Hi, I am keen to have a go at this course and I have downloaded the files but I noticed that Kent starts from a previous Xmas animation, whereas all the files in the download already contain many of the final assets like the pier and the lantern. Should I just delete these assets and start from scratch or can I access this Xmas animation file elsewhere?
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Scott - I wondered when this imminent question would come. Usually we try to supply source files that allow for easy step by step following along with the videos. However source files for this course proved tricky because there's a lot going on in the project and it's very easy to miss a step or get confused for someone trying to mimic each step. I can't tell you how confused I made myself trying to make sense of the original project + redone project for recording + the actual recordings and rehearsal files.
In the end I decided to discourage mimicking step by step by stating it in the Project the Project video as well as not including the majority of project files. I almost didn't include any source files. Rather the important things to learn from this course is conceptual, big-picture understanding: 1) How do more with less and 2) problem solving your way from animation to final render.
That said, I can provide the starting point project files (Wayne's animation .blend + library .blends) if you really want them. I'm just concerned it will result in more confusion than effective learning.
hi kent - i have the same question as scott and so i started looking for the Xmas animation course. i have not found it so far - does it exist and if not, will it be posted? i would really like to do this course!
i understand your raison d'etre for keeping the course conceptual, but i have to say that i am very disappointed. it is very important to have concepts explained, but with software as complex as blender, it is also incredibly important to embody knowledge and technique through physical and mental interaction, and this only really happens when actually following step by step. this course was the main reason for my signing up to cgcookie as i need to make a short sample animation in order to try to attract some investment in our animation projects.
btw, whilst searching for the xmas course i got the impression that the search categories only work on the data on the page being displayed (eg https://cgcookie.com/categories/3d/courses?page=1), not on the whole database of courses. i hope i am wrong about this, but i would be grateful to know for sure.
thx, julian darley
Hi @julianmyst - My apologies, I definitely don't want to disappoint. Since Scott's initial inquiry I uploaded all .blends and library files so you can step through those as you watch the videos. But the rendered image sequences are 25 GBs and we can't host files that big. So this means you need to render the sequence yourself if you want to follow along step-by-step with the compositing and video editing lessons.
The Xmas animation was never made into a course - It was just a microshort we made to wish happy holidays to our followers. If you're interested in making short films like this from start to finish, I highly recommend you check out my piero course.