Wednesday 30 January 2013

Animation Video Reference

Video reference is an essential part of any modern animators toolkit. Often students seem to be under the incorrect impression that it is somehow 'cheating' or being 'lazy' to reference video while they are animating... Not at all!

Using reference simply helps you get the basic beats figgured out faster and let you get to the real meat of animating, which are all of the judgements you make to go beyond that reference and the reality of a movement.

It's also great for those times where you have to animate a behaviour or action you have not encountered before, how do you expect to be able to create somthing you dont even have a memory reference to call upon... answer: you go find some footage, or better yet, grab a camera and film your own - that way you get to feel the movement and personality too!

Here are two great video reference resource sites, courtesy of an ex-student. Thanks Matthew!

https://vimeo.com/groups/aniref

http://www.referencereference.com/

Thursday 17 January 2013

Animex animation & games festival

A quick note to remind everyone that the Animex festival is coming up in February (18th - 22nd). If you can make your way up to Teesside Uni, it's very much worth the visit. Tickets are on sale now.

http://animex.tees.ac.uk




Speakers List
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David Au
Storyboard Artist/Assistant Director, Rough Draft Studios
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Eric Baldwin
Lead animator, Naughty Dog
Speaking at Animex Game

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Murray Barber
VFX Supervisor, The Mill (London)
Speaking at Animex Game

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Will Becher
Character Lead Animator, Aardman
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Doug Braithwaite
Artist
Speaking at Animex Comics

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Jennifer Clixby
Producer, Lionhead Studios
Speaking at Animex Game

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Ferran Domenech
Animation supervisor, MPC
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Rob Dressel
Layout Supervisor, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Richard Franke
Creative Director, Open World Designer
Speaking at Animex Game

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Rex Hancox
Director/Progammer, Jet Stone Studios
Speaking at Animex Game

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Ed Hooks
Acting Instructor and Author
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Wyeth Johnson
Art Director, Epic
Speaking at Animex Game

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Gabrielle Kent
Festival Director
Speaking at Animex Game

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Janus Kirkegaard
Senior Environment Artist,, IO Interactive
Speaking at Animex Game

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Alastair McIlwain
Managing Director/Animator, Straandlooper
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Ben Morris
Director/Progammer, Jet Stone Studios
Speaking at Animex Game

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Ethan Nicolle
Artist
Speaking at Animex Comics

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Matthew Oakley
Artist, Ubisoft Reflections
Speaking at Animex Game

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Rhianna Pratchett
Writer
Speaking at Animex Game

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Bay Raitt
Artist and Designer, Valve
Speaking at Animex Game

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Hans Rijpkema
Rhythm & Hues Studios
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Cris Robson
3D Artist, Founder www.3d-palace.com
Speaking at Animex Workshop

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Ella Romanos
CEO, Remode
Speaking at Animex Game

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Satish Shewhorak
Co-host, Animex Game
Speaking at Animex Game

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Shaun Spalding
Ubisoft Refelctions
Speaking at Animex Workshops

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Stuart Sumida
Professor of Biology, California State University San Bernardino
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Bryan Talbot
Speaking at Animex Comics

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Mary Talbot
Speaking at Animex Comics

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Alex Trowers
Designer, Boss Alien
Speaking at Animex Game

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Andrew Walker
Speaking at Animex Game

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Paul Wells
Director of the Animation Academy, Loughborough University
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Mike West
Lead Designer
Speaking at Animex Game

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Andrew Whitehurst
VFX supervisor, Double Negative
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Andrew Willans
Ubisoft Reflections
Speaking at Animex Game

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Chris Williams
Host, Animex Talk
Speaking at Animex Talk

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Austin Wintory
Composer, Musician
Speaking at Animex Game

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Marv Wolfman
Writer
Speaking at Animex Comics

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Ken Wong
Freelance artist and designer
Speaking at Animex Game

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Chris Wyatt
Animex Screen
Speaking at Animex Screen

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Jim Zubkavich
Writer, Project Manager, Udon Entertainment
Speaking at Animex Comics

Thursday 10 January 2013

Short Bites - Stuff vs Stuff

This series is from a coupple of years ago now, but they still make you chuckle.

A little violent stop-motion fun for the whole family...





Great Scott! That's an advert?!

Those who don't press skip too quickly on the pre-roll adverts on YouTube videos this January might come accross this little gem.

A Coca-Cola ad. directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, Prometheus etc.) and lasting a cool 7 minutes. Take a look and lap up the stunning work which has gone into this production.