Finding My Feet

I've had a pretty good week, as far as learning how to become a 3D Animator goes. Actually, no, that doesn't make sense, because technically speaking, I haven't started any animation training yet...so, far I'm still learning the fundamentals of Maya...but that's going pretty good, so that's good, right? Yup.

Last Thursday we made a bottle using a NURBS curve, then created a surface with it. It was so much fun. I'm still finding it a little bit tricky to keep up with the pace of the class, but I'll get there.

One thing I like about the course, is at the start of the session, we have a chance to go through any questions that have come up since the last time. So, that's a really good opportunity for me to dig a little deeper with anything I don't understand!

In the past 10 days or so, I've been thinking how grateful I am that this course is twice a week, in other words, part time. Escape Studios do full time intensive courses, that are all day every day for a period of 12-16 weeks. I don't think I would do very well with that one. I'm really enjoying having the time to go home, reflect on what's been taught, and practice and go other bits that I'm not sure on. A bit like driving a car, I found the experience of having a lesson per week, gave me more time to think about what I was doing, than had I done an intensive crash course over a short period.

I don't have an incredibly strong, technical background when it comes to IT and computers, I am slower than most of the others in the class I've noticed. Oh well, we all learn at different paces and ways don't we? When we made the bottles in class, there was one guy who had not only made a bottle, but a cork to sit in it, a table to place the bottle, and a glass to accompany it!

I'm confident in my creative background - having a degree in Art and Theatre. My puppetry and animation manipulation should tap into my theatrical directorial work, and the whole look of the shot should tap into my artist's eye...at least that's the theory. That's what I figure.

Hoping to find out more about the Animation side of things this week, to get that underway...I'm tres excitedo indeedio! As soon as I have more news and updates, I'll be sure to update this trusty blog :)