MUSIC!

My lovely boyfriend, Devin McCanna, provided the video with some much needed music! Enjoy!

FINISHED!

Sorry that this took me till now to post. We are currently in the process of moving from one apartment to the other and so we do not have internet right now. But here it is, my finished Art 450 project, a 22 second animation of my cat Barney!

Research

While working on the second part of my video I realized that the motion I was using seemed awkward. So I did some research and found these two amazing videos of cats jumping in slow motion.

getting close to the finish!

Sorry that this weeks post is so late. I was out of town at a funeral all weekend then completely spaced to even post this when I got back.

So what you see here is the completed opening portion of my final video. I am currently working on the second half of the video and expect it to be finished by the middle of next week (just in time!). Enjoy!

Color!

Flash is being grumpy with me so I cannot get the video to export right now. I will mess with it and post the video when I get it to work.

UPDATE:

Last Minute Again!

I am so sorry, but once again for this weeks update of the blog I have waited literally till the last minute. This term has been super crazy for me, 20 credits, looking for a job, looking for a new apartment, and even 2 deaths in the family all just this term. So I am sorry if this class has had to take a backseat because of more pressing issues. I am still going to try and make my final animation just as awesome as when I first imagined it, despite my crazy hectic term.

~Chelsea Engelman

UPDATE: here is my most recent addition to my final video. I made the walk sequence, rather than just walking in place, cross the screen. Next I am going to add color :)

WIP

just remembered that I havent posted for this week yet and the week is about to end. I have been working on the opening part of my final video, but it is still a work in progress. i will update this post when i finish it :D

UPDATE:

Here is the completed walk cycle for the opening sequence, it is currently set at 15 fps.

Project #2- Update!

Here is the same animation but with a faster frames per second than the original.

Flash Project #2- Barney Walking

Opps!

Opps so sorry! I have totally forgotten to keep this blog updated!

As for what has been happening, I spent a lot of time researching how a cat walks and observing my own cat barney and how he walks. I have been conducting this research in order to complete my newest animation of Barney walking!

Still working on the animation right now (so many frames!) hopefully I will be done by Thursday (the deadline).

And for those of you who do not know Barney, here is a picture of my little happy family:

Digglet Dig!

bouncing cube!

4. A one-page description of your project.

For my Art 450 class project I am going to be making a series of short animations meant to be a crash-course study in 2D animation using Adobe Flash. This project will consist of multiple short animations and one longer final animation.

The first animations are each going to have specific lessons tied to them that I will be learning through reading "The Animators Survival Kit" by Richard Williams. I also plan to seek knowledge from the Internet by using online tutorials to help familiarize myself with the Adobe Flash software. I have planned to complete a minimum of 3 short animations, although I hope to complete more, that each may or may not have color or sound. The themes of study that these short films may consist of include; a walk sequence, bounce sequence, a loop, and a musical- just to name a few ideas.

The final animation will be much longer than the rest and will use all of the things that the previous short animations have taught me. My current working idea is to animate a short film of my cat Barney that will be set to music.

I hope that through reading Richard Williams' book "The Animators Survival Kit" and studying online tutorials that by the end of term I will have completed a 2D video that I can potentially use as a portfolio piece. I also hope that through completing a series of animations I will have familiarized myself enough with the software that I will feel comfortable using it in the future.

7. Treatment visuals for your project—your own work

I thought up some ideas for some of my shorter videos in Spanish class on the side of my homework. The top idea is to make a jumping animation of my cat Barney. The bottom idea is to make an extremely simple animation of the Pokemon Digglet popping in and out of the ground (I think that I am going to animate this one first).
The book I am using for this class, "The Animators Survival Kit" spends a lot of time on how to animate walk sequences, so this was my idea for a simple walk animation. The plan is to have the baby elephant enter on one side of the shot, walk to a flower, pick it, and walk off the other side of the shot.

Project Proposal

Your first task is to create a project proposal. You will present the project proposal Tuesday, April 5 (via this blog). Your Project Proposal must contain:

1. A working title for your project.

Animation Crash-Course

2. A one-sentence description of your project.

A series of short animations meant to be a crash-course study in 2D animation using Adobe Flash.

3. A one-paragraph description of your project.

This project will consist of multiple short animations and one longer final animation. The first animations are each going to have a specific lesson tied to them that I will be learning through reading “The Animators Survival Kit” by Richard Williams. The final animation will be much longer than the rest and will use all of the things that the previous short animations have taught me.

4. A one-page description of your project.

Will post later tonight

5. A description of your products of study—what you're going to actually produce during the course of your project.

3-5 short flash animations, which may or may not have color or sound, and one final longer flash animation that will include both color and sound.

6. Visual and/or written research for your project—other people’s work

~”The Animators Survival Kit” by Richard Williams

~http://shazy.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d39atn2 (see previous post)

~http://oha.deviantart.com/art/MUSICAL-CATS-2D-animated-film-83303733 (see pervious post)

7. Treatment visuals for your project—your own work

Will post later tonight

8. A written description of specific technical and research issues you will need to address during the course of your project.

I am going to be reading Richard Williams’ “Animators Survival Kit” from cover to cover and selecting specific lessons from the text in which to base my shorter animations on. I will also be reaching out for knowledge from the online community for tips on how to animate using Adobe Flash.

9. A timeline of your project. When you will be doing all of this good stuff. You must include specific deadlines (for example: "May 17th", not "some time in May."

• April 5^th- Project Proposal is due.
• April 15^th- Complete first short animation, and post to blog.
• April 29^th- Complete second short animation, and post to blog.
• May 13^th- Complete third short animation, and post to blog.
• May 27^th- Post work in progress of final animation.
• June 10^th- Have final animation completed and posted to the blog for grading.

10. A blog containing all of the above. You must document your progress and process on the blog by updating it weekly.

I promise to update this blog a minimum of once a week, with posts concerning the progress of my animation projects.

Visual Research

Here are two examples of the kind of work I hope to be able to produce by the end of this class:

Toothless Butterfly Animation by *shazy on deviantART

http://shazy.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d39atn2

http://oha.deviantart.com/art/MUSICAL-CATS-2D-animated-film-83303733

New Blog for a New Class

This is the blog where I will be posting all my work for my ART 450 class with Miles Inada.

Since I will be not attending a regular class period and just working on my project from home, I am going to try and update this blog regularly. I will be adding at least one post a week, but hopefully more than that.

I am still working on my formal project outline, but what I know for sure about it right now is that this independent study project will basically be a crash course in Adobe Flash. I have purchased the program and never personally used it before. I plan to make multiple short practice animated films and one longer and more developed film. The content of these films is yet to be decided.

Here is hoping that this will be a fun and enjoyable experience.

~Chelsea Engelman