This Week

So I have almost wrapped up my gapJump animation assignment from AM. I need to make 2 small tweaks and I'll submit it as finished. Part of this week's assignment is to prep for blocking of a shot next week. I've chosen to try and combine three actions from this week's picklist: hopping up and down on one leg, losing balance and falling over, and stepping on sticky gum.

I was originally going to do a parkour animation, but I think it will not look nearly as interesting with no arms. That's right. This week's Stewie character has no arms in the rig. I know I can go in and find them, but I'm afraid it might break the rig.

No arms is going to limit my choice of motions. I had already planned out a shot in my head before I looked at the rig, but unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to replan.

Animation Test

For the last week I have been taking a nerve wracking animation test for idSoftware. Don't get me wrong, the animation is fine and the actual task of animating was a blast. No what's nerve wracking about it is the waiting; the anticipation; the fear of "It's just not good enough."

The cycle, which I have been told is a primary reason most people fail this test was, I thought, fairly straight forward. Only now that I've put it aside for a few days to work on the second part of the test, I see and have been told that there are more than a few things I could improve on... I fixed the major hiccups in the animation, but the feet are a whole different matter all together. I just can't seem to portray the feeling of weight in them. This of course being a test, I will not ask someone "Hey, how do you do this thing I'm having problems with?" Curse you morality and work ethic! I'm planning on turning in the test tonight. Wish me luck!

January Update

Animation mentor term started this week. I can already tell from the lecture and assignments that I'm going to learn a ton during this class.

Render Farm Update : Hardware is ready to go. I have however, hit a snag on the software side. I have thus far been unable to turn my ubuntu computer into a controller that will netboot (pxe?) my render nodes. Hopefully this get's resolved soon as I'd really like to clean up the kitchen table :)