Roberto Genito Animation

2011-09-12T21:28:00.004+10:00

Welcome to my Animation Blog, feel free to take a look around.

Thanks for stopping by - Roberto

Animals and Creatures

2011-01-12T22:39:00.004+11:00

Animation Mentor today announced their new Animals and Creatures classes...AWESOME.

Check out the link for more info, so super cool ...ANIMATION MENTOR YOU ROCK!

Rock On

Interview with Alexis Wanneroy

2011-01-06T22:33:00.004+11:00

Alexis Wanneroy is an animator from Dreamworks he sat down with CG Channel late last year for an interview. Alexis speaks about his experience as an animator and movies he has worked on...his most recent being How To Train Your Dragon, it is super inspiring stuff to read.

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T22:59:00.003+11:00

Happy New Year everyone out there in Animation land, wishing you all the best for 2011. Wow what a year we have ahead of us, it seems to be the year of sequels Happy Feet 2, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2 but also some new exciting pics like Rio and Rango...it's going to be another super year i can feel it.

I hope your all refreshed and re-charged for your journey through the year where ever you are. As for myself i have made my way back to Sydney after a relaxing 10 days of Sun, Family and friends back home, it was a really good break to get away from the hustle and bustle of a busy city and also to put the computer on hibernate before a big year ahead.

I hope this message finds you all well and i look forward to reading and hearing about all your animation journeys this year.

Rock On

Tangled Animators

2010-12-21T09:35:00.003+11:00

Walt Disney Animation studio put together an awesome music video clip with the entire crew from Tangled, what an awesome idea and an awesome place. Disney deserve all the credit and accolades they really have created an amazing movie.

Dreamworks in the Bay Area

2010-12-15T09:03:00.002+11:00

ABC America recently ran a news clip on PDI Dreamworks, really cool clip detailing how much PDI have grown and how the Bay area truly is the animation capital....

Life Goes On

2010-12-13T22:02:00.010+11:00

Hope all is well in the awesome world of Animation. As for me i am moving full steam ahead with production on Happy Feet 2, each day is a learning curve and with each day i am getting more and more confident if the software we are using. Our team is growing bigger each month and each individual is bringing an array of talent to the project which is so awesome.

Last Thursday night we had the chance to let our hair down and and enjoy each others company at the Christmas Party which the company put on for us. What a buzz it was in our venue overlooking the Sydney Opera house and Harbour bridge. I remember at one point taking a moment to take it all in and think to myslef what an awesome industry we are all in to be able to work and travel around the world and experince all different cultures.

Glen Kean Interview

2010-12-02T09:31:00.004+11:00

Here is the link to a recent interview with legendary animator Glen Keane, in the interview Glen speaks about Tangled, Computer Animation and the great Ollie Johnston....enjoy.

Jason Ryan Webinars

2010-11-23T10:30:00.004+11:00

Hey all it has been a while i know but all is going well and it has been busy, busy, busy. I thought i would let you all know about Jason Ryan webinars, now i know most of you know about them and even some of you have subscribed to them. I think they are awesome and really important to have in your animation journey, a former mentor of mine Mike Walling has a new webinar up walking through the process of Body Mechanics which is so important in animation, Mike goes through a shot from Planning to Polish....if you have the time check out the link for a preview it is super awesome.....Mike Walling Body Mechanics .

The Great Walt Disney

2010-11-11T09:51:00.004+11:00

I came across this post the other day and thought it would be great to share, check out this link Walt Disney Manifesto to read a letter Walt wrote to Cal arts asking for help to train some of his animators, the letter really details and shows the thinking of Walt and why he was so successful in the Animation industry...really inspiring stuff.

Rock On

Happy Feet

2010-10-24T22:15:00.003+11:00

Been a while i know but just a quick update...have a gig on Happy Feet 2 WAHOOO, super excited about this opportunity. So i have packed up and moved to Sydney for this opportunity and i am so super excited to be working on this project.

I been here for a month now and all i can say is WOW this is so cool to be able to work on a feature film, i am currently working in the motion editing department and have been surrounded by an awesome team including two fellow AM graduates.

First month has been training in the new software and now it is time to get my hands dirty and get into shots, so excited about it all. I am walking into work every morning with a smile from ear to ear, i am so thankful to my family and AM for helping me achieve this opportunity.

First day on the job i almost swore out aloud as i saw George Miller annd Rob Coleman walking past my desk...I was like "Wholly.....oops i mean Oh my God that's George Miller and Rob Coleman"...such a buzz seeing them and all the other talented artists around this place. So now it is time to put all i have learned into practice and commence my career...so looking forward to this journey and i'll keep you updated along the way....thanks for all your support.

Rock On

100 Years of Disney

2010-09-16T16:11:00.003+10:00

Came across this super awesome offer Walt Disney's 100 Years of Magic....not sure how many of you have seen it, but WOW this will be so cool to buy.

2010-09-12T14:13:00.002+10:00

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage.".........Walt Disney

Siggraph Bobby Beck Interview

2010-09-12T14:10:00.002+10:00

Here is the link to an awesome Bobby Beck Interview from Siggraph, some real cool topics covered.

2010-09-03T21:37:00.001+10:00

"Animation offers a medium of story telling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world.".........Walt Disney

Showcase Shot

2010-09-03T21:20:00.002+10:00

Check out AM graduate Jeffrey Engel talk about his shot which made the summer showcase Jeffrey Engel Showcase . Super awesome stuff to watch and learn from.

Animation Mentor Student Showcase

2010-09-02T19:53:00.003+10:00

Super awesome link to the Animation Mentor Student Showcase
for summer 2010, some really amazing work by all the students.
If you have the time check it out it is so inspiring and motivating at the same time.

AM Complete!

2010-08-25T15:22:00.010+10:00

I know it has been a while and it is time for me to get back to blogging my animation journey. It's been busy and so much has happend, first of all i have complete my studies at Animation Mentor and i had the amazing opportunity to travel to San Francisco for the graduation and WOW what amazing time it was.

For all you Animation Mentor students around the world i highly recommend you make the journey to San Francisco for your graduation, it really is special and amazing finally meeting fellow students and mentors face to face, not only are you friends through AM but after meeting you become friends for life.

Me and fellow Alumni Thomas Grummt

I guess this brings me to another point and that is the importance of networking, if you get the opportunity to attend any conferance such as Siggraph (which i also attended) take the opportunity to mingle and meet fellow animators, recruiters, lecturers it is so totally worth it and you never know who your speaking to. I am so happy that i did this on my recent trip it helped me meet so many awesome people and hearing their journey on how they became animators is so inspiring, so many different avenues taken in becoming animators....so cool.

Me and Bobby BOOM Beck

Me and Shawn Kelly

For those of you who are wondering if Animation Mentor is worth it, well my answer is YES it totally is. I thank my lucky stars for being able to study at AM it was totally worth it, and yes there is alot of sacrifice to be made and alot of late nights but with the mentors you have and the fellow animators you study with it helps you learn and succeed at your tasks. The structure of the school and the knowledge and experience of each mentor is amazing through my 18month journey not once was i un-happy, they all helped me out and gave me and each student the time required to learn and explain pricinples to us. AM understands each students needs and requirements, the AM staff is second to none and always on hand to help and answer any queries or issues you may have...I thank them all and take my hat off to them and the amazing school....AM you ROCK!

I have so much more to post and i will...until my next post.....ROCK ON!

Final Pass

2010-03-29T20:05:00.002+11:00

Here is my final pass for two character dialogue piece, and also my final shot for class 5. Next term i move into my final class for Animation Mentor (Polishing and Portfolio) and i really am looking forward to it. Here i will be able to pick some pieces from my time at AM and polish them like crazy to prepare them for my new Animation Reel.

So now it's time for a quick break from the computer before we get back into the swing of it all on Monday.

Rock On

Latest Pass

2010-03-10T16:31:00.002+11:00

It's been a while and yes i have been lazy in updating my blog....anyway here is the latest pass for my two character dialogue piece. This week moving into more refined splinning pass.

Rock On

Class 5 - Week 5

2010-02-11T23:22:00.005+11:00

Another week another step forward, this week we had to select a dialogue clip for a two character shot. While sifting through all the free .wav sights out there i stopped and started to write down some notes on what i would like to animate.
One of my notes was - Animate a female character, this was important to me as in my time in the industry i have only ever animated one female character, so i wanted to make sure m line included a female and male.
Second note was - Serious or Comedy, i chose a comedy movie for my line only because i feel i can push my acting a lot more with a comedy piece.
Third note was - I wanted a piece of dialogue which is not restricted to one type of set, by that i mean when you hear the line you automatically think "Oh yeah i see them sitting in a coffee shop". I wanted to make sure my line could adapt to any environment.
Final note was - what type of acting am i going for, really broad moves or contained.

With my notes in mind i continued my search and here is the result for my dialogue piece.

(Note error with Blog, will upload clip asap)

Time to get to my referance footage and planning....

Rock On

Class 5 - 3 & 4

2010-02-01T23:18:00.004+11:00

So here we have my final pass for my first dialogue piece, we had two weeks to polish the shot. It was a great experience animating this shot and i learned alot along my journey. One thing that i really found interesting is how some of my acting choices changed, it is so true what they say...you could animate a shot and be almost done but then you get changes to acting choices, so it is a continuous learning path which is great.

So next week i start my first two character dialogue piece which is going to be interesting, so time to go away and star researching some .wav files. It definitely is going to be a challenge but i am looking forward to it, i am hoping to find a dialogue clip with some emotion changes and pauses. So another week has gone and the weeks are going by quick before you know it AM will be finished.

Rock On

Rock On

Class 5 - Week 2

2010-01-18T22:22:00.002+11:00

Week 2 gone...can not believe how fast time is passing by during my AM journey. This week our assignments next stage was to refine the lip sync and continue with polishing the overall performance. I went away and watched my shot a number of times and after some awesome feedback from my mentor and fellow peers i went away and re-filmed my ref to get a few more ideas for the overall perfomance. To cut along story short, i have made a few changes in my acting beats and tried to take advantage of the pauses in the dialogue.

Onto the final week of polish before moving onto shot 2....

Rock On

Class 5 - Week 1

2010-01-16T11:20:00.003+11:00

Week 1 gone by so fast, here is my first pass at refined lip sync. This term we have the bishop rig with full mouth and brow controls, so now it is time to form the phonyms and the facial expressions. I ran into a fe difficulties with the AM toolbar swapping the character faces but all in all i am happy with what i achieved for my first pass.

Rock On

I'm Back!

2010-01-08T22:48:00.003+11:00

I'm back people, after a few weeks off i am now re-fleshed and re-charged and ready for my final 6month onslaught at Animation Mentor. First of all i want to wish you all a Happy New Year and i hope this year is all that you desire.

Well the first 12months of AM flew by so fast it was incredible, i truly have to say that AM is well worth it, some people may say "Well i am already work in the industry so how much more can i learn".......well the answer is you learn so much more because in animation you never stop learning and with AM you are putting all you learn into practice on a weekly basis and before you know it...you are automatically addressing all that you have learned.

The Mentors are awesome and so helpful, i take my hat off to them all. They are working full time and then come home to conduct lectures and review your work and on top of that they make themselves available to you outside of lectures...you are all animation ninjas.

So 6 months to go and probably the most important 6months of my animation career, the first 12months were hard but these final 6 are going to be harder, the sacrifices i make now will hopefully pay off in 6 months time, so without further blabbering on from me it's time to get to work. Onto class 5 this term (Advanced Acting) and i have a familiar face for a Mentor...Mr Drew Adams who was my mentor in Class 3 and not only an awesome animator but a real cool dude as well so i look forward to picking his brain for more animation knowledge this term. Anyway i better be off now and get onto my first assignment for Class 5. Below i have my progress reel from Class 4 a tough term but a lot learned which is what counts, until next week people.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 10

2009-12-10T22:21:00.001+11:00

Ok so here is my first polish pass of my shot....by this week i had to make sure to have all my main actions nailed down so in my final week of polish i can concentrate on the eyes and lip sync.

So far i am happy where i am at, there is still alot more work in order to make my actions look and feel smooth and subtle but with each week chipping away something new is achieved and revealed.

Time to get back to my final week of polish...then two weeks off AM...my oh my how fast my first 12months of AM have gone by.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 7, 8 and 9

2009-11-30T20:37:00.002+11:00

It has been a while i know but this shot is taking alot of time so i am putting in as much effot and time as i physically can to make it look as neat as i can. My main goal is to get the characters emotion across, the piece of dialogue i have chosen is very subtle with no big changes so i want to keep all my acting choices simple but also keep away from cliche choices.

The character we are using for the shot is called Bishop, it is the first character we get that has all the finger controls, eye control and limited facial controls. Bishop is a basic character for us to use so we can become accustom to animating a character with full body controls first, for the mouth shapes we have none so we are just concentrating on the opening and closing of the mouth and when we move into our next class that is where we get an updated Bishop rig with full facial and mouth controls, so we will be able to form the mouth shapes as well as get more emotion in the face.

I have uploaded my three passes so far for the shot (Blocking, Blocking Plus and Refining). It is really cool looking back at how the shot started and how it has changed and progressed. I still have a lot more work to do, really time to push the arcs, ease in/out, overlap etc....and also need to change the left arm it is moving way to much and it is distracting to the viewer.

Time for me now to get back to it....hard to believe only two weeks left of Animation Mentor for the year and what a year it has been...until next update.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 6

2009-11-16T21:22:00.002+11:00

Time for more acting but this time with dialogue, so for week 6 our task was to pick 3 dialogue clips for our next shot and choose the clip we will be animating for the next few weeks , also we have to plan each clip out for Mike to crit , so here are my choices.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 5

2009-11-02T22:59:00.002+11:00

Final polish for my shot, after recieving an awesome crit from Mike i have gone away and made a few changes to my original. All in all it has helped the shot feel more clear and it is far more readable to what i had originally. The big emphasis this week was to make my poses and gestures more clear and readable, to add to Mikes crit we also had a lecture with Pixar animator Andrew Gordon on body language and gestures. Andrew spoke about how different traits of a gesture or action can mean different things to our audience, also stated the best library for gestures is everyday life...look around see how people act and store what you see or note it down.

A very hard week but one that i have learned alot from, i do expect a few fixes for the shot which i will upload next week...time now for me to find some dialogue for my next shot.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 4

2009-10-26T19:55:00.002+11:00

Week 4 oh man what a week...it has been great and busy and the feedback i have recieved has helped alot. This week we had a relief mentor as Mike was moving to Seattle for work...so Mario Pochat stepped up to the plate and hit a home run, great Q&A and awesome crit given on my work.

Here is my first polish pass of my shot for this week...a fair bit has changed due to the frame range and needless to say i am happy where it is heading...so here is my shot for the week.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 3

2009-10-19T20:25:00.002+11:00

Another week of AM gone dam time is going by quick... It is true what they say at AM the more feedback you give the more you will receive and by doing this you learn a lot more and also pick up on areas you have missed in your shot. My peers and mentor have been a big help this week in helping me address the areas where my animation was lacking.

Due to the feedback i received the characters hat is gone and the animation has changed slightly, trying to portray an emotion change without facial animation is difficult and when you are limiting yourself with prop use it is even harder...but that's where the animator comes out in you.

This week we also had an awesome lecture with Rebecca Stockley about improv acting...a really good insight of how to get into character. It was really great hearing all that she had to say about differnet types of movement which can determine what typ of character you are animating or trying to become.

Ok time to get back to it...this week it is time to spline away!

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 2

2009-10-15T00:01:00.003+11:00

Initial blocking for my first acting piece....only have key poses and a few breakdowns to begin with and some rough timing. From the feedback i have recieved i have been told it will be hard to try get the emotion across and story without props...but it is a challenge i am willing to take. I am not going to outline the story here until the final week i really want my audience to understand what is going on without knowing the story.

Next comes blocking plus....so lets get to it.

Rock On

Class 4 - Week 1

2009-10-07T11:23:00.002+11:00

So Class 4 here we come.....time to move from Body Mechanics into Acting, needless to say i am a bit nervous as i know my acting choices at times have been a little cliche....so really going to try push myself harder this term.

This terms class mentor is Mike Belzer, Mike started out as a Stop motion animator and has worked on such movies as " Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" from there he gained his first taste in CGI at Pixar before moving onto Disney where he worked for 12 years. At Disney Mike was the Supervising Animator on such projects as "Meet the Robinsons" and "Bolt".

I am rerally looking forward to learning all i can from Mike as from previous students i have heard he really helps you grasp the character you are trying to portray, their emotion and back story...can not wait for this term.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 11-12

2009-09-21T20:47:00.003+10:00

Ok i been abit lazy getting my work up from the last two weeks so i apologize now that Class 3 is finished i been away from my machine as much as possible...time to relax and re-charge for my next AM venture Class 4 - Introduction to Acting" really looking forward to this class.

So back to Class 3 well what can i say about Advanced Body Mechanics....it is worth it, i can not explain how much i have learned by having two classes of Body Mechanics it has been a great experience and now i feel alot more confident when it comes to animating action shots. My mentor Drew and my class mates this term have been great they have helped me out so much and i thank them all for their time and feedback. The pace of the class in general was steady it was not overpowering and with each lecture and Q&A you learned something new, so overall i give AM 10/10 for having two Body Mechanics classes it is well worth it.

So now that the term is finished i have put together my shots in a progress reel below so you can see and if you like tell me what you think. I am generally happy with what i have achieved with my shots and i know now from my experience how important planning your shot out first before even looking at MAYA is...so now it is time to take a break and re-charge for the term ahead.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 10

2009-09-08T14:27:00.002+10:00

Ok so here is my first polish pass of my shot, so far it is progressing in a positive manner although i know from watching it i have a few areas to attend to (Spacing, Arcs, Ease in/out) but they will all come in my next pass.

Had an awesome Q&A this week with Drew it was really cool to hear about other students work methods in the class. Also I really like the AM concept of interacting with student from other classes it is such a benefit to learn so much form each other.

The lecture this week was from Eric Goldberg this guy is a genius, Eric went through a shot in 2d highlighting how he goes about timing and spacing in his shots. The lecture was super helpful for me so now it is time to put all i am learned from it into my final polish pass.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 9

2009-09-02T22:02:00.002+10:00

Ok so here is this weeks blocking pass, i decided to leave it in stepped mode to make sure i get it looking wright before moving into my spline pass. I have made a few changes from last weeks blocking in order to cut out some of the unecessary animation i had...sometimes a small bit of animation is all you need to get your idea across to your audience....keep it simple.

I am really enjoying this shot so far and especially the challenges of the FK/IK switch and the change of direction. With each shot i am learning a lot and i will be sure to implement all i have learned into my future shots to come. Anyway here is my blocking thus far, feel free to comment.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 8

2009-08-25T23:00:00.003+10:00

Ok so here is the blocking for my final shot for Class 3, still continuing my Mission Impossible theme for the shot but going to give it a bit of a commical ending. So far i have found it pretty hard blocking out this shot especially due to the Frame Range which i have gone over also a few of the FK/IK switch have required abit of extra attention.

All in all i am happy with my first blocking pass, still have a few areas to fix before moving forward into blocking plus. Apart from a few issues with my shot this week at AM has been great, in our Q&A we spoke about reels and their relevance to the company you are applying to, also spoke about what type of work to put on your reel and music selection as well...it was really cool to hear Drew's view. Anyway time to get back to work...

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 7

2009-08-22T13:12:00.002+10:00

Ok so here is my final version of my shot, i have really enjoyed working on this shot as i have learned alot. I am thinking after my crit from Drew this week there may be the odd revision made. In general it has been another tough week of finishing my shot and planning for the next shot...but it is good that it is busy as when the time comes to work in the industry it will be flat out...and i can not wait.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 5 & 6

2009-08-11T23:21:00.004+10:00

Week 5 Blocking

Week 6 Blocking

Ok i know i am a little late with this post...sorry it has been a real hectic two weeks, so here is my blocking for my next shot. I have tried to keep shot 002 of my Anim Jam simple and quick. I received some amazing feedback from my peers and mentor and it helped a lot as you can see from the changes i have made to my week 6 blocking. Did i just say week 6.....dam already half way through class 3 another 6 weeks till i move into Acting, seriousley this AM journey is amazing i am enjoying everyday of it. Hope you enjoy my blocking.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 4

2009-07-27T10:54:00.002+10:00

Week 4 has come and gone and what a week it has been..from adding final 10% to shot 01 to planning my next shot. After recieveing some awesome feedback from Drew and my fellow classmates and also a special video crit from my peer buddy i went full out pushing my shot as much as i could. I really enjoyed working on such a challenging shot and i am starting to feel a little bit more confident in tackling more action shots in the future.

In this weeks class we went through a few classic Disney shots of Mickey and Pluto, we stepped through each shot and broke down where all the antic, arcs, overlaps were....really cool stuff seeing how the great animators went about their work.

Probably the highlight of the week was the special Transformers Q&a With Shaw, Rick and Scott. It was real inspiring and also a great laugh to hear about the daily process and decisions made for each shot of the movie. The guys were great and took time to answer any questions we asked and it was well worth taking 2.5hrs off working on my assignment for....theses guys rock. Anyway better get back to work...

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 3

2009-07-21T23:47:00.002+10:00

Ok so week 3 and time for Blocking Plus and time to SPILNE my shot, so after some awesome feedback from Drew and my peers here is what i have so far, still alot to work on but it is on the wright track.

It has been a super busy week, all of us at AM in Class 3 have been up late and at times some of us have not the time to even comment on fellow class mates work, i guess that is some of the sacrifices you have to make in order to get your shot complete....regardless i try at least comment on a few pages a week.

In our Q&A with Drew we learnt a lot about overlap and follow through as well as staggers which was super cool. Anyway without anymore babble from me here is my shot for this week....now on to my final week for final tweaks and polish.

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 2

2009-07-12T11:30:00.003+10:00

So week two has come and gone and what a week it has been. This week our task was to transfer our planning into our first blocking pass for our assignments. As mentioned in my previous post my theme for my assignments is Mission Impossible Stewie, so here is the first shot of three that i will be animating this term.

This weeks Q&A Drew called us up all individually to introduce ourselves to our class mates, really cool hearing peoples stories of how they got into animation....so many different backgrounds. Drew also went through a few old classic cartoon clips, outlining to us the animators thought process for the shot, we broke down the entire clips looking at the arcs, antics and overlaps. Drew also gave us a brief background about himself, looks like i will be learning a lot from him and my fellow class mates.

Also this week have a Q&A with Shaun Kelly about the latest Transformers movie...can not wait for that.

Rock On

Character Concept

2009-07-06T14:52:00.003+10:00

Ok so for this term i have chosen a theme for my assignments....MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, so join the ride and see what Stewie will be up to this term....this message will self destruct in 10 seconds.....aaaahhhh

Rock On

Class 3 - Week 1

2009-07-03T11:44:00.002+10:00

Class 3 here we come....wow can not believe i am 6months into AM the first half of the year has gone by so quick. So this term it is time for more Body Mechanics (Advanced Body Mechanics) and needless to say i am look forward to it, have so many ideas for my assignments this term. The cool thing about this term is the choices we are given for our assignments we can choose a theme or come up with our own for each shot which is so cool, and i think it is great because as an animator you are animating something you want to animate.

I have a few ideas for my assignments this term and in an effort to push myself even more i really am going to try harder with my posts here on my blog as well, try update more different stages of each of my assignments. I really want to push myself this term so it is going to be long days and nights ahead....but the more you put in now the better it is in the long run.

Onto my mentor i originally had Paul Allen but due to time conflicts with my part-time class i have been switched to another Class mentored by Drew Adams. Drew is an animator at Dreamworks and as many of you know Dreamworks is one company i love so yes i am happy to be lucky to have Drew as my mentor. Drew previously worked for Disney, Reel FX and Duncan studio and has worked both in 2d and 3d, he is currently working on Kung Fu Panda 2. I am looking forward to this term and learning as much as i can from Drew and my fellow class mates.

This weeks lecture was conducted by ILM animator Rick O'Connor, Rick went through the process he uses at ILM to work on a shot. It was really cool to go through his process and learn a lot about your planning process....one thing i found really helpful was Rick does not pen up MAYA at all for the first day...this is for refernce footage and planning sketches. Despite what you plan on paper most of the time you have to edit your planning when it comes to putting your shot together in MAYA....a really cool lecture by an awesome animator and probably one of the funniest guys as well, so time for me to get back to my planning.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 12

2009-06-25T12:07:00.003+10:00

Class 2 has come and gone...i can not believe how quick 3months has gone by. In our final lecture Mike spoke to us all individually and gave us some important tips on where we can all improve and where we have improved through the class. I know i have only been in the course for 6months but this Class really rocked, there was a great vibe about us all through the term and i hope to be in the same class as some of my fellow classmates next term.

This was a real important class for me as Body Mechanics is an area i struggle in, but through the help of Mike with his examples and knowledge and the extra input from my fellow peers i have learnt a lot and i am starting to pick up on areas that i would miss before. So thanks to Mike and all my class mates for an awesome term...see you all around campus.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 11

2009-06-25T12:02:00.002+10:00

I know i am late with this post...freelance work has taken up a lot of my time. So here is my last assignment for Class 2 (Pshyc of Body Mechanics) and man what a class it has been.

I am happy with my final assignment, i feel it turned out better than i expected due to my Time Management...i would have liked to have spent a lot more time on it and polished more. So here it is, as usual any feedback is most welcome.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 10

2009-06-11T22:28:00.002+10:00

Ok with two weeks to go of Class 2 time management is very important for the final week of my assignment, this past week has not been a good one for me due to a few issues with some freelance work i have...i'll say it again TIME MANAGEMENT. I let my assignment slide a bit this week and it is showing, but it is all part of the learning curve.

This week Mike gave me some advice that i will carry with me through my career and that is never be hard on yourself because you feel that your work is not up to scratch, this industry is the best industry to be a part of and each day you are learning so never apologize for your lack of skill or knowledge. That is what is so cool about AM your peers are there to help you out in times of need, really appreciate it and have made some real good mates here.

Back to my assignment i tried to improve the arms but still needs more work, i have a few more ideas for the actual jump which i will add into the final polish stage. This past week i worked on the jump and tried to bring Stewie up into a ball a little earlier as he reaches his apex of the jump, then kep him up there for a bit then drop down. Anyway i better get back to it only have this week to finish it...so remember TIME MANAGEMENT!

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 9

2009-06-01T10:36:00.001+10:00

Week 9 has come and gone.....can not believe i have been studying for 6months already, time goes by so quick. This weeks assignment was to push our blocking further than our first pass, after watching my first pass a few times i was not happy at all. So i went away and researched more and more posibilities for this shot. In the end i gatherd all the info i required re-planned and re-blocked the shot...so here is the result.

This week we had a special lecture with Pete Doctor from Pixar, Pete explained how he became an animator and director...really cool story and a great guy. This weeks Q&A was cool Mike explained a lot of the differences regarding animating in 2d and 3d, picked up some really cool tips and tricks....anyway better move onto the next stage of my assignment.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 8

2009-05-28T11:21:00.002+10:00

Week 8 already oh man i can not believe how fast time passes by. This week i started blocking out for my final assignment for class 2, i decided to have Stewie backflip off a box as if he were an athlete in the olympics. It has been pretty tough needless to say trying to figure out which body part moves first and which follows etc...so this week has been constantly back and forth from reference footage to planning sketches and then back to my blocking.

Also this week we had an Awesome lecture by Carlos in regards to Arcs and their importance. It really is amazing when you break down a shot frame by frame and check out all the arcs and how perfect everything moves from one pose to another...arcs are very important so pay attention to them.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 6 - 7

2009-05-21T11:05:00.003+10:00

Sorry for the late post, here is my week 6 Blocking Plus and final animation for my assignment. Really tried to push the poses a little more and add more overlap in the characters body...thanks too Mikes' critique and some feedback from my fellow peers.

What i have found with Class 2 so far is that i am really starting to discover which direction i would to go in my animation style, i am leaning more towards a cartoony style of animation so i am hoping to push the boundary more on my next assignment.

This weeks lecture was really cool as Mike went through a few shots from "Horton here's a Who" with the class, it was really great to break down the shots and see what the animator was thinking while animating, also went over a few shots from "Jungle Book". Also picked up some great tips on adding Appeal to my animation...so now lets start the next assignment.

Rock On

Assignment Re-Block

2009-05-07T23:04:00.003+10:00

So after some great notes from Mike in my critique i decided to go away and re-block my shot, i missed out some key breakdowns in my last version...bad by me (shakes fist in air). So here is my new version, i also fixed the way Stewie bends over in his antic...if we had a head that size and we bent over like i had in my previous blocking we would all probably fall on our face. So now i am now ready to move into Splining.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 5

2009-05-07T11:36:00.002+10:00

Week 5 and time to start blocking out my next shot and a new character STEWIE. For this assignment i have chosen to have Stewie jump up onto a box and back down again. I really wanted to keep this asignment simple so i can concentrate on getting the body mechanics correct.

In this weeks Q&A Mike spoke about a number of topics from how to go about revisions on your work when the director is not happy, to how the body works and pose relationships. Another good Q&A by Mike he really takes the time to explain things to you clearly, looking forward to checking out his latest project Ice Age 3.

Rock On

Battle for Terra

2009-04-30T16:11:00.002+10:00

Hey all Battle for Terra opens this weekend in the U.S...wahoo very excited to have been able to work on this movie as an intern. Here is a link to a short video on the making of Terra, two of my good mate Gregg and Kevin make an appearance.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&vid=9d83aca1-357d-4880-96f2-2dd8cb2ac9ce

Looking forward to checking the movie out, but living in Australia i might have to wait a bit till it is released here.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 4

2009-04-27T13:01:00.004+10:00

First 4 weeks of Class 2 have gone by already....i can not believe how quick time goes by. This week we had to finish our assignment so for me it was time to SPLINE away, i am happy with the final result but expect some revisions next week.

Also this week we had to begin our planning for Assignment 2, so from the pick list of choices i have decided to go for my character Jumping up on a box and then jumping back down again. I ham trying to keep my assignment choices simple as i really need to understand Body Mechanics before i can move forward onto harder shots....Body Mechanics is an area i struggle in and after speaking to my gun mentor Mike i have decide to keep my assignments simple for now.

We were also given a new character to work with...STEWIE (with no arms) this is still going to be a testing assignment as it is all to do with how the spine will work...so i am looking forward to it.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 3

2009-04-20T16:53:00.002+10:00

Week 3 already....man time passes by fast, Ok so this week we are required to move into the next stage of Blocking....Blocking Plus. So what is the difference between Blocking and Blocking Plus well in Blocking you are wanting to try get your idea across to the director in minimal poses, what i mean is not adding Ease in/out, Overlap, Over shoot etc and for Blocking Plus this is where you add all your little bits of extra goodies....also the final stage before converting to splines.

So this week went back and watched my reference over and over again to make sure i have not missed anything but one thing i want to stress is do not copy your reference frame for frame, your reference is used as a guide and to give you the idea of how the body works...then when it comes to planning you push your sketches even more them translate them into MAYA. I really am liking this method of animation it is real beneficial and each day i am learning more and more....AM ROCKS.

In our Q&A Mike and I put the class through a KISS album lecture or debate, the class just sat there while Mike and i were going on about our favorite KISS albums....Mike is such a cool guy he ROCKS.

Rock On

Class 2 - Week 2

2009-04-20T16:47:00.002+10:00

Ok this week was first pass blocking of our assignment, i have chosen to have Ballie turn 180 degrees. We had a number of choices to pick from for this assignment so i thought i would push myslef and aim for a harder topic this time around. For this assignment we are required to film reference first, then block out a first pass of the assignment.

I never realized how much you can pick up from studying reference over and over and over again. I made sure i studied it for a while before even putting pen to paper for my planning, also wrote a number of notes...so my room is covered in paper......"I think my desk is under here somewhere"

Rock On

Veggie Tales

2009-04-16T00:05:00.003+10:00

Hey All, i was just sent this cool link from a buddy of mine

https://bigidea.com/products/shows/shows_trailers.aspx?pid=716

If you get the time have a look, it is one of the projects i was lucky enough to work on in my time in NZ. It was really cool animating the Veggie Tale characters....it helped prepare me for my AM experience, the story lines are funny and also have a powerful message.

Rock On

Class 2

2009-04-09T12:10:00.003+10:00

Ok so Class 1 is over and what can i say but my first term at AM was awesome. So now it is onto Class 2 (Psychology of Body Mechanics) i am really looking forward to this class as body mechanics has always been an area i struggle in. My mentor for Class2 is Mike Walling from Bluesky, after one q&a session with Mike i know this term is going to be fun and i am going to learn a lot. Mike has worked at PDI and also Sony before making his way to Bluesky....awesome thing about Mike is he loves ROCK music so we have a bit of an understanding......he looks like the lead singer of Metallica, and so far i have trained him well as he refers to me as STANLEY...

Anyway stay tuned for more on Class 2, this is going to be such a cool term.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 12

2009-04-06T16:50:00.004+10:00

Well it is the end of Class 1....WOW i can not believe how quick 12 weeks has gone by. After my first term at AM what can i say but it is AWESOME by far the best decision i have made in my animation career to date.

It has been a term of going back to basics for me which i am happy about, you never realize how the basic principles of animation apply to everything we animate. My advice to all, study those 12 principles and live by them...i will never stop reading them. I have learnt so much this term it has been great and it has been a blast along the way, making new friends, seeing some awesome work by other peers and i guess the big thing for me is satisfaction and the constant willingness to learn as much as i can.

Shaun Freeman an awesome mentor thanks for all your help and support through out the term, Shaun really knows his stuff and every q&a was worth it. To my fellow class mates we have all come a long way this term and i am sure we will all be in constant contact with each other...work hard, never give up and never lose sight of where you want to go...thanks for everything guys.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 11

2009-04-06T16:45:00.002+10:00

Ok i know i been a little slack and i do apologize for that...been a lot of things going on back home here that updating my blog had to be put on hold...sorry.

Anyway here i my final version of my personality walk for Class1, i found it very hard to put across the personality that i was after but in the end i have learnt a lot from this exercise which is great.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 10

2009-03-19T20:13:00.002+11:00

Week 10 has come and gone so quick, it was a bit of a tough week for me as the internet in our area was out for 4 days, so i missed my lecture and all the awesome feedback from my peers. Lucky i have family near by so i could hand in my assignment for the week. This weeks task was from a side view come up with a personality walk.....and also to Pose STU in an EXHAUSTED pose. In the end i handed in a frint view as well as i was pretty lost with my walk...just was not working out.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 9

2009-03-10T10:53:00.002+11:00

Week 9 is gone.....aaahhh only 3 weeks to go of Class 1, can not believe it. This week was pretty full on, it was a follow on from last weeks lecture. Our task this week was to smooth out our Vanilla walk and also pose STU the topic for the pose was CONCERNED.

Now you may think that converting a cycle to spline is easy....just push a button and that's it....well it's not that easy. It was a real pain, especially all the knee pops which with the character we had is very noticeable.

Also this week had a Q&A with Jill Culton who works for Sony Pictures Animation as a Director, she started out as an Animator/Story teller at PIXAR. Really great person to speak to, she gave us all some awesome tips on acting, story telling and show reels.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 8

2009-03-02T11:38:00.003+11:00

Week 8 has come and gone, these last few weeks have flown by. For this weeks assignment we had to block out a Vanilla Walk....Vanilla Walks basically mean "a walk without character". This is a great way to learn how the body work during a walk, and let me say even though we had to submit our blocking this week and refining next week, there was still a lot to consider.

Also we had submit a pose depicting STRENGTH, i really tried hard to get away from the cliche strength poses you see (characters flexing muscles, working out in the gym etc). I feel the pose i have submitted is ok, but i think i could have pushed it a little more.

Rock On

Battle for Terra

2009-02-24T17:53:00.005+11:00

Hey Peeps, found out some awesome news today..."Battle for Terra" is going to be released on May 1st...for those of you who do not know "Battle for Terra" was my first ever experience in the industry, i was able to intern on the movie and relocate to LA for 4 months to do so.

It was an awesome experience and i thank everyone at Snoot for giving me this opportunity. I guess with hard work, persistence and self belief you can achieve your goals in life. If you want to check out the trailer, here is the link www.battleforterra.com

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 7

2009-02-24T15:10:00.003+11:00

Week 7 and probably the toughest assignment to date....you think a ball with a tail is easy animate...think again! This week we had another two otpions to choose from, either animate a character with one leg bouncing across screen or animate Tailor bouncing a minumum of 3 bounces across screen showing you understand the concepts (Squash & Stretch, Timing, Spacing, Arcs and Overlapping)....it was a hard one but it was really fun.

Picked up some cool tips from Shaun about animating the tail, it is really cool finding out the different methods people use for their assignments. For this assignment i animated in layers...different to what i am use too but it is always to discover new ways of animating. Also this week had a Q&A with Mike Belzer who was an animator on the awesome movie BOLT...oh man i luv that movie and the Q&A was so cool. AM is so cool people, if ever you get the chance DO IT!

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 6

2009-02-24T14:54:00.004+11:00

Week 6 marks the halfway point of Class 1...WOW these six weeks have flown by, so much has happend, i have learnt a heap and made some real great friends through the AM community.

This weeks assignment was to animate a pendulum moving around the screen demonstrating the overlapping action of the tail. We had two options, to either animate the pendulum in a figure 8 motion or have it transfer across screen. During the Q&A i picked up some real great tips from Shaun about overlapping the tail, it was a real big help. Also had a Q&A with Henry Santos, former AM student, really great guy...gave me some real cool tips about sketching so lets see if i put them into practice correctly.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 5

2009-02-09T19:58:00.005+11:00

So week 5 wow this week was both tough and amazing. The topic for this week was "Anticipation and Squash & Stretch" i really enjoyed learning about all the different methods of how and where to use this principle. In every day life we anticiapte before we move, which you do not realize until you actually sit back and watch either a video, commercial or better still just by observing people around you.Let me just say if it was not for the constant feedback from my Peers this week i feel i would have struggled, so a big thanks t o you guys and gals.

This week we had to animate a ball going through an obstacle course and also pose our character depicting DEVASTATION. One big lesson i learnt from a good friend of mine this week was learn the basic first before jumping into the deep end, i originally was not going to animate the obstacle course above i was going for a more complex course but after a few trials and errors and having that young animator eagerness in my brain "I want to do it all now" i realized after cosulting with a peer that i want to learn the basic first, understand them become familiar and comfortable with them.....so the answer was simple Keep It Simple and in due time once you understand the principle push yourself further.

Also this week had a Q & A with the great Shaw Kelly, this guy is so awesome he is a real inspiration to all at AM infact i think to all in the industry. Shawn is a true example of working hard, making the sacrifices and going for what you want in the industry....a really top animator and great guy.....YOU ROCK SHAWN KELLY.

Rock On

Class 1 - Week 4

2009-02-09T19:41:00.003+11:00

Ok so week 4 is here, one month has gone by already...can not believe how quick time goes by. This weeks topic was "Timing and Spacing" which is a real important topic, needless to say it is an area which takes time to understand and become a custom to. So what you have to ask yourself is how long it takes an object to get from point A to B, the spacing you have between point A and B can make your animation feel and look different.

This weeks assignment was to animate two bouncing balls of different weight, as easy as it may sound it was not. So here is the final result i came up with...enjoy.

Rock On

Blog Update

2009-02-09T19:36:00.002+11:00

Ok Peeps sorry for the lack of posts of late...i promise it will be a weekly post, there will be a bit of a re-structure of the blog i will no longer be posting separate posts for the Q & A and my assignments, i will now be grouping the two together.

Ok so time to get back to it....

Rock On

Class 1 - Q&A number 03

2009-01-27T21:49:00.002+11:00

Ok Ok Ok i know i have been lazy posting this one so i apologize......Last week was crazy with two assignments and a few private functions to attend too....my new workflow and commitment were put to the test, and i am happy to say it all worked out well in the end.

Ok onto week 3 Q&A, this week we had the chance to fire some animation questions at our mentor regarding our assignment. It was really cool listening to the different methods students use when going about their assignments, we all learnt a lot and it shows in the quality of each assignment handed up by my class mates. Shaun explained the importance of Timing and Spacing for this assignement, in order for the animation to work it had to be spot on.

We also spok about some industry standards regarding the amount of animation required per week at some studios....6 seconds a week...I WISH, can you guys imagine that rocking up to work on a maonday and know all you have to do is animate 6 seconds of footage a week...CRAZY. We also spoke abut the differances between T.V and Film animation workflows..obviousley in T.V you are going to have to animate more per week, but T.V animation is probably one of the best ways to develop your workflow as well as learn a lot along the way as it is such a fast turn over of weekly aniamtion.

Anyway time for me to get out of here and commence my sketches for Assignment 04, this week we have to animate a light and heavy ball bouncing and coming to a stop in the shot, i had referance footage for this from my time in NZ....but guess what i deleated it...nnnnnnoooooooo, oh well time to get out and get some more referance.

Rock On

Class 1 - Assignment 03 (section 2)

2009-01-27T21:31:00.004+11:00

Ok so here is section 2 of assignment 03...the famous bouncing ball. Let me tell you you may think it is an easy exercise but it is not. There are so many principles you need to consider through out the exercise. For this assignment we had to choose between a Basket Ball and Soccer Ball....guess which one i picked.

The way i went about this assignment is a way i will go about all my assignments and that is the first thing i do is plan my assignment out on paper first....just some basic notes then proceed with reference footage and then sketching and so on and so on. Needless to say with out the constant feedback from my AM peers i would have struggled with this assignment..through it all the main aim for this assignment was (timing and spacing) two of the most important principles in animation get them both spot on and your animation is on the correct path.

So here is my assignment..check it out and see what ya think!

Rock On

Class 1 - Assignment 03 (section 1)

2009-01-27T21:20:00.002+11:00

G'day All,

Ok so onto Assignment 002, this assignment was split into two sections. One was to sketch out and pose STU and the second section was to sketch your planning and animate a bouncing ball. I will talk about the bouncing ball in my next post.

For the first section of the assignment we had to go out and research/observe as many poses as we could depicting EXCITEMENT. Now i would have to say Excitement is probably one of the hardest topics to sketch out and pose because automatically when you think of Excitement you think of someone running with their hands in the air, reaching up too the sky...thus a cliche pose. So i worked hard on this assignment to try find an exciting pose that was different, i also really worked hard on improving my sketches, showing the line of action and also being a lot more loose with my line work for the sketches, overall i am happy with the way they came out...

Rock On

Class 1 - Assignment 02

2009-01-18T12:07:00.003+11:00

G'day All,

Here is my first official AM assignment.......WWWAAAHHHOOOOO! So as mentioned in a previous post our task was to go out in public and sketch what we observed from our surroundings, then from there we had to transfer one of poses to the AM character.

It was a real interesting week for me and i learnt a lot about sketching, Line of Action and Weight, to be honest with you i can not sketch at all....but what was great about this assignemt was your sketches were not required to be fully detailed...stick figures were fine, so as soon as i heard that i jumped for joy.

From the constant feedback from my class peers and friends here is my final version of my pose, originally he was holding a briefcase but we were told "No Props allowed" so i had to come up with another idea for the right arm.....i am happy with the final outcome...comments, critique are welcome....So now take a break and then start assignment 03.

Rock On

Rob

Class 1 - Q&A number 02

2009-01-18T11:55:00.002+11:00

G'day All,

Sorry for the late post....but i have been busy. So the week has gone by and man what a great week it has been at AM. We have until noon PST on Sunday to hand in our first assignment...which i have to say has been a real big learning experience for me, i'll explain in my next post.

On to week 2 Q&A, it was a great we got to fire some questions to Shaun regarding Work flow, Posing, Animation Styles, Rigs, Pose to Pose v Layering, Principles of Animation...oh man the list goes on and on. We learnt a lot about all of these topics and it was really great to listen to all the great questions from my class mates, and also really helpful....i learnt some work flow tips that i will defiantly implement into my next assignment. One tip we recieved and i think it is very important in the industry we work in and that is to NETWORK....the more people you NETWORK with the more you will learn and the more chance you will have to have constant work.

So for this weeks assignemt we begin to Animate......my first AM animation will be the Bouncing Ball, i am really looking forward to this assignment...also we have to pose STU in an excited pose....so i am going to check out the Tour Down Under tonight and see how EXCITED the cyclists and fans get....

Rock On

Rob

Class 1 - Q&A number 01

2009-01-10T15:13:00.003+11:00

G'day All,

Quick update, had my first Q&A with my class and mentor yesterday...wwwaahhooo! The Q&A was just a basic introduction for us all, it was really cool to sit back and listen about peoples backgrounds, inspirations etc and how they have found their way into Animation....really cool.

We had the chance to listen to our mentor Shaun Freeman tell us about his experience, inspirations and views on animation...it was super cool. There was this one part of our lecture where Shaun explained how the Bouncing Ball concept works in every animation you do...and it was only a brief explanation but it was so helpful and easy to follow...it is easy to see why the mentors at AM are who they are....they explain things in detail and make it easy for you to follow.

So this week we are just making our way around the AM site, familiarizing ourselves with all the AM tools etc....which is cool that we are not thrown into it straight away...good to ease into it before the long days and nights hit us....All in all it is almost a week since i started and all ican say about AM is it is pure AWESOMNESS!

Rock On

Rob

Day 1!

2009-01-06T20:52:00.002+11:00

My AM journey began today, and all i can say is AM is absolutely AWESOME! Oh man by far AM will have to be the best decision i have made to date in my career.

So my mentor for Class 1 is Shaun Freeman....a fellow Aussie, what are the chances of that happening. Shaun has been animating for a number of years and has worked on some real awesome projects (Happy Feet, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Open Season 2). Shaun originally worked as a School teacher and science coordinator at a secondary college in Melb...also another interesting fact is that Shaun worked on Animalia.....and so did i, will be cool to chat to him about it. I look forward to attending my first Q&A with Shaun this Friday and look forward to keeping you all up to date.

I know it is not much of a post but thought i would let you all know that Day 1 is out the way and the journey has begun.

Rock On

Rob

It's Here!

2009-01-01T11:44:00.002+11:00

G'day All,

First of all Happy New Year, hope 2009 is an awesome year for you all. Secondly here it is my first Animation Blog is finally up and running. The purpose of this blog is to keep you all up to date with my progress through Animation Mentor as well as life in general. I will be posting my work up here for you guys to check out...so feel free to comment on it, rip it apart...laugh at it.

Rock On

Rob!