Completed Essay

     Tim Burton was born in Burbank, California. Since he was young, he loved painting, drawing, and watching movies. Several times he would make his own short films with regular cameras. He liked poems by Edgar Allen Poe and he enjoyed watching "old-school" horror films. Burton has always been a very introspective person. One of his classmates at the California Institute of the Arts was John Lasseter. He was hired by Disney when he graduated.
     While working on concept art for The Fox and the Hound, Tim Burton began working on his own project. He drew art of a skeleton and wrote a poem, each being Jack Skellington and the Nightmare Before Christmas respectively. He was inspired by the many Christmas movies Disney would make. Since Disney didn't quite accept his style of art, they gave him the freedom to work on his own projects. Although the poem was originally meant to be a children's book, it eventually became a stop-motion animation movie.
     Tim Burton did not enjoy working with Disney very much. His style of art clashed with the "kid-appropriate" style of Disney. They did not like his art for The Fox and the Hound, therefore they gave him free time for his own projects. During this time, he made his own film called Frankenweenie, however Disney didn't think it was very appropriate for their targeted audience so they shelved the film. Overall, he felt bored and "constrained" by the type of art that Disney wanted him to make.
     Although Tim Burton has made many animation films, he himself does not like working as an animator. When he worked for Disney, he was hired as an animator. When Disney saw that he wasn't doing as good as they wanted him to, they made him a concept artist. Instead of being an animator, Burton is usually a director, producer, or writer. He likes expressing ideas in movies but he doesn't like to animate them. Burton has directed 19, produced 13, and written 5 movies.
     His movies have been very well acclaimed by both critics and regular people. His movies have been praised for originality and for making stop-motion animation successful. The musical scores in his movies are praised as well. Critics also enjoy the themes of his movies. The Nightmare Before Christmas was called "a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation" by Rotten Tomatoes. Corpse Bride was called a "sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost" by Roger Ebert. Overall, Burton is praised for being original.
     Burton enjoys collaborating with a lot of the same people in his movies. He often casts Johnny Depp in his movies, as he is a very close friend of Burton. Burton also casts Helena Bonham Carter, who is his wife. For the musical scores, he often works with Danny Elfman, who was in a band that Burton was very fond of. Burton either works with close friends of his, or people that are "up-and-coming". He works with the same actors and actresses because they all share the same vision that he does.
     In conclusion, Tim Burton is an introverted yet creative director, producer, and writer, who loves watching movies and telling stories through movies. He doesn't like to conform to society, instead he likes to introduce new things in the form of art. He is a very well acclaimed director, and is widely known for his quirky movies. Overall, Tim Burton is a very influential person and role model.

5 Paragraphs

     While working on concept art for The Fox and the Hound, Tim Burton began working on his own project. He drew art of a skeleton and wrote a poem, each being Jack Skellington and the Nightmare Before Christmas respectively. He was inspired by the many Christmas movies Disney would make. Since Disney didn't quite accept his style of art, they gave him the freedom to work on his own projects. Although the poem was originally meant to be a children's book, it eventually became a stop-motion animation movie.
     Tim Burton did not enjoy working with Disney very much. His style of art clashed with the "kid-appropriate" style of Disney. They did not like his art for The Fox and the Hound, therefore they gave him free time for his own projects. During this time, he made his own film called Frankenweenie, however Disney didn't think it was very appropriate for their targeted audience so they shelved the film. Overall, he felt bored and "constrained" by the type of art that Disney wanted him to make.
     Although Tim Burton has made many animation films, he himself does not like working as an animator. When he worked for Disney, he was hired as an animator. When Disney saw that he wasn't doing as good as they wanted him to, they made him a concept artist. Instead of being an animator, Burton is usually a director, producer, or writer. He likes expressing ideas in movies but he doesn't like to animate them.
     His movies have been very well acclaimed by both critics and regular people. His movies have been praised for originality and for making stop-motion animation successful. The musical scores in his movies are praised as well. Critics also enjoy the themes of his movies. Overall, Burton is praised for being original.
     Burton enjoys collaborating with a lot of the same people in his movies. He often casts Johnny Depp in his movies, as he is a very close friend of Burton. Burton also casts Helena Bonham Carter, who is his wife. For the musical scores, he often works with Danny Elfman, who was in a band that Burton was very fond of. Burton either works with close friends of his, or people that are "up-and-coming".

3rd URL

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/bio

• How did Tim Burton come up with the concept of The Nightmare Before Christmas?
• Disney gave him freedom to work on his own projects alongside Disney's. During that time he wrote a poem and drew concept art of the Nightmare Before Christmas.

• Did he enjoy working with Disney?
• Disney didn't accept most of his ideas because they were judged as too dark or unsuitable for children. He didn't like having to conform to Disney's style of animation.

• Does Tim Burton enjoy being an animator?
• He doesn't enjoy it as much as directing or writing. He likes expressing stories through the art of animation but he doesn't like actually working as an animator.

• How have critics generally reacted to his movies?
• They like his originality.

• Why does Tim Burton cast a lot of the same actors/actresses in most of his movies?
• One is his wife, the rest are close friends. Some may not be close friends, instead they are his "heroes" or he admires them.

2nd URL

http://www.timburtoncollective.com/

• How did Tim Burton come up with the concept of The Nightmare Before Christmas?
• He was inspired by the Christmas films Disney would make. Disney didn't accept most of his conceptual art, so he decided to work on his own side projects. He drew art and made a poem that would become TNBC

• Did he enjoy working with Disney?
• Not much because his style of drawing and ideas weren't "acceptable" by Disney. He didn't like having to follow the standard Disney structure.

• Does Tim Burton enjoy being an animator?
• No, he enjoys drawing but hates animating. He is usually either a director, a producer, or a writer.

• How have critics generally reacted to his movies?
• His movies have been praised for originality, the musical scores, and high-quality stop-motion animation.

• Why does Tim Burton cast a lot of the same actors/actresses in most of his movies?
• Helena Bonham Carter is his wife, while the rest are close friends of his.

1st URL

http://halloweentown.org/about-tim-burton/
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/Tim-Burton/biography/

• How did Tim Burton come up with the concept of The Nightmare Before Christmas?
• He wrote a poem and drew illustrations while working on The Fox and the Hound for Disney. It was originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme.

• Did he enjoy working with Disney?
• No, Disney refused to accept his designs for The Fox and the Hound because they were deemed unsuitable for children. Disney also thought that his film, Frankenweenie, was inappropriate, so they shelved the film.

• Does Tim Burton enjoy being an animator?
• Not as much as directing movies.
  

• How have critics generally reacted to his movies?
• Critics have become more open to stop-motion animation due to the success of Burton's movies. They praise the originality of his stories.

• Why does Tim Burton cast a lot of the same actors/actresses in most of his movies?
• Johnny Depp is a close friend and godfather of his son. Helena Bonham Carter is his wife. Danny Elfman has scored all of but 5 of his films and gave the singing voice for Jack Skellington, the singing skeletons in Corpse Bride, and the voice of the Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

5 Questions/10 URL's

1. How did Tim Burton come up with the concept of The Nightmare Before Christmas?
2. Did he enjoy working with Disney?
3. Does Tim Burton enjoy being an animator?
4. How have critics generally reacted to his movies?
5. Why does Tim Burton cast a lot of the same actors/actresses in most of his movies?

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_burton#Filmography
2. http://halloweentown.org/about-tim-burton/
3. http://www.timburtoncollective.com/
4. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/bio
5. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/Tim-Burton/biography/

Future Career and Animation

I want to go into Psychology, so maybe a job as a Layout Artist or camera person would be the one for me because it is the one that focuses on how a certain angle can evoke a certain emotion. It is the job that makes a movie either funny or dramatic.

What I Learned (Tutorial)

I learned how to properly manipulate pivots and how to animate objects. I learned how to use keyframes and change their properties. I learned how to edit the history and how to remove objects without actually selecting them. The only problems I had was finding the settings in the menus.

4th Object - Animated Butterfly

3rd Object - Customized Helmet

3rd Object - Helmet

2nd Object - House

1st Object - Bed

Original Bed

Customized Bed

New Things

Today, I inserted a pivot. In order to insert a pivot an INSERT key is necessary. I learned that there is no INSERT key on a Mac keyboard so I had to press the fn key and the left button at the same time in order to insert a pivot. I also learned how to delete unecessary items without actually clicking on them. Instead, I used Window -> Outline and deleted them from there. Lastly, I learned to properly use the frames when animating and how to make an object follow a path when animating.

Unfamiliar Things

• EP Curve Tool
• Surfaces Menu Set ; Surfaces -> Revolve ; Surfaces -> Planar ; Surface -> Extrude
• Pivot
• Delete by Type -> History
• Component Pivot
• Window -> Outliner
• Animation Preference button
• Press 'P' for Heirarchy
• Modify -> Freeze Transformations
• Key Selected
• Auto Keyframe Toggle
• Window -> Animation Editors -> Graph Editor
• Curves -> Post Infinity -> Cycle
• View -> Infinity
• Animation Menu Set ; Animate -> Motions Paths -> Attach to Motion Path ; 

Maya Tutorial

http://www.cgonlinetutorials.com/tutorials/flying-butterfly.html

I picked a butterfly. I am going to model it and then animate it. After that, I am going to use Jorge's grass method to make the scene better.

The reason I picked this tutorial is because it is easy to understand and it shows me how to animate alongside modeling.

Edge Loop Tool Settings

The purpose of changing the settings is to put in more edge loops at a time and on one face. Changing the Multiple Edge Loops will allow you to put in more edge loops at a time. Changing the Number of Edge Loops will let you choose how many edge loops you want to put in. Changing Auto Complete will allow you to put in an edge loop wherever you want by allowing you to put in the vertices.

2 New Things

Append to Polygon Tool:

This was used to create the shield. It "bridged" the gap between the "chin" of the helmet and the "forehead".

Split Polygon Tool:

This was used to create 4-sided polygons on the shield of the helmet. The vertices of the polygons were changed to make the shield more smooth.

Plan of Action

I think I will use vertex the most out of all techniques in Maya. I plan on using cubes or pyramids to create the house. I think the images are not very symmetrical so I will have to edit it as a whole rather than create half of it.

Reference Images

I picked a sort of gingerbread looking house.
I picked it because it looks cute and pretty easy to make.
I think my biggest challenge is making the pushed in parts of the front side of the house.

3 Things I Learned From Helmet

3 Things I Learned:

1. How to properly bridge two objects.
2. How to properly extrude edges and/or faces.
3. How to disable the cameras.

2 Challenges:

1. Objects didn't want to bridge at first.
2. Had trouble remembering to save the files.

1 Resolution:

1. When my helmet didn't want to bridge, I realized I didn't have the edges selected on both objects. I only selected the edges on one, so I selected the edges on the other object and it bridged.

Classmate's Object

Kaylin's object was extremely easy to make because it is simple and she posted fabulous instructions. The got to the point and even included specific values use on the object. Although I did run into a few rough spots, I quickly got them resolved and Kaylin helped me a bit at those spots. In the end, I enjoyed making this object and it looks really nice.

What My Doodle Would Look Like

My doodle would start out with an astronaut. He will be floating in space with a wire attached to his leg. He and wire will be curved to look like a G. Second, I will put the peace symbol to represent the O. It will have psychedelic colors. Next, I will put a bowl of foreign food to represent the next O. I'm not sure how to make the second G. The food will most likely be rice or a soup. After that, I will put the Eiffel Tower or another famous landmark to represent the L. Lastly, I will put my white dog in a pose to shape the E. This is how I imagine my doodle.

Dreams

I would like to do many things someday. I would like to travel to space and see the stars and planets. I would like to travel throughout the world and see all the landmarks there are to see. I would like to see the world in peace and harmony. I would like to taste many different types of food from around the world. Most of all, I would like to see my dog one more time. There are many things I want to do someday, and although they seem impossible, I am sure that I can do my best to fulfill my dreams.

Compare and Contrast 3D Objects

The temple object was fairly easy to create because we were being led by the teacher. Although I used the same concepts in my object, it was still hard to create my object. I made my object using the values in the channel box rather than changing it through the Move tool or the other tools. This was similar to how we made the temple. I couldn't create a classmates object because they haven't given me the instructions.

2nd Day Back

Maya still wasn't working...

1st Day Back

I am not able to recreate the object because the creator has not posted or emailed me the instructions. I would try to create it my way but Maya isn't working. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Maya First Experience

     My first experience creating a 3D object was fun but confusing. I was able to create the bed but I couldn't figure out how to make the pillows and the cover. They wouldn't come out the way I wanted them. I would also get confused when it came to Duplicate Special. Changing settings in the Tool Settings window was hard because I didn't know what numbers to change to modify the object.

How To Create Shapes

Note: [] represents the Tool Settings.

Mattress (First)

1. (Menu Bar) Create -> Polygon Primitives -> Cube -> []
2. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Create
3. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: 0 , 0.4 , 0
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 0
3. Scale: 5 , 0.8 , 6
4. Name: mattress1
5. View: Front & Left edge

Mattress (Second)

1. Select mattress1 -> Edit -> Duplicate Special -> [] 
2. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Translate Y: 0.8 -> Duplicate Special
3. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: 0 , 1.2 , 0
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 0
3. Scale: 5 , 0.8 , 6
4. Name: mattress2
5. View: Front & Left edge

Mattress Separator

1. Select mattress1 -> Edit -> Duplicate Special -> []
2. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Duplicate Special
3. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: 0 , 0.8 , 0
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 0
3. Scale: 5.02 , 0.1 , 6.02
4. Name: mattressSeparator
5. View: Front & Left edge

Mattress Frame

1. (Menu Bar) Create -> Polygon Primitives -> Cube -> []
2. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Create
3. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: 0 , 0.1 , 0
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 0
3. Scale: 5.1 , 0.2 , 6.1
4. Name: mattressFrame
5. View: Front & Left edge

Select all of the object and group them.

      (Edit -> Group)
Select the grouped object and Translate Y: 0.1

Stumps

1. (Menu Bar) Create -> Polygon Primitives -> Cone -> []
2. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Create
3. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: -2 , 0 , 2.5
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 180
3. Scale: 0.2 , 0.2 , 0.2
4. Name: stump1
5. View: Front and Bottom
4. Select by component type -> Select the CV at the tip of the cone -> Move Tool -> Move it up the Y axis until the tip touches the top of the grid.
5. Select the CVs along the flat part of the cone -> Move Tool -> Move it down the Y axis until it touches the bottom of the Mattress Frame.
6. Select stump1 -> Edit -> Duplicate Special -> []
7. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Translate X: 4 -> Create
8. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: 2 , 0 , 2.5
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 180
3. Scale: 0.2 , 0.2 , 0.2
4. Name: stump2
5. View: Bottom

Headboard

1. (Menu Bar) Create -> Polygon Primitives -> Cube -> []
2. Edit -> Reset Settings -> Create
3. Channel Box Details:
1. Translate: 0 , 1.5 , -2.95
2. Rotate: 0 , 0 , 0
3. Scale: 5.12 , 3 , .21
4. Name: headboard
5. View: Left and Front

3D Proposal

Building A Bed

5 Cubes
2 Cones

Template and Component Questions

Template Display

1. When do you use template display?

You use template display when you want to work with certain parts of your project and not have to deal with other parts of your project.

2. What does templating the display allow you to do?

Templating the display allows you to work with specific parts of your project without accidentally changing other parts of your project.

3. How does the object change when you template the display?

The object that is templated is not selectable, therefore you can't accidentally select it and change its properties. The wire frame is also changed to a gray color.

4. How does the template display help you?

The template display helps you by "separating" parts of your project so that you can work more easily.

5. How do you change the display of objects to template mode? 

Select the objects that you want to display in template mode. Go to Display in the Menu Bar, go down to Object Display, and select Template. 

6. How do you untemplate a templated object?

Go to Edit in the Menu Bar and then down to Select All. Go to Display in the Menu Bar, go down to Object Display, and select Untemplate.

7. How did you work with template display in the last lesson?

In the last lesson, I used template display when I was creating the dome. I used it so that I can create the dome and not accidentally mess with the columns.

Components

1. What is a component?

A component is a section of an object that you can manipulate.

2. Give three examples of a component.

   - The side of a square.

   - A triangle in an octagon.

   - A rectangle in a circle.

3. What does a component allow you to do in Maya?

A component is used when you want to manipulate a specific section of an object and not the whole thing. This is normally when you want to change the shape of the object.

4. What are the steps to select a component of an object?

You select the object and then go up to the Status Line, then to the Selection Mode section, and pick Component Selection Mode. In this mode, you can select a component and a component vector.

5. How did you work with components in the last lesson?

In the last lesson, I worked with components to make the bottom of the dome stretch out a bit.

Problems in Friday

What problems did you face on Friday? One problem that I faced was the fact that I didn't know how to right-click. When I did learn how to right-click, I couldn't find the proper menu to do the task I was supposed to do next.
What did you learn? I learned how to right-click and I learned how to use the Track tool.

Rotate & Position the half sphere on the pedestal

Change the view to the side view instead of perspective view. Select the half sphere and go to the Channel Box. To make it lay flat, go to Rotate X and put in the value 270. If you put 90 degrees, the half circle lays flat but the top is underneath, so instead you subtract 90 from 360 degrees. Once you do that, go to the Channel Box and go to Translate Y. Put in the value 2.6, you do this because the pedestal is at 2.3, so you want to put the half sphere .3 higher.

3 Maya Questions

1. How do I combine or mold objects to create a character?
2. How do I use the Joint Tool to make the character move?
3. How do I properly animate an object?

Maya 5 Things

1. How to add hair to objects - I went to the Fur tab and then I selected the object. I clicked on a type of fur and it added the fur to the object.
2. How to eminate gas from an object - I went to the Dynamics tab and then I selected the object. I clicked on the symbol with an object on fire.
3. How to animate the objects - Happend by chance, not sure how I did it.
4. How to move objects - I selected the object then I went to the sidebar on the left and picked the buttons that correspond to how I want to move it. Then I moved the object using the y, x, and z axises.
5. How to add crystals, etc. - I went to the PaintEffects (I think that's what it's called) and chose a type of object from the list that I want to add. I clicked and dragged where I want the line of objects to appear.

SMART Goals

Goal:  Lose weight.
Specific -> Lose approximately 15 pounds of weight. Not too much.
Measured -> Keep a planner and record my weight every week or so.
Action -> Set a specific time every day for exercise; about 30 minutes. Eat properly and more balanced. (Eat more fruits and vegetables.)
Reasonable -> I am a bit overweight...
Timely -> Exercise 3 days a week (or a pound or two per week). Would take about 10 weeks.


      My SMART goal is to lose about fifteen pounds of weight. In order to keep track of my weight, I am going to keep a planner and record how much time I exercised and how much I weigh by the end of the week. I am going to set aside about thirty minutes of time, three days a week in order to exercise and I am also going to eat more fruits and vegetables. I chose this goal because I am not in very good shape. I chose to lose about a pound or two per week, which would take me about ten to fifteen weeks to lose all fifteen pounds.