Your animations are now in the header. Refresh the page to see a new one. There is no sequence to them, they come up randomly. The ones that were running slowly in class should be running more smoothly here. Personally I am thrilled to see your work here. (And of course the animations are tremendously improved from what you made previously!)
For this week’s blogging, provide yourself, and your classmates, some constructive feedback on your banner animations.
First, discuss what you did; what do you think works particularly well? What could use more attention? Did you accomplish the goal you set for yourself? In what ways?
Next, discuss someone else’s animation. Again, what works well? what could use more attention? What do you take away from that other animation that you might apply in your own work? Be specific when identifying the other person’s animation; even if you don’t know the student’s name, identify the work clearly.
For my project, I created an animation of sea creatures to show a basic scene of under water life. I thought I did well but after seeing other classmate’s work, I think I can improve on my work a little more. I definitely should had paid more attention to details of the creatures through shape outlines rather than one color shapes. Like a fellow classmate during the presentation, I too didn’t think of using different scenes. I would like to explore changing the stage into another scene. As for my goals, I feel like I didn’t fully accomplish what I wanted in a design sense. I should have to look into details and explore more ideas.
I thought the animation where a bear finds a candy house and it changes scene was the most impressive one. There was good detail put into the the “candy” house. I especially like the zooming into the stage and switching scenes. I feel inspired and I want to try these techniques. The bear does need more detail like my own work. Some outline borders would show more contrast to the shapes.
The goal of my project was to tell a story of a caterpillar named “Eet” who couldn’t decide what he wanted to eat. I thought I was successful in illustrating and conveying the story, although I could have worked more on the leaf, because I noticed some feedback that it didn’t look like a leaf. I could have also included drop shadows and various effects to make the piece a bit more interesting. Another aspect should have spent more time on is the speed of the work and placement of frames, considering Eet lags at some parts during the show.
As for another person’s work, I think Jonathan’s is well done. I didn’t exactly know what he made out of the parallelograms but taken as an abstract piece, I think he created something interesting to look at sparking thought as to what those thin car-like bars were, or pencils, whatever they may be. Moreover, I liked how simple it was, in design and concept and still able to hold my attention. The use of the frame to contain the cubes was nice also, I don’t believe anyone in used the frame for symbols to bounce off of, like it was being held inside. The downside to his work is like mine, some problems with the speed and smoothness of the work. Overall I thought his work was well done.
I started off my project working on creating different objects and shapes with a triangle. I used simple tween motions to alter the sizes of the triangles and then moved them around on the stage. I also used a lot of changing colors because it was the simplest way to show that the triangles were being transformed. I wanted to work on making the characters move and add different backgrounds with different scenes, but the computer kept crashing when I tried that so I changed my mind and only worked on moving and rotating the symbols that are already in the library. I didn’t really accomplish my goal because I wanted to make the character walk and dance across the stage. I might have added too much effects and the file ended up being bigger than expected. I guess I should have planned out what I wanted to do in the beginning instead of just adding things randomly.
I thought Linda’s work was really nicely done. She used the bone tool to make her caterpillar move. The colors used were bright and eye catching. I also thought the overall idea was really cute, with the caterpillar finally getting the leaf he wanted. I actually never noticed that I can create outlines by overlapping different objects and putting them together. So I thought that was really clever when she used it to create the clouds. She did a great job on this project and I’m very inspired by her work.
For Project 2 I designed an animation with a nature scene. There was a sleeping bunny on a hill and the bunny was sleeping under a cherry blossom tree. To the left there is also a pond with rocks surrounding it. My project was going at a very slow pace with not a lot of movement going on except for petals falling off thee cherry blossom tree, the bunny moving back and forth, the “z’s” changing from large to small, and a few bubbles in the pond. I should have added a bit more to the scenery, such as a few more tree’s and also adding some clouds and birds as well. But other than that, I have created an animation that I had set out on making.
I also thought the bear eating the candy animation was a very interesting one. I particularly liked it when the bear was eating the different colored candies and its tummy was growing bigger and bigger! I also thought the bear would burst from eating all that candy, but instead it when to sleep on a floating cloud, which was much better than what I thought was going to happen.I also think the bear could have a bit more detail to it and also, the arm of the bear was moving in a weird way when it was waving from the candy house. But I thought the it was a really great animation, very creative, and interesting to watch.
My animation was the blue hexagrams. Hundreds and hundreds of hexagrams were all flying in randomly to fill up the space and then some start floating away to reveal negative space spelling out “animation”. My original idea was to do something typographically, but seeing that the first scene took me a really long time, and I needed to finish on time, I chose a different route (using a dog character). I feel like I need to work on making the animation more seamless. I was going for a modern and minimalist look. Overall, I think it still works as an animated banner.
I enjoyed Linda’s animation (the bunny on a hill). The animation is simple, yet eye catching and interesting. I like the peaceful scene. The little detail of bubbles in the pond is a nice touch. I don’t think any elements need to be added (trees, clouds, or birds as she mentioned above). It would be too distracting to the bunny. I like the simplicity to the animation. Sometimes less is more.
The animation I designed was about a clumsy space alien who was chasing after his lost spaceship, and retrieved his spaceship at the end. The part that I accomplished were easing on time, the filter effects I put on the alien, and the last scene when the alien get back his spaceship. My banner works fine, but I still think there are some things I wanted to fix or add such as making those asteroids going into different direction instead of going one way, and the space alien can do some clumsy things in between the process of chasing the spaceship.
The banner that I like was also Linda’s sleeping bunny animation because I like cute little bunny sleeping under the blossom’s tree, which gives a relaxing mood to the audience. The only thing, I would recommend was to add two or three small yellow fishes jumping in the pond. Most of all, the simpleness is what makes the banner stand out.
The animation I created was about the coming and going of life. The flower budded, attracted bees ( by being pretty =] ) and thereby serving its purpose. Then, in what was supposed to be a blink of an eye, it disappeared leaving only a trace of itself in the little seed that ever-so-gently glided down back into the ground and began its cycle. The only real problem I had with my animation was the “choppiness” of the zooming and explosion sequences and had I more time would have worked with it a bit more to appease such problems.
Like most people, i enjoyed Linda’s sleeping bunny animation because of the simplicity and yet intricacies found in the shape of the flowers, the falling of the flowers, and the little bubbles found in the pool of water. Also, the colors were easy on the eyes and fit well with each other. With Linda’s, I also enjoyed the chaotic organization of the hexagon pattern banner ( I am unsure of the designer) and Linda’s Leaf Eeter banner with its simple yet well designed character and background as well as the smooth flower of the entire movie.
My animation was quite simple compared to most in the class. It is the one in the playhouse where a ‘foreign man’ comes in to say HI to the viewer. I wanted the colors of the animation to stand out and grab the attention of the viewer but choosing pink for both the word playhouse and the man was not a smart move. I initally wanted to animate the entire background but then I figured that this may take away from the main animation so I settled for the word PLAYHOUSE. I should have added more toys for the scenery and payed more attention to the colors I choose. Also the beginning easing of the wall and floor lines should have been stationary and then I think I should have used the easing with PLAYHOUSE and the toys as I did with the man.
One animation that I thought was well put together was the Leaf Eeter. The entrance for each object was well timed and the colors used were suitable to the environment. I liked the blinking clouds waiting anxiously to see the Leaf Eeter. The Leaf Eeter was animated with details to show the segments with borders all moving together as in real life. The only thing that was a bit off was the last thought where the x came over the grapes and then quickly disappeared moving the the leaf which was also gone in the blink of an eye to show the exclamations at the Leaf Eeter’s sight of the leaves. Overall, it was a great animation.
With my animation, it was very linear to be honest. I had to farm going across the stage planting seeds on the ground. I feel I could have done better to convey the story and bring more elements but I did not quite understand how I can zoom on the character or bring different objects into the stage to create a new scene. I think I could also have refined the details in my project such as the farmers hands, and better movement of the clouds.
My favorite is the bear that eats the candy. This animation was very well thought out, and I feel the person payed attention to little details like the mouth opening up and closing, and the stomach getting bigger as the bear ate more and more candy.
My animation consists of circles. The many shapes that is present in the banner are made using the free transform tool from the original circle. I changed the tint/ brightness colors to make the colors different. The moon and stars came from Chapter 1 or 2 I think. I used a lot of glow. The “HOME…YAY” movie clip took forever to make. I think that the way I made my rocket ship move like it was breaking down the first time around, then smoothly later on, worked well for me. I think I should have put more time into making a better city for me, and a background for the “Home…Yay” movie clip. I did accomplish, kind of at least, what I wanted to do in the first place, but if there were more time, I’d make it more emotional. I find that what I really wanted to do was to tell a story about a dream I had. I kind of got it to that point, but not really.
I enjoyed Linda’s “cherry blossom/ and rabbit banner” because it was relaxing. Just watching the bunny sleep, while the pedals fell is soothing for the eyes. That 1/2 a second of sudden bolt made me laugh for some reason. I think that the timing worked perfectly well. Also, the colors used made her banner seem like it was telling a story. I’d take away the patience in making those leaves fall like that. It takes time, and a lot of patience to watch those leaves fall one at a time.
The goal of my project was to create a banner that looks like it is in a children website. Therefore, I kept it simple, and used bright colors. I used slow movement without many distractions so it will be easy to follow. I think that overall the banner was successful in achieving its goal. What I think I could improve (beside my drawing skills) is the “have a great day” at the end. Seeing it now in the header I think it disappears too quickly so it is a bit hard to understand.
My favorite banner was Jennifer’s blue hexagrams (I’m a sucker for dogs…). I liked the attention to details, the different shades of the hexagrams, and the different speed of each of them. I like the blue shade; I think it is easy on the eye. I like the dog scene but I think there should be something more, because the opening builds up expectations for a story scene. Overall I really like this banner and I think it looks great in the header because it is noticeable but doesn’t disturb the viewer from reading the text.
My banner is about a bear that gets fat after eating candy from a candyhouse. I used many motion tweens and classic tweens for my banner. I used classic tweens to make its arms and legs move. I used motion tweens to make it jump from one cloud to another and to make it’s stomach slowly grow larger. What I like most about my banner are the colors on the candyhouse and when the bear gains weight. However, my bear could have some more detail and some outlines, as others have suggested. I could also make the clouds move a little so that there is more motion in my animation. Overall, I accomplished my goal of making my banner slightly humorous and making the bear gradually become fat.
I like Rita’s banner. I am amazed at how she tweaked the triangles into so many different designs. Her banner reminds me of a kaleidoscope and confetti because of all the spinning motions and variety of colors. I enjoy watching the colors change from yellow-orange to black, blue, and purple smoothly. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching the sun explode too. The banner could have been a little simpler and still be eye-catching. I thought that having the creatures weren’t necessary, but it still blends in with the overall banner. Great job, Rita!
I forgot to add that I would like to use more colors and gradients in my future projects, like in Rita’s banner.
For my own work I did the one with two ‘S’ balls. I ws trying to depict the cycle of life in a more abstract way. And I had fun making it. I think I could have worked on it to make the events a little more clearer. But as for a banner I think there was a little to much going on. I think maybe it be nicer if it were a little more serene than chaotic. Although I did feel I accomplished the goals I did set because I came close to creating everything I was picturing. I thought what worked particularly well was the dynamics and the simplicity wof being able to do alot with one ball drawing object. The only thing I thought could have change is I thought, now looking at it as a banner, that there was too much going on for it to be an effective banner–it would drag the eyes too much. I liked the colors and the motions.
I like the animation with the bunny because I really feel it suits its purpose; there is action taking place but not that much where it distract the reader from the website, the colors are awesome and everythign works really well together. It look clean and well put together, even though its simple you can tell there was a lot of work and thought put into it. What I specifically thought worked well was the small motions such as the bunny wakign up or the bubbles in the water, they are intricate details that went on in this animation. What I will take away from this animation is how simplicity can still be effective when also focusing on the smallest of details
For this project, I did the word “spring” and flowers using circles. I had the circles popping up one after another to form the words and the pictures. I didn’t think I did well after I saw the other classmates’ projects. I think that I could have added more elements to the banner rather than just circles making up the words. My goals was to make a banner with the word “spring” and other elements (flowers, sun, trees) of spring surrounding it but I just got to the flowers and the word so I didn’t accomplish my goals.
I like the banner with the hexagon forming together and then scattering to form the word “animation”. This amazes me so I think I want to learn how to do this technique. The colors were really nice in that fact that she uses blue and tints for the hexagon and then white for the word “animation”. It catches your attention at the first sight.
For my project I decided to use a star as the base element. My intention was to create a scene of the night sky filled with stars along with shooting stars flying everywhere that ends with two stars colliding. One of the things I trouble figuring out was how to make the large star glow. In the end I had to make due with a larger yellow star behind the large white star.
Of the other animations, the one I was most impressed by was “Leaf Eeter.” One of the things that impressed me the most was how the caterpillar, in my opinion, looked almost three-dimensional. From what I can remember the timing might also need some work as the caterpillar’s thought bubble wasn’t really timed out that well, I think. I might be wrong.
For my project I at first had a hard time choosing a shape with which I felt comfortable enough to manipulate without really getting to manipulate it but I settled on a triangle as I could make shapes such as squares and rectangles with it and I happened to come up with the concept of my little love story in an another class and I 1st drew sketches of the characters and story line by hand and then I got some help with the alpha and internal time lines from Professor Sheehan to make the pinwheel spin and the stars to glow.
The project I enjoyed the most was the Leaf Eater. The way she used the lines of the orginal shape to give the whole banner a more professional,organized and neat finish and the little story was enjoyable as well. I would have never thought to layer the shapes over each other in that way to create that effect but it was very polished and put together. The style of drawing itself seemed very anime like which also appealed to me and made the banner even more attractive.
My project was the “magician” and the bunny that got away. I used a circle shape to form my scene. I think if I spent a little more time on it, I could have given it the effect I had wanted to give it. Especially looking at the amazing work from my classmates, I should have spent a little more time on detail.
My favorite project was the blue hexagons. I thought the colors and animation in the beginning are wonderful and well put together. I definitely want to learn that technique for future projects.