End of Year Reflection

Kaid Maurice

Hour 3

End of Year Reflection

In Animation I learned how to create many different projects using After Effects and Maya. I have learned how to create an animation by using key frames in After Effects by correctly timing out the movement of my objects. I found it cool using After Effects to compile different videos and images to create an explosion and other projects where we had to make things move around. I loved learning to use Maya because I have always wanted to make 3D animations. Learning to use Maya was a little challenging at first but when you get to know the program you can do things like make simple polygons into a different object or use the curve tool to make a cup.

            I learned how to use After Effects by starting off with learning how to use key frames and how to move around objects. Then I learned how to do harder things like key out green screens and line up different parts of a videos to make special effects. When I learned how to use Maya I was taught how to make simple polygons and all the tools to warp the shapes. After that I learned how to use some of the harder tools like the curve tool and other tools.

            Animation is important because it is used everyday in life with TV shows and movies. People use animation to create the special effects in movies and they use it to create all the effects and CGI in movies. Animation is also used to create cool videos and movies that involved animated characters. It is also used for video games and the making of all the objects and characters of video games.

            My strengths are that I am a hard worker and I am good at thinking of and object in a 3D space. I also am pretty good at coming up with a good idea and then creating my idea using Maya or After Effects. My weaknesses are that I am not very good at drawing up my images or making a well thought out storyboard. I am also not good at using some of the textures and positioning of objects. I have improved on my animation skills by practicing making animations and coming up with new ideas for animations.

            I am going to keep making animations and try to make smoother and better-looking animations. I want to keep learning how to use some of the harder tools in Maya. I also want to pursue a career in video game animation or character animation because I really enjoy making animations. My knowledge of the software will help me keep creating nice and neat animations that I can show to other people.

            I would change some of my projects by making them look a little better by adding more details to my work. Some of my animations didn’t look as good in the beginning so I want to go back and rework those so that they can look as good as some of my other projects. But other than fixing some of my projects there isn’t anything else that I would like to change.

            Overall I thought animation was a really fun class and I enjoyed learning new things about the software and how to create good-looking animations. I found it fun learning how to make different types of projects and using what I learned to create my own projects. In the end this class was a good choice because I have had fun and learned very important things on how to be an animator.