The KungFuDork Chronicles

It's been a while! Got lots of news...yay!

2006-07-12T19:01:00.000-05:00

So i am officially in class6 of animation mentor and am in the process of animating my short film. The reason i've been quiet for a while is because class5 was all about story development and storyboarding, so i didn't have much to post. You can check out my animatic for my film at my new website!

That's the other news i have....woohoo, i have officially brought KungFuDork.com back to life. It's nothing fancy, but it will keep you up to date on my adventure of finishing my short film and becoming part of the first graduating class of AnimationMentor.com

And the last thing for today is a blocking pass at the first scene in my short film.
Check it out!

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Class4: Advanced Acting is already over?

2006-04-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

sorry for being slack! of course i'm not sure anyone really keeps up with my blog anyway. so, class 4: Advanced Acting is over and here's what i have to show for it. we had two assignments. the first was to take a shot from class 3 and add facial animation to it. we were given an updated rig that had full facial control. the previous rig had eyebrows up/down, jaw open/close, and eyes open/close. we had 3 weeks for the first assignment. the second assignment we had to use a 2 character dialogue and use camera cuts. we were given 8 weeks to complete the shot.

Class4: Assignment1 (mallrats)

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Class4: Assignment2 (the man who knew too little)

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-word

Happy trails term 3, i'm gonna miss ya!

2005-12-17T20:27:00.000-05:00

Holly crap! i can't believe that i have just finished my 3rd term at Animation Mentor. if the next 3 terms go as fast as these, i'm going to be finished in no time.

so here is the final versions of my two assignments for term 3. for term 4 we will be adding full facial animation to one of our shots from term 3, so most likely i will try to make my second shot better over the holiday break and use it for term 4's first assignment.

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Week 3 Pass

2005-11-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

Ok here is my final pass for week 3 of this shot. I am still hitting a few poses pretty hard, so i will fix those on the next pass. any comments are appreciated.

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2 Days In a Row.....wow!

2005-11-13T03:10:00.000-05:00

so here is another quick update to my assignment. it is due in 3 hours, so i'm gonna walk away for a bit....then come back to it and see if i want to make some changes at the last minute.

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An Update Finally!!!

2005-11-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

howdy peeps! it's been quite some time since i've had any updates here. life has been fast and crazy for a bit, but it is seeming to smooth out lately and given me more time to do some extra stuff, like update my blog.

anyway, here is my first pass for my second assigment of Term 3 at AM.

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After my first critique from Pete Nash, my mentor, i made a few changes. this isn't my final revision for this week so i would love to hear some feedback from you.

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Saturday Night 12:37am

2005-07-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

well i finally made it to the end of my scene. i feel like i am getting the hang of blocking my shot in stepped mode, so i hope it shows. i've got my fingers crossed that this won't go to shite when i convert to splines. i guess i'm gonna get some sleep, get up early and make any adjustments before i go to work tomarrow.

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Class 2 Week 4: Heavy Push Up Incline

2005-07-15T12:02:00.000-05:00

well i've finally made it around for another update. man, the first 3 weeks of class 2 has been kicking my arse! moving from stepped keys to spline has fried my brain just a bit, but i seem to be recovering ok....so no need to send flowers and balloons, but thanks for thinking about it. anyway i spent alot more time this week on my planning and video reference. this is only the first pass of my blocking, so there are only a few breakdown keys, mostly it is my Key poses. there is another half to the animation, but i'm not going to get started on it because this first half might be more than enough for me to handle.

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it's been 12 weeks!!!!!!

2005-06-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

yep, that's right. the first term of Animation Mentor was tough enough without having to try and keep up with this blog. what a wonderful journey it was! i definitely learned more in these 12 weeks than i did at my previous school in 18 months! (i'll keep it my little secret for now)

well, my plan is to keep this updated on a weekly basis for term 2. i have some webspace so i can host my assignments and anything else, i guess.

so here are some of last terms assignments:
TailorRevision
1LegJumpRevision.avi
Week10Revision.avi
Week11Walk

As for the last term i had the amazing Mark Behm as my mentor. I learned a ton, and the next time i'm in Dallas, i'm busting down the doors of DNA to find him! might just give him a big 'ol hug! maybe i'll wait to see what my mentor for term 2 says about my work. gotta be sure mark wasn't just blowing smoke. (just kidding, the best part was that mark just tells it how it is...no BS)

Now i am part of the Disciples of Dooley. My mentor for term 2 is Doug Dooley aka DoubleD aka "Duuuuuuuuuug".

that should be enough ramblings for now. until next time.
-sing a song of six pense-

2hrs 33min???

2005-03-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

well after all this time, it looks as though the adventure will begin shortly.

so i'll recap my pre-adventure:

once i was accepted at animationmentor.com i decided i would upgrade my computer. i've done it a million times (i'm exagerating...a little) with no problems, but this is the first time there has been a real reason to upgrade other than just for new stuff. i want to be as ready and as capable as i can for this program. ready for some funtime insanity?

anyway, i purchase 1gb of ddr400 ram to beef up my system. i encounter my first problem...the computer won't boot or crashes after boot, so i put the old ram back in....still no boot. CRAP! next step is to try to repair windows...nothing! CRAP! i go for the fdisk-reinstall method...same problem, so i decide its the harddrive and purchase a new one. CRAP! next on the list is a new motherboard....yipee, it works. no wait, it keeps crashing after a day or so. CRAP! decide its the ram and purchase another 1GB ddr400. CRAP! i purchase a new cpu 3.1GHz p4 and a new Geforce 6600GT video card. HELLO NEW COMPUTER!

so far things look great, but now i got enough parts to basically rebuild the original system, which is where the funny part comes in:
the original motherboard could only hold a single stick of ddr400 but 4 sticks of ddr333.....(found it in tiny type at the motherboard website). basically i should have bought more ddr333, but no i wanted to have the fastest ram i could.....gets me in trouble everytime!

2hrs and 20min to go? CRAP! it's by PST probably...that means i've got 5hrs and 20min left! CRAP!

well, i am off to check out a breakdance competition that my shop is co-sponsoring. check out my skateshop BLACKSHEEP in the links on the right (shameless plug....sorry). i hope when i get back i will be able to log in and meet my classmates!!! let the games begin......or i guess i should say "let the sleepless nights of animating and ignoring my girlfriend begin" (hope she doesn't read this)

My AnimationMentor Blog starts here:

2005-03-27T14:14:00.000-05:00

Howdy peeps!

I am enrolled in animation mentor.com and Mark Behm is my mentor for this first session. I decided to jump on the blogwagon! Well, only 9hrs 47min until classes open up! See you all there!