I began this semester with the basic understandings of animation that most people have.  ‘Oh like Disney and stuff’.  That kind of thing.  I had a basic idea of animation and knew of a few animators who were famous and some who were local.  Design Discourse 1 offered me the opportunity to learn and listen to lectures being given by individuals who were highly knowledgeable on areas of animation history.  I heard in depth about the development of animation as a whole and how the early experiments of animation were stepping stones that helped us reach the heights of animation that we know today.

I loved the lectures we received and took a lot from them.  I gained information about animation styles I had never been interested in and started to research them and educate myself further in regards to them.  I took a lot from them and they become essential in helping me write my essay for this module as well as find contextual references when developing and researching projects for other modules of this course.

Just like animation history, I began this semester totally clueless with the 3D software side of animation.  I dreaded the week that we would begin to open up Maya and start to explore the various tools and abilities it had.  I was completely freaked out and it took at least 2 weeks before I felt fully comfortable sitting and messing around within the software.

I achieved a lot within this area of the module.  From someone who had never even thought or understood animation software, to someone who could make a bouncy ball move and react within an obstacle course that I designed within Maya.  I am proud of my progress within this medium and am extremely excited to see where this style of animation leads me next semester.

I am encouraged and motivated to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone and start to take on more outrageous and brain-melting tasks within the software Maya.