Drawing in Flash

Mr Coo is sweet-as hand-drawn flash animation.
That link I found here :
http://flashtrick.blogspot.com/2007/11/using-symbols-to-clean-up-traditional.html
which is an explanation of using a symbol to assist with hand-drawn clean-up in Flash.

Walk cycles

FTI is leaning heavily on walks, and for good reason!
Here are some references:
http://www.cartoonthrills.org/blog/01Principles/walks/woodywalkSolidIv.mov
http://www.cartoonthrills.org/blog/01Principles/walks/woodywalk2.mov

Hand draw walk cycles in Flash tutorial here:
http://flashtrick.blogspot.com/2007/10/walk-cycles-right-way.html
This one does not break the walk down into separate symbols. Instead he animates the R.W's way - handrawing a cycle to 17 frames with a symbol - creating a walk cycle loop. Nice. He does clean-up straight ahead within each frame.

Bone tool in Flash helps walk cycle. But easing?

Richard Williams has some great stuff to say. I'm loving studying his stuff. On spacing and timing, I've yet to learn Flash's variety of easing options, and how they are relevant to R.W.'s lessons.
Keep you posted.

Pitching Party!

The Film & Television Institute is proud to present the SDA Stand Up & Pitch, generously supported by ScreenWest. The competition provides an avenue for filmmakers to learn and practice the art of pitching.

Judges select the winner based on quality, clarity and the ability of the short film project to be realised for the screen. Entry is open to all program formats - film, television, animation and digital media.

Pitches can be presented by one or more people but must be no more than 5 minutes long. The winning person or team will receive registration to the SPAA Fringe Conference as well as contribution to flights and accommodation to the value of $2,500. Apply
If you have queries, contact Production Support Manager Yvette Coyne.

FTI is a member of Screen Development Australia (SDA), a network of Screen Resource Organisations in Australia.

Applications close Friday, May 28th 2010.

FTI AGM 2010

Hey! It's got a ring to it - heheh.

Actually I thought I'd give an animator - relevant breakdown of the 2009 Annual Report that we received at the AGM.
Initially, in a general interest sense, FTI's CEO, Grahame Sward, mentions that
"FTI's Core Goals within the next three year Strategic Plan are shaped around our Statement of Intent which states: FTI will continue to provide opportunities to engage people in a diverse rannge of screen experiences. We will remain a flexible and adaptive organisation that is outward looking, curious, passionate and committed in supporting the development of screen-based activities in Western Australia. Particular focus will be aimed around infrastructure needs - building refurbishment or relocation and digital content management services; multi-platform projects; and increasing our connection and relevance to the sector and the wider industry."

Actually I'd like to quiz him a little to find out more about the interperetation of "...digital content management services; multi-platform projects...". I think this may be alluding to web, perhaps live projection... At the least it is open to anything new and interesting that can provide a medium for screen work. (the e.g. of iPhone games spring to mind?)

Animations that are mentioned in the Annual report are The Little Wooden Boy by Hope and Cornish ( Delivery expected in Dec, 2010); My Extraordinary Little Sister for Nick Shorts by Producer: Kate Vyvyan Directors: Stephen Grant & TJ Beeson and Hairoes - The WASA Winner of Best Short Animation 2009. I think thats right!

In 2009 FTI ran the Diploma in Screen Animation just once (instead of twice) due to insufficient enrolments. "FTI has maintained a strong focus on connecting and nurturing early career animators, multi-media artists and the art of storytelling, communication, animation and cross platform creation." 2009 also saw a mentor program for upcoming animators. (which is not now there).

My summary is that, due to 2010's small intake (just 4 Diploma of Animation students), the students are going to have to work extra hard to make their work be noticed. As always the challenge is to stand out from the crowd (while working in a collaborative environment). In this case, so much has come before, and with such a small class the challenge is to create truly outstanding work. The danger is that 2010 may be swept under the rug if the small intake of students does not shine!

We the students are very grateful that FTI is even running the course with such a small intake! Lets not waste a minute!

View 3D 2009 Best Character Design

See the Competitions NOW page for more info on 2010's upcoming comp, plus the 2009 Best 3D Short.

Sohan Ariel Hayes

Sohan was funded under the Nick Shorts initiative with which he directed the completion of the short animated film "The Paper Tale". Heres a teaser. He has some CG shorts posted to you tube here. He's from Perth too.
Here's the media release for his latest collaborative work(with Laetitia Wilson) - Datadrum 2.0.4


I like Will the most.

Animation studios.

These guys are working now on Dogstar, Season 2. Post production I believe. Unfortunately there is not much to see...
http://www.siamese.com.au/

Key Frame Cops are in VIC. Heres a link to their show-reel. It's all ad's from what I can see.
http://www.keyframecops.com/html/demoReel.shtml

There seems to be alot of  Web Animation in the Google pages of Perth. It is encouraging. I would like to see something thoroughly inspiring... Most web animations are intro pages selling an idea or lifestyle to the browser....
At least it looks like a genuine employment opportunity if not the inspiration of a lifetime :P

3D clips from Perth

This one was produced by Fungus Studio - its in old school 3D!
Bus Stop
Its HD, so give it some time to load.

Here is the link to the Animation catagory on Vimeo - a well respected site for industry professionals and enthusiasts.
http://vimeo.com/categories/animation

This is an interview of Jarrad Gittos, a 3D animator working in Perth.
http://www.brainsquestionmark.com/blog/2009/06/30/jarrad-gittos-interview-3d-in-perth/

Max with Max (3d's Max, that is)

MAx has been our latest teacher, emersing us quickly and (relatively painlessly) into the world of digital 3D. We've been learning how to model - how to use simple polygon shapes and make a specific shape from that.
It is very interesting!

Angie had made us aware previously in the day that in Perth, most 3D animation is for the mining and architectural industries. Here are a few sites from page 1 of a Google for "Animation in Western Australia" that support that theory.
http://cavepictures.net/
http://www.constructivemedia.com.au/
http://www.lastpixel.com.au/
http://www.mapability.com.au

So this describes the current climate. Is the room to move in fresh directions?

Traditional animation cycle using flash

First flash walk cycle using an original character

Today we did heaps of animation and it rocked.

Monitor, April 2010, is of interest to animators. Check this out.

Excerpts from E-Vent, FTI's monthly e-wag.


Monitor, FTI's Members mag is available to download
Here's a taste of it this month.

It's got a staff profile on our animation lecturer Tanya (T.J.) Beeson!


It also feature's Raging Pixel's Gareth Lockett. Raging Pixel have just produced the 10 minute animation The Cold Hearted Giant.
Some pertinent points were offered to new animators:

"

• Just being an "animator" isn't enough.Which part do you want to work in?
•  Be organised if you’re looking for animation work – have a good CV, a showreel ready to show and be prepared to talk to people. It’s a visual medium – you need to show your stuff to people.
• A large percentage of jobs aren’t advertised publicly – so networking is a must.
• Turn up at Industry events.
• Learn about basic budgeting.

"
There's loads more to read in the mag.

Watch the film on you tube here.
=========================================================

BACK to E-VENT!

IRON MAN PREMIERE FUNDRAISER
If your idea of a good film includes explosions, then you should get your ticket to the WA premiere of Iron Man 2 at Piccadilly Cinema's on Thursday 29 April.

Pre-movie nibbles and drinks provided.

Tickets are $20 with all proceeds donated to the Relay For Life.
Tickets must be purchased by April 27 from 11 Recruitment.
Call 9225 6211 for tickets or for more details.

6pm Thursday 29 April 2010
Piccadilli Cinemas
========================================================

Scriptwriters are the lucky ones!

Tim Fergueson teaches how to write comedy for television and film!

Apply by May 10th. More here.

AND

FTI ANNOUNCES REGULAR SCRIPT ADVICE DAYS More

My you-tube account

I will be posting as much work as I can to this channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ushanbb

Please visit and comment. I'm open to feedback. Currently there are just 3 pre-course animations there.

Thanks!

Welcome to live-animation dot blogspot

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to commence the FTI (Film and Television Institute) Animation Diploma course under the able tutalege of Daniel Kristjansson (forever Svenka thanks to JH) with Ebbie Williams (professional development and training co-ordinator) and Tanya Beeson (production animator and lecturer).
There are many people to mention, actually. FTI seems to be a a bit of a hive of activity, acting as a generator of talent and projects and also a nexus point for networkers and industry connections. That's how it seems to me, anyway.

Phil and Angie also rate a mention in the first two paragraphs. Phil quizzed us on our FTI knowledge. (FTI teaches film, documentary, animation and (as of last year) screen-acting as well as seeding the Making Movies Roadshow  and a bevy of other projects). Phil gave us our OHMS - I mean OHS -lesson from which I am still compiling notes. Angie also left me with notes after INDUSTRY (a suitably impressive word in caps). INDUSTRY is the genesis of this 'ere live-animation dot blogspot. This, my friends, is Ushan Boyd's effort.

So lets talk INDUSTRY.

Yesterday FTI held its 2010 AGM. The required quorum of 20 was met by by a half a dozen or so.
Helen received all the guests in the office and we signed the guest list (quorum register?), we were given the important-financial-member-white-vote-card and the green sheet which was the voting for 3 board members (CJ, CR & MT). Laughter tinkled through the doors as people took their seats. I later though this may have been (re-elected board-member) MT's laugh, but have no way yet of being totally sure as I didn't manage to actually get an audio recording and so have a wave file for comparison.

Chair Lisa Braddock commenced the meeting at 7:05pm, April 14th 2010. Minutes were taken by Murray-the-Legend. (As a volunteer secretary myself I believe this a virtuous and noble title) At 7:08 Lisa mentioned we were well on the way for the fastest meeting ever as we had moved, seconded, voted and upheld the first 1/2 of the agenda.

I had taken notes, but the imperfect demon machine iPhone crashed the app without saving. I never would have believed I would leave the house without pen on such a regular basis. I think it is something I might need to address.

Grahame Sward, FTI's esteemed CEO, spoke for precisely 10 minutes. The main gist of what I learned was that 2009 was huge, not the least because of a triennial 3 way agreement between FTI, Screen West and Screen Australia. The big 3-3. It is viewed as a Good Thing. (I was kind of hoping for another 3 in there for a nice symmetry. Odd, you know. 3-3-3. Nice ring, but tricky.) The Good Thing took lots of hard work and is deemed to reap more Good Things in the future.

He also mentioned that FTI came through in the black last year. I'm aware that anyone could have read that in the report, but actually I just left the book till later and let GS tell me the cool bits. In the black, to the tune of $28K (or so). Thats good. Then he said something which I heard reference to time and again throughout the evening. He thanked the staff for their commitments and their efforts. Other people also mentioned that the staff are really dedicated. GS also thanked the sponsors and spoke particularly highly of Screen West, and both GS and LB thought that the relationship has floated FTI's boat in a big way and that we - as FTI financial members - should talk 'em up whenever able. Duly noted.

Then he mentioned that 2011 will be FTI's 40th anniversary and an little bubble of antici
Pation grew in the bellies of the people in the cinema. Reminisces of the 30th gave some inkling of a time long ago being only yesterday.

Then we watched some snippets of films. I  liked My Nan and the Yandi because I always enjoy Deadly Yarns. They make me feel included in a long oral history, just by watching it, which I value.

Afterwards were nibbles and shoulder-rubs. Here are some pictures. All in all it was quite entertaining, for an AGM.

Ebbie Williams, Cassie Rowe (board) and Liz Sward (Screen West).

David Smith (board), Antonio Corea.

Chris James (board) and Don - Honorary Life Member of FTI.