Friday, April 15, 2011

copy and paste to rsvp for the TRON VES presentation

Ex'pert Series

Presented by VES and Ex'pression College: David Levy, Concept Artist on Tron: Legacy

David Levy is a leading international concept artist. He studied industrial design and architecture in France and the Netherlands respectively, and is currently working in Los Angeles, California as senior concept artist in the movie industry. He has contributed to videogames titles on PC, XBOX, PS2, PS3, XBOX360 and worked on the development of "Prince of Persia 3", and "Assassin's Creed" while at Ubisoft in Montreal. Then, moving to Los Angeles he worked on "Tron legacy", "The Thing", and "Prometheus". His unique interests merge video gaming, film and his industrial design background to create fantasy elements at many scales.

Pixar Animation Studio

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Presentation: 2:00 pm

Screening of Tron 4:00 pm

Current students will have priority for this event.  Space is limited and will be on a first come first serve basis.
You must RSVP to this link to reserve a seat: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dExsRThuWEZaOGZ6VlRraEhUWE5BMmc6MQ

I will send out a confirmation email to confirm your seat next week.  (either when it's full or by end of next week)

The awesome demo reel

http://www.thekylersmith.com/

Monday, April 11, 2011

Posting Issues-Clarence

So I tried to upload my .avi and it would not allow me to. Odd, I will trouble shoot the issue and try again.. any ideas?

Justin Strawn - Character Description

                Zombie "Ed". Was 26, office temp. 5' 11", 160lb in L.A. in the year 2082. Office safe house was overrun by zombie apocalypse. Now living dead. Motivated only by loud noises, flashing lights, and human flesh. heightened sense of smell, but other senses dulled.

                Bitten initially on the right leg, feasted upon on back. broken right leg. but barely limps, because he doesn't feel pain and his other leg bone in right leg is still intact. If no immediate purpose in mind, he somewhat staggers around, very unbalanced. If he is aiming towards something, he can only fast walk at best, but usually just wanders towards it.

 Main adjectives: Mindless + Wandering + Unmotivated

John Austin Character Bio

Shozen- 24 year old Japanese Samurai from the 1600's. Height: 5'8" Weight: 170 lbs. Highly skilled in swordsmanship and hand to hand combat. Trained by the most famous swordsman in Japanese history, Miyamoto Musashi. A very honorable and good hearted human being but also filled with hatred due to his main motivation: revenge against those who murdered his family in front of him when he was a child. Shozen rarely bathes due to the constant assassination attempts and has killed over 100 men in duels and battles fighting for and against the ever changing Shogunate.
All Shozen's movements are very deliberate, almost seeming choreographed. Even his casual walk is practiced to perfection to always be on the defensive. Despite his need for vengeance Shozen manages to remain calm in any situation, rarely letting his emotions take the best of him. His facial expressions always remaining somber and focused on the world around him. When Shozen does decide to strike, his movements are almost too fast for the human eye to see. Any sword, fist, or foot attack is dealt with inhuman speed and power as well as little to no extra movements or actions which would waste precious time and may cost him his life. Every one of his attacks are streamlined and fluid as he seems to move about with little to no effort like an eel swimming underwater. As hard as you try to catch him, Shozen, like the eel, is impossible to grasp.

Filled with hatred - Focused - Inhuman Speed and Power

Clarence Character Description

Steve, an ex marine court marshaled from the corp. for his part in hazing a fellow jar head which led to permanent injuries on his behalf. Rugged, disheveled, almost never shaves and rarely seen without his signature 5 o clock shadow. He rocks a mullet with pattern male baldness atop. Lives alone in a studio apartment and eats canned Chef Boyardi that he gets from work. His only form of activity is that of his work and the over worked suggestive behavior he sends to his computer screen while playing Never-quested 2. 10 years since, he now works at the local grocery chain store as a courtesy clerk (bagger). Constantly in the eye of his boss Phillip Pinkerton he's always nervous and has lost all self confidence and is very timid, clumsy and accident prone, a shadow of his former self he leaves us all guessing each day "What will Steve do today?". He sometimes reminisces on what he used to be and the actions from which brought him to his current state of life.

With no pep left in his step he staggers along dragging his feet wherever he goes and has grown accustomed to the sound it makes. With that and his steady diet of canned pasta are what now brings him joy. Little to his surprised he walked into and dilapidated mental hospital and was trapped after not watching where he is going. He is now forced into combat with the creatures that lies within, forcing him to mimic his former self. With only a flashlight and what he can find he has to get out. Tip toeing around the mental hospital as to not make a sound to disturb the bad things in the area he often finds himself doing the exact opposite. Defeating his foes (crazy stray cats, spiders, and the occasional spirit or two) with moves from his recalled past, if anyone were to see anyone one would be mortified and embarrassed.


Timid, Nervous, Accident Prone

Jaime Bondoc - Character Sheet

Buzz Worthington a spoiled heir to an electronics company living the easy life until a tragedy befalls his entire family. Very snobby at first. Now broke and alone he must piece together the events that lead to losing his fortune and rebuild his families reputation by any means necessary. He is kind of a jack of all trades i.e. a Bruce Wayne archetype. When he had the money he was taught to fight and have all the qualities that preppy boarding school kids have i.e. fencing, ROTC training etc.

He is in his early twenties. As a parkour enthusiast he can move around very stealthily when gaining access to secure locations but can also be very assertive when the situation calls for it. He uses all of these skills to gain access to the various buildings without drawing attention to himself. Very intelligent and athletic. A very capable hand to hand combatant due to his training in boarding schools. Basic knowledge of firearms.

Snobby, athletic, combatant

Jake Colburn - character description.

Jake

tomboy,occasional drunk ,vagabond



A woman who is more of tomboy and doesn't really care about the world around her. She just lives life the way she wants to live it. She tends to travel a lot for no reason but to roam. She grew up in an elegant house but left that life at an early age.

She walks elegantly but with a strong demeanor or some would say prideful and a bit stuck up. She will cut down anything that gets in her way.




Monday, April 11, 2011

white board from the morning lecture, with entire class outline.

















Please, continue work on your character descriptions as soon as you get back from lunch.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Welcome to GAD 414 - Animation for Games

Welcome to LatourAFG. This blog is set up for a few reasons. First, to allow you to post your animation for feedback outside of class. I'll be able to comment on your progress and it will also be a venue for peer critique for your work as well. This blog has a lot of useful information available in an easily accessed format. You'll see several tabs next to the home page tab. They are:

LINKS - Web pages and other hyperlinks of interest. Look here for useful utilities and articles relating to animation. Feel free to suggest anything you think should be part of the resources there.

COURSE OUTLINE - The syllabus for the course. It will be a repeat of what's on the expression portal, just another place for you to access the info.

FAQ - Any common questions that come up will also be answered here. So if you have questions, check here first.

IDLE, WALK, RUN, IDLE2RUN and 3STRIKE - These other tabs will be descriptions of the various assignments we'll be doing over the course of our time together.

As time goes on, this blog will also become an archive of work from students who came before you. You'll be able to see examples of the assignments as well as notes and feedback the prior students have received. Browse through and you may find some helpful insight for your own work.

Finally, this page will be a place for me to make announcements to the class as a whole. Those posts will be tagged and titled "INSTRUCTOR POST" (you definitely won't want to miss them.) Please make sure you check this blog at least once a day and read everything new.

Good luck and enjoy the class!

- David Latour