User:A59303/sandbox

Book on teaching blender in a extracurricular setting.

obtaining a place

This may be the first thing that one should consider. Some things that should be necessary are wifi/internet access, and electrical power. Also, of course, one has to establish a rapport with the owner/manager/facilitator of the area/space. Also for any kind of potential project the time available should be considered. That is to say that one cannot expect to have the use of a space indefinitely nor can one create too much in an hour, or an hour a week.

One may not be able to keep attendance up if there is too much demand on the time of the participant and the student may not be interested in putting the time in to gain a particular goal, i.e. a walk cycle with their own character. To design, build, rig and animate a character for a new student probably should take months.

Of course this presumes my take on the class, which is a an informal and free experience. In a classroom setting where one is paying and being paid to teach I think that there is a higher expectation of participation.

public spaces

• libraries
• parks
• plazas

setting

outside, inside, loud, quiet, dry

commercial space

• malls
• studios
• schools

purpose

reason to use a private, commercial space for teaching, for example, it may be relevant to the service which the establishment provides.

• like studio
• school
• maybe a gaming store

personal space

• a home

etiquette

As one may be allowing someone into their home, how people behave may be of concern.

Not sure what to recommend although it seems crucial to get along with the group or individual responsible for the space.

obtaining computing

a crucial part of the goal is the tools which are required, in the case of computer animation, a suitable computer Is.

In Aug, 2016 these were the requirements needed to run blender; Taken from this page.

Minimum (basic usage) hardware

   32-bit dual core 2Ghz  CPU with SSE2 support.
   2 GB RAM
   24 bits 1280×768 display
   Mouse or trackpad
   OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics with 512 MB RAM

Recommended hardware

   64-bit quad core CPU
   8 GB RAM
   Full HD display with 24 bit color
   Three button mouse
   OpenGL 3.2 compatible graphics with 2 GB RAM

Optimal (production-grade) hardware

   64-bit eight core CPU
   16 GB RAM
   Two full HD displays with 24 bit color
   Three button mouse and graphics tablet
   Dual OpenGL 3.2 compatible graphics cards with 4 GB RAM

personal resources

owned

may have extra resources, or resources, on which to draw

bought

like going to the store and buying a computer

• funded providing money by which a computer can be bought
• provided the resources may be provided by some source
• contributed tools may be donated

resources

aids in teaching

guides

• web page
• books & printable material

for example, searching on the reference for books, try session, to come up with a guide for new teachers.

planned project

tutorials

• step by step

aids in producing

public

• downloading images for reference, for instance
• using youtube tutorial as a guide
• sketching a scene, for reference.

curricula

teaching

Using the first reference as a guide I am going to break down how to run a class on blender, once the other requirements are met. Some questions to start out might be:

teachers perspective

• What do we want the students to come away with

   Aparently from , to list this first is       
   backwards design

• What are we going to do in class

• from my single experience attempting to teach blender

I can explore some things that I noticed. For one it takes time for people to accomplish a task set for them to do. I had multiple ages in my class in a local library so that also influenced the activity. Some things people can do without help and others people cannot, this varies of course but I assume that one has to gauge this initially and periodically. As to the question "what to do"; We are going to use blender. So, assuming you are going to start from scratch, that is; clean install, blank virtual space, new idea... one might offer some suggestions on setting up the interface for ease of use. Naming the file to save so that people don't loose work that they have produced, finding the location to save to, importing any necessary files or information.

• a second class may yield more insight

My second class was much more successful. Although I think it is important to prepare people for an interface this complicated. Also to keep the project simple and straightforward seemed to work very well. I imagine that one could argue that people will think less intensively. The design of this specific class is to get people interested and "feet wet". To feel capable of approaching the software and that in-fact there is something that can be produced rather than wandering around forever. One problem I encountered is that my definition of a logo was lacking. That is; I am kind of looking for a generic black and white or flat vector type logo. This class is not intended for people who have experience with graphic design per-se. To be true I don't even know what the classic definition includes, or if that is what I am looking for.

students perspective

• What do the students want of the class
• What do the students want to come away with

first class

get feet wet.

planned project

example lesson plan

class settles	start program	pick project	finish project
turn on computer	basic introduction	individual choice	render animation
usb stick have/distribute	blender, 3D	make design	to usb stick
plug in usb, find.	like toy story, cinematic logos	traceable logo	video formats
setup directories	youtube examples?	keep brochure and cheat sheet handy	youtube target
distribute cheat sheet, brochure	example file on computer?	paper and pencils	filetype recommendations from youtube
explain cheat sheet	lights, camera, materials	scan logo	upload at class?
explain add object	standard setup ^	trace logo, curves	save blender file, pack
questions?	^ automate?	extrude, materials, lighting	explain pack

general curricula

• basic animation

• • computer animation
    • computer animation using blender

blender has the ability to animate 3 dimensional objects in a virtual 3 dimensional space. This ability comes with a learning curve. One of the common beginning problems is navigating this virtual space (see below: basic navigation). Once one has gained the ability to build an object and maneuver around it in 3d space, one can then proceed to animate.

Animation in blender is fundamentally governed by key-frames (and f-curves of those). To animate you set a key-frame for some characteristic; color, shape, location, light strength, etc. Then you set another key-frame further in time. In some of these cases animate me be the wrong term to use, I think animation usually refers to movement where the strength of a light may change over time but not 'move'

• basic modeling

After gaining some facility with basic modeling, the following references might prove useful

          All of the following are taken from the same website::
          basic sub d ref ,step by step nose and mouth, step by step human figure, edge reference, step by step head modeling, edge reference, head, edge reference, head, edge reference, head, edge reference, head

• basic navigation

This is probably the biggest hurdle to feeling comfortable in blender
might help: http://www.povray.org/documentation/3.7.0/t2_2.html#t2_2

• basic color theory
• basic rendering

advertisement

pamphlets, word of mouth.

For example:

 Computer animation class brochure:

  [[1]]
  [[2]]

participation

Obviously one wants to encourage participation, although in this case the computer
in front of the student is where most of that effort will likely go.

Also one may consider that something done in the class will take up time, in addition
to the time needed to perform the task already intended.

The instructor may need to aid the participant in whatever they are doing. Groups that
can work together and problem solve may be advantageous, although may need space.