Fun Micro Expression Test

A while back we had a great Facial Reading expert come to pixar to help us understand more about the face. We learned about something called micro-expression which are expression we make very quickly that can reveal how we are really feeling. It is very useful for people trying to spot lies and so forth. Its also great to try and put into our work, especially the work of a computer animator, who can get lots of subtle stuff into their work.

Here is a Micro Expression Test. Click on the number, then whet micro expression flashes by.

Expression test

Happy Halloween

Thanks for all your questions to ED. We had a great interview with him which should be up shortly. Sorry for lack of posts. Things are very busy here. We had a great costume contest for Halloween at work. Former Spline Doctor, Angus Maclane and I took first and second place…. He was a half order of chicken and I was global warming. Expect some new posts soon.

-Andrew

Some Cool 2d animation software

The best thing animation students can do is to do 2d animation before they enter the vast world of 3d animation.It teaches you the basics much quicker and really helps you understand the process. Here are a bunch of 2d animation software packages that are out there for the computer. I like using these packages because it lets me experiment more and try out different techniques. Its also easier to make changes.

Here they are:

Pencil – A free open source program

Mirage – Alot like deluxe paint 4 for the Amiga only better! (TV Paint is the european counter-part)

Flipbook – widely used 2d program. Very simple and robust

Feel free to submit any other 2d animation programs that you know of.

-Andrew

Congratulations "Virgin Voyage"!

I just wanted to tip my hat to Andrew Gordon, Scott Clark and all of their students who worked so hard on their class project last semester “Virgin Voyage” which recently took an award for “Audience Choice” at AAU’s 1st annual Epidemic Film Festival in San Francisco. For those not familiar with previous posts about this project, Scott and Andrew recorded improvisation performers and had their students put it through it’s paces, simulating a working production environment. They designed characters and sets, laid out the sequence, animated, and lit and rendered. It’s great to see innovative teaching and great student work get recognized. Congratulations again to everyone involved!

Adam

The Virgin Voyage

We never did post the final version of the project we did last semester. Here it is. It does not have alot of the sound effects or Music yet. Scott and I think the students did a great job!

All the students in our class are extremely talented. Alot of them are out on the job hunt. Maybe someone out there needs some animators… Feel free to contact us regarding any of the work and we will put you in touch with the student or students who did the work. You can email us at gordo@splinedoctors.com or clark@splinedoctors.com

Link to Virgin Voyage

(remember to right click in safari. It may come in as a text file.)
if it does download as a text file, remove the .txt from the end of the file and it should play fine in quicktime.