Welcome to Fall 2018

Picture of the surprisingly rare artifact: a Wacom stylus

Hard to believe it's already been a year since starting at Fanshawe. It's been a eventful and educational journey so far (with some very unexpected twists and turns along the way!)

The ongoing Wacom styus shortage is still being addressed. We're using the handful we have to fill the gap. Please make sure you sign them in/out. Watch your class announcement page for updates on stylus availability in the book store. (soon, I hope)

Dave's office hours this term are
Tuesday 12-3p in room 508-1
to make an appointment please email
Alyssa Jarvis or Amanda Moir

My classes this term are:
ANC Pre-pro (6020)
ANC Anim 1 (6012)
VGD Portfolio Dev. (1040_01)

It looks like it's going to be a great semester; see you all in class.

-Dave

*Update - archive of links for the Fall 2018 semester

6020 - Week 01 (HW1)
6020 - Week 03 (HW2)
6020 - Week 07 (MT)
6020 - Week 08 (TC)

3dFOA

1040 - Week 01/02 (LP/AP)
1040 - Week 03 (WP)
1040 - Week 08
1040 - Week 10

Summer 2018, Part II: the Re-Summering

Welcome to the second half of the summer term! (Week 08). 

*Update* Hey students: I've shifted the information that was here to the class specific page along the right hand side links. What you're probably looking for is on the page VGD-1025: week 08

Cats have the courage to say what we're all thinking.

It's exciting to be back teaching class and the group I'm teaching show all the signs of being engaged and hardworking. It's every teachers dream! Jeremy Dilks has taken them through the first seven weeks and has laid out the structure for the rest of the class, so I anticipate smooth sailing.

*Update* Conserving space - here is the summer archive of pages
1025 - Week 08 (RJ)
1025 - Week 09
1025 - Week 10
1025 - Week 11 (RP)
1025 - Week 12 (Final)
1025 - Week 13 (CP)

Winter 2018 Archive

                        

Yeah, it's been a long cold winter.

Another term has passed and the first group of ANC students under my care have graduated.
It's been a challenging couple of semesters to say the least (*). The showing of the finest work happens tonight and I'm really impressed by the results. Thank you for your diligence and hard work.
I hope you've all learned as much as I have this term. Here's the archive for future reference:

Proj Dev - week 01 (P1)
Proj Dev - week 01 (P2)
Proj Dev - week 03/4 (P3)
Proj Dev - week 05/6 (TAP)
Proj Dev - week 07 (PCH)

Animation - week 01 (BLT)
Animation - week 02
Animation - week 03
Animation - week 04 (LS)
Animation - week 05
Animation - week 06/7
Animation - week 08 (ST)
Animation - week 10
Animation - week 11/12
Animation - week 13 (FIA)

MoCap - week 01/2 (LS)
MoCap - week 03/4
MoCap - week 05
MoCap - week 06 (MT)
MoCap - week 07 (MP)
MoCap - week 08 (KM)
MoCap - week 10 (FIA)


(*) this sort of thing only happens once-in-a-lifetime, right?

Winter 2018

Welcome back! 

How excited am I to start the new term?

Is it weird that this cat is named mouse? Perhaps he is excited by irony?

Yup, Pretty excited. 

There are a few items of review that apply to every class I teach, so we'll cover those things first.

Does anyone remember this: Syncsketch

test 1 (success!)

Sketchfab

I'd like to try an use it again for the  feedback process in all of my classes, assuming we can work it out. Let's test it today! We'll try handing off a link and handing off a video file and see which pipeline is the smoothest.

A quick refresher on 'Animation Preview' in 3dsMax

Autodesk documentation
Useful YouTube tutorial

Typical Output options for 'Preview Animation'

I'm a creature of habit, so I'll usually want your work handed in the following way:

This is what I look like when your submission is correct.

• XVID Mpeg4 compressed AVI
• 960 x 540 resolution (HD540)
• naming: Last_First_(code).avi

eg.

      Latour_David_BLJ.avi

This will be the standard for most submissions in my classes. WARNING: Please pay close attention to where you hand in your homework. Some of your classmates can attest that this can cause huge issues at the end of the term. Make sure you put homework in the correct folder.

Fall 2017 archive.

To say it's been a challenging semester would be a bit of an understatement. Getting my sea legs in 3dsMax, a 5 week strike and relocating from California was a lot to do all at once. It's been exciting and all but leaves me feeling a bit...

from Gravity Falls: really wish I knew the animator who did this bit.

While it should be a bit smoother, Winter 2018 still looks like a steep hill to climb. With no downtime between semesters, it's been hectic trying to close up one semester while contructing the next one. I have three new course preps and I'm also officially starting as the Coordinator for ANC on Jan 22nd.

Here we go again.

- Dave

Here is an archive of all of the links for my classes from Fall 2017.

~~~ INTRO (all classes) ~~~

VGD - Portfolio Development
1040 - week 02
1040 - week 03
1040 - week 04
1040 - week 05
1040 - week 06
1040 - week 13

ANC - Animation for Characters Intro
6012 - week 02
Bouncing Balls
6012 - week 03
Pendulum
Ball with Legs Jump

VGD - Acting for Animators 2
3020 - week 03
3020 - week 04
3020 - week 06
3020 - week 07
3020 - week 10
3020 - FINAL

Happy New Year!

One of the many reasons I identify with my cats.

Welcome back for the end of the 2017 term (!?)

We only have 2 weeks left to finish everything. Be sure to come to your classes on time and be ready to show work, ask questions and get feedback.

Remember: class this week will be the only feedback you get before the term is over! That makes this a critical time to hit the ground running.

Good luck

Dave