Richard Williams survival guide - Micro!

One of my teaching partners, Tim Ingersoll put this page together from the Richard Williams book. If he was trapped on a desert island, and he could have only one page from the book, then this would be it.

Check it out.

Oh yeah! Copyright Richard Williams.

"Luxo" with more polish

The lampshade rotates after the top of the arm bounces; and the top of the arm bounces after the base portion bounces.

We'll try to cover this more in class.

Ken R.

Maya interface, most important things labeled

This is a great graphic. I found it over the Holidays, and I couldn't find it again.

I'd like to give credit to whoever made this.

Good way to identify Maya's most important tools and menus.

Luxo Part V - Animate!

Remember the Bouncing Ball exercises?

Luxo Part IV

Luxo Part III: Parent objects to skeleton

The top and bottom polygon objects can be used as controls. The bottom root joint is parented to the small polygon cylinder at the bottom of the lamp(not the base). The arms of the lamp, and that one polygon disk in the middle are parented to the joints.

(They just go along as we animate the lamp.)

Luxo Part II

Basic Modeling.

Luxo Rig Part I

Part I - Basic Rig

Flamingo Waitress Updated

Here she is with more smoothing, and her legs are a more accurate color.
Did a bit more work on her skates-

Leave her a good tip!

Flamingo Roller Waitress

Here she is, quick, elegant, and ready to take your order with a smile.

She's still at a rough low-poly stage, her limbs are still separate objects.
If you want to know more about how this model was built, let me know.

I don't know why; I just doodled this character the other day, and she insisted on being modeled in Maya.

Fun!

Theme for student project; idea

Here's a quick sketch I colored in Photoshop, just to give you my impression of a style and a "look" for the Woodbury student Maya projects.

Silly, but it sets a direction. Yours can be more whimsical, or more serious.

Its up to you, you look like you have settled on a style, now you need to develop it soon.

I'll help you with any Maya questions you may have.

Ken Roskos

2008 Animation Guild open house poster

Thanks to everyone who used the Lab, and I wish you the best in 2009.

Special thanks to Jeff, Faris and Michael for letting me use their art on the poster.

I know now most people are having a Blue Christmas, Elvis is singing it right now on iTunes radio.

Hang in there,

Ken R.

Blimp from Final Cut imac

Flash cant do it alone, needs Final Cut on OS X 10.3.5 to function.

RRR!!!

The Northwoods Airport Cafe

For some reason, it was easier to build it in Maya than to draw it. This is where the Bear meets his fellow adventurers.

It also helped me get a feeling for the space inside

Flash Animation - Cast Intro

Little quickie I did in Flash; sort of a 1960's TV intro of my characters.

Halloween 2008!

My favorite characters can't stay out of trouble. The Bear wanted to go trick or treating; (he's wearing a mask so no one will recognize him).

The Dragon-man didn't want to go, so now he has to fight off the evil spirits.

At least they're not out smashing mailboxes, or putting pennies in hubcaps.

Here's to all the hayrides, old scary movies and fun we had at Red Oak Camp, and Kirtland Ohio.

KR

Photoshop Introspective paint effect

Did this in Photoshop with the smudge tool. Did it spontaneously.
Cheers!

My new Wacom tablet!

Finally feeling like I'm getting a line down with this thing. Having CS3 sure helps.

Herman Bear is reeling from Pandora Cubcake's new outfit. I'm not sure I'm going to keep her with a "Pandora's Box", but instead give her a power crystal like sort of like Dr. Spectrum's...Hmmm....But having things come out of the box still gives me plenty opportunities for stories...

I was going over my thumbnails from the beginning of 2008, and I still have a Hell of alot of work to do. I was admiring the new "Seaweed" graphic novel, and feeling a bit crushed.

http://www.saltysugar.com/comic.html

http://benbalistreri.blogspot.com/

This book is totally incredible! And I was a little relieved when Ben Balistreri wrote that it took him six years to finish it. I THINK that's what he said, I better check.

That gives Herman Bear a little time...

Siggraph Sketch 2008

Something I left at the Disney booth at Siggraph 2008. My email is on it.
Lord only knows what will happen to my little butterfly-girl.

Leaner and Meaner Siggraph this year. The display floor seemed smaller. Was feeling nauseous and run down this week, missed a lot of cool talks.

Kept running back and forth, but everyone does that. For a minute, I thought I was in the San Diego convention center. Need another break, but I just got back from a trip.

Will Weston 'a la Maya

I went ahead and did a layout for the assignment; "The world's most wonderful kite" in Maya. Will was a little freaked out that I used Maya, but what the hey. My next step was to flesh it out more in Photoshop, but ran out of time in July. It needed a tail, and some more texture and detail throughout. But I managed to create a good layout with a 60%/40% composition, and some decent shadows. And...
I like it!
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Batkiiiiite!
Badaboom!