AAU Class F.A.Q., Links and Resources

This post is for my current/former/future AAU students and has a condensed collection of links, which will hopefully be helpful to them.

Technically I want my students to be exposed to as much animation information as possible, but for all the general animation links, feel free to check out the "Animation Resources" section.

But for now, please make sure to read the:

• "AAU Class F.A.Q."

- here you will find answers related to our class and if not, let me know!

You obviously need animation rigs in order to start your shots and most students are using the "Norman" rig. Since I prefer that you tweak "Norman" at least a little bit so that he's not just grey, I want to point you to Nair Archawattana's

• "How to modify Norman Tutorial"

which gives you excellent step-by-step instructions. I also recommend that you play around with other rigs in order to make your shot(s) more original and fun. To see most of the free Maya rigs (I'm adding new rigs whenever time permits), please visit:

• "Animation Buffet"

There are already a lot of rigs available and the selection is growing. Have fun!

Next up are very handy tools which can speed up your workflow:

• "frameCounter" (the file)
  
• "frameCounter" more info on it
  
• "Dry Erase"
• "Custom Hotkey - Nurbs Controller On/Off"
• "Animation Hotkeys"

& Of course this list is not final and I will add new tools but so far these should do the trick.

Not that you have all the time in the world, but I still recommend that you go through as many previous posts as possible. Hopefully my Summary Lists will speed up the process a bit:

• Spring 07 Class Summary
• Fall 07 Class Summary
• Spring 08 Class Summary
  
• Summer 08 Class Summary
• Fall 08 Summary
• Spring 09 Summary
  
• Summer 09 Summary
• Fall 09 Summary
  

You can also use the "Labels" for specific browsing (both on Spungella and Academyanimation).

Finally, just in case you need to be up-to-date with AAU dates & events, here's the:

• "AAU Calendar"

That's it so far. If there is anything you want me to add, please let me know.