animation club at school

BlackulaDZ

So the animation club at meh school kinda took a nosedive recently because our president hasn't shown up the past couple meetings... So I was thinking of trying to step up to the plate. Do you guys have suggestions of group activities? most of the members want to make a short nicely rendered animation, but the freshman barely touch 3ds max their first year, so most of the work would be put on us upper classmen. I was thinking of running through some zbrush tutorials or doing some modeling demos in max. any input/suggestion are appreciated

Keith

Do it man, just make it a modeling club instead, the freshmen students would probably benefit more from your modeling and zbrush tuts anyway. Wish i had something like that when i was a freshman in art college.

mdeforge

I was president and founder of my college's animation club and I basically just pooled everyone's minds every meeting and asked them to share any resources, techniques or cool sites they have come across lately.

Listen, every twitchy fingered teen want's to be a video game developer or some other hot shit like that. It takes dedication, hardwork, and the ability to log off WOW or stop talking about Anime for a few hours. Don't waste your time spoon feeding people. Show them the door and let them walk through it and answer any questions they have along the way.

Mark Dygert

I think Keith has a good suggestion I think gearing it toward modeling instead of animation would be a good move. I think starting off with the basics of 3dsmax would be good. If its going to be about animation stick to the basics, bouncing balls, learning the 12 principles of animation (or at least the important ones).

I know everyone wants to be the next lead animator at Pixar or be the brain child behind the next big game but you have to keep it real and keep it simple. There is an amazing amount of knowledge that can be gleamed from simple exercises and it has the added bonus of not being as big of a drag on you to organize.

Maybe after a few intros to modeling and unwrapping, set a few minor projects in front of them (old metal trash cans, sports balls, traffic cones, street signs) simple stuff they would not have a problem getting something finished. Then get them to critique one another, get them accustomed to group feedback and opening up their "art" and themselves.

Give it some framework so it doesn't become a visceral disemboweling each time. Like for every critical comment someone makes they need to find 1-2 things that are positive.

Personally I think getting them to evaluate each others work and look at things critically is the main key to success. Getting them to talk in a group and get comfortable discussing flaws in their own work and in other peoples work is great too, and something I would definitely focus on much more than the nuts and bolts of how apps work.

It's a club, I've always thought clubs should be a bit more social than a class room but structured enough that people have a sense of accomplishment.

I caution you against jumping into ZBrush. There is a lot you need to know much more than just the ins and outs of the interface if you're going to make good art with ZBrush. Unless they have some sculpting experience or are fairly component traditional artists they'll probably struggle pretty hard even after learning the interface. I would imagine it would be a bit of a failure to teach them how to use a tool they couldn't really put to good use?

There are enough poorly deformed spheres that roughly resemble human heads...

danshewan

Vig wrote: »

Personally I think getting them to evaluate each others work and look at things critically is the main key to success. Getting them to talk in a group and get comfortable discussing flaws in their own work and in other peoples work is great too, and something I would definitely focus on much more than the nuts and bolts of how apps work.

Agreed. If someone really wants to learn, developing an impartial, critical eye is crucial towards evaluating their own progress honestly. Not only that, but it'll get everyone involved and individual members will feel that they have a voice, and can contribute something to the discussion.

Andreas

I wish there were game-related animation minis on some message board...:(

Mark Dygert

11 sec club for games, that would be pretty cool.

Richard Kain

1. Teach the younger members how to use Blender. That way they won't be reliant on school resources, and can continue modeling in their free time.

2. Use a game engine for your actual rendering. You won't be able to achieve some of the same fancy effects, but rendering will be a hell of a lot faster. It will also keep the project small-scale enough to be manageable by a small club. And of course, it will make it easier for you to recycle your resources for additional episodes later. Machinima is a great entry point for small teams.

attattattack

I agree with Vig that if it's going to be animation club, you need to teach the freshmen the principles of animations. Study timing, stretch squash and those bouncing balls flour sack, walk cycles.
start with classical animations and step up. So at least if they don't finish a short, they would at least get something.

for activities. I suggest acting for animation. Watch and study animation shorts, watch a lot of animated film that uses less dialogues to see how animation alone tells story, emotions etc.

But if you are gearing towards modelling club, just drop all those.

Richard Kain

Actually, some general workshops in several of the more common disciplines to be found in animation studios would be a good idea. Have a workshop on storyboarding, concepting, coloring, workflow, 3D modeling basics, etc... If you are taking that tack to keep up interest in the club, it will be easier to get faculty support. The faculty won't be as interested in a simple animation project. But if you are making an effort to expand skillsets through animation workshops, you can probably schedule time with university resources and facilities.

BlackulaDZ

Thanks for the input guys. i'm using "animation club" kind of as a blanket term, we'll probably cover a little of everything. I was thinking of a simple exercise to start with which would cover some simple modeling/unwrapping/texturing. such as making a game ready prop, probably a barrel or crate of somekind.