A, which had the three faces and founders of AM, Bobby, Shawn and Carlos answering our (all 350 or so of us) most indulgent of prying questions as well as those about the program itself. They're really high energy, fun, smart animation gurus who we are blessed to have running the show. It was a great time. The video was pretty choppy because of the number of people logged in, but good sound, and I even got to ask a question! I was so nervous I don't even remember what I said, except maybe something about thanking the first class for how open they've been and plugging Siggraph (AM will be there, I'll get a chance to meet them in person). I didn't really have time to prepare for them putting me up on video (through my webcam), so the first shot they got of me (remember, the video was really choppy) was me with a face full of nachos which remained up for a REEAAALLLYYY long time 'til the screen refreshed! Oy. The very fact that I was able to recover from THAT first impression that I'll never get back was, I think, remarkable in itself. I've been playing with the idea of having my Avatar (a computer likeness, like a caricature or other image) be a goofy shot of me with nachos all over my face.
A few notes I made were:
1) There will be a Star Wars Q&A coming up with Delio Tramantozzi, Charles Alleneck and Kevin Martel! That's going to be extremely cool, I can't wait to see what they have to say.
2) There's a book by Shawn's mentor, Wayne Gilbert called "Simplified Drawing for Animation Planning" that's recommended reading, but we shouldn't go out and get it yet, they're working out a discount for AM students.
3) They related to us an advanced animation topic called "force" (no, not THE force), apparently a tough concept and one of the specialties of Mr. Gilbert.
posted by Sean Graham at
8:03 PM
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