Cheat Sheet

I am not one proficient in After Affects (yet), therefore I've done a little research looking through blogs, tutorials--anything that will help me learn the program as quickly and efficiently as possible. Obviously, there is a ton of great information on the internet to potentially put into action (including the contents of this blog). But if you're anything like me, the basics have to be grasped first before getting ahead of myself. As we've talked about in class, shortcuts are the key to efficient use of After Affects (and arguably any Adobe program). I understand the importance of being able to navigate AE swiftly and thus I thought I'd share with my fellow animation newbies this:

That's right, folks! The After Affects Keyboard Cheat Sheet. Isn't it beautiful? And what's posted above is only the beginning! The entire PDF includes shortcuts for projects, tools, workspaces, time navigation, layers, text, and so much more. Definitely something to print out and keep in the back of your notebook.

The entire PDF document can be found here.

Motion Graphics Designs!

I ran across some videos today with very cool motion graphics designs. I thought that these videos would be useful to everyone! (There is even one with a 3D bird) 

Typomania Festival: this short was made in attempt to popularize the typography culture and was aimed towards designers, illustrators, and animators. Notice the 3D birds at 0:28 seconds. 

                   Take a Look:   https://vimeo.com/68512678

Social Media Awards Ceremony Opening Titles

      I enjoyed this video because the fairytale story about the competition between social media comes across flawlessly to the audience. However I'm posting the video because its primarily composed of animated shapes, expressions, several layers, and text (nothing that we can't achieve as After Effects beginners- or atleast i think.) 

               Take a Look:  https://vimeo.com/76510274

Cinco Radio Buenos Días 25 Aniversario:

   This animation piece was made to celebrate the 25 anniversary of Cinco Radio, a local radio station in Puebla, México. Every single aspect of this piece was amazing and is a goal for any graphic designer or animator to accomplish (not to mention the intricate and spot on detail of the hands!) 

            YOU NEED TO SEE THIS:  https://vimeo.com/77067342

Till next time, 

Krystal . 

   

    

Maybe the Beginning of Animation but Who REALLY Knows Anyway?

In celebration of the new year and new beginnings, I wanted to post about what many people consider to be the beginning of animation. Of course there is always much controversy about whom EXACTLY created the first animated film. Questions of what classifies full fledged animation ranges drastically. 

For example, J. Stuart Blackton is often credited as the Father of American Animation. 

Handsome fellow am I right?

Anyway, J. Stuart Blackton produced a piece in 1900 called The Enchanted Drawing in which he appears to have an interaction with a drawing. This illusion was created using a technique called Stop Motion  animation: IE the process of taking a series of photographs and moving the objects in the scene around between every shot. Still, some believe that Blackton may have borrowed some techniques (stop motion) from famous french illusionist and filmmaker Georges Méliès. This is what I'm talking about-- lots of controversy.

Regardless of whether this is ACTUALLY the first animated short, here's a look at Blackton's piece The Enchanted Drawing:

Although Blackton's work may be the first of the animation era, French director and writer Emile Cohl contributed generously to the animation revolution as well. 

He's there, under the mustache

In Cohl's 1908 short Fantasmajorie, a drawn character interacts with a setting that appears to be constantly shifting and transforming. At one point while watching Fantasmajorie, I'm pretty sure that I saw a sketch of Abraham Lincoln drift by.

Check it out:

Did you notice that Fantasmajorie looked like it was all drawn on a chalkboard? That "chalk on blackboard" look is just that, a look. Rather than filming an actual chalkboard, Emile Cohl first drew 700 drawings the traditional way: black lines on white paper. However, instead of processing the negatives of the film like is done traditionally, Emile projected the negatives. Negative film captures the inverse colors of the picture which creates that white on black "chalkboard effect" you see here.

There's Abe! ^

Short is Sweet

Like many of my peers in the class who are still merely in awe of some of the larger and more ambitious projects we've seen as we scour the Internet for examples, references, and inspiration, I feel overwhelmed. Even a project as long as a minute still involves hours of work.

That's why I felt comforted when I found this blog post that showcases the results of a 5 second sandcastle building contest. Below are some of my favorites that highlight the fact that you don't need to create the next feature animation, especially when you're first starting out.

Sandcastle from Zublime on Vimeo.

 

There's An App For That from Mantas Bačiuška on Vimeo.

King For a Day - GSG 5 Second Project from Quin Barclay on Vimeo.

5 Second Project - Sandcastle from Sam Jones on Vimeo.


(VIA: GREYSCALE GORILLA)