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Entertainment Technology News
CINEMA 4D in the Classroom
By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Sep 21, 2011, 06:02 |
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As featured in StudentFilmmakers Magazine; 2011, Volume 6, No. 2, Pages 58 and 59. Click here for the article clipping. To order and download a free DIGI-Issue of magazine, click here.
3D Animation
CINEMA 4D in the Classroom
Using C4D and a render farm made from two iMacs,
students Lori Hazelton and Shane Leining, not only beat
other teams at the state level, they take home gold medals.
by Meleah Maynard
When Doug Clink, graphic
communications instructor at Newaygo
County Career Tech Center in Fremont,
Michigan, decided to teach his students
how to do 3D visualization and
animation last year, he never imagined
how far they would go with what they
learned. Having taught himself how
to use MAXON's CINEMA 4D, he just
thought it might be fun for them to
learn it too.
Maybe they could form a team, he
thought. Who knows, maybe they would
even be good enough to compete in the
Michigan SkillsUSA competition? He
could have dreamed bigger.
Using C4D and a render farm made
from two iMacs, Lori Hazelton and
Shane Leining (two of his students), not
only beat other teams at the state level,
they took home gold medals and went
on to compete at the National SkillUSA
contest in Kansas City, Missouri,
in June. (SkillsUSA is a national organization that helps prepare high
school and college students for careers
in technical, skilled and service fields.)
Hazelton and Leining, placed sixth
in the nation out of about 50 teams. This
time, in addition to the render farm, the
duo shared a mini-network they set up
with Clink's help, so they could talk to
each other and exchange models and
textures as they worked. "The teams
had six hours to storyboard, model,
animate, render and edit a 45-minute
animation and my kids finished 20
minutes early," Clink recalls. "It's been
really fun for students to learn how to
use CINEMA, but this isn't just for
fun, really, it's something students can
use to pursue careers in animation and
design."
The contest was sponsored by
Autodesk, so there was a written test
on Maya, as well as Maya software
prizes. Clink couldn't help noticing that
Hazelton and Leining were the only
students using Macs, and the only ones
using CINEMA 4D. "And after using
CINEMA for just one school year, we
beat every other team that had been
doing 3D for years."
Learning Curve
Clink's 3D animation and
visualization class starts at 7 a.m. and
Hazelton and Leining were just two
of the many students who get up early
to spend an hour learning C4D before
heading off to other classes at the career
center or their regular high. For the first
month or so, students focused on doing
projects outlined in a book provided by
MAXON, which Clink adapted for class.
They learned so fast, it wasn't long
before Clink started making up inclass
assignments to help prepare the
students to compete at SkillsUSA. The
theme of the contest is a tightly guarded
secret, so it was a happy accident when
it turned out that some of the work the
kids did turned out to be great practice
for the eventual contest theme: "We Are
Our Stuff."
Having modeled a desk and other
things that go on a desk in class, for
example, Leining, illustrated "We Are
Our Stuff" by creating a scene inside
a garage. Off to the side, away from a
parked car, a desk sits uncluttered save
for a toy car and a photo of a teenage
boy smiling with his parents. In a later
scene that same boy is visibly sad as he
stares at the picture of happier days.
The emotion in the scene is real, says
Clink, explaining that Leining lost his
own parents in a tragic accident not long
ago.
From the start, Leining's aptitude
for C4D showed. Originally enrolled
in the school's culinary program,
Leining was a student in Clink's earlymorning
3D class. But he soon became
so enamored with Cinema 4D and
graphic communications that he asked
to join Clink's two-and-a-half-hour
Graphic Communications class, instead.
"Because he had proven his ability to
learn quickly and has such an excellent
work ethic, I allowed him to transfer,
which gave him time to do what he
loved," says Clink. Leining soon caught
up with his peers, and in some cases
passed them.
Hazelton's project began with
assignments from the text: a cup,
paperclips, a picture frame. She made
simple objects and later used them
to populate a desk she modeled. Like
Leining, she is "tremendously talented"
and can draw, paint and design, Clink says. And she has also been through
some difficult times. Her father passed
away and her mother has been having
some health problems.
"I am impressed and awed by their
talent, hard work and perseverance,"
says Clink, adding that Lori has
excellent computer skills and was
constantly showing him new things
she learned in C4D. Her projects were
often many times more sophisticated
and detailed than her classmates. "It
was pure joy to review and evaluate
her work. She plans to pursue 3D game
design, graphic design or something else
related to CINEMA 4D.
Having had such a successful year,
Clink plans to continue using CINEMA
4D in his classroom. One of the things
he likes most about the software is that
students can start "making cool things
practically right out of the box, and
once they see the possibilities, they're
hooked."
For more information about Cinema
4D, visit www.maxon.net.
Meleah Maynard is a Minneapolisbased
freelance writer and editor.
Contact her at her website: www.slowdog.com.
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