Well, I've taken over for Darth Logice. This is the first entry of my jornal, and it certainly won't be the last. I plan to post every friday and/or saturday, and I will include links to the animations, and tutorials on certain subjects. I'll also be happy to answer any questions along the way. You can e-mail me at: thebrain@bestweb.net with any questions or comments. There will be 2 entries this week, tonight and tomorrow, as well as a tutorial on lipsynching, for those of us who can't afford the software to do so. The topic of tonight's entry is: Planning. "Without a plan, there's no attack! No attack, no victory! THIS! This is what makes men, men!" -Joe Flaherty in One Crazy Summer The animation I'm working on is called Warriors of Nalroa and is based on a story written by my wife. You can read this story at: www.angelfire.com/tv/bms/index.html Story is the first step to planning an animation. short simple animations have short and simple stories. You can look at the Roswell alien animation at www.hash.com for an example of a good short simple story. It doesn't say much, but it's cool nonetheless. (I didn't make it, I just like it.) And of course, Long, complicated animations have long complicated stories. I don't really need to mention one here, I'm sure you can think of one.... But every animation should tell some sort of story, in order to entertain. That being said, the next thing we need is a storyboard. My wife has also been kind enough to sketch one out for this endeavor. She's quicker and more concise than me with a pencil. Had I done the boards, I'd still be working on them in the fall. I hope to put the storyboard on the net sometime this week. I have to have someone scan them for me. There are other planning steps you can take, as well, such as story reels, Dialogue Charts, as well as a lot of other things I won't be using. If you want a good reference on animation planning and other aspects, I suggest either: Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair, published by Walter Foster Publishing, or, Character Animation: In Depth by Doug Kelly, Coriolis Books. Well, that's about it for tonight. Tomorrow night: Scene Setup, and Lipsynching! Remember, if you have questions or comments, or want info about volunteering for this project, write to: thebrain@bestweb.net Also, I have no job, which means I have lots of time to work on this, but no means of supporting myself. If you wish to support this venture, please buy something from my page at bbay.com.

John, I am looking forward to your future posts. I to am interested in animation. Right now I am on a steep learning curve to learn the various Metacreation apps take on a project for a group of mine. The project I am attempting to pursue is based upon a friend of mines short story script. I have storybosrd most of the scenes as to what camera angle I should use. While I am building and modifying some props, I am also working on inviting a couple of friends to help with the wav files for Mimic. Thanks for mentioning the reference material. I will be watching and maybe bugging you on how these things are accomplished. Cliff

Cliff, The second journal entry has been posted. Just thought you might be interested.

ok brainmuffin - here I am - so whats upgrin

Thanks John, I have dl'ed your journal. Immediately I have learned some additional tricks I was not aware of previously. Your journal will be helpful until the book I ordered from Amazon.com arrives. Incidently, according to Amazon, Character Animation is out of print. Copies are no longer available. With your journal I am going to take myself back to square one and start learning all over again on how to do the basics. My next immediate quest is to fine tune the cut and paste / edit a string of canned BVH's together.

Well, then, if character animation is out of print, then i guess it's up to me to pass along the information available in it....... Thanks for getting my primer, i hope you keep up with the journal here in the forum.