Welcome to the Blog of an Amateur Computer Animator!

First of all, I have to tell you, the title of the blog is totally deceiving.  This is the blog of a junior computer animator, not a group of junior computer animators.  However, why I named this “jrcomputeranimators.wordpress.com” is because all of you younger guys (or older guys; I’m only 14 here) can come here for suggestions and great links to digital animation sites.
Now that that’s all clear, the second thing is that this is not only computer animation.  It also includes stuff from Photoshop and a bit about book writing, since I sent in a query earlier and plan to have it published.  Then why didn’t I name this blog, “www.jrcomputeranimatorsandphotoshoppersandpotentalfutureauthors.blogspot.com”?  I dunno.  Go figure.  But rest assured that this blog will mostly be about its namesake: computer animation.
And then one of the last things: why do I even run this blog?  The answer is a combination of answers: 1: A friend of my Dad’s who runs his own computer-animation team recommended that I do it. 2: I can help some of you other junior computer animators out there.  3: I like doing it.  And 4: My Mom also runs a blog (www.zoomtimes.blogspot.com– I’m the guy named Mxyl).
And now, the final thing: the link of the day–er, post– is:
www.kennyroy.com!  This is an extremely good site for animation tutorials (way better than my blog, at least)!  I’ll try to update my blog as often as possible!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Image
So, it's been over a month since my last post and I haven't done a thing.  This is partially because I was: a. in New Jersey with my grandparents and cousin in early early July. b. packing up for summer camp in later early July. c. earning merit badges in summer camp for a week in mid-July. d. this is late July.  And next week I'm going on a family vacation. On to the other excuses for non blogging what's been happening: 1. Of course, there are all the minor details like my birthday , earning a learner's permit , signing college applications, etc. 2. Back with computer animation, I am happy ecstatic to announce that someone has downloaded my TARDIS model !  Somewhere, someone is using it for their own projects!!! 3. Speaking of downloads, I have downloaded and am coloring a Tardis interior from the same website.  To tell the truth, I actually like it that downloads all start out colored gray; it gives the person working with it something to do....
Read more

K12 Project and Assignment 3: Build a Creature and a Monkey

Image
Did you notice I have no idea if the “k” in K12 is capitalized or uncapitalized?  See, in the last sentence, k12 was capitalized.  Yet in that previous sentence, K12 was lowercase.  And yet, in that previous sentence… well, you get the idea.  Anyway, Project 3 introduces modeling , and taught me something new–using a bump map texture; which makes the object look, well, bumpy.  It’s interestingly called “normal” in the influence section of the Texture panel.  My special addition for this project was using “emit” (same section, same panel) to get some parts of the creature to seem to glow.  Upon noticing that it wasn’t a huge change (as well as my not being able to see its eyes), I also changed the camera angle and provided some more lighting.  I actually noticed then that it looked like he was jumping down, so… well, I suppose a picture’s worth a thousand words. “Jason the Jumper”, as I call him, uses particles for the crashing-glass...
Read more

Blender 101 1/2: the Physics Engine

Technical alert: this post explains how to do things in technical detail; you can skip this post if you're not interested in that kind of thing. Now, I am an amateur as you could see by some of my models, but nevertheless I also like teaching others about what little I know about Blender and other 3D software.  Today, the physics engine is my focus. There are seven different types of physics in Blender.  Force Field can make things like wind, tornadoes and, well, force fields.  Collision is necessary for projects that involve gravity--which would include clothing, floors, objects... basically anything in an advanced project.  Cloth makes your object turn into, well... cloth.  Fluids and Smoke also speak for themselves, and I have no idea what "Dynamic Paint" and "Soft Body" do. The physics engine is absolutely necessary for any advanced project; if you want snow to move around, that's a good time to use Force Field; Collision can help if yo...
Read more