anthea hearts animation mentor

Trouble Shooting, Lessons Learned

Gosh, you stumble upon so many problems and technical difficulties through this course. I remember when I first started Animation Mentor, almost 6 months ago, and trouble was about all I had back then. I had my full time job at Psyop going and no time for HW. I would finally get my few hours on the weekend to jam through some bouncing balls and it would be a no go cause of some silly Maya problem. I was in deep, deep trouble with no where to turn, with the clock ticking away at the deadline. Since those harried weekends six months ago, my working pattern has changed completely. I have set up a workable schedule for myself that helps me on the right track, helps get stuff done (or at least close to done, Derek?) within the deadlines. Every week I am learning more and more about workflow techniques and trouble shooting. Once upon a time I would go nutzo when my squash and stretch broke or some other horrific rigging problem happened, but now it's no biggie cause learning how to deal with these problems and coming up with solutions of your own IS part of your assignment. And it just feels so good when you can fix things yourself and know what causes the problem in the first place. I figured out a way to not get my squash and stretch on my arms to break (until this project the squash and stretch would always break on me, and I would wind up not using this useful tool) And I've also streamlined my work week.

MONDAY:
-watch the new lecture, take notes
-watch Bobby's walkthrough of the assignment
-check the syllabus for info on this weeks lesson/what is due in assignment, revision, sketchbook
-brainstorm ideas for new project, write down a sentence about each idea, explore all possibilities
-search for reference movies or clips online, work on an edited reference quicktime
-cruise the campus, leave critiques on student's work

TUESDAY:
-begin to narrow down ideas for new project
-watch Ecritque from Derek, my mentor, take notes
-take notes from student crits on my workspace
-film reference for a few options for new project
-ask for help in the critique forum, upload reference capture

WEDNESDAY:
-choose an idea for new project
-take notes from the critique thread from Tues
-Film more refernce of the final idea
-thumbnail and sketch possible animation using reference as a guide
-thumbnail revision ideas from previous assignment
-watch reference movies

THURSDAY:
-study reference capture and thumbnails
-block out a rough first pass in maya or using the GPT
-work on revisions in maya
-upload WIP movies to a new thread in the critique forum
-send my mentor a link to WIP before the Q and A
-live Q and A w my mentor at 8pm, get feedback on WIP, take notes, ask questions

FRIDAY:
-take notes from the critique forum thread from Thurs
-review your WIP and decide what needs to be improved
-thumbnail revisions
-2nd pass at blocking in maya
-cruise forums, ask for help in the forums if needed

SATURDAY:
-keep working in maya
-playblast and review often
-make necessary changes, may mean cutting parts out

SUNDAY:
-wake up for a few hours of last minute tweaking in maya
-HW due at noon!, upload QTs
-email my mentor about this weeks assignment
-cruise campus and leave crits
-back up work, email .mb files to myself
-rest of day off!!!

posted by anthea @ 10:52 PM