A Quick Note on RUS407 PPT Workflow

Since multiple people take on different aspects of the RUS407 Online Powerpoint Video Project, it is vital to be as organized as possible when sharing information and holding accountability for different tasks. One of the ways of ensuring success in this project is the use of Google Sheets. After all of the powerpoints are planned out they are uploaded to this sheet: 

Then the powerpoint goes through its various stages to completion; getting marked green along the way. If the powerpoint video in question needs animations, Dr. Rice includes those animation descriptions in this sheet:

After I look over these animations descriptions, I make a short list of the various new items that will be needed as well as any clarification I may need from Dr. Rice. Once that is completed, I created my own Google sheet for the animation workflow, outlining every single new object, set piece and symbol I can think of that may be needed for these new animations. I then also find as many URL references as I can to simplify this new symbol creation process: 

After these are completed I can then more quickly put together the final animations, often just piecing together the various objects and symbols created with the help of the Google sheet above, and then I can go back and notify Samantha Skinner or Dr. Rice of this completion, and move forward with the finalization of these videos.

AET Online Course Backdrop

Another project I’ve worked on a bit the last couple of months is the backdrop for the AET304 live broadcast class. Over the winter break I created an animated Austin landscape for the backdrop:

After a couple of weeks, the professor opted for a simpler design to which I added the UT branding that fades in and out:

RUS407 Unit 11 Part 2 Animations

These animations are hot off the press, being finalized just last week! They were assigned much later than the first 3 sets of animations, and while there were only 6 animations for this set, I only had about 2 weeks to get them finished, much less time than I spent on the previous animations. Thankfully, since I had already completed so man walk cycles and set designs from the previous animations, I was able to build upon previously created sets, adding more detail and color and even experiment with incorporating hand drawn set design into digital animation, which I am very pleased with the results of. Here is the video of all 6 of these animations:

RUS407 Unit 11 Part 1 Animations

The animations in the first part of Unit 11 again called for more complex action, set building and linking together multiple “clips” of animations. For these animations, I was able to expand my experience with the workflow of creating animations in Adobe Animate then linking them together in Adobe After Effects. Here is a video of all of the animations for this section:

RUS407 Unit 9 Animations

In this post, I included a video of all of the Unit 9 animations, most of which I completed after working on the Unit 10 animations. These animations were slightly more complex than the previous set of animations, calling for my first attempts at set design and more nuanced movement of characters.

Completion of RUS407 Animations!

It’s official! After about 1 and a half semesters of work I have completed all of the RUS407 animations for the Powerpoint videos! It’s been such a blast learning the ins and outs of this program and working to create more complex and visually entertaining animations that will keep students’ attention while they watch the PPT videos. In this post I included a video of all of the cartoons used for the Unit 10 Verbs of Motion, which were some of the very first animations I completed for the class. Can’t wait to get started on the next semester of animations;^)