Thursday, April 29, 2010
Slime mold confusion sorted!
Dissertation Grades are up
Just a heads up, our dissertation grades are now up.
1 - Go here : http://www.registryonline.ucreative.ac.uk/
2 - Log in (Password is your DoB - Day/Month/Year (last 2 digits))
3- Student Home
3- View Marks

I wish there was a third there that would do the math to tell you your overall grade from the two. My dissertation grade is crap, interested in knowing how much this will ruin my Minor grade.
Dissertation mark into grade
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Khalid 'Class of 2009' Ma'ani is off to Muscat!

Graduates from the 'Class of 2009' are on the move: Emily Cronin is literally running miles a day for Double Negative, Tom O'Rourke is off to Scotland to become a 'Master of Science', and Khalid Ma'ani has just been offered a position as a 3D visualiser in Muscat, Oman, after one of his YouTube videos was picked up by a design company...
A few words from Khalid himself:
"At first most of my time was filled with applying for jobs and writing cover letters, which became rapidly boring. Instead I stopped and focused on my portfolio and whether it was in need of fresh material. Anyone who knows me knows I'll have a 'great' idea and start it, but next day have another 'great' idea, then leave the previous one I was working on... This left me with too many unfinished projects on my PC. I was too ambitious and forgetting the time and resources needed to complete them. A single computer and dodgy laptop can only achieve so much!
After a while I started creating short speed modelling videos on YouTube in my spare time. It was one of the videos I created which made the Director of the company, Dzineworks in Oman give me a call. He liked the work and wondered if I was able to carry out a design task to prove my abilities. I was set 2 tasks, one was graphic design and the other 3D exhibition design. After completing them, he was further impressed and insisted I join their expanding team in Muscat.
Working in Muscat as a 3D Visualiser was not something I thought about when I was at UCA Rochester and is far from home - but when a company offers you a monthly salary too hard to turn down, inclusive with many benefits such as paid bills and medical etc, I couldn't help but accept.
So what now? Establish some useful work experience and networks then, use that to step further up the ladder..."
We wish Khalid every success in his new job and new home - congratulations from all of us here on CGAA & bon voyage!
You can follow Khalid's blog here - and I suggest you do, as it's rich in creative projects, Maya hints & tips, and insights into the world of a freelance digital artist 'after graduation'. Go say hello - if Khalid's story proves one thing it's that the internet is a great place to network and blogs etc. are truly opportunities-in-waiting...
FAO CGAA 1st Years - '1 Becomes 2' Competition Brief now available on myUCA!

Need help frm ALAN!
You mentioned using the connection editor to adjust the influences for my binding and though i do understand the purpose, i am unsure how to begin in the execution. do i select the geometry and adjust the influences there, or the joints?
and second question.
Are you going to be available tomorrow or friday? i no you teach, but will there, may there be a gap? or tuesday next week. we have phil on wednesday, but technical help will be more helpful. please let me know when you are free to help and i will come in and do this part at uni.
Much thanx, Lisa
Congratulations to alumnus Tom O'Rourke!

The course addresses the needs of practitioners, managers, decision-makers and educators who want to be informed by first-hand knowledge of the technical possibilities of digital technology and an awareness of social, cultural and business contexts..."
Well done, Tom :-) We're very proud of you and look forward to hearing all about your adventures in the post-grad dimension. You're going to love it!
CG Arts & Animation Unit 6: Audio from the lecture on Moday
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Youtube video uploads
Monday, April 26, 2010
CGAA 3rd Years : Provisional Dissertation Marks Available 29th April

Attention CGAA 3rd Years
Provisional Dissertation Mark
Your provisional mark for your dissertation will be available to view from www.registryonline.ucreative.ac.uk on Thursday 29th April from 12 noon. A letter will follow in due course.
If you have difficulty accessing Registryonline, please email registryonline@ucreative.ac.uk quoting your username and student number. Dissertation marks will not be available from the Faculty Office on this day.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
UCA Student Survey - A Reminder!

You’ll also find a link to access the survey in myUCA.
It should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete, and all your responses will be stored anonymously.
Once completed, can you email me at pgomm@ucreative.ac.uk to confirm - alternatively leave a 'done it' comment on this post.
Many thanks!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
need help with and arm rig
here are some screen shots that shows the problem i am having.
The arm is rigged by an ik handle.


if anyone knows the problem please comment
Third Years
- You have to go to: http://www.registryonline.ucreative.ac.uk (your user name is your 5 digit student number)
- Find the ''Ede & Ravenscroft - Gown Hire'' on the right hand side of the screen, it will take you through gown hire, photography, and frames and then its all done.
ALSO You have to organise how many tickets you need for your graduation. You get given two but if you need anymore they put names in a ballot and then whoever gets picked out gets the remaining tickets for additional guests. This is detailed on the registry online page too, however, if you do not say that you require your given two tickets they will be entered into the ballot, so make sure you fill it out or you will end up with NO tickets!!!
Just thought id post because id pushed it to the back of my mind myself until today, and didn't want anyone else to forget, the address is at the top of this post - may as well just do it now it took me about 15 minutes :)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
FAO CGAA First Years - Unit 6 Project Brief & Final 5 Week Timetable now available on myUCA

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
John Lasseter - Advice for Aspiring Animation Students
John Lasseter Q&A Any advice for aspiring animation student?
UCA Student Satisfaction Survey for all 1st & 2nd Years - Have Your Say!

Your UCA: Your Say!
Student satisfaction survey needs your input now!
This is your chance to tell us about your course, your campus and your experience at UCA.
The survey is crucial to our understanding of what you think about us. It informs us of the things we are doing well and where they need improving. Your feedback (good or bad!) is used to improve the student experience and the results become part of formal monitoring processes within the University.
It's really important that all of you take the time to complete it!
The survey asks you for a satisfaction rating via multiple choice questions for the following areas:
1 Teaching
2 Learning
3 Assessment and Feedback
4 Personal Development
5 Work Placements
6 Organisation and Management
7 Academic Support
8 Learning Resources
9 Services and Facilities
10 Overall satisfaction with the quality of your course
There are also two free-text questions which will ask you to indicate what you like most about your course, and what improvements to the course or campus you'd like to see.
You'll be emailed an individual log-in and password and the web-link for the survey to your ucreative email accounts - so please check (I know not all of you use your ucreative account routinely).
Third year students are not eligible to take part as you have already completed the NSS survey earlier in the year.
You don’t have to be on campus to access the survey; it can be done from any computer.
You’ll also find a link to access the survey in myUCA.
It should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete, and all your responses will be stored anonymously.
Thanks in advance!
7,500 Online Shoppers Unknowingly Sold Their Souls

A computer game retailer revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of online shoppers, thanks to a clause in the terms and conditions agreed to by online shoppers.
The retailer, British firm GameStation, added the "immortal soul clause" to the contract signed before making any online purchases earlier this month. It states that customers grant the company the right to claim their soul.
"By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions."
GameStation's form also points out that "we reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction."
The terms of service were updated on April Fool's Day as a gag, but the retailer did so to make a very real point: No one reads the online terms and conditions of shopping, and companies are free to insert whatever language they want into the documents.
While all shoppers during the test were given a simple tick box option to opt out, very few did this, which would have also rewarded them with a £5 voucher, according to news:lite. Due to the number of people who ticked the box, GameStation claims believes as many as 88 percent of people do not read the terms and conditions of a Web site before they make a purchase.
The company noted that it would not be enforcing the ownership rights, and planned to e-mail customers nullifying any claim on their soul.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Third Years Interim Crit Tuesday 27th April @ 10am

Time Machine Cancelled - Thursday 22nd April
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Concept art walkthrough Vid from Uncharted 2
Friday, April 16, 2010
New Designers Prepare Day Friday 23rd April

Rig help
I hope someone can help with this...
For squash and stretch to work, you need an IK handle and for an IK handle to be of any use, it helps that your rig isn't dead straight. Well, I kinda want it straight. I want... a pear shape to bounce up and down without loosing its form, other than its stem getting longer and shorter and the bulbous shape at the bottom meeting the slightly smaller bulbous shape at the top.
In visual terms, a bogie (yes a bogie, dont ask) sliding out of your nose, down and over your mouth to your chin. I intend to use the squash and stretch, if it works, to animate the bogie bunging from the nose, down and back up again, when the character sniffs... hard!
But I'm unsure how I can achieve this. Any ideas will be great.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
CGAA 2nd Years - Transcription

Unit 5: Animation

Sunday, April 11, 2010
My hole punch ate my essay :(
ty
Jack
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Nexus Visit - Wednesday 5th May - Be There!


Thursday, April 08, 2010
Animation tips from 'Flip'
Here's a specific one that I found very interesting.
A quick and intuitive way to adjust your timing between keyframes as you work ( in Maya ). I setup this little trick a few years ago and I can't live without it now...
I created two hotkeys that enable me to alter the duration between keyframes in the timeSlider. So say I had an action that hit a pose on frame 17, I can use these hotkeys to change my timing one frame at a time, so I can see how it feels when it hits on frame 15, 20, 23 or whatever really quickly and easily ( without having to select keys, slide things around in the dope sheet, or move keys around in the graph editor ).
here are the hotkey commands:
- // add a frame ( I have this assigned to the + key )
timeSliderEditKeys addInbetween;
- // remove a frame ( I have this assigned to the - key )
timeSliderEditKeys removeInbetween;
C ++ R6025 - pure virtual function call ... Any ideas guys?!

I found this explaination (below) but to be quite honest, can hardly make sense of it. Anyone that knows of this error or has any idea what i can do to stop maya crashing in this way please let me know!! Thank you
Calling a pure virtual function is a programming error, so you need to find the call to the pure virtual function and rewrite the code so it is not called.
One way to find a call to a pure virtual function is to replace the pure virtual function with an implementation that calls the Windows API function DebugBreak. When using the debugger, DebugBreak will cause a hard-coded breakpoint. When the code stops running at this breakpoint, you can view the callstack to see where the function was called.
Another way to find a call to a pure virtual function is to set a breakpoint on the _purecall function that is found in PureVirt.c. Breaking on this function has the advantage of keeping the stack intact so that you can trace what is occurring.
Turn your blog into a book at Blurb.com

Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Uni open tomorrow?
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Urgent - New Designers Prepare Day Friday 23rd April

Monday, April 05, 2010
Is uni open over Easter at all!?!
I dont want to remodel it all again as thats wasting time if I can get into uni and just get the file then continue with it, as it's still saved on the uni PC's on my area to the best of my knowledge.
If I cant get at it over Easter I'm thinking just get the rest of my modeling done and start texturing my other scenes then attack the dead scene in one go once we finish Easter if the file at uni is dead.
If anyone knows let me know
Thanks
JAG
Friday, April 02, 2010
For fellow perfectionists
The first 3 scale the selected item in one axis each and Crush scales all points to center.
Here they are give them a try and please give feedback even if it is to say how simple they are to code, i know this but i relised that no-one has bothered making any scripts to do this.
Download file here
Edit:
Damn they are not working right, they seem to be snapping exactly to the grid instead of locally like they are meant to. I need to figure that out then fix these, oh well this is my first time trying to create script.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Happy Holidays!
