Contest! "Dam Short Film Festival"

Students,

Please see me to submit your work! Two students won awards at this festival last year. Let's win even more this year!

-Jason

student and grads - win prizes! - survey

Academic resources for students

TUTORING
Here is the schedule of tutoring happening in the Learning Lab. You don't need an appointment or an RSVP. On the grid locate the topic in which you need tutoring. Show up at the time when that topic is offered.

OPEN LABS
Here is the chart of the computer labs and when there are no classes being held in them. Feel free to use them to the fullest to get your projects done!

Guest speaker: Tara Steink - Creative Talent Network

Don't forget that Tara Steink from the Creative Talent Network (CTN) is coming to Ai THIS THURSDAY from 12:00-1:00 in room 164 to give us the details about the massive CTN ANIMATION EXPO in Burbank Nov. 20-22. You can attend for 1 or 2 or all 3 days.

If getting a job in this industry is important to you, you had better make it to this event!

-Eric Van Hamersveld

CONTEST: Mascot Design Competition

http://sdsciencefestival.com/mascot-competition.html
Deadline is December 15th
Top prize is $1000 !!!

Jason

Volunteer at the CTN Animation Expo

http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/registration/volunteer/volunteer_info.htm

The CTN*Animation Expo
Nov 20-22, 2009
The Marriott Hotel and Convention Center
“The Toon Town Capital of the World”
Burbank, Calif 91505 USA
www.ctnanimationexpo.com
Phone 800 604 2238 (USA toll free)
info@ctnanimationexpo.com


As a volunteer of the CTN Animation Expo, you will become an integral part in building the animation community at this one of kind event that, once a year, brings together the many creative elements of the animation art form whether digital or drawn. Our mission is to mutually benefit the animation artist, games, education, film and video communities and the individuals in those communities by providing a collaborative arena to promote the betterment and future growth both locally and internationally---and have some FUN doing it.

Volunteers Needed:

• Booth Buddies

• The VIP Green Room Attendants

• Registration Desk

• Demonstration Area

• Door Monitors

• Talent Buddies

• Information Booth

• Gallery and Display Areas

• Portfolio Review Room

• Panels and Speaker Rooms

• Media Room

Volunteers gain priveledged access to go behind the scenes and work as an integral part of the crew at this amazing event. This experience gives you the opportunity to meet and learn directly from industry professionals, artists, and teachers while assisting expo attendees and supporting programs and events throughout the weekend. As a Volunteer, you have admission to all programs, receptions, and many special events, including résumé and portfolio reviews, and presentations to the best talent in the animation business from yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I encourage you to apply! Become a part of the fastest growing expo specifically focused on the animation community held in the #1 market, Burbank California. I hope you'll join us for a whole new Student Volunteer experience!

Free Pizza and "Titan Maximum"

Tuesday Oct 20
lunch 12-1pm in room 164!
Lesley Padien will bring some sculpts and describe her work on the show "Titan Maximum"

Be there!

-Jason

FREE Saturday life drawing workshops!

This weekend (October 17th) Wei Xu will begin a 12 hour FREE life drawing workshop. The workshops will be 4 hours over 3 weeks. Workshops will be in Saturday, room 286, 1pm-5pm. Wei Xu has been teaching in our VGP program for some time now and is an excellent artist.

This is your chance to take advantage of FREE life drawing and get your drawing skills up to par. If you are a beginner this is a great chance to get better, if you are an old pro at drawing you can advantage of the free hours.

The session this weekend will focus on facial features and gestures.

This workshop will be held over 4 days: Oct 17th, 24th, 31st.

Workshops are open to students and faculty.

SDAFF: "Animation: The Illusion of Life"

Greetings Ai students & faculty members. This is Sam Chen, Animation Programmer for the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and Ai animation instructor. It's that time of the year again. 2009 is our 10th year anniversary, and once again, we have a stellar lineup of amazing animated short films from all over the world in a 90-minute program we call Animation: The Illusion Of Life. Once again, Ai has been invited as one of the co-presenter for this exciting program. Here are the dates & time:

http://sdaff.bside.com/2009/films/animationtheillusionoflife_sdaff2009

2:30 PM Sat, Oct 17
7:15 PM Wed, Oct 21
7:00 PM Tue, Oct 27 (Ai Night. Contact Jason Katsoff for tickets)

Notice the 3rd screening (Tues Oct 27 7:00pm) is Ai Night, where I'll be hosting one of my classes as a field trip. It would be great if we could fill up the theater with tons of Ai students & staffers. But if you cannot attend the 3rd screening, we encourage you to attend one of the other screenings with your friends and family.

This year, our lineup features winning films from the Student Academy Awards, Siggraph, Annecy, Ottawa Animation, and many more prestigeous festivals world-wide. We're sure you'll be entertained and inspired by the eclectic selection of amazing animation we've put together for you.

For tickets to the Tuesday Oct 27 7pm screening, please contact Jason Katsoff. For other screenings, please visit the link provided above. We look forward to Ai's continuing support of our film festival and our popular Animation Program.

Thank you all! See you at the festival!

Cheers,Sam Chen
SDAFF Animation Programmer & Ai Animation Instructor
www.SDAFF.org

The 10th San Diego Asian Film Festival
Oct 15-29, 2009
Mission Valley Hazard Center

Article on stereo 3D

http://insite.artinstitutes.edu/3d-films-are-back-will-they-soon-be-gone-again.aspx

Posted using ShareThis

Domo Arigato.

A very cool animation from Google Japan showing how Google Maps' Street View function works.

Rhonda FOREVER

An amazing new tool for 3-D drawing!



Ooh! And they're selecting people to test it! Sign up and enter for a shot at greatness.

CTN Animation Expo!

One of our brilliant MAA students suggests you find the time and money to attend.

Be there or be square!

Apparently if you book 2 nights at the event hotel, you can get a free 3-day pass to the expo. But only the 1st 100 people are eligible, so book now!

Disney now owns Marvel

Spider Mouse? Aquaduck? Disney acquires Marvel for $4 Billion in stock and cash! Read the news.

Jason

Free Webinar

Submit your art to the Student and Alumni Art Show

embedding Vimeo videos

You can easily embed your videos and animations which you create and upload to www.vimeo.com

Aladdin's Pawn Shop from Jason Katsoff on Vimeo.

This 6:45 student film was created by a team of 15 students at the Art Institute of California - San Diego over a period of 22 weeks. They combined 3D CGI created in Maya and 2D animation created traditionally and in Flash. They also recorded and edited all audio using our in-house audio recording studio.



The team was led by instructor and industry veteran Eric Van Hamersveld.

Internship Available for FA09!

See Jason Katsoff to apply or for more info

Trion World Network, San Diego location.

At Trion, we're changing everything about the way online games are designed, developed, and delivered by infusing the old, static gaming world with a sense of dynamic, creative collaboration. This applies just as much to the people who make the games as it does to the games we make. We want each person working here to think big, because we give them the chance to do great things. Ambition and individual creativity aren't just encouraged, they're expected.

Already in place is a high-caliber team from the games, media, and Internet industries. We have worked on, developed, and shipped over 100 original titles, including such bestsellers and hit series as Heroes, Might and Magic, EverQuest, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Lineage, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pogo, and Sims. Utilizing our proprietary core technologies, we're hard at work on our first titles to be released in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The internship is in their Technical Art department. The full job posting is below. Interns are NOT expected to know have all of these skills and traits. I left them in the posting so you know what Trion (and other companies) are looking for.

Technical Artist
Responsibilities
Character rigging and support
Tool creation and script writing
Documentation of art processes
Liaison between the disciplines of animation, art and programming
R&D of tools and processes used in production h3.

Requirements
Character setup and understanding of the technical aspects of animation, with a keen eye for aesthetics and a good instinct for geometry deformation and animation solutions
Tool development and enjoy working with artists, designers and engineers to design, implement, and document tools for game development
Advanced knowledge of 3D development software (Maya, XSI, Max)
Expertise in MEL and the Maya API
Knowledge of platform specific requirements
Awareness of trends in 3d and gaming technology
Ability to work on a schedule
Excellent communication skills

Pluses
Knowledge of Programming languages (C, C++)
BS or equivalent
Passion for games

weekly life drawing workshops on Wednesday nights

$5 for students, $10 alumni, $20 public

This week its going to be a female nude model and we will be starting with quick gesture drawings and then longer poses. times of poses will range from 2min to 20 min. We will be switching male female every week and on the 5th week it will be costumed.

Nickelodeon Internship

Nickelodeon Animation Studios Internship Program

Nickelodeon is a cutting-edge company that encourages its interns to succeed!

Internship Description:
Nickelodeon Animation Studios is currently seeking motivated interns who enjoy working in a fast-paced environment. Nickelodeon Animation Studio offers exciting internships in departments such as College Relations/Recruitment, TV Production, Animation or Live-Action Development, Special Events, The Writing Fellowship, Legal Affairs, Casting, and Post Production! General duties include but are not limited to: administrative tasks, special projects, tape dubbing, script coverage and internet research. This is an excellent opportunity to get hands-on experience in the entertainment industry!

In addition to superb internships, Nickelodeon Animation Studios offers fantastic perks! Interns are encouraged to participate in our business skills workshops and “Executive Lunches”. Some of these workshops and classes include: How to write a resume and cover letter, Portfolio/Reel critique, Post Production, Lunches with The President of Animation and the SVP of our studio plus many more!

Internship Qualifications:
This is a non-paid program. To be eligible students must be enrolled in a credited internship course, and must present proof of that course credit. Students must be 18 years of age or older, in college (freshman or above), and be available to intern 16-30 hours per week. Internships are based in Burbank, California.

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume ASAP via email to:

internships@Nick.com Subject Line: Fall 2009.

Nickelodeon Animation Studio is an Active Equal Opportunity Employer/AAP

Progressive Blog Review

I am posting the information after talking to the 2D Animation class today. To get started building a blog, check out www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com. Though many other free sites exist. -Jason

MAA Review of Continuing Students

“Progressive Blog” review

Goals

Build a culture of students regularly posting their work to a blog.

Increase the use of internet-based critique

Students build portfolios continually prior to Portfolio Zero class

Process

• SU09 will be a test rollout. Student participation will be voluntary
• Harry offered to create Camtasia tutorials on how to create and post to a blog
• Occurs during the 5^th quarter & 9^th quarter
• Target classes: 2D Animation (MA2203) and 2D Animation Studio (MA3313)
• Each student in that class gets reviewed by at least 2 faculty members.
• Students have until week 8 to post their work to a blog. Faculty members will post comments to the blog or email the student directly by EOQ
• Instructors will submit evaluation rubric (to be created) to AD by EOQ
• 5^th quarter portfolio should contain samples of the seven classes determined to be “portfolio”
• classes as opposed to “skills” classes
• 9^th quarter portfolio should contain samples of the eleven classes determined to be “portfolio”
• classes as opposed to “skills” classes
• MA3321 Portfolio Fundamentals new prereq will be “AD Approval”. Students need to pass their
• 9^th quarter review in order to be enrolled in MA3321

Predicted Outcomes

More critiques, more improvement of work through revisions

Students continually grow a portfolio as they complete projects beginning with their first quarter

Better quality of portfolios

Less production work in Portfolio Zero and Portfolio 1 class

An Evening with Pixar: The Making of UP

Date: Thursday August 13th, 2009
Location: Hollywood
Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Contact: Heather Hughes heather@gnomonschool.com 323-466-6663

Gnomon School of Visual Effects and the VES bring you a fun-filled night with a behind-the scenes look into the creation of this summers box office hit, Up.Special guest Gary Bruins (Effects Supervisor) will share his experience of working on the film and what it took to make this special, animated feature. This event will not be filmed for non-disclosure reasons.

Gary Bruins
Technical Director

Gary Bruins joined Pixar Animation Studios in 2001 to work in modeling, shading and lighting on the Academy Award winning Finding Nemo and has since worked on a number of Pixar's award-winning feature films including "The Incredibles", "Cars" and "Ratatouille".

Event Details
When: Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Meet & Greet: 6:00 pm 7:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm 9:00 pm
Place: Gnomon School of Visual Effects Stage
151015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038

This event is FREE of charge! Please visit the Gnomon Store extended hours during special events. RSVP at the Gnomon School website.www.gnomonschool.com

Gnomon School of Visual Effects specializes in training for careers in high-end computer graphics for the entertainment industries.

workshops for students

Please attend any/all of these workshops you think would be helpful. I recommend all of them!
-Jason

WEEK 4
INDESIGN WORKSHOP
Instructor: Lindy Bostrom
Sat., Aug. 8h, 12:00-4:00pm
N. Bldg. MAC LAB 166
Open to All Students

WEEK 6
DIGITAL LANDSCAPE PAINTING
Instructor: Dzu Nguyen
Sat., Aug. 22nd, 12:00-4:00pm
N. Bldg. PC LAB 165
Open to All Students

HOW TO MAKE GAMES WITH FLASH/ACTIONSCRIPT
Instructor: Dr. Wei Xu
Sat., Aug. 22nd, 1:00-5:00pm
N. Bldg. PC LAB 159
Open to All Intermediate Students


WEEK 8
SKETCHUP FOR MAA MAJORS, PART 1
Instructor: Fox Sutton
Wed., Sept. 2nd, 12:10-12:50pm
N. Bldg. PC LAB 165
Open to all MAA Students

WEEK 9
SKETCHUP FOR MAA MAJORS, PART 2
Instructor: Fox Sutton
Wed., Sept. 9th, 12:10-12:50pm
N. Bldg. PC LAB 165
Open to all MAA Students

new Tutoring Process

(click to enlarge)

If you need a tutor in any topic take a look at the attached schedule of tutoring. Locate the days/times when someone with that area of expertise will be in the learning lab. No appointment is necessary, just visit the learning lab. If you have questions about or problems with this new process come see me.

-Jason

Marshall Vandruff workshops - RESCHEDULED

The Marshall Vandruff “Animal Anatomy” workshop series originally scheduled to start this Fri/Sat has been rescheduled.

The new dates are:
Aug 21 6-10pm
Aug 22 1-5pm
Aug 28 6-10pm
Aug 29 1-5pm
All workshops will be held here on campus in the SOUTH building

Marshall is ill this week and had to cancel the original dates.
If you have paid for the workshop series Marshall will be contacting you shortly.

Please consider signing up for this great event. Marshall is a very well known concept art instructor and has tons of skills to teach you! You will really enjoy the workshops series and learn a great deal about drawing and animal anatomy.

You can get more information about the workshops or sign up at Marshall Vandruff website: http://www.marshallart.com/seminars/info/index.php
Marshall will have the new dates posted tomorrow. Ai students get a discount price.

Meet & Greet yesterday, t-shirts today

Todd Luallen came yesterday and spoke to everyone at the Meet & Greet. He's the Lead Animator at Trion World Network. It was a good turnout! He showed us some of his work and talked about a couple animators he recently hired. His company is based in Del Mar. In early September they will be moving to a different office in Del Mar which is triple the space they have now. I'm trying to arrange a couple of internships with them for the fall quarter.

Today we'll be silkscreening the t-shirts in the grassy area behind the parking lot from 12-1pm and again from 5-6pm. Hopefully you brought a t-shirt or you can get one at lunchtime!

Jason

Activities at Ai and Free Stuff (Ice Cream)

AiCASD Super Summer 2009

Here’s a look ahead of just a few of the FUN summer plans we have in store here at AiCASD. Mark your calendar and come join us! Make new friends, enhance your networking & communication skills, and have fun. Make sure to grab a raffle ticket at all “What’s Up Wednesday” events- you’ll have a chance to win the grand prize- an all-expenses paid field trip with Jenny Kressel and 10 other students for a gondola ride in Coronado and dinner! http://www.gondolacompany.com/



WHAT’s UP WEDNESDAYS

Ø July 22nd 12:00pm-1:00pm Four-Square Tournament on the patio. Remember playing this as a kid? Here’s some helpful reminders about how to play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QqyVZ57p8A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV56piZi89c

Ø July 29th 12:00-1:00pm FREE Ice Cream Social & Dunk Tank near the patio.

Ø August 12th 12:00pm-1:00pm Donut Dodgeball, patio

Ø August 26th 12:00-1:00pm Watermelon eating & seed spitting contest!

Ø September 16th 12:00-1:00pm Pie throwing contest!



SIZZILIN’ SALSA DANCE CLASSES taught by Kelly Ranasinghe

Open to all students, staff & faculty. New dancers encouraged to come! Learn some moves for your summer fun.

Ø August 3, 5:00-6:00pm, Student Lounge

Ø August 17, 5:00-6:00pm, Student Lounge

Ø August 31st, 5:00-6:00pm, Student Lounge



OFF CAMPUS ADVENTURE….

Ø August 11th Moonlight Kayak adventure, Mission Bay Aquatic Center

This is an exciting opportunity open to 10 Ai students. Potluck dinner from 6-7pm, kayak by moonlight to watch the Sea World fireworks from 7-9:30pm.

Watch for an email from Jenny Kressel the week of July 27th for sign-ups, which will be on a first come- first serve basis.

Guest speaker at MAA Meet & Greet

Just announced!
For our Tuesday July 21st 5-6pm Meet & Greet Todd Luallen will join us. Todd is Lead Animator / Art Development Director at Trion World Network in Del Mar. Prior to that, Todd was Lead Artist/Character Animator at SOE for more than three years. He has been an animator in broadcast, cinematics, & games since 1995. He will talk about his production experience and answer any questions you have.

Pizza & soft drinks will be served. Be there!

-Jason

Animal Anatomy for Artists

4 session workshop with discounts for Ai students!

SU09 schedule of open classrooms

Hey everyone! Uuse this table to show you where the open classrooms are. Get your projects done there with minimum distractions. [click image to view]

This weeks announcements

Thursday: 1st week Bar-B-Que at noon in the parking lot

Tuesday Week 2: 5-6 PM MAA Meet & Greet

Wednesday MAA BRanding Party: Noon-1 and 5-6 in the grassy knoll in parking lot

Welcome