Post 08 - Week eight session, plus more research

This week's session was devoted to looking back at the module specifications and talking about how to present the information for Task One. The software Prezi was mentioned and has been shown to be very useful in displaying information using paths and links. After discussing how to showcase this information, it became apparent as to how I may show my research.

This diagram shows that the main areas to cover are: 

Animation, 3D Technology (Modelling) and The games industry. 

When each circle connect, each topic is connected, so this then becomes:

Animation & 3D Technology, 3D Technology & Games Industry, Games Industry and Animation

Then in the center, this is all three. I think that this has helped me to see what I need to look into.

Post 07 - Autodesk

 As mentioned in my animation blog, Autodesk provide a large range of resources and software products. These range from animation to modelling. Some of these include 3D Studio Max, Maya, Motionbuilder and Mudbox. An interesting resource for Autodesk can be found in the following link. This is the link for Autodesk's showreels, and showcases how their products have been used in both the games and animation industry. It shows some amazing projects and spans over a wide demographic. Very visually entertaining and makes it relatively clear that they are at the forefront of the industry.

This is a very good source of information as every clip shown has the companies name in the corner, allowing for every clip to be researched.

Another good resource for research is the Autodesk Media and Entertainment section of their website.

Autodesk Showcase reels - LINK

Autodesk Media & Entertainment - LINK

Post 06 - Ethics session with Darren Wall

Ethics 101

Ethics, population ?

In the last session of Research Practice, we had Darren Wall in to speak about media ethics. This was an interesting talk and allowed the group for the first time to actively engage in debate and discussions into the notion of what is suitable to show, share and use as research. This allowed me to gain an understanding of media ethics and will be useful for my research.

I have been doing a significant amount of research, but it is mostly logged on my other blogs, as it is concerned with animation and 3D technology. I have recently found and have been using the on-line publication 'Develop Magazine'. This magazine is focused on the games industry and has an array of articles on both animation and 3D technology. One such article is one on Motionbuilder, which is a motion specific software and can be used with motion capture to gain real time recordings. This magazine can be purchased, or downloaded as a pdf, making it extremely easy to access.

Develop Magazine - LINK
MotionBuilder - LINK
Ethics Image - LINK
 

Post 05 - Undergrad / research practice

This week's session was conducted by Salam Strudwick, who is the Subject Group Leader for Interactive Media. She set us the task to think about where we would like to be in the industry and what we are aiming for once we have finished the Masters.

The Thinking Man by Deb Grise

She suggested that we were more than welcome to arrange to set in any undergrad tutorials and workshops for software packages and other relevant techniques. I found this to be extremely appealing as I wish to learn as much as I can about my chosen subject matter. I have emailed her asking for more details on who to contact in order to put this into motion. 

Unfortunately, I have had no reply yet. This is something I wish to pursue as I really want to get some tutoring in these kind of disciplines.


Thinking Man Painting - LINK