Played the Charlotte Street Blues jam last Wednesday - great jam hosted by Sam Hare, and well attended by a huge range of musos, from die-hard old-timers to youngsters not quite old enough to buy a drink. All keen and sharing a passion for playin' the blues. It's a regular event that takes place most Wednesdays from 8pm. Check it out.
http://www.charlottestblues.com/
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Go Animate YouTube
With reference to my last post, GoAnimate now allows you to download a hi-res video of the animations you create on their site. They have also added a bunch of other cool features... I will have to go back and play when I have some time.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Go Animate!
When I was a young lad, I was fascinated by animation. I used to make little 'flip-book' animations and I was always drawing. I even made a couple of full-length comics (or should I say 'graphic novels' if I want to sound serious about it!).
Anyway, I recently started thinking about trying my hand at come digital animation. I've played with 3D animation software before but never really looked at the 2D side of things. I found some info at http://www.calicomonkey.com/blog/free-cartoon-animation-software.php and downloaded the 3 suggested apps. They each have their pros and cons - perhaps I'll review them at some stage. I also downloaded the free learning edition of Toon Boom Animate. It's great but it watermarks anything you render, and the full version is a couple of hundred bucks. I found a great video tutorial (http://cartoonsmartblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/free-toon-boom-animate-lesson-on-hierarchical-character-rigging/) that demonstrates drawing, rigging and animating a character from scratch. Very interesting and even useful as a backgrounder if you're not going to use Animate.
Finally, after some fairly technical slog, I decided to try a more 'instant gratification' approach and have some fun with the Go!Animate Animation Studio. It's very easy to use and amazingly powerful. My only complaint is that the site seems to get progressively slower when working on a long animation. Still, this is what I produced over the weekend:
I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together. And although Go!Animate isn't a fully-fledged animation app, it certainly exposes the user to several concepts and techniques that are fundamental to the animation process.
Anyway, I recently started thinking about trying my hand at come digital animation. I've played with 3D animation software before but never really looked at the 2D side of things. I found some info at http://www.calicomonkey.com/blog/free-cartoon-animation-software.php and downloaded the 3 suggested apps. They each have their pros and cons - perhaps I'll review them at some stage. I also downloaded the free learning edition of Toon Boom Animate. It's great but it watermarks anything you render, and the full version is a couple of hundred bucks. I found a great video tutorial (http://cartoonsmartblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/free-toon-boom-animate-lesson-on-hierarchical-character-rigging/) that demonstrates drawing, rigging and animating a character from scratch. Very interesting and even useful as a backgrounder if you're not going to use Animate.
Finally, after some fairly technical slog, I decided to try a more 'instant gratification' approach and have some fun with the Go!Animate Animation Studio. It's very easy to use and amazingly powerful. My only complaint is that the site seems to get progressively slower when working on a long animation. Still, this is what I produced over the weekend:
I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together. And although Go!Animate isn't a fully-fledged animation app, it certainly exposes the user to several concepts and techniques that are fundamental to the animation process.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Bass appreciation: Come Together - The Beatles
This bass line stands out as one of the most instantly recognisable and song-defining of all time, and is probably my favourite from both a player and a listener's perspective. The song was released in 1969 as the opening track of Abbey Road, with Paul McCartney adding this awesome groove to John Lennon's composition.
Come Together has been covered by many artists including Aerosmith, Soundgarden and Michael Jackson. For something a bit different, check out this version by Bobby McFerrin and Robin Williams (the actor/comedian) produced by Sir George Martin for his Beatles collection, In My Life.
Come Together has been covered by many artists including Aerosmith, Soundgarden and Michael Jackson. For something a bit different, check out this version by Bobby McFerrin and Robin Williams (the actor/comedian) produced by Sir George Martin for his Beatles collection, In My Life.
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