Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation. Like a lot of kids, he enjoys comic strips and classic
comics and also draws his own comics (his writing is better than his
artwork). He's also familiar with a lot of styles of cartoons, from
Rocky & Bullwinkle and Wallace & Gromit up to popular kids' cartoons
(though we do limit TV watching). He astounded me recently by using
PowerPoint (which happens to be loaded on his computer, a Win98
hand-me-down) to create a several-minute-long, reasonably complex
animation. I know PowerPoint isn't the right tool for the job, but I
don't know what is. I'd like to get him some software suitable for
beginners that will introduce him to principles of animation and give
him the tools to do some fun stuff. It would have to be something
that's been around a few years, so it would work on his computer, but
then I'd also be happy to get something used. I just don't know what to
look for. Something designed to teach animation techniques would be
perfect. It would be great if it were directed to kids, but I'm not
looking for one of those branded software packages that let you insert,
say, Disney characters into pre-designed backgrounds.

I'd also be interested in recommendations on books or other resources
for him. This is a field completely alien to me -- I have art/design
training, but it was all before computers!

I'd be willing to send him to a summer class if I can find a suitable
one in this area, but summer's a long way off, and in any case he'd
probably do better if he first has the chance to learn some of the
basic programs/tools, whatever they are.

Suggestions on how to encourage this interest are very welcome.

--Robin

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

In article .com,
Robin wrote:
My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation. Like a lot of kids, he enjoys comic strips and classic
comics and also draws his own comics (his writing is better than his
artwork). He's also familiar with a lot of styles of cartoons, from
Rocky & Bullwinkle and Wallace & Gromit up to popular kids' cartoons
(though we do limit TV watching). He astounded me recently by using
PowerPoint (which happens to be loaded on his computer, a Win98
hand-me-down) to create a several-minute-long, reasonably complex
animation. I know PowerPoint isn't the right tool for the job, but I
don't know what is. I'd like to get him some software suitable for
beginners that will introduce him to principles of animation and give
him the tools to do some fun stuff. It would have to be something
that's been around a few years, so it would work on his computer, but
then I'd also be happy to get something used. I just don't know what to
look for. Something designed to teach animation techniques would be
perfect. It would be great if it were directed to kids, but I'm not
looking for one of those branded software packages that let you insert,
say, Disney characters into pre-designed backgrounds.

If he is doing animations with PowerPoint, you may want to skip over
the idea of kid tools and just go with a regular tool. Macromedia
Flash would be my recommendation in this regard, if you can find an
older version around that will run on the Win98 box. Macromedia has
trial downloads that you can use for 30 days, but I don't know if they
provide earlier versions, and the most recent version is unlikely to
work on Win98. But it at least gives you a starting point for a
search.

Flash isn't a program that will teach him how to draw, but it will
allow him to create some nifty computer animations. Because a lot of
webpage animation is done using Flash there are a lot of books and
help tutorials around for it.

If you can't find a version that will run on your computer, you might
try and see if there is an organization that is willing to lend
computer time in exchange for doing some web animation work. Many
community groups would love to have a website with computer animation
on it, and at 12 with some skills this is something that he could
likely do quite well given your description of him.

Carol Hulls

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

Robin wrote:

I'd be willing to send him to a summer class if I can find a suitable
one in this area, but summer's a long way off, and in any case he'd
probably do better if he first has the chance to learn some of the
basic programs/tools, whatever they are.

I don't have any suggestions for software or books, but googling for
"computer camps" should bring up links for a variety of tech-oriented
summer camps, many of them offered in a variety of urban areas around
the country. The several I've explored offer both day-only and
overnight options.

In the sites I've checked out I've been most impressed by this one:

http://www.internaldrive.com/

--Molly

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

On 2005-11-09, Carol Hulls wrote:
In article .com,
Robin wrote:
My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation.
...

If he is doing animations with PowerPoint, you may want to skip over
the idea of kid tools and just go with a regular tool. Macromedia
Flash would be my recommendation in this regard, if you can find an
...

Flash animation seems to be the popular approach for many of the
computer camps, so it is obviously easy enough to use for kids to do
something interesting.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

Carol Hulls wrote:
snip

Flash isn't a program that will teach him how to draw, but it will
allow him to create some nifty computer animations. Because a lot of
webpage animation is done using Flash there are a lot of books and
help tutorials around for it.

Flash is a neat thing to play with, and definitely a reasonable stepping
stone for a kid just getting into animation.

However, other than as a neat toy, there is almost never a good reason
to use flash on a web page. Flash in web pages is the kind of thing
that good web design folks go on ten-page tirades about. (I'll spare
you the actual tirade.)

So, to the OP: if your son's interest is in web design, not just playing
around with a cool toy, please make sure he knows that Flash is not the
right tool for the job.

If you can't find a version that will run on your computer, you might
try and see if there is an organization that is willing to lend
computer time in exchange for doing some web animation work. Many
community groups would love to have a website with computer animation
on it, and at 12 with some skills this is something that he could
likely do quite well given your description of him.

Carol Hulls


If your son needs help finding software (or even hardware) contact your
local Linux Users Group (most are listed at linux.org), or me... Free
Software people *love* helping out young people who are passionate about
any facet of computer technology.

illecebra

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

Robin wrote:
My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation. Like a lot of kids, he enjoys comic strips and classic
comics and also draws his own comics (his writing is better than his
artwork). He's also familiar with a lot of styles of cartoons, from
Rocky & Bullwinkle and Wallace & Gromit up to popular kids' cartoons
(though we do limit TV watching). He astounded me recently by using
PowerPoint (which happens to be loaded on his computer, a Win98
hand-me-down) to create a several-minute-long, reasonably complex
animation. I know PowerPoint isn't the right tool for the job, but I
don't know what is. I'd like to get him some software suitable for
beginners that will introduce him to principles of animation and give
him the tools to do some fun stuff. It would have to be something
that's been around a few years, so it would work on his computer, but
then I'd also be happy to get something used. I just don't know what to
look for. Something designed to teach animation techniques would be
perfect. It would be great if it were directed to kids, but I'm not
looking for one of those branded software packages that let you insert,
say, Disney characters into pre-designed backgrounds.

I'd also be interested in recommendations on books or other resources
for him. This is a field completely alien to me -- I have art/design
training, but it was all before computers!

I'd be willing to send him to a summer class if I can find a suitable
one in this area, but summer's a long way off, and in any case he'd
probably do better if he first has the chance to learn some of the
basic programs/tools, whatever they are.

Suggestions on how to encourage this interest are very welcome.

--Robin

I cannot reccommend Blender enough! It has a pretty steep learning
curve, but if your son is patient enough to read and try the tutorials
(and, if you can afford to blow 39 Euros on it, Blender's excellent
handbook), he will LOVE it. (It has even been used for a couple of
movies, IIRC including Spiderman 2.)

Blender is professional-grade 3d modeling and animation software that
has been released under an Open Source Software license. It is
available free of charge from http://www.blender3d.org for Linux, MS
Windows, Mac OSX, and Solaris. There are a number of free tutorials and
other resources on that site, and blender artists and developers hang
out in #blender, a channel on freenode IRC (freenode.net). They are
*very* welcoming to new artists, and a lot more knowledgeable than I am.

I'm not sure how old your son's computer is, but Blender uses the
computer's processor and RAM to render images, so he doesn't need the
latest-greatest graphics card to use it.

If he's more interested in still graphics, there is The GIMP at
www.gimp.org (or its better-known non-free counterpart Photoshop).

If you need *any* help please let me know. (I don't check my yahoo email
much, so please give me a heads-up here if you've emailed me.)

illecebra (yet another Free and Open Source Software geek)

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

illecebra wrote:
Robin wrote:
My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation. Like a lot of kids, he enjoys comic strips and classic
comics and also draws his own comics (his writing is better than his
artwork). He's also familiar with a lot of styles of cartoons, from
Rocky & Bullwinkle and Wallace & Gromit up to popular kids' cartoons
(though we do limit TV watching). He astounded me recently by using
PowerPoint (which happens to be loaded on his computer, a Win98
hand-me-down) to create a several-minute-long, reasonably complex
animation. I know PowerPoint isn't the right tool for the job, but I
don't know what is. I'd like to get him some software suitable for
beginners that will introduce him to principles of animation and give
him the tools to do some fun stuff. It would have to be something
that's been around a few years, so it would work on his computer, but
then I'd also be happy to get something used. I just don't know what to
look for. Something designed to teach animation techniques would be
perfect. It would be great if it were directed to kids, but I'm not
looking for one of those branded software packages that let you insert,
say, Disney characters into pre-designed backgrounds.

I'd also be interested in recommendations on books or other resources
for him. This is a field completely alien to me -- I have art/design
training, but it was all before computers!

I'd be willing to send him to a summer class if I can find a suitable
one in this area, but summer's a long way off, and in any case he'd
probably do better if he first has the chance to learn some of the
basic programs/tools, whatever they are.

Suggestions on how to encourage this interest are very welcome.

--Robin

I cannot reccommend Blender enough! It has a pretty steep learning
curve, but if your son is patient enough to read and try the tutorials
(and, if you can afford to blow 39 Euros on it, Blender's excellent
handbook), he will LOVE it. (It has even been used for a couple of
movies, IIRC including Spiderman 2.)

Blender is professional-grade 3d modeling and animation software that
has been released under an Open Source Software license. It is
available free of charge from http://www.blender3d.org for Linux, MS
Windows, Mac OSX, and Solaris. There are a number of free tutorials and
other resources on that site, and blender artists and developers hang
out in #blender, a channel on freenode IRC (freenode.net). They are
*very* welcoming to new artists, and a lot more knowledgeable than I am.

I'm not sure how old your son's computer is, but Blender uses the
computer's processor and RAM to render images, so he doesn't need the
latest-greatest graphics card to use it.

If he's more interested in still graphics, there is The GIMP at
www.gimp.org (or its better-known non-free counterpart Photoshop).

If you need *any* help please let me know. (I don't check my yahoo email
much, so please give me a heads-up here if you've emailed me.)

illecebra (yet another Free and Open Source Software geek)

Hey, thanks! I've been following this thread because my daughter is
highly interested in Japanese manga...animation and comic books
both...and would like to create her own. I wanted to be supportive but
paying for Flash is a bit (*cough*) beyond us at this point. We'll look
into the options you presented.

beeswing

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

beeswing wrote:
illecebra wrote:
Robin wrote:
My son, 12yo, is showing an interest in, and some talent for, computer
animation. ... I'd like to get him some software suitable for
beginners that will introduce him to principles of animation and give
him the tools to do some fun stuff.

Blender is professional-grade 3d modeling and animation software that
has been released under an Open Source Software license. It is
available free of charge from http://www.blender3d.org for Linux, MS
Windows, Mac OSX, and Solaris. There are a number of free tutorials and
other resources on that site, and blender artists and developers hang
out in #blender, a channel on freenode IRC (freenode.net). They are
*very* welcoming to new artists, and a lot more knowledgeable than I am.

I'm not sure how old your son's computer is, but Blender uses the
computer's processor and RAM to render images, so he doesn't need the
latest-greatest graphics card to use it.

If he's more interested in still graphics, there is The GIMP at
www.gimp.org (or its better-known non-free counterpart Photoshop).

Hey, thanks! I've been following this thread because my daughter is
highly interested in Japanese manga...animation and comic books
both...and would like to create her own. I wanted to be supportive but
paying for Flash is a bit (*cough*) beyond us at this point. We'll look
into the options you presented.

I had the same sticker shock when I looked at Flash (even used,
slightly outdated versions). "Free" is always a nice word when attached
to software! I am wondering, though, if with Blender, he will be
severely handicapped by not having Internet access. I can probably
figure out how to hook his machine up to my Internet connection long
enough to download the software, but engaging regularly on the message
board is out. (Eventually -- say, in high school -- he'll get his own
access, but for now, we have both technical and parental reasons not to
hook up his room.)

His computer is running Win98.

GIMP sounds like something I can use!

--Robin

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

Robin wrote:
snip
I had the same sticker shock when I looked at Flash (even used,
slightly outdated versions). "Free" is always a nice word when attached
to software! I am wondering, though, if with Blender, he will be
severely handicapped by not having Internet access. I can probably
figure out how to hook his machine up to my Internet connection long
enough to download the software, but engaging regularly on the message
board is out. (Eventually -- say, in high school -- he'll get his own
access, but for now, we have both technical and parental reasons not to
hook up his room.)

His computer is running Win98.

GIMP sounds like something I can use!

--Robin

If you like, I will make a tarball** of the better Blender tutorials so
that it would be easy to download them in one shot. (The best first
tutorial IMHO is the one on how to make a gingerbread man walk around.)
Just give me an idea of what your son's interests are like so I have
an idea of which ones to choose. (This may not happen until around or
after Thanksgiving... I'm already in full-steam holiday preperation.)

illecebra

**A tarball is a compressed archive, kind of like a .zip file. If you
can't open tarballs (.tar.gz or .tar.bz2) let me know and I'll do .zip
instead.

Need ideas for encouraging budding animator
 

"illecebra" wrote in message
...

If you like, I will make a tarball** of the better Blender tutorials so
that it would be easy to download them in one shot. (The best first
tutorial IMHO is the one on how to make a gingerbread man walk around.)
Just give me an idea of what your son's interests are like so I have an
idea of which ones to choose. (This may not happen until around or after
Thanksgiving... I'm already in full-steam holiday preperation.)

My 10yo son is quite talented at cartooning so I'm following this thread
with interest. He was really psyched about discovering Blender but the
learning curve, as you say, is steep. If you don't mind sending me a
tarball, too, after Thanksgiving, that'd be greatly appreciated. DS takes
classes at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. It's one of only a
handful of cartoon art museums around the world and definitely worth
visiting if you're ever in the San Francisco Bay Area.
http://www.cartoonart.org/

Noreen

heavlin at astreet dot com