Halloween Sand Animation

Facilitator: Dr. Christine Veras
Semester: Fall 2021

Description: We have started experimenta.l.! Our sand animation exquisite corpse was launched today. Drop by the lab (in person) to draw in the sand your contribution. The station name is PETROV, and the login information and steps to continue the animation follow below:

Guidelines/Instructions:


1. LOGIN: experimenta.l.
2. PASSWORD: animate
3. Launch the Dragonframesoftware. Click open in the sand project saved on the desktop.
4. Play the animation and continue the drawing from where it was left.
5. In Dragonframe when pressing ENTER you will capture a frame. Wait for the capturing sound to be complete and continue to change the image, frame by frame.
6. Remember to turn on both lights (on the side of the table) and to turn off the fluorescent light of the room. Please do not move or change the position of the light.


Hopefully, by Halloween time we will have a long animated spooky sand animation. If you have questions about this project or would like to participate and access the lab, leave a message here.

IMPORTANT: This is straight ahead animation and not keyframe animation. You can only move forward and once a drawing is changed you cannot go back.

Participants: Norman Cox, Dr. Ann Wu, Kirstin Schmidt-Stevens, Danny Laboda, Benjamin Wu, Bryce Sheehan, Philip Martin, Eesha Muddasani, Hamida Khatri, Gizem Okaty, Arianna Meisetschlaeger, Zack Nguyen, Martin Cho, Dr. Christine Veras.

Watch the complete animation:

Collective Emergence II

Facilitator: Gizem Oktay

Description: Hello experimenta.l., Gizem Oktay is facilitating a series of workshops that will start next week, called Collective Emergence with GAN-1st Session. Lab participants are welcome to attend in person (limited to 10 people) and online/remotely through Teams.

For the first portion of the workshop, we will use EbSynth to create a stylized movie sequence of our choosing. Here is what you need to do before the workshop:
What would be your choice of movie to stylize? It can be a personal favorite, a one that you thought of working well as an animation, or simply a fun one!

Choose your scene. Make sure that the scene you chose does not change drastically and do not introduce a new character, object, or a different scene during the timeframe of your choosing. Make sure the scene you chose is no longer than five seconds! (Remember rule number 2. Make sure the scene doesn’t change in these ten seconds.)

Choose keyframes from the sequence to paint over in the workshop. (You can image sequence as PNG and pick out 2-3 keyframes to paint over).

If you are painting over a character, make sure one of your keyframes is one that fully shows the face from the front. Green screen rule: Your video does not have to be green screen, that being said, it would make your job easier if it were, as some masking might be required).

Watch this video for preparation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RLtHuu5jV4

Registering Movement -Collective Emergence:
Here is your HOW TO NOT for the workshop on Tuesday. I wanted to share an example with you guys so you better understand the importance of painting over keyframes (I mean, “key” keyframes). Sorry for the bad quality of the video! I’ll show the main version on Tuesday.

Dates: TBA
Semester: Fall 2021 – 1stSession (09/21)
2ndSession (09/28)

Participants: Week 1: Martin Cho, Bryce Alexander Sheehan, Danny Elizabeth Laboda, Dr. Christine Veras, Eesha Muddasani, Xochitl Juarez.

When Shadows Speak WSS

Facilitator: Zack Nguyen

Description: “When Shadows Speak”is a collaborative project that invites everyone to use their own perception, emotion, and positive thinking to visually, and virtually lift each other up. We will be applying similar techniques to shadow arts, but with a meaningful intention: Practicing the act of kindness, and improving our own mental well-being through art.

Link to Presentation, please visit: https://pasteapp.com/p/DchoW64wIOw/s/FLw0x16TUX3?view=1Zsld5C3ULS

Guidelines/ Instructions:
You have a week starting today (03/29) to Sunday (04/04) to submit your work!
Preparation:
•light sources: desk lamp, iPhone flash
•an object: anything you love, to be honest!
•a helping hand (if you want to when you take photos)
•your favorite song your positive intention <3 -A MUST

Suggested steps


Phase 1:
•Capturing shadows
•Place your object on a flat surface with a background color of your choice.
•Place and move light sources around the object.
•Capture the shadows, and object in different angles however you love!
•Important: Creative exploration is welcome!


Phase 2: Animating
In your own space, please play your favorite songs while thinking of a kind and positive message you want to send to your loved ones. Look at the shadows you have captured, please visualize how your final piece would be.
•LET’S ANIMATE!

I hope you will have a fun and joyful experience creating this project with meaningful intention.
Inspiration:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2uX6Z0OAbY&t=5s

Submission:
Size: 1280 x 720
File format: GIF or MP4
Naming: Lastname_Firstname_WSS
Note: You can do as many as you want!Thank you so much for participating! I am looking forward to seeing amazing works!

Participants: Kirstin Stevens, Emily Banditrat, Kristen Duong, Gina Rattanakone, Christine Veras, Maria Montilla, Zack Nguyen, Martin Cho.

Abstract Project

Facilitator: Sara Mcclanahan (Graduate Student)

Semester: Spring 2021

Description: A short multimedia abstract animation linked through sound using a square shape.

Guidelines/Instructions:

  • The lab participants will create a short abstract animation linked through sound. Sound clip provided for inspiration.
  • Do not animate to the beats, all audio will be removed and an overlapping audio will be applied.
  • MUST use a square shape in some way
  • Materials-Anything you want-Get Creative!
  • Size: 1280 x 720 (HD)
  • Format: mp4
  • Naming: LastNameFirstName_Abstract.mp4
  • Length: 5 seconds (120 frames) Less is fine More is better!
  • Frame rate: Up to you
  • Create the animation on your time

Facilitator’s Message: Thank you for participating in the Abstract Project this last week! I know 120 frames can seem like a daunting task at first but everyone went above and beyond with this and absolutely exceeded my expectations. I hope you enjoyed the final edit. I had a lot of fun working with the various mediums and design choices you all submitted. As I mentioned in the lab today, I spent a lot of time carefully choosing which animations should be paired and fade into one another as well as considering which beats should be hit in line with the sound. I am incredibly happy with the way y’all animated to these guidelines and were inspired by the music. I hope you all enjoyed this experiment, and if not please provide feedback during our meetings so we can improve our future projects!

Participants: Emily Banditrat, Martin Cho, Gina Rattanakone, Naznin Sultana, Elham Doust-Haghighi, Philip Martin, Zack Nguyen, Sara McClanahan, Jacob Reeder, Dr. Christine Veras.

Start Date: Feb. 22
Due Date: Feb. 28 by 5:00 pm (Dallas Time)