How to Animate "Eye Darts"

Eyes - Window to the Soul

"Eye darts" are fast moving micro-changes of eye direction. Eyes are the window to the soul - it's the thing the audience will look at most, and one of the most common mistakes made by junior animators is fail to pay enough attention to their character's eyes.

Our eyes are very expressive, and the eyes are what we look at when we watch a character on the screen.  When we talk, we seek signals for how another person is thinking and feeling - we watch their eyes, and we often dart from one eye to another.  So, how does an animator animate eye darts?

Flame Wins "5 Stars Award" at BIAFF

"Flame", the short animated film produced by Bucks New Uni MA student Amedeo Beretta, has won an "Five Stars" award at the British International Amateur Film Festival.

"Flame" has been competing into multiple film festivals, but this is its first festival win.

Flame is a short film produced by BNU student Amedeo Beretta, currently studying for our online MA in 3D Animation.  On a dark night in the desert, Flame is born, but she soon realizes that the storm that brought her life is now a threat to her survival.

Amedeo is an animation tutor at Escape Studios in London, and Flame is a project completed by his students, carefully overseen by him, and is an excellent example of the superb work being done by our online students at Bucks.

ASIFA Animation Scholarship

ASIFA Hollywood has launched an animation scholarship for animation students; the deadline this year is June 1st 2020.  To find the application form, visit the Animation Educators Forum.

ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum (AEF) provides a valuable link between the animation industry and animation students, and will provide well-deserved scholarships to students in their journey towards membership in the global animation community.

"Jelly Cars" Wins Award at the BAIFF

Many congratulations to Bucks New University MA student Lee Caller, whose short film "Jelly Cars" has won an award at the British Amateur International Film Festival.

Lee Caller created the short film while studying at Bucks; submitting his film as one of the formally assessed modules on the Online MA in 3D Animation.

"Jelly Cars" has been selected for a number of animation festivals, but this is its first award.

Today, Lee teaches animation classes at Escape Studios in London and, assuming all goes well, he will graduate from Bucks this summer with his MA in 3D Animation.

You can see more of Lee's work at his website here.

Meet Sam and Amy - Two New Maya Rigs

Amy and Sam

We\re liking two new Maya rigs - Amy and Sam, made by Freelance 3D Generalist Gabriel Salas, and released to the animation community. The rigs are not free but are priced competitively for student use at $15.

Sam and Amy are Asian-American characters through which Gabriel hopes to "balance the limited choice in terms of race that animators have when picking a character rig, so that they have the tools to generate more racially diverse content in their animation exercises".

The rigs include diffuse textures for the body and shoes, and you can find them on Gumroad.  Sam is available here and Amy can be purchased here. Both rigs are priced at $15, and are for educational use only. 

So, how do our students get the most out of Amy and Sam?

Rookies Deadline June 1st 2020

At Bucks New Uniiversity we encourage all of our students to enter The Rookies Awards, the international competition for young creatives, which opened on 7th March, and closes on 1st June.

The Rookies was founded in 2009 to "showcase the most talented student designers, illustrators, film makers, animators, developers, digital artists, and launch them into the career of their dreams."

This year the deadline is 1st June 2020, so there is plenty of time to start crafting a great project.

Free Motion Graphics Webinar on April 1st

Learn to animate client storyboards

Now that our students are studying and learning from home, it's important to take advantage of all the opportunities available for online study.

Next week, Escape Studios is hosting a free Motion Graphics Webinar on April 1st.  In this free webinar, students will learn how to animate client-approved storyboards; Adam will explain how to import storyboards into Adobe After Effects and create a rough animatic, before moving onto final animation.

Anchor Transform Tool Stops Feet Sliding

Anchor Transform by Robert Joosten stops feet sliding

As we move all our animation teaching online, including at undergraduate level, it's important to remember how many tools can be accessed online by our students working from home. 

Sliding feet can be a problem when animating a character walk or a walk cycle. Fortunately for Maya animators, Robert Joosten’s Anchor Transform Maya plugin offers animators a simple solution.

Rather than manually tweaking your animation to stop the feet sliding, rigger Robert Joosten has develped a free script that lets you anchor a transform for any given time range in your animation.

OBS - A Free Tool for Online Delivery of Classes

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) offers a useful option for our lecturers and tutors at Bucks, who are switching to online delivery of our courses. OBS is easy to install and completely free to use, for Windows and Mac devices.

Maya Student License - Free Download

Now that our students are transitioning to online study, it's important to remember that Autodesk, the makers of Maya, offer free education licenses for teachers and students.

You can download the latest version of Maya from the official site here, in the education section.

Online Resources at BNU

Working from home

In these uncertain times it's important to remember that we have many online resources at Bucks New Uni, lots of ways of supporting our students who are currently working from home.

As long as you have a laptop and a decent broadband connection, our students can continue to work remotely, following tutorials, working on projects and also working in teams on platforms such as Facebook and Slack.

Our Online MA in 3D Animation already offers feedback and support to all our students via email, online classrooms, bespoke video feedback, and through our online learning resources with our partner school Animation Apprentice.

Online MA in 3D Animation - Business as Usual

Covid-19 may be causing a good deal of bother around the globe, but fortunately for our students studying the online MA in 3D Animation at Bucks, it's business as usual,

The Online MA is delivered entirely remotely, through our partner Animation Apprentice, with no bricks and mortar facilities to worry about.

For now at least, it's business as usual. Our students continue to work from home, and we will continue to send feedback and support our students in our online classrooms.

"Flame" in Golden Nugget Film Fest 19 March

"Flame", the short film produced by Bucks New Uni MA student Amedeo Beretta, is in The Golden Nugget Film Festival "London Edition" next week.

The festival takes place on Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 8 PM – 11:30 PM in the Dreadnought Building, 30 Park Row Greenwich, SE10 9LS.

You can find more about GNIFF screening at the official Facebook Page, and you can buy tickets for under £5 (just £1 for students) at the Event Brite page here.

What Kind of Laptop Should Our Students Buy?

"What kind of laptop should I buy?" is a question that we are often asked at Bucks New University, both by our undergraduate students who want the flexibility to be able to work from home and - of course - by our online students, who will need a laptop of their own to complete the course.

It's a tricky question to answer, because computer specifications change all the time and - of course - it all depends on exactly what you want to use your laptop for.

But, let's say you want to buy a decent laptop capable of running Autodesk Maya, for computer animation and to render out your shots.  What sort of laptop should you buy, and how much do you need to spend? MA Animation student Amedeo Beretta offers some advice to other students at Bucks.

Meet "Flame"

Many congratulations to Bucks MA animation student Amedeo Beretta whose short film "Flame" is now being entered into international film festival competitions, with multiple acceptances and considerable success. Amedeo is an animation tutor at Escape Studios in London, and Flame is a project completed by his students, overseen by him, and an excellent example of the superb work being done by our online students at Bucks.

Fifteen Minute Rule at Bucks New Uni

What is the The Fifteen Minute Rule? It's something I encountered for the first time while working at Sony Pictures Animation, on Open Season. It's a simple rule, and a good way to keep production moving ahead.

The rule is this: if you get stuck on a problem, spend 15 minutes trying to figure out the solution. Google it, Read The Manual, check out online forums - whatever works.

But, if you still can't figure it out after 15 minutes, ask for help. Someone next to you might be able to solve the problem quickly and simply, and you don't want to spend a lot of time trying to fix a problem that has already been solved.

Getting Started in Animation

free 3D software - yours to try for free

How do you get started in animation? Fortunately for would-be animators, there are today plenty of inexpensive and even free resources to get started.

Today, animation is a mix of art and technology.  Animators work at the crossover point between creative skills and techie skills - a good animator has both.  Below are some tips on how to get started in animation, and how to prepare yourself for a potential career in the animation industry.

Young Cartoonists of The Year Competition

For all our students at Bucks under 30 - it's time to enter the Young Cartoonists of the Year award.

The Young Cartoonists of the Year competition is in its 23rd year and attracts thousands of entries, giving budding cartoonists the chance to have their work judged by the best in the business.

Run by the British Cartoonists' Association, in association with London's Cartoon Museum, entries are now open for this year's competition.

Original entries should be submitted on paper by traditional mail to The Cartoon Museum, 63 Wells St, London W1A 3AE.

Animation and cartooning aren't quite the same thing, of course. But they are definitely cousins and, as an animator who has been dabbling in cartoons for many years, I can heartily recommend both.

Pitch Your Project at APD - Enter by Tomorrow

Animation Production Days in Stuttgart is an event that should be on every animator's radar.

Like Cartoon Movie and Cartoon Forum, APD offers a unique opportunity for animation graduates to pitch their ideas to producers, financiers and sales agents - the people who can bring original animation content to the market. But hurry - submissions close tomorrow.

BYOA is Back - Tonight

BYOA

BYOA (Bring Your Own Animation) is back - taking place in London tonight on Monday 17th February.

Organised by the London chapter of SIGGRAPH, BYOA is an animation event that takes place every month at a pub in central London, always on the third Monday of the month.

This month BYOA is taking place in a new location, The Newman Arms, Fitzrovia, near Goodge St and Tottenham Court Road Tube stations.

For any BNU students or recent graduates in the neighbourhood, BYOA is a great way to get feedback on your reel.

Pitching Animation

The Art of the Pitch

Here at Bucks New University we don't just teach the mechanics of animation, we also teach the art and craft of creativity and film-making.

Every great animation series began its life as a humble concept - even mighty Peppa Pig started out as a pitch. 

There is nothing to stop our students creating the next Bob The Builder or Mr Bean.