Yelling and Screaming to Life

This was the first real character animation I ever did. By that I mean this simple 2 second piece is the first time that I felt I was able to make a character come to life given only a rig and some words. This piece shows everyone's favorite rig, Morpheus, as a director asking for a certain shot on his "script" (let's be creative for this one). This was the beginning of my learning about facial animation and complex body mechanics beyond the basic walk cycles and weight lifts of the past. This was not just moving a body correctly, it was a step in learning how to bring a character to life. 

Discovery of a Medium

As a student, we all have that first foray in to the field of our choice. The one where we learn the basics, the one where we learn the potential of what we can do. This animation, while not good at all looking back on it, was my first step into the world of 3-D animation. Animated in a classroom setting in Autodesk Maya, this basic bouncing ball (that's a lot of b words) portfolio opened my eyes to the possibilities of 3-D animation. Before working on this, I never thought I could do anything artistic with the knowledge I had. Using graphs and numbers as well as a still developing (let's be real we never stop developing) artistic eye allowed me to apply my past experiences with math, physics, and engineering to an entirely new medium. This really opened my eyes and is a landmark in the beginning of my development as an animator, and as a creator as a whole. 

First Animation Ever

So this is one of the first pieces of animation I ever did. While it is admittedly not very good, it is what sparked the start of my studying computer graphics and led to a change in major as well as career choice. Before I took the class in which I made this, I was studying to be a Mechanical Engineer. I was taking advanced math and physics classes and I had a history in working with robotics and machine shops. This simple animation changed my life...though I think watching it, the reason why I tend to stick to 3-D animation is clear.