Version 2 of Animation Mentor is here!
By: Bobby Beck CEO/President of AnimationMentor.com
When I think of a new version of anything, I always look to see if it is truly a breakthrough or simply a "face lift" with few true changes. I will start off by saying V2 of Animation Mentor is truly a 100% improvement from the ground up. If you have followed Animation Mentor to date, you will read and hear many great things about the school, how it fosters a very healthy online community and offers an online education experience that is second to none. But we all know there's always room for improvement, and here at Animation Mentor, we embrace that simple truth.
With the launch of V2 we have brought together the best suggestions from our mentors, students, and staff to improve every aspect of the school.
New Technology:
First of all, the site has been completely redesigned and re-engineered to take advantage of the latest in video and communication technology. This has allowed us to implement numerous new robust features.
Some of those features include: Larger (720 X 480) training videos (unlimited viewings per quarter). Dramatically improved video compression for all our video lectures. Large 640 X 480 student animation uploads for easy viewing and commenting. A host of new online community features that make viewing student work much easier and more enjoyable, including Video Journal Entries where students may leave video comments on their profile page. An entirely new Cruise the Campus™ feature allows for easy linking from forum-to-workspace and from student-to-student. Search by Country allows our students to make closer connections with their fellow classmates who live in their country. Our Buddy List provides easy bookmarking of a friend or a favorite student's workspace pages. Internal messaging allows for students to send messages back and forth using their internal Animation Mentor mail account. Community Chat allows for students to chat with their fellow classmates, as well as break off into more specific class-related topics. Our school Calendar is synced to each student's time zone and moves all their events to their specific date and time! These are just some of the many new features for our students.
Support:
As of our Winter 2006 term we are proud to announce 24 hour technical server-side support. If the server has issues we will be alerted and our technical support staff will deal with any issues quickly.
Curriculum Changes:
Throughout the last few quarters, and during our mid-term mentor summits, we've gathered a lot of great feedback and input on ways to tighten up the curriculum and assignments. What resulted from these fantastic brainstorming sessions is a drastically improved transition from class to class, all thanks to the input of our amazing group of talented mentors!
Mentor Additions:
We have radically increased the functionality of our mentor's eCritique™ tool, which allows the student to view two critique windows simultaneously. One of the mentor's web cam video explaining what needs to be improved, and the other window showing the student's work at a very high quality resolution. There are also new drawing tools that allow the mentor to draw on a per-frame basis, thus animating on top of the student's work! Video Journals allow mentors to leave additional video comments for their students. Mentor Workspaces allow mentors to upload their own work or demos that they do during their weekly live web conference events. Mentor Workspaces are viewable by all students in the school. Our Forum offers a new professional bi-weekly Featured Mentor! This allows students to ask questions to a host of animation talent from all the major animation studios on a regular basis.
New Programs:
We are proud to offer our Maya Tutor Training class. This 6-week tutoring session includes 6 two-hour live web conference events, hosted by senior students and professional mentors. Each week, students submit their questions in advance, and they will be answered live during the class sessions. Select students may also have their actual Maya files reviewed in-depth during the live sessions.
We ran a beta test of this new program with 20 of our current students in the Fall quarter of 2005 with huge success. Rob Fazekas, Class 2 student of Animation Mentor said, "Overall I was very pleased with the program. I liked the format with a combination of questions, answers and demo walkthroughs. That's how I learn best!" Victoria White, Class 3 student of Animation Mentor said, "This beta testing has been invaluable!"
On top of the 100% revamp to our V2 Maya training videos (available to all Animation Mentor students) this offers an additional "tutor" to help specifically with any problems a student may be having with the software, so that they may overcome their technical issues and allow them to get to the core of bringing their ideas to life. This 6-week supplemental training program will be offered to Animation Mentor students for $295.
New Tools:
For students using Maya to animate, we are proud to offer a host of new "industry level" tools. These tools are available to both Mac and PC students within Maya and are accessible with a simple double click of a mouse! Students simply double click an installer and the tools are implemented into their Maya shelf! These tools allow our students to get familiar with the type of tools they will be using in the professional arena. Some of those include, a Shot Mask which provides embedded frame numbers, the student's name, and the status of their shot, which makes feedback much easier for the person commenting on the work. We also have a graphic interface Character Picker (provided by our friends at www.AnimationRigs.com) which allows students to pick all controls of our advanced characters in one easy to access place. We also provide an Arc Tracker, which allows students to plot their arcs visually to see what is happening quickly and adjust for finer polish. These are just a few of the many new tools that are now offered at Animation Mentor.
Overall we are very excited about the release of V2. It's an exciting feeling to improve the overall campus on such a grand scale, allowing the students to more easily obtain the kind of training and skills that allow them to focus and succeed in achieving their dreams.
Bobby Beck
CEO/President of Animation Mentor
With the launch of V2 we have brought together the best suggestions from our mentors, students, and staff to improve every aspect of the school.
New Technology:
First of all, the site has been completely redesigned and re-engineered to take advantage of the latest in video and communication technology. This has allowed us to implement numerous new robust features.
Some of those features include: Larger (720 X 480) training videos (unlimited viewings per quarter). Dramatically improved video compression for all our video lectures. Large 640 X 480 student animation uploads for easy viewing and commenting. A host of new online community features that make viewing student work much easier and more enjoyable, including Video Journal Entries where students may leave video comments on their profile page. An entirely new Cruise the Campus™ feature allows for easy linking from forum-to-workspace and from student-to-student. Search by Country allows our students to make closer connections with their fellow classmates who live in their country. Our Buddy List provides easy bookmarking of a friend or a favorite student's workspace pages. Internal messaging allows for students to send messages back and forth using their internal Animation Mentor mail account. Community Chat allows for students to chat with their fellow classmates, as well as break off into more specific class-related topics. Our school Calendar is synced to each student's time zone and moves all their events to their specific date and time! These are just some of the many new features for our students.
Support:
As of our Winter 2006 term we are proud to announce 24 hour technical server-side support. If the server has issues we will be alerted and our technical support staff will deal with any issues quickly.
Curriculum Changes:
Throughout the last few quarters, and during our mid-term mentor summits, we've gathered a lot of great feedback and input on ways to tighten up the curriculum and assignments. What resulted from these fantastic brainstorming sessions is a drastically improved transition from class to class, all thanks to the input of our amazing group of talented mentors!
Mentor Additions:
We have radically increased the functionality of our mentor's eCritique™ tool, which allows the student to view two critique windows simultaneously. One of the mentor's web cam video explaining what needs to be improved, and the other window showing the student's work at a very high quality resolution. There are also new drawing tools that allow the mentor to draw on a per-frame basis, thus animating on top of the student's work! Video Journals allow mentors to leave additional video comments for their students. Mentor Workspaces allow mentors to upload their own work or demos that they do during their weekly live web conference events. Mentor Workspaces are viewable by all students in the school. Our Forum offers a new professional bi-weekly Featured Mentor! This allows students to ask questions to a host of animation talent from all the major animation studios on a regular basis.
New Programs:
We are proud to offer our Maya Tutor Training class. This 6-week tutoring session includes 6 two-hour live web conference events, hosted by senior students and professional mentors. Each week, students submit their questions in advance, and they will be answered live during the class sessions. Select students may also have their actual Maya files reviewed in-depth during the live sessions.
We ran a beta test of this new program with 20 of our current students in the Fall quarter of 2005 with huge success. Rob Fazekas, Class 2 student of Animation Mentor said, "Overall I was very pleased with the program. I liked the format with a combination of questions, answers and demo walkthroughs. That's how I learn best!" Victoria White, Class 3 student of Animation Mentor said, "This beta testing has been invaluable!"
On top of the 100% revamp to our V2 Maya training videos (available to all Animation Mentor students) this offers an additional "tutor" to help specifically with any problems a student may be having with the software, so that they may overcome their technical issues and allow them to get to the core of bringing their ideas to life. This 6-week supplemental training program will be offered to Animation Mentor students for $295.
New Tools:
For students using Maya to animate, we are proud to offer a host of new "industry level" tools. These tools are available to both Mac and PC students within Maya and are accessible with a simple double click of a mouse! Students simply double click an installer and the tools are implemented into their Maya shelf! These tools allow our students to get familiar with the type of tools they will be using in the professional arena. Some of those include, a Shot Mask which provides embedded frame numbers, the student's name, and the status of their shot, which makes feedback much easier for the person commenting on the work. We also have a graphic interface Character Picker (provided by our friends at www.AnimationRigs.com) which allows students to pick all controls of our advanced characters in one easy to access place. We also provide an Arc Tracker, which allows students to plot their arcs visually to see what is happening quickly and adjust for finer polish. These are just a few of the many new tools that are now offered at Animation Mentor.
Overall we are very excited about the release of V2. It's an exciting feeling to improve the overall campus on such a grand scale, allowing the students to more easily obtain the kind of training and skills that allow them to focus and succeed in achieving their dreams.
Bobby Beck
CEO/President of Animation Mentor