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ARTGR521: Final thoughts

What I did

As a designer, I have learned that I should choose different design media to present my ideas and complete the work under different situations since changes always go beyond plans. The progress of the three projects in this semester was a little bit tortuous, but overall I have gained a lot.

Now I will review one of the questions that I asked myself at the beginning of the final project. How will you measure success? My answer was that the final animation should be eye catching, informative, smooth and fluid. Actually, this answer is the goal of my entire project. Fortunately, my final animation gets close to this goal in the end. And it can be added into my portfolio after some necessary refinements.

What I enjoyed

This semester's learning rhythm was relatively flexible. I had the opportunity to choose the project I wanted to do and adjust my time to achieve my ultimate goals. After finishing the whole project, I found that I had read a lot of tutorials and articles, and recorded the whole process on tumblr blog. This is a surprise brought to me by this project. The internal driving force has always led me to follow my intentions to solve problems and make my ideas come true.

What I found difficult

I think the most difficult part is that as a designer, we need to learn to use various design softwares.  We have to live with modern technologies. We not only need creative ideas and excellent design thinking, but also need to build our skillsets with sophisticated, but useful technologies.

What really worked

I am glad that design thinking process really helps me work through the entire project. Not only the mind map works, but also other design thinking strategies, including HMW questions, POV, moodboard and color palette, play a helpful role. I am also very grateful that we have a very good learning website, Lynda.com, where tutoring videos are generously shared by professionals, which, as another benefit of modern technologies, has provided great help for rookies.

What’s next

Although my first year of graphic design study is coming to the end, I know that I should review a lot of basic knowledge that I have learned from this year, and use it as the cornerstone of what I will learn next. I will challenge myself to explore more forms and content of stop motion animation and motion graphics to enrich my portfolio, and think about the direction and topic of my thesis such that these experimental works can get deeper analysis and improvement.

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Project 3 presentation+Semester review

Final presentation

Final animation

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Project 3: Text animation & Transition

Second draft(04/30updated)

RESOURCE

Rough, vintage, old style looking text animation After Effects Tutorial

AE Typography Tutorial / Bouncy/Wavy Text Animation Infographics

Flip Text Animation in After Effects

Kinetic Falling Text

Animation Basics - Bouncing Ball

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Project 3: Work process in AE

Last step: Add ice cube & straw

Add background music & sound effect

First draft

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Project 3: BG music & sound effect

BACKGROUND MUSIC

1. Ukulele

2. Buddy

SOUND EFFECT

1. Pouring water

2. Pouring milk

3. Object drop in water

RESOURCE

www.bensound.com

www.freesound.org

3 Techniques To Syncing Motion Graphics To Music

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Project 3: Work process in AE

POURING TEA

Working on pouring tea animation:

Create a mask for fluid | zoom in

Liquid transition (AE Effect: Turbulent displace)

Refine milk carton in Adobe Illustrator:

Create pouring milk animation in Adobe After Effect:

ANIMATIONS:

Pouring water

Transition in between

Pouring tea

Pouring milk

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RESOURCE

Create The Liquid Effect For Motion Graphics

4 Trendy Motion Graphics Techniques in After Effects

4 Great Motion Graphics Techniques in After Effects

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Project 3: Reflection

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, the invisible art.

Ellen Lupton, Types on screen

RESOURCE

The Semiotics of Sequential Art

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Story-building techniques for animation using the power of symbolism and semiotics to increase narrative depth and meaning

Semiotics in Animation

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Project 3: Storyboard(refine)

The experience of the second project made me realize the importance of the storyboard, that is, it will determine the success of motion graphics. After doing some research and learning the basic knowledge of transition in motion graphics, I refined my original storyboard, and shape transition was considered and added wherever necessary and helpful. At the same time, I drew every frame of my animation and tried to present as much as possible to make my progress smoother and easier later in ‘After Effect’.

1. Opening(shape transition)

2. Step1: Make tea concentrate

    Step2: Make tapioca pearls(boil in a pot)

3. Step3: Put tapioca pearls in a cup

    Step4: Add flavored syrup in the cup

    Step5: Combine tapioca & tea

4. Step6: Add milk to fill the cup

    Step7: Add ice cube to desired temperature

    Step8: Straw

    Closing: Enjoy! (shape transition)

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Project 3: Pre-production

Project development map:

Ideation map:

POV board:

Moodboard:

New color palette:

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Project 3: Learning process

Weekly learning goal:

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After effect: Principle of motion graphic

*Notes from the tutorials:

1.This ensures that they get a better idea of timing. It's important to plan out every visual ahead of time because even with the aid of a voiceover,   successful motion graphics rely on visuals, camera movement, and timing to drive the story. Be sure to get the script, storyboard, timing and artwork approved before you before you start animation.

2. Next time you start the title design process, remember to focus on the typeface. Each different style can be used to reinforce your message almost as much as the words themselves.  

3. Animation methods: Set key frames; use a preset; use parenting  

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Motion graphic design: project planning and development

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Motion graphic design: composition 

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Types of Transition in motion graphics: (04/17 updated)

Organic shape transition

Truck/Pedestal transition

Transforming transition

Example

Resources:

Four steps every motion graphics project should follow (before starting animation)

Everything You Need to Know About The Motion Design Production Process

5 Reasons Motion Graphics Help You Connect With People

How to Apply Good Design at Every Level of Your Organization

5 Tips to Write a Motion Graphic Script Designers Won’t Hate

101 Resources For Writing Great Copy

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Project 3: New plan

Motion graphic animation

Software: Adobe Illustrator, After Effect

Outcome: motion graphic

Schedule

4/6 Project 3 begins

4/8 Reading, research, Lynda learning & online tutorials

4/13 Start sketching & story-boarding, brainstorm the visual treatments, start idea mapping,

4/15 Take the storyboard into Adobe illustrator and start designing

4/20 Start animating the final designs in After Effect

4/22 Start searching for background music; record sound effects; voice over if needed

4/27 Keep editing the video in After effect

4/29 Finalize final piece of animation

5/4 Working on the presentation

5/5 Final: project 3 due/ presentation

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Project 3: Research

Bran Dougherty Johnson http://brandoughertyjohnson.com/

Andrew Embury http://www.aembury.com/

https://9-squares.tumblr.com/

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Project 2: Final thoughts

This project leads me to learn more about the designer's choice and thinking of the design media. My original plan was to use stop motion animation as the base, and use motion graphic to add and show more visual effects such as smoke, bubbles and other abstract patterns. Due to lack of necessary design materials and limitation of working spaces under the on-going situations, this plan on the multimedia design was changed to computer-aided motion graphic. Consequently, I am thinking about taking this project as an opportunity to explore the same ideas and means in a different way, including a study of semiotics in animation design, an examination of the difference between denotation and connotation, the creation of a visual animation, and the challenge of explaining instructional steps and communicating them visually. 

The main difficulty encountered in the entire project production process is lack of systematic learning. I often found myself clueless when having questions and issues about developing the animation, such as story boarding and unknown technical issues in ‘After Effects’. Therefore, it took much more time than I thought to make a complete motion graphic animation. Overall, it was a relatively challenging project. However, it was fruitfully rewarding in that I definitely learned more concepts and skills that were completely new to me, and I was able to create a prototype of my motion graphic animation.  

Considering that I want to finish the whole project and make it part of my portfolio, I plan to change my third project to continuing working on this project. I hope that, with proper guidance from Maurice, I can find a better solution to all the issues in this project. And I also want to take this course as the beginning of my future thesis work, so it may be wise to start doing some deeper research now.

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Project2: Presentation

Artgr521 project2 presentation

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Project2: Work process in AE

Step 1: Make tea concreate

1. Pour in water into a cup:

2. Animated the steam on the top of tea:

3. Color transition in the fluid:

Step2: Add tapioca pearls into another cup

Step4: Add syrup

Step5: Add tea

What I have learned from Adobe After Effect tutorials?

#1 How to edit path in Adobe After Effect?

#2 How to create color transition in Adobe After Effect?

#3 How to create animated steam in Adobe After Effect?

#4 How To Create a Slide Transition in After Effects?

#5 How to create pouring liquid animation in AE?

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Project 2: Research

The Marketing Power of Stop-Motion Animation

Benefits of Stop Motion Animation

Why Should You be Using Motion Graphics in Your Marketing Campaigns?

What Are Motion Graphics And When Should I Use Them?

Motion Design: How Motion Graphics Influence User Experience

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Project 2: Work process in AI

Objects that need to be drawn in Adobe Illustrator:

Objects that have been drawn in Adobe Illustrator:

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Color palette I am using in my project:

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Work process in Adobe Illustrator:

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Illustrations I made in Adobe Illustrator(04/03 updated):

Bubble tea:

Tea bag:

Hot tea:

Milk cartoon:

Tapioca pearls:

Syrup:

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What I have learned from tutorials:

#1 How to draw a flat glass filled with drink and ice cube?

#2 How to draw a milk carbon in Adobe Illustrator?

#3 How to draw a tea cup and steam in Adobe Illustrator?

#4 How to draw a water drop in Adobe Illustrator?