Chang_clay example_snail

Together - clay animation from Aimee de Jongh on Vimeo.
this lacks of technical side but it is definitely interesting approach to use actual claymation and mix it with after effect

Maxted_stopmotion example

You've probably watched this before, but just in case you haven't...
Very successful stop motion animation!

Brueggemann_Look at how they made THIS!

The making of: The Eagleman Stag
One heck of a movie

Making The Eagleman Stag from Mikey Please on Vimeo.

Borromeo_COOLRUNNINGS

COOLRUNNINGS - Chorus from Rafael Bonilla Jr. on Vimeo.

Claymation mixed with other animation styles and cool colors.  Funky fresh.

Chen_Claycat's Evil Dead

 very violent but with cats

Argiroff_Interesting Claymation Sample

I am transfixed by the movements and transformations of these creatures in their fantastical habitats. The gestures are very smooth and well-done. This is a good example how music and sound effects can really add to a visual piece. This animation becomes and interpretive dance because of the strange and eerie music playing in the background. I wish Schulnik had not used real photos. They create an almost jarring contrast to the beautifully worked claymation.

Robert_Takena - "Shitcom"

Here is my favorite claymation artist on YouTube! There are a lot of gore-y and gross videos on his channel!

This one is my favorite!


And here is another!

Shin_Claymation Inspiration movie

Birthday Claymation

I thought it was very cute how the shark's fin moved around as if it was really under water. The movements are also very smooth.


Birthday Claymation from Doug Smith Media on Vimeo.


Android 207

This piece is also very interesting. An android goes through a maze while facing many horrible obstacles. The animation movements are pretty simple.

Pedrasa_claymation inspiration

even if you're not a whovian, this is still amazing and shall be appreciated by all

(look at how much time and effort this Doctor Who fan did! look at it!!)

Sturm_experimental animation inspiration

Three Scenes of the End - Jeff Bloomer
 If Bird of Devil - Jeff Bloomer

Sturm AE Assignments

big bro. from sarah. on Vimeo.
AE Experiment

AE Intro Assignment

Sturm_Sand Experiment

Sand Version Sturm

Chang_Struggling Windmill

windmill from David Chang on Vimeo.
the prompt was Windmill, Struggling, Disney

Strand_Experiment 3: Sand Stop Motion

For our experiment, we worked with both paper cutouts and sand.  We used simple shapes, with an emphasis on learning the most basic advantages and disadvantages to the media.  We created a basic impression of creatures interacting in a watery environment.  A positive consequence of keeping the material so simple was that we were able to shoot more frames - thus, we were fairly successful at creating smooth movement within the composition.  However, we might benefit in the future from doing such an experiment with more complicated forms.

* I added some weird sound to this; I was just experimenting with vast, watery noises.  I'm not really sure if it works with this piece, though.  -Sarah

Rogers_Sand Art Experiment

This animation was an experiment in forms that lend themselves best to the sand art medium. We found that continuous line forms and circular gestures are the easiest to make and animate, but in order to create visual interest we had to manipulate the sand in more complex ways. In the future, I would like to create more elaborate forms over a longer period of time, because I feel like sand is a good medium for complex designs to emerge.

For my sound experiment, I used a number of different rhythms I found appealing in order to create an ambience that lends itself to the piece, both backwards and forwards.

Argiroff_sand experiment

Stop-Motion Animation Sand Experiment from Emma Argiroff on Vimeo.

In this experimental animation, Duncan, Beiatrix, Alexa and I tried to capture the reproductive nature of bacteria, essence of plant growth and humor of a public bathroom. We did not follow a specific storyline and instead explored how we could continuously transform the sand to achieve the overall effects we wanted. There are some spots where the animation jumps a little because there was to much of a transformation between frames. With practice, we will get better at judging the amount of transition that should be made. The sound effects are meant to provide additional interest and a quirky twist. They are done by layering final cut pro and apple foley sound effects. If we were to do another animation we would explore using our own sound effects. Overall, we are happy with our creation.

Argiroff_Silhouette example

I like this animation because I'm interested in narratives that bring to life new types of beings with distinct personalities. I also appreciate the smoothness of the character transformation from wonky being, to furry creature, to Tasmanian Devil-like monster. The sound effects add a nice touch as well.
At first, I was not sure whether I liked the addition of neon color because it didn't seem to fit the vintage quality of the animation. After watching it a few more times, I feel that the color emphasizes the use of modern technology in a past time, another unique and humorous feature of this animation.  

Chen_experiment AE

This time I wanted to play with textures, so I used PS to cut out shapes in cardboard textures. Mostly just seeing what new features I could find on Final Cut and trying to get used to the basic tools. Adding drop shadows helped make it look more 3d/layered, but I had some trouble using anchor points on the clouds to rotate them.I think next I'd want to try to get some sound or music into the videos.

Pedrasa_AE EXPERIMENT

ASCII STORM

A WORK IN PROGRESS

Question : is there a more efficient way to have lots of text characters raining from the sky without copy+pasting a lot of text layers

Rogers_Auraubade (Experimental Animation #2)

This piece was an attempt to manipulate perspective in order to put the viewer into the mind of the main character. It was an extremely fun animation style to attempt, and I will explore this effect further in my future pieces.

Strand_After Effects Experiment

Like the last experiment, I was extremely interested in creating a believable space.  I drew a hallway in Illustrator and tried to make it seem creepy, or at least interesting, by using slight movements and changing opacities.  I'm not sure if it's subtle enough, though.  I tried to make some of the changes abrupt, so that there could be some variation in movement, but now they just seem kind of distracting.  I'm not sure this particular endeavor worked perfectly, but I'd like to keep doing this sort of thing (making interesting spaces out of pretty simple shapes).

Robert_AE experiment02

I made a GIF for the Aftereffects experiment.  Hopefully it plays in this blog post, if not, CLICK THIS LINK.

I first drew this character in Photoshop, and then imported it into Aftereffects.  She is made using just rotation and position key frames (no puppet tool).  I had fun making her, but I have a hard time visualizing how to make actual moving characters (as in, a full animation like you see on Youtube), and not just standing forms, like my experiment.

Brockette_Experiment 1/2

Movement from Casey Brockette on Vimeo.

Here is my After Effects movement experiment. I thought it could be interesting to take very flat images like 19th century illustrations/engravings and make them kinetic using After Effects. I thought the process would be relatively simple, and while it was it was still very time consuming. I ended up with somewhere around 70 different layers from a photoshop file of just snowflakes and couldn't figure out a better way to do motion paths for them except one by one. I'm hoping that there is a simpler way to achieve this effect of each image having its own path.

This gif is what I decided to do for my first experiment, the fact that it's motion based again is just a coincidence. I've always appreciated the subtlety of cinemagraphs and and I wanted to figure out how to do it for myself. Finding a tutorial online was relatively simple, but discerning the directions was a completely different matter. After finishing it I realize I should have kept more movement frames so the gif would be longer and not as sporadic as it appears now. I also had trouble figuring out the vector mask, but eventually through trial and error along with random happen stance I got it to work correctly.

Oh-Experiment 2 Bunny in Wonderland

Since I love Alice in Wonderland a lot, I tried to create another Alice in Wonderland in my own way with After Effects. In this video, a bunny wanders around, it can be either interpreted as Alice, the main character in the novel, or as the rushing rabbit in the story. Some of the elements such as the colorful crazy flying trees are parts from my painting, and I also used my other art work and possessions in my room for the video. Additionally, for the experiment, I tried to use all the tools I learned last week. This time, compared to the last experiment, the video is more successfully made. I feel like I got more used to the program and want to experiment with it more!

Shin_Transformation Experiment02

For my second test, I experimented with very basic transformation tools with a single image and shapes that I drew. I expected to get a cup tilt and have the shapes in my shape layer spill out like liquid. I ended up getting almost exactly what I had in mind. I learned to get the hang of applying effects at the right timing I want and having transformations occur at the right key frames. After Effects is very new to me but I think I am starting to feel my way.
My possible next experiment is playing with transformation tools some more, with silhouette images this time. I also want to try drawing directly on After Effects.


transformation test from Maria Shin on Vimeo.

Borromeo_Snow Experiment

Free the Snow! from Alexa Borromeo on Vimeo.

1) What was the experiment/question? How to work with snow and how to get it on the sidewalk
2) What did you expect to get? A snow figure that could walk on the sidewalk - and potentially throughout the city
3) What did you end up getting? A snow figure that could walk on the sidewalk ...I don't know how long it can last though
4) What did you learn? I have to cover my tracks in the snow each time I step in it.  Also snow can move in chunks which was very helpful!
5) What is a possible next step/experiment? Creating better limbs to see if I could make the snow figure pick things up.  Seeing how well I can transport the snow guy to different locations in Ann Arbor.

Chang_Exper01_A Story Of A Child Eating Dog

Childeatingdog from David Chang on Vimeo.
This was inspired by stories that David Chung used to tell us in class.

Brueggemann_Weird Depth and Artificial Zoomin

1. This experiment took some images I painted in Photoshop, as part of my semester-long film, and manipulated each individual layer by moving them individually to create the illusion of dimensionality. This experiment was my first working with After Effects and painted objects, and was also a chance for me to take a risk with cutting and manipulating a single image.

2. I knew that distant objects needed to move more slowly while the closest buildings would need to move quickly. This would give the video the sense of depth I was looking for. In examining After Effects' position settings, I decided to not just move the buildings to the left or right, but up, down, and sideways. I tried to make buildings next to each other move in separate directions - diagonally left down or up. I was hoping this would add interest and separate the painting from a static matte background, and distance it from the 'real' effect of camera zoom.

3. The test worked in terms of creating a sense of depth but the motion was too fast. The colors were a little too yellow when taken from Photoshop to After Effects. And shifting the buildings required a lot more precision than I had originally imagined. I learned about camera projection in After Effects afterwards, as well, along with a number of other interesting particle effects to create realistic ambience. I also think that the lack of the sky background made the image feel less like a true environment and more like a collage.

4. This experiment taught me the process of bundling images into layers, and creating complex compositions from a single painting. The feedback that Photoshop and After Effects has is mind-numbingly good, and I learned the importance of timing the right motion between background images. As it stands, this particular shot doesn't have a single focus, so I think it could be enhanced with a more interesting lighting scheme that directs the viewer's eye towards the center of the screen.

5. This test has given me the experience to develop my skills in matte painting around the motion of foreground and background objects, and to paint with a sense of how the overall scene will be lit as the objects move. For the background paintings in the next twenty or so shots in the film, I will paint with a firm sense of depth and lighting with respect to how the objects will move. Above all, I want the environment to retain the principles of a realistic environment while making the content distinctly pass reality.


City Building Test from Raj Brueggemann on Vimeo.

Widmer_experiment_02_AE

For my experiment in After Effects I animated small figures I had photographed vanishing into the deep depths of a giraffe.

Neff_exper02_AE

For my experiment, I animated my name using the different tools we discussed last Tuesday. Because I am new to After Effects, I wanted to do something simple so I could concentrate on the movements and transformations of the letters. My end result is a bit of a happy accident... I did not mean for them to float around, although I like how it turned out and the way they snap together at the end.

Maxted_Collaging Teddy Bear Parts

Test Animation - "Teddy Pieces" from Manami Maxted on Vimeo.

Pieces of a teddy bear floating and coming together.
I imported a Photoshop file - with each limb belonging to a separate layer - and animated individual layers.  Because I am incredibly new to After Effects, I had trouble getting "fancy" with the limb fly-ins.  The result ended up being pretty boring, compared to my initial vision.  If I could improve this video, I would get more creative with the movements, and perhaps utilize the puppet tool to animate the body once it came together.
Also, I couldn't quite get audio to work in After Effects... had to do that in Final Cut.

Argiroff_experiment02

In the Beginning from Emma Argiroff on Vimeo.

Animation Exploration 2: After Effects

This animation is based off of Aristophanes's Speech from Plato's Symposium about the origins of love. I drew the images in photoshop and edited them with After Effects. It is my first attempt at using After Effects so the animation is a little wonky. I would like to get better at portraying realistic motion since the motion in this animation seems a little forced, especially when the being bounces in and out of the frame. If I continue using After Effects, I would like to use photographs and cutouts from real life instead of drawings, just to explore the different effects I can achieve.

Pedrasa_ experiments

i made many gifs

wanted to do many rotoscoping studies and use both digital and traditional media

this takes LONGER THAN EXPECTED. even with previous experience. i thought i would be doing more.

this one i spent 11 hours on and it is less than 2 seconds long.

here are other gifs i did over the week.

after effects thing:

what if we did comics and animation at the same time?

Chang_AE experiment 02

Octo Lincoln from David Chang on Vimeo.


For this experiment I tried using edited images to animate and also using the puppet pin tools
Since I am trying to make animation moving image parts for my final project I wanted to practice on it
and also seeing how the puppet pin tools can be used through out the animation.
After using the puppet pin tool, I noticed this won't be really useful for the human's movement but some abstract form of animation would work better

Strand_After Effects Experiment 1

Right now I'm interested in arranging different shapes in After Effects to create a space with depth.  I used the transformations that we learned in class in order to minimally represent a table viewed from a changing perspective.  I thought that this could be easily accomplished by moving around the legs of the table, but the video isn't really that effective.  I think that I need more moving points to convincingly portray the movement.  I'm not really sure if I want to exclusively use this type of movement for my final project, but I will certainly use this technique for part of it.

Brueggemann_After Effects Test: Repurposing

Test AE Animation 300 from Raj Brueggemann on Vimeo.

I sought to use After Effects to take a piece of old footage from a previous assignment and transform it to give it a new meaning while still familiarizing the imagery of the old work. When I applied a few duplications and a color channel filter, the final video surprised me in that it looks nothing like how I previously imagined it. Although this was a quick and simple experiment, doing this makes me want to push the idea of repurposing further, possibly employing the Roto brush. For an assignment like this, I also want to explore making clones that walk and talk. The possibilities are endless.

Oh_First Experiment with After Effects

Since it was the first time to use After Effects, I wanted to get used to the software and to explore its features. The experiment I did is a 10-second animation of a cat that is originally from a Photoshop file containing multiple layers. Each layer has a cat's different body segment, and I played with them by rotating, controlling scales, applying effects and changing positions. After I am done with playing and rendered, I expected to get the cat's body segments flying around in a 1920x1080 screen. However, there is a smaller square border on the center of the screen, and the segments just fly inside the square. Maybe I did something wrong when I was experimenting. Through the experiment, I learned how to play around with Photoshop layers by After Effects, but I think that I need to work on compositions or screens not to get another mistake... Also, after I figure out to fix the mistake, I want to work with not only a single Photoshop file but also multiple files or other Illustration files.

Chen_Experiment01

I was mostly interested in cutting up paintings and trying to animate separate pieces to get a sense of depth or movement through the landscape. I started with a Caravaggio painting and separating the different limbs but that got really confusing fast and was tedious so I switched to this forest/landscape. This is close to how I want to go about making my final animation but doing this exercise essentially taught me that it'll have to be planned out better, and with a million layers. Also, at the moment it just kind of scary, like the trees closest to you are approaching, so for next time I'll try animating more things in the image. It would also be much cleaner if I'd included a layer that covers the background so there aren't duplicate trees and it'll look less messy and more convincing. I did this for the first one and that one looked much better.

Maxted_Brushy Eyes

For both of my past animation projects (the Muybridge mini-assignment and Singing In The Rain project), I had created simple outlines of the subjects for each frame.  I wasn't too confident in my ability to use a more organic, bristle-y sort of brush in Photoshop, but decided to give the technique a try.  Several other students had rotoscoped using this method, and ended up with great results.
As expected, there was more texture and movement in the final product, despite the straightforward action in the original footage.  I was afraid that I would be bothered by this, but was instead delighted.
Eventually, I anticipate animating more than just one part of the body.  Hopefully I can work my way toward creating a whole scene in this same style.  


Test Animation - "Sigh" from Manami Maxted on Vimeo.

Widmer_Animation Experiment

I wanted to experiment with placing myself in an animated world. I thought it would be interesting to interact with an environment that I created myself. I was fairly satisfied for my first attempt. I would like to have myself interact with the animated environment more next time I try this.

Shin_After Effects Experiment

For this experiment, my purpose was to test the most basic features of After Effects such as drawing and applying transformation and special effects to my selected PSD file. I also tried out some shape layers. I expected my image to transform at the time frame I wanted as well as the effects I applied to appear at the certain time I wanted. I also attempted to draw some lines moving in and out of the screen.  I could not figure out how to draw on a layer. Instead of my expectations, my experiment turned out very simplistic and also chaotic. I wanted my image to fade out or scatter out into nothing but instead the effect I applied stayed instead of appearing at the right moment.
I learned how to apply transformations at the right time such as clicking the diamond at certain frames, but I could not figure out how to do that with some of the effects. I also learned how to render my animation from After Effects. For the next experiment, I want to succeed in drawing on a layer and have moving drawn pictures.


experiment from Maria Shin on Vimeo.

Argiroff_Experimental Animation

Creation experiment from Emma Argiroff on Vimeo.

The purpose of my animation is to explore transitions and stitch together abstract scenes in such a way to portray a sense of creation. I recently bought a tablet and have been experimenting with color, line weight, pressure, and drawing quality (gestural vs. contour line).
Because these techniques are new to me, I did not really know what to expect. I created many different scenes, and rearranged them on Final Cut. I am generally happy with how the piece came together although I still can improve on some of the transitions. I don't want to plan out my next animation frame by frame, but I need to create a simple plan if I want a unified animation with smooth transitions. Also, the overall drawing is two-dimensional and I would like to create more depth in my next animation.  I will also experiment with some sound effects rather than just using a jingle from iLife sound effects.

Rogers_Endeavor into Stop Motion

Quargyl's interests are sports, the TV show lost, and trying to find hidden messages in the dregs of old pudding bowls. He has lived a long time with his brother Fae and his dog Mayonaisse Breath, but he is ready to find love.


I am so sorry...

My proposal was to create a stop motion using only a single form. I expected to get something somewhat choppy, disconcerting, yet powerful in its imperfection. The result was a little to raw for my tastes, but I took a lot from the experience. First and foremost, I feel that I need to focus on camera stabilization in the future. Also, next time I will use a non-drying clay and create a more dynamic animation.

The Return of John Frum

THE RETURN OF JOHN FRUM from christian schlaeffer on Vimeo.

Question for Scher

Do you focus on one frame at a time, or one object in the entire animation at a time?

Dear Mr. Scher,

I noticed that you have been selling some of your paintings / frames on your website.  All of your paintings are gorgeous, but from which film(s) do most people like to buy your work?

Questions for Jeff Scher

Do you ever find that your work feels tedious and repetitive?  How do you overcome this feeling?

Did you always know that you were interested in film-making/animating?  What was your main focus in college?

Question for Jeff Scher

What sort of software do you use?

Would you suggest a career in animation at a big firm, small firm, or independent work?

How did you first get recognition for your work?

Question for Jeff Scher

What do you look for in finding inspiration for an animation? Are there any resources you have that you go to often for inspiration?

Question for Jeff Scher

What motivates you for your project ideas? What inspires you?

Maria Shin

Pedrasa_@FEZFILMS

Hello Jeff Scher,

What is your favorite animated film/TV show?

Who is most inspiring to you? Are there any particular animators who have influenced your work?

Many thanks,
Beiatrix

Neff_Question for Jeff Scher

What is your process like? How do you spend your time brainstorming, researching, gathering source materials, editing, etc.

Strand_Questions

How did you first become interested in animation?

Has music always had such a major influence on your work?

Argiroff_Questions for Jeff Scher

It seems that you are very inspired by music. In fact, music is the narrator in many of your animations. Would you say that music is your starting point for most of your films? Do you like to collaborate with musicians to create new work or do you prefer to use found pieces?

Brueggeman_Question for Jeff Scher

Do you ever start with an interesting material for animating in mind, and use that to inspire/inform the content?

Maxted_StoryCorps

After Heidi challenged me to try and create something more personal, I thought about making a piece that reflects on a story that has affected me directly.

For quite a few years, I've been inspired by the work of StoryCorps.  The organization has traveled around the country recording real stories told by people who have experienced loss, been affected by specific past events, and so on.  Some of the stories have been turned into animated shorts:


Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Q&A from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

No More Questions! from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Marking the Distance from StoryCorps on Vimeo.