Computer Animation Arts

Rob Shears graduated from CGAA in the summer of 2007; as undergraduates become graduates and 1st and 2nd years look to the future, I invited Rob to share his post-grad experience - essential reading! "I joined Double Negative in the summer of 2007, I went from my major project hand in on a Friday to a job on the Monday. I didn't see the point in sitting around! I was 26 at the time and had already travelled around the world for a couple of years and had my fare share of jobs in the design industry, therefore I thought it would be best to kick start my new career ASAP. Even though I was 26 at the time I thought it would be best to start at the bottom in a large and up and coming company and to work my way to the top. I've pretty much stuck to my plan. The biggest change of all is that I followed my heart and went into a production role. I haven't picked up Maya/After Effects since. This was a big decision to make at the time as I knew it would determine the res...

I seriously suggest you all take a look at this DVD set. Play the demo movie at the bottom of the page to see a typical CG pipeline. Enjoy! http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/products/masterclass/3dcreaturedev/

Hi guys, to inform I forgot my phone in the baseroom, its place by the backdoor in a place where actually has network, so if any of you still see it tomorrow could you give to Phil or Alan, please. thank you I guess too much in my head lately.... :)

To all those 1st, 2nd & 3rd years who are spending tonight rendering, editing, polishing & publishing - may the force be with you! This is it - the final push - best of luck, go easy on the caffeine tablets & the energy drinks - and be amazing!

I must have left my MX Revolution at University today in the CG Base room, when I ran back to get it the caretaker said the Uni was shut for good until 8:30 tomorrow morning. If anyone gets there before me tomorrow could you please make sure it's safe, and maybe leave a reply to this post saying that you've found it. This is the mouse in question, and I was sitting in the far corner of the room, so it must be there somewhere. I can't do any work until I have it back, as its only possible to use Maya with a 3 button mouse, not a laptop trackpad. Update: I have found, crisis averted.

is made one of my pictures turn black and white using the gray scale mode then switch it to RGB but for some reason when i erase something it uses the colours from the foreground/background colours instead of being an eraser. how can i turn my eraser back into an eraser.

ah last week and things beging to turn their back on me... ok so i have this basidia object that has 10 lights connected to it only, 2 points (one inside the mesh other directly above) and 8 negative spots, it has 2 shapes connected as blend shapes and that is it. I am tryin to duplicate it and create a new blend shape but i get this problem.... So this is a duplicate. The texture is as follows... I also get some crazy ass MEL error when the scene is first opened (before duplicate)... // File read in 6 seconds. // Warning: insertKnotSurface32 (Insert Knot Surface Node): failed to compute the result. // // Warning: insertKnotSurface34 (Insert Knot Surface Node): failed to compute the result. // // Warning: insertKnotSurface36 (Insert Knot Surface Node): failed to compute the result. // // Warning: insertKnotSurface84 (Insert Knot Surface Node): failed to compute the result. // // Warning: insertKnotSurface86 (Insert Knot Surface Node): failed to compute the result. // // W...

Just wanted to make a quick post to suggest people watch this show. It's made by the same people that made 'Band of Brothers'. I recently was recommended it and decided to start watching some episodes and I'm really loving it. It details the story of the war with Japan in World War 2. Give it a watch.

I have rendered out geometry on an Alpha (from the render settings), but for some reason After Effects isn't reading it. I'm not getting a box that is registring the Alpha, so I can't import it as an Alpha. I have tried changing the settings in the Composition Settings, but that isn't having any effect either. Am I missing something? Is there something I have to do first in Maya or After Effects? Hope someone can help.

Please can students return all course resources (DVDs, graphics tablets, books etc.) to the CGAA Baseroom by Friday 28th May. Thanks !

For my animation i'm using extruded NURBS, as they are easier to animate, though when I extrude it doesnt have a face at the end, in this case a surface, is that any tool to add( just like in polygons) or is any other better way to do it.. I just want something in which I can animate but also dont be see hollow. I just want a cylinder shape :) Thanks Ruben

Just to remind the first year that Simon Holland - CGAA graduate and helpful 'voice' in the bloggosphere will be available to work with you at UCA for the final week of production of 'Commission'... He will be in everyday and based in the baseroom. Simon will also be attending the final crit, alongside Alan, Pete Wallace, Peter Klappa and myself...

Can someone please tell me what the best file format to render in is which includes the physical sky that can also be opened in Premiere.

FAO CGAA Year 2 - Your 'Models & Metaphors' & 'Work Placement' Presentations will begin at 10am in Lecture Theatre 2 on Thursday 27th Ma y.

Yesterday when I was making the textures for my log my computer turned off. soon when it was able to turn on I inserted my external hard drive into my computer. when I accessed it to see if my files are okay, but it was not responding. suddenly my external hard drive is not working and I am very worried because all of my files are in there and I did not save them anywhere else. If anyone knows a lot about computers please can you help me to try and reactivate my external hard drive or tell me where is the nearest computer repair shop.

Does anyone know what is going on with my viewing? My objects take on this strange wireframe appearance. The wireframes take on a triangular appearance. However this only happens when I view all four view ports at once, if I go full screen with one then the problem disappears and everything is normal.

Help would be great from any of you out there. For my final animation it will feature 3d scenes and 3d text coming out of the screen. I have animated the text in maya and have set up the stereocam, i just need to batch render it and take it into aftereffects. But i cant seem to do a batch render, it just renders the one frame and when i go to select the start frame and end frame, it wont allow me to do so. HELP!?!?!?

I was wondering, how can you twist the mushroom while it grows ( similar to a time-lapse video) with a lattice deformer. I have tried, but it all looks a bit dull, shall i rotate the whole mesh or the lattice points? thank you Ruben

First years have recently been experiencing a content 'no-show' for Unit 6 'Commission' on myUCA: the problem has been sorted now, so all tutorials etc. are now available .

An invite from Phil & Alan to all CGAA students: Following the first year 'Commission' Crit and third year Major Project Hand-in on Friday, May 28th, we'd like to see you in the Britannia Bar Cafe for a 'year's end' drink and wind down. Yes, you'll be half-dead from sleep deprivation and sick of the sight and sound of us, but we'll be there from 5.30pm onwards... Hope to see you for a lime & soda :-)

http://www.voiceovers.co.uk/ This website has helped me throughout the projects to find voice over's. It's simple, find a voice and email the artist your script. Most are will to do what they can to help out students. Good Luck to all.

I have recently purchased a WebHost & Domain and decided I would try to see if the CG Arts (UCA) Community could all come together and make a really comforting place to 'hang-out', show off work, and to get help on anything and everything. Are you ready for the link? Here it is: http://db-graphics.info/community/ There's the link! Sign up now and post away. Thanks. .Dan.

Hello Bloggers. Hopefully a simple question. Does Maya 2011 have Mental Ray? I'm trying to test out rendering options for Maya but Mental Ray is no longer an option. I didn't get Maya through 'proper' sources but I can't see that being an issue. Have they moved it, or is something wrong?

I was wondering what is a drop in tutorials anyway?

does the uni opens in the weekends?

 I've tried to access the content for the current unit and it's not listed on MyUCA. Is this happening for anyone else? If not, any ideas why it's not listed on mine? Cheers

I have followed alan's tutorial up to exporting into maya using the default settings with the motion tracking. When opening in maya the locators were meant to look like this: But instead they ended up like this: does anyone know what went wrong?

The first year students who participated in this week's 'Pitch' events hardly need me to impress upon them further Dr Peter Klappa's absolute joy and delight at their presentations. He was genuinely enthralled - and wowed - by the array of ideas and alternate interpretations and made no secret of his excitement. Sitting beside him as your animatics and pre-viz played out, I watched him smiling with pleasure in the darkness. He thinks you lot are pretty talented - I suggest you prove him right (and then some). He has great expectations for crit day - May 28th. Do whatever it takes and make it a remarkable finale... Good luck - all of you. Be amazing!

Attention all CGAA First Years: Mark Davis - the Nexus guy - has agreed to judge your animated films submitted for the '1 becomes 2' competition brief! This is your chance to impress...

To any first years out there who was interested in knowing how to create the bacterium like movement that Adam created and wanted to get hold of the book. Heres the pages which tell you how to do so...

I was wondering if there is another way of animating our scenes in maya. It's just when doing batch render it takes a lot of images and then we have to edit them into one film. This feels quite annoying so I was wondering if there is away to tell maya what video format to render our animation in without telling it to render every single frame?

... who hoard tutorials from previous years. I have the tutorial: Rigging 4: Part 1a Positive/Negative Blend Shape. I was hoping some one might have the 1b part , or the part which tells me how to connect them to the geometry and rig. I'm guessing its a slight different process. Please see if you have it, scan it and send it for me to lisa_rothery203@hotmail.com . Thanx :D

I'm trying to make, in Maya, a nucleus divide into two separate nuclei. Alan showed us how to do this by merging two spheres somehow, so that as they got further apart from each other, the middle seemed to stretch them both. This method didn't involve actually messing with the vertices or anything on the spheres themselves, but it actually added another piece of geometry in the middle of them. Do any of the pros out there know what the tool or option is called to make this? Image related; it's the splitting of nuclei that I'm trying to make. You can see where the middle of the two blobs stretches until it breaks. Thanks! ! ! ! ^.^

Some of you may have received comments from 'BaZe' on your blogs. 'BaZe' is none other than alumus Sebastian Schauman, who graduated from CGAA as part of the class of 2009.  Many of you will be familiar with the work he produced during his time with us, including My Twin and that firm favourite with all open day visitors, Flying High . Since graduating, Sebastian has been working at Housemarque Games in Finland, accomplishing that rare thing of going straight from his degree studies into a job in the CG industry.  One year on - give or take - here's Sebastian with a few words from the inside track...  "At work I'm now closing in on my one year mark of working for Housemarque. I still feel really lucky about landing the position I did as most of my classmates are still struggling to land their full-time job in the industry. It is all about contacts and I urge students to start getting in contact with possible employers as soon as possib...

Hopefully a simple thing. BTW this has nothing to do with work or how maya operates but what it looks like: I'm sure some of you don't see any problem. I can't stand the dark UI on maya 2011. I find its hard to see what buttons I've got pressed and I find that it slighty strains my eyes. Is there a way to get it back to the old gray look?