Art and Development Blog
SomethingPosted by Markham at 2:00am, 7/9/2011 (EDT)
SomethingFile Size: 196.56kb

The final for the Animation class I took during the spring semester required us to animate a character acting through a short voice clip. This was my project, with an additional inbetween pass that I did since the end of the class.

The sound byte is from a segment of a clip provided at the 11-Second Club website.

A Viking's ShipPosted by Markham at 10:11pm, 6/22/2011 (EDT)
A Viking's ShipFile Size: 109.34kb

This is a scene from my latest solo animation project, titled "A Viking's Quest."

All effects are done in Adobe Flash. The fog effects are the easiest, as they comprise of a Movie Clip symbol of a shape tween and given alpha transparency and a thick blur. Layer a few of these on top of each other, and you have a blur effect similar to the one seen here.

Of course, using Movie Clip symbols has a long history of being difficult to convert to video. However, since Flash CS3 was released Quick Time export has been capable of rendering Movie Clip symbols as they would play in a normal Flash file. Unfortunately, the way it works causes complex scenes to render poorly, resulting in choppy scenes as the program drops frames to keep up with the recording process.

My current plan to work around this is to export a version through this method as is, so that I have an accurate audio track. The next step will be to render the movie at around 4 frames per second so that I have a video containing all frames in their proper position. Then it's just a matter of bringing them both into a video editing program and finishing things up there.

Weasels in HolesPosted by Markham at 9:06pm, 4/4/2011 (EDT)
Weasels in HolesFile Size: 175.9kb

The application deadline for the BYU Animation program is finally passed, so now I can go back to do other things, like writing an 8-page group paper for History of Animation, getting ready for finals which start at the end of next week, reading things for class, and drawing goofy-looking weasels who live in holes while people talk at me, apparently.

I've also added a Google Friend Connect widget to the main blog page, so people can follow my blog through that thing. I'll move it to the right side bar thing later, as I don't have time to mess with the templates right now.

Communist Space PiratePosted by Markham at 11:45pm, 2/19/2011 (EST)
Communist Space PirateFile Size: 106.15kb

A rendering of the communist space pirate from a previous sketch done in Flash.

Ursaw Minor Skipping CyclePosted by Markham at 11:16pm, 2/6/2011 (EST)
Ursaw Minor Skipping CycleFile Size: 35.71kb

A short animated skip cycle to get used to using a tablet again.

Monster Walk Cycle AnimationPosted by Markham at 1:45pm, 1/20/2011 (EST)
Monster Walk Cycle AnimationFile Size: 48.12kb

This is a random walk cycle I made a while ago.

Explosion EffectsPosted by Markham at 1:38pm, 1/20/2011 (EST)
Explosion EffectsFile Size: 71.49kb

This is the explosion sample from when I was working on the graphics for Shattered Colony: The Survivors.

Komerade BearsawPosted by Markham at 11:17pm, 1/8/2011 (EST)
Komerade BearsawFile Size: 219.85kb

Those Soviet scientists are at it again!

Another piece from Drawing for Animation. For the midterm, we were to take the vinyl toy design we created, and add another element to it. Our class chose "soviet."

Ursaw Major and Ursaw MinorPosted by Markham at 8:38pm, 1/7/2011 (EST)
Ursaw Major and Ursaw MinorFile Size: 159.97kb

We had a "vinyl toy" project for the Drawing for Animation class that I took last semester. We were to pick a theme for a vinyl toy and design one over the week. The theme we chose was "disturbed circus."

So here is my disturbed circus vinyl toy design (right to left), Ursaw Major and Ursaw Minor.

Happy Scooter Guy vs. the Ice Cream ManPosted by Markham at 4:57am, 12/24/2010 (EST)
Happy Scooter Guy vs. the Ice Cream ManFile Size: 166.41kb

This was the final project for the Drawing for Animation class had taken. We were supposed to use the character derived from a fashion photograph from the previous project, give them a non-human sidekick, pit them in a fight with an ice-monster, and tune it for an audience of 12-to-14-year-olds. Therefore, the result is the Happy Scooter Guy and his hyrax-sidekick are fleeing from the villainous Ice Cream Man, who requires a bio-suit made out of a refrigerator to survive in his current environment.

The Burly Brutal Bug BattlePosted by Markham at 4:35am, 12/24/2010 (EST)
The Burly Brutal Bug BattleFile Size: 124.95kb

The final project in the Intro to 3D class I took was to design a bug and place it in a scene.

LEGO vs. JasonPosted by Markham at 10:47pm, 11/13/2010 (EST)
LEGO vs. JasonFile Size: 144.79kb

Well, it seems I'm 13 days late for Halloween.

Anyways, this is the final render for the first project in the Intro to 3D class I'm in. We had to make a LEGO man and give him some personality.