3D Animation Electives - Insights on the modules

 Hello☆

I’m Alicia. I was invited by Ms Faridah who was my Effective Internet Research lecturer, to write a guest post. So, this will be my first time blogging here (:
Being an IMI student, we have 3 majors to select from. As for me, I have chosen 3D Animation. So far, I had attended 3DVA (3D Visualisation and Animation) and 3DPF (3D Production Foundation). Creating 3D animation isn’t as easy as it seems. As you advance, you will realize that there are quite a lot of things to take note of. However, the process has been fun and interesting.
For 3DVA, we started out by sketching and modeling a character. Afterwards, we practiced movements (animating them). For example, bouncing ball (stretched and squashed) and how the pendulum move and swing (overlapping). For our final project, we did a full walk cycle which is whole body movement. We need to portray the characteristic through the walk cycle.

For 3DPF, we modeled out props and also did facial expression. We started to “act out” using a character (which is actually holgan, a robot character). For our final project, we did a short 11 seconds animation based on a sound clip. Here, we must lip sync for the character and also include suitable movements and appropriate props for the animation. This project enhanced our creativity and imagination as we created our own props and setting here.

Here are some of the images of what I had done for 3DPF.

Guitar prop for Holgan

Microphone prop for Holgan

Different face expressions of Holgan

My closing words to our freshies and junior, put in all efforts in doing your assignment.

When it’s done nicely, you will have a sense of satisfaction (:

Rich Media Application Development (RMAD) - Insights on the module

Hey peeps, Danielle here! Semester 2.2 has ended for me and I would like to talk a little about Rich Media Application Development which is a Distributed Media elective. In case you do not know what are electives, in Interactive Media Informatics, everyone has to choose from 3 options in Semester 2.1. The options are Distributed Media, Edumatics and 3D. So I'm from the Distributed Media option and Im here to talk about one of the electives I took.

Rich Media Application Development (RMAD) is about developing a Flash website based on e-commerce themes. So this is my work for the project. My group created a flash website that provides stock photos. Its like Photobucket or iStockPhoto. Basically visitors have to sign up for an account to be able to download the images or stock photos. Registered users can comment and add favourites to photos and follow other users. The concept is also derived from Facebook to give users more interaction.

The difference between the normal e-commerce websites and this flash website is that you will get to see a lot of animations and transitions from page to page. This is created in Flash Builder and also involves the use of database and mySQL to function.

I would say that creating this website was a very tedious process. Also because it is in term-mode which means we only had 8 weeks to finish this, we spent a lot of time experiementing with the codes as not everything is being taught in class.

Its all about self-exploration and testing to get things the way you want them to work. Flash Builder has already quicken up the process of creating such websites and all we have to do is learn how to use the different functions it offers.

I hope that I haven given a deeper insight to our freshies becoming juniors this april and also to anyone who wants to understand what we do.

My MMP1 experiece

Hey it’s RAINE! Here to blog something since it has been a while since I blogged.  

As my freshman year has ended. (yays to holidays that I’m having now) I decided to do a reflection entry on one of the modules I took in semester 1.2.

This module is called multimedia project 1 (mmp1). It’s one of the modules I looked forward to every time in my previous semester since the others modules are rather dry for my preference. This module is all about being creative. When I first took this module I had a hard time to come up with new ideas as I was rather afraid that my ideas may be silly. But as the time passes I learnt how to think of more ideas and also modify them so that it will become a good idea.

Some of my work:

(self promotion poster)

(my concept, for a new stamp design, prototype)

Why do I love this module compared to the others? Well, this module makes me use my creativity to think of new ideas, I get to use my favorite software and also have a field trip to museums and come up with new ideas for my project work. I had some difficulties coming up with my report and generating new ideas. But it was a fun experience and not forgetting that my hard work for this module paid off with an awesome grade!

I hope the new freshman will enjoy this module like I did when they take it in 1.2 (:

Alright this is me signing off. ^^

The Joys of Teaching Web Designing – Reflections of a Lecturer

During this April 2010 semester, I had the privilege of teaching the module “Web Design” (WDS) to Year 1 students (Freshmen) from the Diplomas in Games and Entertainment Technology (GET), Interactive Media Informatics (IMI) and Mobile & Network Services (MNS). WDS is a core subject offered to all Year 1 students studying in the Temasek Informatics & IT School. In class, students were taught to use Microsoft Expression and Adobe Fireworks CS3 to build their websites.

For me, this week had been an exciting time of the semester where I could sit back, relax and enjoy my students’ wonderful presentations of the fruits of their weeks of labour – their completed websites! At the end of the 16-week stint, the project presentation was their final challenge and manifestation of their successful completion of the WDS module after surviving other hurdles of completing the research proposal and term test earlier.

I marveled at my students’ efforts and hard-work to produce quality websites that they can be proud off. I listened with interest as they reflected their challenging yet meaningful experience of their self-directed learning endeavours of learning additional softwares beyond the subject syllabus.

When I observed my students beamed with pride and happiness as they stood tall to present their websites, I knew that this subject had certainly achieved its objectives of equipping students with the basic yet practical skills and knowledge of web designing. I was also pleasantly surprised when some of them demonstrated how they had exceeded my expectations by incorporating programming and photography skills learnt from other subjects, to value add and increase the interactivity of their websites and adding the ‘wow’ factor. Indeed that had been the most rewarding experience for me as the facilitator for these self-motivated students!

Their smart formal attire had added a touch of professionalism to their presentation, helped boosted their confidence and gave them the experience of presenting their websites to a real-life client when working in the industry.

For the next batch of WDS students, heed these useful tips and advice from these seniors who had gone through the rigour of web designing - start working on your research proposal early in the semester, practice good time management, be consistent and avoid
procastination.

Just like my students, I too have had a fantastic and joyful experience teaching, interacting while learning together with them as well. This can be seen from their smiles and happy faces in the photographs seen here. While I felt sad to say goodbye to these students at the end of our short learning journey together this semester, I knew that the warm friendship and bonding we had shared will be cherished in our hearts for a long time to come. Thanks to the advent of digital new media, we can continue to virtually keep in touch with one another via Facebook, Twitter and MSN.

I certainly can’t wait to proudly demonstrate the good works of these students to motivate and inspire the future batches of WDS students. What a delightful closure I had had for this April 2010 semester!

Anyway, here are the photos I took with my classes:

Interactive Media Informatics - We Did Our Best!

Interactive Media Informatics - WDS Rawkz!

Interactive Media Informatics - Our Best Websites

Game & Entertainment Technology - We Made It!

Game & Entertainment Technology - We Love WDS!

Game & Entertainment Technology - We Are Proud of Our Work!

Mobile & Network Services - WDS Is the Best!

Mobile & Network Services - Satisfied With Our Websites!

Mobile & Network Services - Gerl Power!

These photos are hard evidence that classes in TP are fun, & both lecturers like me & the students enjoy our classes. Even though I'm always sad to see students leave, but as I said earlier, we still keep in touch virtually, & I get to know even more wonderful students! Teaching in TP is a wonderful experience for me! With that, I leave you with this post.

Your awesome lecturer,
Ms. Farida