Feeling Like a Kid again

I was going to write this long post about how I feel really young in my Animation class, and then I realized that you probably don't know I'm taking Animation. But I am. So now you know.

It's DRAM 5810, which sounds like it should take a whole bunch of pre-recs to get to, and in theory it does, but Mike, our professor, doesn't care if you have them or not. So I'm in it with a background in Film Theory and the computer capability of a nine-year-old. It's ok, though, because I (sometimes) catch on quickly.

Which is a very important thing because this dude moves quick. We're already supposed to have our second project completed. Which I have, but I haven't constrained anything except the robot's hands and jaw, but I don't really know what I'm going to do with him, so how would I know how far to constrain his stuff? Or does it matter? I really have no idea.

Our first project was a snowman, which I have uploaded for your enjoyment. You are under no obligation to be impressed, especially when you think about the fact that this took around eight hours to make, but you should at least acknowledge that he's a pretty good looking snowman. If you look close enough, he blinks. That was my idea. So was the hat. And the funny extending arm. And the mouth--we weren't required to have mouths either. See, that's the fun part of this stuff. You can go above the requirements by just fooling around and learning the software. And he's way into that sort of thing.



I hope embedding works. Never tried it before. And yes. It's only two seconds long.

Anyway, here's the part that I was initially going to post about. The software we use to make this stuff is about $7,000, so it's not like you can just go and install it on your computer. So you have to go to the lab and work on it. No biggie right?

Right, kinda. If you go before five on a week day, you can walk right in and work on your stuff. But if it's after five, or on a weekend you have to deal with (cue dramatic music) the grad students.

Don't get me wrong. I usually like grad students. They're fun. They talk in class. They have things to say and stories from undergrad and sometimes even teach classes. But these grad students...man...they're kinda patronizing. Granted, yes, the project I'm in the lab to work on is vastly simpler than whatever they're constructing. But that doesn't mean I don't have a right to be there. And grumpy lab boy: forgive me for not being immediately able to tell that you were rendering on all four of the computers in the front row, because, in case you didn't notice, the monitors were asleep. Next time, just be nice about it.

I mentioned the whole superiority thing to my friend Jesse, who sits next to me in class, and she agrees, so it's not just me. It's like we're the little children and they're just annoyed that we're even in the same room.

This doesn't stop me from liking the class, though. It's fun. And you have stuff to show for your work. And it's teaching me to be a compulsive document saver, which is a valuable skill to have.

And Seal, I hope your a capella thing went well. I wish I could have made it, but between the robot project and Campus Movie Fest, I'm swamped. But I was thinking of you. :)