Computer Animation Arts

Tickets are still available for the Tombola Of Dreams Prize Draw 2015!  Go here to get yours - but don't be late: the UCA Online Store closes for TOD ticket sales at 4pm on Friday...

Emma Dermott - UCA's Social Media Officer - is organising a focus group on Tuesday 5 May to find out how students are using social media and what they want to see – the aim being to improve what UCA is doing online and to inform the new website. Emma knows you lot are very savvy in terms of social media (blogging etc) and she's keen for your input. If you're interested in taking part, could you email Emma directly at edermott@ucreative.ac.uk to confirm and discuss your input further. 

Hurry! 20 tickets left! Go here!

"Some people don't appreciate that [computer animation] is an art form. They think that there's a button that's like 'Make Movie' and that it just gets done. The computers want to do everything exactly and cleanly and evenly, not organically. If you wanna do that they can do it no problem. But if you want them to present anything that approximates the natural world, they will fight you any step of the way. Less so now. But all of those flaws that you see on 'Ratatouille' on the kitchen floor, each one of those tiles is on a slightly different level. Somebody had to do that because the computer wants to do that exact; everything perfect in its place. If you want imperfections you have to tell the computer, I don't want them to match, I want them to be asymmetrical. And that was done because, through research, when you have actual tiles that have been around in a kitchen that long, they're different, so light hits them differently." ...

Just 30 tickets remain for Friday's Tombola Of Dreams Prize Draw! Quickly - to the online store with you...

As if there wasn't enough pressure on you guys Monday is the deadline for your Maya tutorials. Below, for your perusal is an up to date checklist for your tutorials.  I have tried to find all the tutorials on your blogs but I may have missed one or two, hopefully if you present you final submission correctly I should be able to pick them up. By Monday any red boxes in your line should be able to be swapped to green. In some cases this is going to mean that you are going to have a fun filled weekend, others however will be able to relax a little. In terms of presentation you will need to create a post on your blog titled: CGAA Yr1: Maya Tutorial Submission 2014/2015 In the post you will need to include links to all your Maya tutorials.  Don't forget that I have included Fur Presets and Santa Hat in one column so if you see 0.75 (blue) that means you still need to post the hat onto your blog. Where there is a 0.5 that indicates that you have posted an incomplete t...

Hurry! Only 40 tickets remain for the Tombola Of Dreams 2015 !  Go here to get yours now!

This is a message for all our students...  The 'rendering season' is once again upon us; all those little scraps of paper cluttering the keyboards and heightened levels of stress.   As Sinatra observes 'There May Be Trouble Ahead' - but not if we work together calmly and with consideration for the little creative community of which we're part. Some basic house rules: If you leave a computer rendering overnight (in whatever room), you need to ensure you're logged off again by 9.30am at the latest the following day.   As many machines as possible should be available for use during office hours. When you leave a rendering notice on a computer, please include your name and contact mobile number; this means that staff can contact you if and when necessary. Please don't hog computers: no, it's not okay if you're using five all to yourself!  Please be considerate.  Please be proportionate . If your scene is taking 1 hour per frame (for example)...

What follows are instructions for your crit presentations and reminders of what you need to present and submit. Please use your network of creative partners to ensure that everyone has seen this information and understood it. Any queries, please leave a comment and I'll clarify where necessary. In response to one of the scenarios presented to you at time of briefing, you are required to produce a complete 3D animation that demonstrates creatively your ability to interpret, transcribe and represent complex ideas in engaging and dynamic ways. Your final animation should demonstrate clearly your creative methodology as established by your Year 1 curriculum, i.e. pre-production (production design and art direction via concept art and the structuring of time-based narratives via storyboarding and pre-visualisations), production (modelling, UV layout, texturing & lighting, and animation), and post-production (compositing, digital editing, sound design, publication and p...

Okay, my hard-working and ambitious years ones... I have some notifications for you which should put a little more spring in your otherwise weary step! 1) Hannibal Lecter can wait until next week!  Yes, no film screening on Tuesday afternoon, as I'm sure you'd all rather be wrestling with your animations instead, and as much as I like Lecture Theatre 1, it won't be the same if I'm sitting there by myself! 2) CG Artist Toolkit: Maya Tutorials: your submission deadline for getting your Maya tutorials on your blog as requested is now Monday 4th May* @ 5pm.   Your Drawing and Animation submissions must be on your blog as per original schedule (May 1st). 3) Your Fantastic Voyage  'Art Ofs': our expectations around your FV Art Ofs is that they're beautifully designed, exhaustive archives of your creative development during this final project.  I want them to radiate care, attention and professionalism.  For this reason, I've decided to ext...

Tombola Of Dreams 2015 - Final Week! You've only got one week left to purchase your tickets for the Tombola Of Dreams 2015 .  The prize draw will take place on Friday May 1st @ 5pm in the CAA Baseroom.  Tickets are available from the Online Store until 4pm on Friday .  Your support is invaluable in terms of ensuring the Computer Animation Arts graduate show impresses all the right people!  If you're a final year student, it's time to throw your hat into the ring; if you're a year one or two student, remember, your time will soon come and it will be your stint at New Designers for which we're fund-raising!  Any student-raised funds not spent on the show are rolled over to the next year's fund, so you're already funding your futures! You can purchase up to 3 tickets - go here to purchase yours now for your chance to win from this little lot! 2 weeks work experience at Dovetail Games! 1 x 12 month subscription to Digital Tutors ! 1 x 6 mont...

At time of going to press, the student community of Computer Animation Arts is electric with pre-deadline activity.   In just a matter of days, our year one and year two students will submit their final work of this academic year.  One week after that, our third years cross the finish line. Next month's PWTM will therefore be a celebration of our students' final works; this month's edition is like a juicy teaser trailer, a preview of coming attractions; a veritable cornucopia of WIPs, dailies, renders, and rushes.  That said, we are celebrating one goal completed, as our three year involvement with the ACT project comes to an end. We'll be looking back over our Interreg-funded   adventures in applied-CGI and revisiting our successes - and exploring too how the legacy of the ACT projects transformed the ways in which our students make work. Let's begin with the latest exploits of our busy final year students, with projects including a painstaking recreatio...