Spring Class Begins on 3 March 2021

Our Spring classroom starts on Monday 3rd March 2020.  You don't need to know Maya beforehand (we teach everything from scratch), but it's always a good idea to do a little preparation.

Below is a brief list of things to do to get you under way. No need to do all of it, but tick off a few of the things on this list and you will be a making a great start on your animation career.

Why Animators Need an Animatic

"Giles and Rupert's Prehistoric Predicament"

What is an animatic? And why do animators need one? An Animatic is something that all animators need to create as a first step in making an animated short film .

An animatic is an essential first step in the creation of any animated content. Don't start animating until you have made your animatic - this is where you will test your material and make sure that your story makes sense. 

No Audio Playback in Maya 2020

One annoying bug in Maya 2020 is that audio playback can be troublesome. Scrub through the timeline and you get audio playback. However, press play and there is no audio playback. Fortunately, after Googling the problem I found a discussion thread that solves the problem. 

Assuming that your Evaluation
Mode is set to DG (check your preferences to find this. Go to Preferences / Settings / Animation / Evaluation / Evaluation Mode), and change DG to Parallel.  Then right-click on your timeline and disable "Cached Playback". Once this is done, you should get audio back in Maya when you press play. 

Charlie & Yip Wins Best Trailer at Fantastic

I'm pleased to announce that my short film "Charlie and Yip" has won another festival award - Best Trailer at the Fantastic Indie Film Festival of Los Angeles.

Charlie and Yip is a short film about a kid who takes his pet to school for Show and Tell, which turns out to be a bad idea.

The short is really a teaser/trailer for my indie feature film project "My Haunted House", which is still in development. 

Charlie and Yip Wins "Best Trailer" at Art Awards

I'm delighted to announce that my short film "Charlie and Yip" has won another festival award -  Best Trailer at the Art Film Awards.  Charlie and Yip is a short film about a kid who takes his pet to school for Show and Tell, which turns out to be a bad idea.

The short is really a teaser/trailer for my indie feature film project "My Haunted House", which is still in development.