Computer Animation Arts

Dear all, the UCA Marketing Dept. are coming to the CAA Baseroom @ 3pm tomorrow (Thursday) to capture the busy hive of creative activity that is Computer Animation Arts ! I know Year 1 and Year 2 are busy with timetabled stuff, but I'm hoping there might be windows of opportunity for some of you to be around.  It would be great too if the third years could base themselves in the baseroom for the afternoon - or at least be prepared to move rooms as the photographers see fit.  In short, what they want is to capture a course at work, as opposed to an empty red sofa!  Can I also ask you all to keep the baseroom and other computer suites nice and tidy in readiness for the photoshoot. So, don't be shy, be available, and help me ensure the world at large understands how hard you work on the lwr 4th! If you could get the message out re. your social networks, I'd appreciate it - the more the merrier!

It's here. The new term of the new academic year is go, as we welcome thirty-eight fresh-faced recruits into the CAA computer suites, and welcome back our second and third years for the next turn of their pedagogic wheel.  Between them, our students are already kicking out enough nervous energy to light-up a small continent, not least our newbies, who are eyeing the way ahead with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.   The course has two simple mottos by which to assuage fear and inspire greatness; the first - "Onwards!" - is born of creative pragmatism: the ability to put both triumph and disaster quickly behind you in the pursuit of continual progress.  The second is simply, "Be Amazing!" , which at first glance seems to demand everyone makes perfected, impeccable work at all times, when in fact it means, 'Do Your Very Best'. This edition of the PWTM is short and sweet; it's early days; projects are newly briefed and everywhere ...

Narrative Project Group Tutorial Times Please be aware of the following group tutorial times listed below.  However, please note that these are just rough 'guide' times meaning that on occasion tutorials may start earlier or later depending upon group discussions and any technical help needed. Please be available in the studio. Tuesday Morning Group 1: 10.00am Group 2: 10.20am Group 3: 10.40am Group 7: 11.00am Thursday Afternoon Group 4: 2.00pm Group 5: 2.20am Group 6: 2.40am

Hello to the whole CG community, For anyone who doesn't know me, I am 2013 graduate of Computer Generated Arts and Animation (that's what it was called at the time!) currently working for an animation studio in London. So in January 2016 I'll be flying to Malawi as a volunteer with   Lattitude Global Volunteering   for a 12 week programme as part of  International Citizen Service.    I'll be staying with a traditional Malawian family and working on empowering the community to tackle any problems they face. To get there, I need to fundraise £800 for Lattitude. This will allow them to continue to bring about positive change in developing communities. It will be huuuugely appreciated if anyone would like to make any donations towards this. My Just Giving page:   https://www.justgiving.com/Andriana-Laskari And here is a cheesy video on Malawi:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re1AMebtGvE Thanks a lot CG lot! :)

After a few computer hiccups in Monday's Photoshop class, I wanted to keep you all updated with some of the more important points. And so, here is the video from artist / illustrator Sterling Hundley in which he talks about his process for idea and concept exploration.  Plus another video of his process for fun. Sterling Hundley Demo from The Art Department on Vimeo . Whether ideation works well for you or not, trying to find new ways of generating ideas is really important to keeping your work interesting. If you'd like to see more of Sterling Hundley's work, check out his site here.

In Laika's Stop-Motion Feature "ParaNorman" thousands of 3D printed faces were use in the process known as replacement animation. In order for this to work, they animate all of the speech in Autodesk Maya first using 3D characters to the exact specifications as their real puppets, then print the faces out and swap them around on the puppet for each frame. I mention this because the computer segment is one of the many things you'll learn on the course.

A wonderfully creepy, hypnotic and menacing music video for De Staat 's Witch Doctor track - and a handy 'making of' too! Making Of

Ladies and gentlemen - it's time to make your way to the UCA Online Store and pay your £350 for our February 2016 trip to the ancient city of Rome!   Deadline for payment is 20th October , but the sooner we've got the budget together, the sooner we can close the deal with the travel agency.  When you make your payment, I'll get an email notification of the purchase, so no need to confirm when you've done it. Go here for the Online Store! Spread the word: Rome is go and the Shop is open for business!

I'll be uploading some posts over the next week, about how what you're learning / have learnt on this course can be useful for not just computer animated films, but even stop-motion films such as Laika's Paranorman, Boxtrolls and Aardman's "The Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists" to name a few. To start off, I'll show examples of why the character design process you're learning is so important. When you come to make your own films, more often than not there will be characters involved. These characters need to be worked into over and over again to know them inside out, to know what they will need to do, what their facial expressions or body emotions will look like, to make sure that they fit the story and style you're aiming for, and that they'll be able to perform how you need them to. This goes for characters in CG not just stop motion. If the character has a flaw in the design because you need it to do something afte...

Ok, so…. IT'S HERE! A couple of weeks ago I posted up a strange little trailer that had my full attention without knowing what it was for… now the full animated short is out, but this epic production is actually an ident for the new partnership between Aardman studios and a New York based studio called Nathan Love, now by the name of Aardman Nathan Love . Check it out.

If you had asked me before watching this trailer whether an Angry Birds film would be likely to work, or even be a good film for that matter, my answer would of have been "No". However after seeing this trailer, I must confess it looks like it will be a fun, well animated and perfectly voiced movie.

Well folks, it does indeed look as if we've got enough interested parties to get 'Rome 2016' off the ground! The travel agent have given us the deadline of Tuesday October 20th to get all the money gathered in from students, so keep your eye on the group blog; a link to the UCA Online Store (the method by which you can pay for the trip via your debit card) will be published soon, at which point you need to part promptly with your £350 .  Spread the word, and I predict there maybe some additional places available.  In total there are only 60 places between the two courses (CAA and Creative Arts For Theatre & Film) and it will be strictly on a first come, first served basis - so don't be backward in coming forward!  Watch this space - the Online Store will open soon.

Jordan's presentation, brushes-to-download, thumbnail templates and apple/pear exercises are now available @ myUCA/Space and Environment/Invisible Cities.

Dear all - just letting you know the Computer Animation Arts computer suites will be open this Saturday (26th), as it's an UCA Open Day.  I'll be doing course talks to prospective students and their respective parents, but you're more than welcome to take your places at the CAA computers and crack on with your project work!  Indeed, personally, I prefer it if there's a bit of a working atmosphere in the computer suites, so pop in and make some creative headway.  The campus will be open from 9:30am to 3pm.  Spread the word!

There's no greater statement of a director's prowess than a long shot in a single take. And these are 12 of the most masterful. FYI Year 2: No cuts involved in these long shots (well allegedly).

For your convenience: all new first year blogs, all in one place! (except one* - which I'll add to this definitive list just as soon as I have the url).  Make sure you've got them all! Deanna @ http://deanna-crisbacher.blogspot.co.uk Hannah @ http://hannah-kubias.blogspot.co.uk Tom Smith @ http://peachflandango.blogspot.co.uk Manisha  @ http://manishadusilacaanimation.blogspot.co.uk Lewis  @ http://lewispuntonanimation.blogspot.co.uk Sky @ http://pyrobat.blogspot.co.uk Ian @ http://iangarling.blogspot.co.uk Douy @ http://www.douysingy.blogspot.co.uk Danni @ http://dannifoleycaa.blogspot.co.uk Mike @ http://blakcai.blogspot.co.uk Ben @ http://kiyanqwindu.blogspot.co.uk Tom Ward @ http://wardsanimation.blogspot.co.uk Sarah @ http://sarahhalluca.blogspot.co.uk Becky S @ http://rebeccastapley.blogspot.co.uk Zoe @ http://zoeprojectblog.blogspot.co.uk Eleanor @ http://espence-animation.blogspot.co.uk Ty @ http://tylercgi2.blogspot.co.uk Lilly @ ht...

In preparation for the kick-off your Space Oddities film programme, I'm featuring here the 'Do's & Don'ts' of academic writing for your reference.  Ideally, you will have already taken the opportunity to take a look at the advice on offer here.  If not, be sure to familiarise yourself with this style guide before attempting your first film review of the year. Your brief asks you to use the Harvard Method in terms of referencing your published sources. Please note - this is a mandatory aspect of the presentation of your film reviews, so I suggest you take some time to investigate the 'How To' resources available on myUCA .   We don't want to waste valuable time (yours/ours) correcting these more technical elements of your writing.  Using the Harvard Method and proper bibliographies and illustration lists are something you just need to adopt from the outset as part of the new terrain of your undergraduate life.   To begin with, you...

This Friday, all years on Computer Animation Arts will be attending briefings in regard to the 'ONE Is More' project - a three-year long adventure in animation and classical music! 'ONE' is like a sequel to 'ACT';  our year 2 and 3 students will already be aware of our involvement in a previous three-year project, which saw our creative community collaborate with UK-based and European orchestras to produce some richly diverse outcomes.  For a re-cap of the ACT project, visit the ACT pages on the Computer Animation Arts ' website. La création du monde Verdi's Requiem / Sculpture Noye's Fludde - Cirque Jules Verne In short, ONE (An Orchestra Network For Europe) represents further opportunities for the students, alumni and staff of Computer Animation Arts to participate in a series of highly creative and speculative projects, in which animation and the visualisation of music combine and cross-pollinate.   On Friday, ...