Tech Talks at BAFTA Tomorrow

London SIGGRAPH is organising the second annual TECHTALKS, starting tomorrow August 31st. The event is being held in association with VFX powerhouse Double Negative, and is sponsored by Autodesk, makers of Maya, the animation software that is now the dominant platform in our industry.

TechTalks is a two-day conference which focuses on the technical side of our industry. As always, we strongly recommend that our students attend events of this kind. It's always good to know where the industry is heading, and you never know who you might meet.

Get Ready for Our September 5th Class!

Summer is still with us, but our new animation class starting on September 5th is fast approaching.

In our home city of London, animation production is up 300% over three years, with more growth on the way, and the industry crying out for studio-ready talent.

Below is a brief list of stuff to help you get ready for September 5th, including buying one or two books. You don't have to do all of this, but tick off a few of the things on this list and you will be a making a great start on your animation career.

To Reference or Not To Reference

What is referencing, and when should animators use it? File referencing ("referencing", for short) is the process in Autodesk Maya which allows the animator to make changes to an animation rig in the course of production and have the new rig automatically update itself to all your existing animation files. It's pretty much what most studios use to manage their animation pipeline, one way or another, as most production rigs are a work in progress.

The question for animators working and studying from home is, should you import the rig directly into your shot, or should you use referencing? Here are the pros and cons.

Dinosaur Rig by Harry Gladwin-Geoghegan

Here at Animation Apprentice we're liking this dinosaur rig by Harry Gladwin-Geoghegan. It's a great free rig for Maya animators, and you can download it here.

The Dino rig excellent for doing creature locomotion, and just about the only thing it won't do is close-ups, as the facial controls are quite limited.

But, to get some dino action on your animation demo reel, this is an excellent rig to choose.

11 Second Club

Chicken or egg?

It's August! You could be heading for the beach to relax or, like many of our dedicated animators here at Animation Apprentice, you could be polishing your animation skills by entering The 11 Second Club, the monthly character competition in which aspiring animators compete to win prizes and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club. This month our students will tackle a question of philosophy: which came first, chicken or egg?

"Jelly Cars" by Lee Caller

From time to time we like to showcase some of the best work done by our students here at Animation Apprentice. "Jelly Cars" a very inventive piece of film-making by Lee Caller, who has animated a short film as one of his weekly animation submissions. It's a great piece of storytelling, entertaining and fun - and beautifully animated.  It's just the kind of work we like to see our students do - taking a simple exercise (in this case, animating a cartoon car, using the yellow Beetle rig by Aaron Parker), and bringing it to life, going far beyond the initial brief to create some really fun animation.