Game vs Film

Been interested in a lot of gaming studios recently, and been reading up on what the difference between film and game animation. I thought this article was a neat find. While it doesn't give a lot of specific information, it sure does has some important points.

"Game animations are created in loops, where the action sequence starts and ends with the same pose, then is looped to the next action sequence. The trick is in creating a seamless transition between one loop cycle and the next. One possible series of actions a player may take is to run, jump, pause and run again. Another potential sequence is a character that runs, walks, stops, and lies down. An animator must consider multiple combinations of actions that can be taken. "A good animator knows how to support that kind of open-endedness," says Petty."

"In addition, games offer unique challenges to the animator. "Your animation can usually be seen from all angles in the game so it must look correct from all points of view," says Dave Vasquez, Animation Mentor graduate and animator at Electronic Arts. "Another big thing with games is that you are making an enormous number of animations which are sometimes shared with multiple characters."

"Studios seeking talented character animators -- whether in films or games -- are still looking for a strong foundation in animation fundamentals. A solid understanding of body mechanics is a must. "

"Gaming characters often leap, climb, sprint and soar through their environments, so animators with a core understanding of movement are better prepared," says Quesnel. "Animation Mentor’s character animation program gave me the foundation in weight, balance, force, anticipation and overlapping that I have used constantly in the gaming industry."

http://www.animationarena.com/character-animation.html

Final Production KeyFrame

Mr. Miaca is alive and kicking, attacking his children with his pink powder. Really should have developed a better background for this guy, I kind of plopped him in placed and tried to build something around him. Luckily, it turned out pretty decent. I think the children won't go out in the streets again.

Portfolio Take 3

So after having to much fun with the last one, I thought I would give it another try. I tried to narrow it down to more structure and typography. Its only 1/3 done, but I am very interested in completely scraping my current website design. I'm having a real hard time figure what exactly should be on the main page. I'm sure it will probaly change over the next week or two.

CGT 356 Project 1

The idea was to create a portfolio site as a test of our design skills. I could of used the one I'm working on, but decided to have a little fun. This is kind of cartoonish, but in the end was fun to work on.

photoshop/photo mashup

Something I'm working on, still needs some balance and a little text effects. Just a lot of hours, playing with blending modes, brushes, and images. This is my first attempt at matching those great ad works, with a mixtures of art and photos. Can't tell if that eye lash is to much, or just not matching the photo enough, oh well more hours to come. And after this, I clearly need a faster computer...

website of the future

Hopefully have to this up pretty soon, just a generic html/psd website, much thanks to a lot of reading and website tutorials. I used images from a past project, more refined to allow a simple setup and easy navigation. Sorry if you hit at the wrong time, always doing work to it. So may look rather weird at times.

Out in the Clouds

Daydreamin Monsters

So I decided to warm up the old painting skills, because Baldwin scares me in storyboarding. As a result I think I finally brought one of my old doodles to life. Here's a side by side, took me around 2 and 1/2 hours, still a lot to learn. Oh well another summer wasted on slacker intention.