School of Motion Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 10: After Effects to Code, a chat with the developers of Lottie from Airbnb Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Imagine a world without After Effects. Every time you sit down in front of the computer to animate you have to write code. Not just a few lines like you do with most expressions; hundreds of lines with variables, if-then statements, pixel dimensions, and crazy math formulas for your eases. This nightmarish way of animating has been, until very recently, the sad reality for app developers.

Airbnb has a new way of animating. Lottie, a new open-source tool, is a game changer for App developers and the Motion Designers that work with them. It takes your animation from After Effects (with a little help from Bodymovin') and spits out all the code you need, ready for use on a variety of platforms. In this interview Joey talks to Salih Abdul-Kareem and Brandon Withrow of Airbnb. They dig into all the details of how Lottie works, why it's needed, and the role of Motion Design at a company like Airbnb.

Check out the show notes: http://www.schoolofmotion.com/after-effects-to-code-lottie/

Episode 9: The Conductor, Producer Erica Hilbert of The Mill Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Producers do more than budgets. They are the conductors of the MoGraph orchestra... they do the dirty work so the artists can give total focus to their craft. They have to master the art of telling clients "no" without saying "no," they have to read the tea-leaves when it comes to budgeting and scheduling. And, of course, they are often the gatekeepers to getting booked as a freelancer.

Our guest today makes Producing look easy. In this podcast episode, Joey talks with Erica Hilbert, Producer Extraordinaire at The Mill in Chicago. She knows all about the art of wrangling a project; keeping everything on schedule and under-budget. This interview is a real eye opener for any artist who has never stopped to think about the importance of the Producer and what our lives would be like without them.

Dont forget to check out the show notes! http://www.schoolofmotion.com/the-conductor-producer-erica-hilbert-mill/

Episode 8: Justin Cone talks Motionographer and the Motion Awards Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Motionographer does a lot for our industry... They inspire us, interview industry professionals, educate us, and put on the amazing F5 Conference. In this interview Joey talks to Motionographer Co-Founder Justin Cone about their Patreon campaign and the latest project Motionographer is heading up, The Motion Awards. Justin and Joey get deep into the nitty gritty about this new award, why the industry needs it, and what makes it different from all of the other award shows out there.

Justin also offers his wisdom on what makes great design, well, great. We'll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with originality. If you want more than that you'll have give this one a listen.

Don't forget to check out the show notes below for links to all of the studios, work, artists, and resources mentioned in this podcast.

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/enter-the-cone-zone-the-motion-awards/

Episode 7: Cinema 4D, The Hassenfratz Effect Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Cinema 4D is one of those apps that you start learning and never stop. Frankly, most of the apps we Motion Designers use fall into that category. EJ Hassenfratz has built up a reputation as an amazing C4D artist and teacher. His tutorials have been featured on GreyScaleGorilla, he has presented for Maxon at various conferences, and his work shows that he can also walk the walk. Joey had the pleasure of chatting with EJ about the tutorial scene, how they both learned Cinema 4D, and the challenges of learning such a massive app (not to mention the challenges of understanding the 3D workflow in general).

EJ is gentleman, a scholar, and a beer enthusiast. We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did. Make sure to check out EJ's work and more at EyeDesyn.com!

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/cinema4d-ej-hassenfratz/

Episode 6: Nobody is Born a Designer, A chat with Lilian Darmono Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Lilian Darmono is an Australian / Indonesian-Chinese artist living in London. To say she has a diverse background is an understatement. She is not only multi-cultured and well traveled, her illustration style is a constant exploration of new styles. Yes, she tends to be on the cute side of things, but why not? Sometimes we just need to say "awwww" and feel a bit fuzzy inside.

In this interview, I tried to dig into Lilian's talent to find out her secret... how does she combine colors so masterfully? How does she (seemingly effortlessly) jump from one style to the next?

Lilian speaks very candidly about her career as a designer and illustrator and how being a woman has shaped that experience. She doesn't hold back, and I think this conversation has an incredible amount of wisdom and actionable strategies in it.

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/nobody-born-designer/

Episode 5: Sound Design for Fun and Profit Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Want to know what it takes to be a pro at sound design? To say that Frank Serafine might know what he's talking about is probably a huge understatement. Frank has been around doing sound design since before many of you were born. He's seen technology change they way that things are done, not just in audio, but in film also.

In this epic chat, Frank and Joey geek out over how he developed sounds such as the Light Cycles in Tron, massive Spacecraft in the Star Trek movie, and many others... all without the benefit of ProTools or other modern bells-and-whistles.

He has a TON of great tips on how to become a sound designer, whether you just want to add sounds to make your animations stand out or maybe even do it as a pro. Take a listen.

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/frank-serafine/

Episode 4: The Code Never Bothered Me Anyway Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Ever hear of Houdini? No, not the magician, the software by SideFX. Joey got a chance to have a very nerdy talk with the super genius Christopher Hendryx about his work at Disney as an FX Animator.

Christopher was the lead artist in charge of Elsa's ice magic on a little film you may have heard of called Frozen. He created a very flexible and powerful rig in Houdini to create the effect, and shares a lot of insight into how he goes about making the insane visuals that he's responsible for.

He also talks with Joey about why Houdini is turning out to be the "software of choice" for FX, and how one might go about learning it.

Prepare yourself, things are about to get real nerdy. http://www.schoolofmotion.com/an-interview-with-the-brilliant-chris-hendryx/

Episode 3: Matt Frodsham gets weird Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Matt Frodsham is a Cinema 4D Black Belt. His reel is full of weird and wonderful work, much of it completed with his friends at the incredible Berlin-based Zeitguised. His work is abstract, provocative, playful, and extremely polished.

Check out his reel to see what strange places his mind has been whilst sitting in front of an insanely powerful multi-GPU computer-beast with Cinema 4D opened up. https://vimeo.com/121924175

In this episode Joey chats with Matt at length about his experience working with such an amazingly creative group of people, how he (and Zeitguised) balance doing work for the reel versus work for the meal, and about how he deals with burnout.

The goal of this interview was to paint a picture of what Matt's career looks like, and hopefully you leave inspired and ready to go get funky and weird with your own work.

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/matt-frodsham/

Episode 2: Twisted Poly talks shop Mar 03, 2017

Show notes

Want to know the secret to amazing work? Us too. Unfortunately, the secret is "work really really hard."

Working out of his home office in the capital of Slovenia, Nejc Polovsak is consistently turning out some of the most creative, polished, and beautiful 3D work in the Motion Graphics world.

What's really incredible about Nejc is that he's more or less self-taught. He never received a formal education in design, animation, or any of the hard-core 3D techniques he uses to make his work look so incredible.

Check out Nejc's reel. https://vimeo.com/125433577

In this episode Joey talks to Nejc about how he got so damn good at doing this stuff, and then really dis into his process, his favorite tools, and his style. By the end of this interview you'll feel incredibly inspired to go make something cool.

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/interview-twisted-poly/

Episode 1: The Almighty Rich Nosworthy gets geeky about 99 Frames Mar 01, 2017

Show notes

New Zealand-based 3D Artist extraordinaire Rich Nosworthy is about as humble a guy as you'll ever meet. He single-handedly makes some of the coolest photorealistic 3D animations you've ever seen, and still finds time to be pestered with all kinds of questions from people who want to discover his secrets to killer work.

If you haven't already seen this... take a minute to check out this great piece he just released to promote the 99 Frames Competition.

https://vimeo.com/121563328

In this interview, Joey asks Rich to take him from-start-to-finish through the entire process of making this piece. They get deep into modeling techniques, texturing strategies, VRay specifics... it gets geeky fast and it stays there.

Find out more about the 99 Frames competition as well as all of the resources we talk about in this interview by looking below at the Show Notes section.

Enjoy!

http://www.schoolofmotion.com/interview-with-the-almighty-rich-nosworthy/

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