Animation is all around us — cartoons, commercials, movies, video games — and in more serious uses like training and simulation in the military. It is used by NASA to track satellites and by physicians to visualize surgical procedures.
Kids are awed by the 3D computer graphics they see in movies and video games. Why not spend a week this summer learning how to create those! In the 3D Animation camp they will create simple and fun character models, animate them, and use them to create a 10-12 seconds clip such as cars going around a race track with Blender software.
Blender is a powerful free and open source 3D computer modeling and animation program that allows users to create and animate models and figures in scenes, compile feature movies and create video games. It is free and open source with minimal system requirements so kids can continue to work on animation projects after camp.
Pre-Requisites
- Ability and discipline to follow instructions in guided tutorials of
medium length.
- Familiar with using a laptop, keyboarding skills and most important:
ability to use a 3-button mouse with scroll wheel comfortably.
- Basic algebra. Lots of imagination!
- No programming experience required.
Concepts & Skills Learnt
- 12 principles of animation such as staging, squash and stretch, arcs,
slow in and slow out, exaggeration and appeal.
- Techniques to create believable and realistic character animations
- How to animate actions like the waving of arms, walking, running,
flowing water, moving cars.
- Design, animate a character and use it in a short film.
- Effective use of lighting and camera in the animation software.
- Get an introduction to modelling — use basic shapes to create trees,
snowman, robot, bird.
- How to set up the Blender software on home computer and get started.