Technology
Technology-wise, we learned a lot. We learned how to work in Photoshop, Aftereffects, and Maya. Maya was probably the most difficult for me. There were a lot of steps involved and it was very easy to slip up. I never quite grasped he concept of lighting in this program and that is evident in my work.I was really proud of how my ice cream shop animation came out, thouhg. A lot of work was put into the smaller details, and for our first animation in Maya, I think it looks pretty nice.
It is important because they are skills we can continue to use even if we don't go into animation.
Collaboration
I think I worked well with other people this year. On our final project we split into groups and had to put everything we had learned this year together. We split up the roles, casted it, and got to work. Once we had everything filmed, we worked separately and got each of our roles done, asking for help when we needed it and communicating with each other to get it exactly how we all wanted it. Our biggest technical issue is that we forgot to turn on the lights when shooting in front of the green screen and that made it basically impossible to make the green screen look realistic. But, we worked together to make it the best we could. Collaboration is an important skill to have anywhere you go. In school or in the future workforce, you will always be collaborating.Communication
This one will be important no matter what you're doing or working on. Communication was most prominent in our final and while working on projects I didn't quite understand. I had to ask for help a lot if I had forgotten the steps in the demo, something wasn't working right, or when i had simply forgotten how to do something (which happened more than I like to admit). I had to ask for help quite often while making our snowflake animation. A lot of the steps weren't working for me so I had to get help from other students.Project Management
Project management is really something I've been learning the hard way. I have a hard time focusing during long-term projects, and, unfortunately for me, most of the projects in this class were just too long for me to focus. Luckily, I got everything done. I really fell behind on the individual explosion project because I couldn't figure out what I wanted. I did end up getting it done on time, but it isn't entirely what I wish it could be. Project management is something that is very important in any job and career and is something I'm going to have to work very hard on improving.
Leadership
Most of our projects were individual, but I still helped some of my classmates when they had problems or weren't sure what to do next. I showed leadership on our final team project by figuring out filming times and directing our cast. Leadership is hard because if you can be shy it is hard to take charge in any way. Leadership is a very sought after skill when people are looking to hire. It is a very important skill for people to learn early on and continue to develop.
I will be going into animation next year so I will be using what we learned this year everyday. Programs like Aftereffects and Photoshop are things I enjoy using in my free time and will almost definitely use this summer. My dad wants to learn how to use Maya so I will be teaching him everything I have learned.
If I could change anything I have done this year, I would change my walk cycle. Barold was a pain to work with and I would love to have the chance to redo that entire project, start to finish. Really, if you look through my old blogposts about animation, you can see me constantly bashing him. On a more specific note, I would go back and make his front leg move the right way. His leg drags on the ground and the snaps up and that is not the way it's supposed to go. I would also quickly go back and redo the lighting and exporting of my can animation.
Looking back on this year made me so excited for next year. I can't wait! Mr. Olson, you will be missed!
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