End of the year reflection

I learned so many new things about Animation and I acquired many different skills to go along with my newfound knowledge.  There were many projects this year that I struggled with, actually, I struggled with almost every project we did this year. I think this year was a really great learning opportunity for me.

Technology

I learned a lot more about the 3D modeling system called Maya. I learned how to sculpt 3D objects, how to give 3D objects skeletons, and I learned how to animate things in Maya. I was not very good at animating in 3D because my computer kept glitching and I was not very good at painting weights. But I still learned how to apply all of the things that I learned to make a swimming fish. The fish that I made had a lot of glitches but it still swims so I count that as a win. This is how I advanced my technology skills this year.

Collaboration, Communication, and Leadership

This year we only had one group project and that was our stop motion animation project. In that project, I and my partner had to collaborate in order to create a stop motion film. We had communicated when we could and could not film and when and where we were going to film. We had a few technical difficulties but we figured those out along the way. It is hard to take a leadership role in a group of two, but Collin and I took the lead in different things. I was in charge of the camera and I lead and showed colling how to use it if I was absent.


Time Management

I learned so much about time management when we had the month-long project that we got to work on. I did a kinetic typography video to the song Happier by Bastille. I had to learn how to pace myself and I had to figure out what was going to take a long time. I ended up realizing that I could not animate words to the whole song so I had to cut the song in half. I used my time management to be able to turn in this project successfully and on time.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I have many weaknesses when it comes to animation. One of the biggest and most prevalent weaknesses is that I cannot draw, and for that reason, Animation is kind of tough for me. But I think I excel at working with After Effects. That is why I think my strength within animation is Kinetic typography and I plan to contunue pursuing it next year. I think my typography skills have improved form the beginning of this year to now and that was due to my Kinetic Typography video. I will carry this into next year so that I can create another kinetic typography video.

Changes and Conclusion

If I could change anything it would be the amount of time that I have wasted in this class. I really struggle to stay focused on a task and if I could go back and spend more time on my projects and make them look better I would. Overall this year has been very fun and I learned many new things about animation and I'm excited to continue pursuing this path next year. 



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