Demo Reel Project

Students,
As part of your final you will produce a high energy demo reel that showcases your work during the semester.

Demo Reel Project:

Having a compelling demo reel is a key component in communicating your talents and digital media skills to potential employers and clients. You final project is to create a demo reel that showcases your skills. Read: Tips on creating a demo reel

• Choose a short and high energy piece of music to edit your demo reel to, make sure you have this ready before you begin editing
• Launch Adobe Premiere and begin adding all of your rendered animation assets and video projects from the semester (work from other classes or prior semesters/independent work is allowed)
• Create an intro slide plus an ending title slide with your name and email/contact info
• Edit your slides, images, animations and videos to your music, make sure to edit on the beat of your music track to keep it compelling
• Demo reel music and action should crescendo towards the end
• Keep the demo reel down to 1 minute or 1:30 approximately
• Include tails
• Turn in via NAS or SNET in full HD H.264 with 10Mbps Data Rate

Have fun!

- Mr.W

The Big Video Project: Choose Your Destiny!

Hello Students,

This project along with your portfolio will make up your final. This last video project is a free style, you can create the project you want to, but I expect it to reflect the skills and knowledge you have been granted over the course of this class. Your video project, no matter what form it takes, should show good editing, smooth camera work, good use of transitions, tell a story or deliver information in an entertaining fashion. There should be well crafted titles and credit rolls at the beginning and end of your project. You should find ways to utilize the motion graphics and animation skills to enhance your project in appropriate ways.

What Project will you make? :

It is up to you to decide what project you would like to complete for your final. You must make sure that you can accomplish this project with the time we have left in class. It is possible to create 2 short documentaries instead of a long form documentary. You are expected to utilize all skills developed in the project for planning, creating, editing, crafting title animations and visual effects, sound and sound effects and presentation as a production with accompanying materials is required.. Time management is crucial.

Here are some ideas for projects:

• Original Narrative or Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery, Etc...
• Documentary project
• Comedy Skits/Shorts/TV Show
• Experimental Video
• Music Video
• 2D Animated Short
• 3D Animated Short

How to Get Started! :

• Build a team of dedicated filmmakers, actors, artists and camera operators to participate in your project
• Decide on a concept/idea for your project
• Write a full page proposal to get approval from your instructor before proceeding
• Create a storyboard, shot list or script for your project... whichever suits your project best and get approval from your instructor before filming begins. 
• Schedule your shoot, decide on locations, check out equipment, gather costumes or props if needed, make sure everyone on your team is on board and begin production

Project Requirements:

• Each team is expected to complete:
• 1 page proposal for project complete with all project details, subjects, locations, summaries, storyline, content, special effects, etc...
• A storyboard, shot list or script that clearly describes the project, scenes, transitions, special effects, audio, camera angles, action, dialogue.
• A well edited final project free of technical errors.
• Well designed, animated title sequences and credit roles that are appropriate to the film subject or style and some use of motion graphics, special effects to enhance or create transitions or scenes in the project.
• Each team must completed a press kit with biographies
• Each project must create an animated production logo

Schedule for Final Projects:

• Project proposals should be done and approved by April 17th
• Storyboard/shotlist/scripts should be done and approved by April 22nd
• Preliminary shooting should be completed by May 10th
• Rough Cut should be complete by Friday May 17th
• Final Project completed with Press Kits by May 31st
• ROP Portfolios with Demo Reels Due June 4th

Grading and Evaluation:

• You will be graded against the Video Production Rubric. Familiarize yourself with it to achieve maximum points.
• Summary:
• You are expected to have a clear description of what your project aims to achieve and each team member should have a clear definition and fulfill their roles effectively
• You are expected to have a storyboard, script or shot list that illustrates your project clearly with beat, structure, transitions, special effects, sound effects, audio tracks, lower thirds, titles, etc
• The content should have a clear statement of purpose or theme and be a quality creative work.
• Your completed project is expected to have all elements defined, be well edited and be free of technical problems.
• Teams are expected to met, discuss and contribute to the project, and work with respect for each other.
• All deadlines are expected to be met.

Biographies, Press Kits and Logos: 

Each filmmaking team is responsible for assembling a press kit and writing the biography for their film. These materials are used to distribute the project to film festivals and for publicity.

Biography:

A biography is a brief, third-person description of the filmmaker(s). Information that is typically included in a biography includes: place of birth, place of residence, educational background, past projects, current projects, areas of interest.

A sample biography:

Jason Jakaitis is a filmmaking student at San Francisco State University and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Master of Arts program in Communications Studies. Born and raised in San Diego, he currently lives in the Upper Haight area of San Francisco. In 2007, Jason was awarded a Murphy Fellowship from the San Francisco Foundation, as well as a Personal Works grant from Film Arts Foundation and a New Filmmaker grant from Panavision. Jason's previous film, minutiae, is a 16mm narrative short that was awarded Special Jury Prize at the Portland International Short Short Film Festival, and screened at the 2007 Mill Valley, Humboldt and Santa Cruz film festivals.

Logos:

Your team must produce a logo for your “production company”. This logo could be hand illustrated or created with motion graphics but it must show strong technical skill and be effective and creative.

Press Kit:

Depending on the project, press kits can be composed of a variety of different kinds of information, but the overall goal of the kit is always the same: to provide the individual with as much relevant information about the film as possible. This information can then be used in articles, in film festival schedules, online “blurbs” and any other way that a festival would choose to promote the film.

Check out this link: How To Make A Press Kit for your Indie Movie

Download and read a real press kit: Press Kit for  the film Some Kind Of Wonderful

Check out this press kit: Quivir Press Kit

Check out this press kit: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Press Kit

Press Kits require the following: 

• Two or more still images from the film itself 
• Two behind the scenes production stills taken with a camera, cell phone cam, ipod camera, point and shoot, etc 
• One “headshot” photo each of the filmmakers and actors
• A one paragraph (3-4 sentence) synopsis of the film
• A one paragraph biography of each filmmaker 
• You can assemble your press kit using google docs, pages or word, indesign, photoshop or illustrator and turn it in as a PDF file

Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford, behind the scenes production still from the film "Blade Runner"

Production Still from the film "Blade Runner"

Original Press Kit from the film "Blade Runner"

Behind the Scenes Production Still from Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

Production Still from Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

Good luck Filmmakers!

- Mr.W

How to Write a Good Great Resume and List of References

Hello Students,

Having a solid resume is the cornerstone developing your career. A well written and well designed resume is what sets you apart from other job applicants. A perfectly written job application, a quality resume and a list of positive references is the job seekers trifecta. In this class we will teach you these skills to help in your search for employment. Below is a list of resume writing tips, read over it before finalizing your own resume.

Link(right click to download): ROP PORTFOLIO HANDBOOK

Resume Writing Tips:

Put your typography skills to work:

Never use comic sans, zapfino or anything difficult to read or is more "expressive" than "rational". Use sans-serif for headers and section titles, pick a complementary serif font for all other text. Limit your fonts to 2, with 1 or 2 modifiers (bold, italic, etc). Also, refer back to our rules on typography in our introduction to typography and utilize those guidelines in your resume. Choose fonts that are complimentary to each other and assist in creating information hierarchy, this helps the reviewer find the information they need quickly. Choose a good sans serif font for your section titles and a complimentary serif font for the rest.

Have an objective:

Know the purpose of your resume and edit it for different job scenarios. Having a focused job objective listed on your resume will help you with attaining an interview and getting hired.

Back up your special skills with job experience:

List your skills but make sure your listed job experience, training or education reflects those skills. Are you really good at making websites? Let them know how and where you learned that skill.

Research and use the right keywords:

Every industry has its own language, research job offerings and pay attention to the keywords that are used. If you put your resume online with a job placement service they will often use certain keywords to search their database for potential hires.

Be descriptive with job experience:

A job title will communicate your role, but not the details of your work experience. List the duties, tasks, activities, skills and achievements that were part of your job.

Format your text:

Use bold text to start each section. Use bullets for lists. Make the document easy to quickly scan and read. Clarity of format is crucial, you have ten seconds before the employer will move on to another applicant.

List most recent job experience first:

This also goes for education, list the most recent first. If your still in High School you can say "future class of 2012", or "Currently attending HS".

List most important skills first:

When writing out your skill list make the most important skills the first ones on the list. If you are applying for a web design job, list your web skills first. Change and edit this for different industries/jobs.

Leave out the obvious:

It is not necessary to add "available for interview" or "references available upon request". References are standard and expected, and of course you are available for an interview. Thats the whole point!

Avoid negativity:

Don't trash talk past employers or state that you didn't like a past job. Simply state that you were looking for future opportunities.

Go with what you got:

If you haven't had work experience yet, just list any summer jobs, volunteer experience etc. If you have hobbies that are relevant to the job you can list those. If you don't have a diploma or degree then just list your estimated date for completion.

Proofread your resume:

Have your neighbor or classmate read your resume. Sometimes the spellchecker doesn't catch typos. The more eyeballs that see your resume before it gets in the hands of the employer the better.

Although these resumes contain similar information, styles do vary. Focus on what makes a resume readable, identifiable and effective. It should be unique to stand out from the rest, but not overly expressive as that can make legibility difficult.

Resume Writing Assignment:

Read:
Check out these links to get some tips from the pros
Practical Resume Writing Tips
20 Best and Worst Fonts for Resume Writing
More Best and Worst Fonts for Resume's
Resume Tips: Avoid These Typography Mistakes

Create:

• Download the ROP Career Portfolio Handbook and follow the template to write your own resume from scratch
• Create a 1 page resume that meets the handbook requirements for all included information
• Use any program or online tools of your choice to write your resume
• Demonstrate good typography, spelling and accuracy! 
• Make sure your resume shows good information hierarchy so it is simple to read and each section is listed clearly
• Email or print and turn in your resume  and list of references for credit - DO NOT POST YOUR RESUME ON YOUR BLOG! It contains sensitive information!
• Due Wednesday

List Of References Writing Assignment:
It is incredibly important to develop a great list of references. These references will help you obtain jobs, college admissions or acceptance into special programs.

Who makes a good reference?

• Teacher
• Coach
• Counseler
• Present or past employer
• Family friend
• Anyone that can speak highly of your abilities, skills and worth

References to avoid:

• Anyone under 18
• Personal friends
• family members
• Anyone who cannot speak highly of your abilities or skills

Important Tips:

• The format of your references should match your resume exactly, same header, same fonts.
• Do not include references on your resume
• Include at least three references
• All references should be responsible adults who know you well and can speak to your character and skills
• Always ask whether or not someone is willing to be a reference before including them in your list
• Verify the contact information before handing over to an employer

Format:

Use the following format for your references, using your own accurate information of course:

Persons Name:   Bob Smith

Address:            123 Fake Street

                          Santa Cruz Ca, 95060

Phone #:             (831) 555-4321

Title and              Business Owner

work place:         Moland Spring Bottled Water

Grading:

Your resume's and reference lists are graded assignments. For a total of 10 points, grading is as follows:

2Pts - Resume and List of References is complete per Handbook Guidelines

2Pts - Resume and List of References is well formatted and easy to read

2Pts - Resume and List of References contains no typos or errors

2Pts - Resume and List of References are two separate documents with consistent style, font and header

2Pts - Resume and List of References are emailed to me as PDF files with descriptive file names (don't send a file called "untitled.pdf")

Have fun!

- Mr.W

Video Production Scavenger Hunt

Hello Students,

Your next assignment will be graded on your ability to accomplish 20 specific technical shots or techniques and how creative you can be within those constraints while creating a video project. Minimum video length 2 minutes, 4-5 minutes max. We will discuss all these techniques and how to accomplish them in class. You will also be graded on time management, working in teams effectively and ability to meet the deadlines.

Teams will be chosen by picking numbers. Teamwork is crucial on this project, every one must participate and contribute to the final project. You will work in teams of 4.

Teams will shoot footage and share among each other, each team member will produce their own final edit of the project for grading.

20 Video Production Techniques

Video Project Specifications:

1 Page proposal/pitch must be approved before production can begin.

Production Schedule:

March 13th  - Proposal Due

March 18th  - Script, Storyboard or Shot List Due

March 27th  - Preliminary Shooting Complete

March 28th  - Rough Cut Edit Due

Feb3rd         - Final Editing Complete and ready to present to class

Format: The final format of the video is your choice, it could be a music video, action video, narrative or experimental. You could even make an instructional video about these video production techniques. Here are some format options:

• Produce a video about the positive people and events at our school 
• Produce 1 or more Public Service Announcements around a current local/social/environmental issue
• Produce a "Statement Video" on a topic that is personally important to you
• Produce a music video
• Produce a short narrative (drama, intrigue, wizards?)
• Produce 1 or more comedy skits and format it as a short comedy show

Grading: For full credit your video project must contain one example of each of the 20 shots listed below. Shots may be combined, for example a twin shot that is created with a green screen. Camera work should be smooth and steady. Editing should be well timed and without edit glitches or gaps. Must have titles and tails. All deadlines listed above must be met on time.

Rules: No content that glorifies violence, drug or alcohol use. Music must have family friendly lyrical content. 

Note: Each team member must take turns shooting and acting. Outside actors or camera operators allowed. Teams may help each other for difficult shots. All project storyboard/scripts/shot lists must be approved by me before production can begin.

Each team member is responsible for editing their own final version of the video, no group efforts with editing.

A shotlist and storyboard must be created and the final video must contain 1 example each of the shots or effects listed below:

1. Silhouette Shot - actor or actors must be silhouetted against a background

2. Green Screen Shot - actor or actors shot against green screen, background must be keyed out and replaced with background still image or video

3. Single Source Light Closeup - actor or actors shot closeup with single light source for high contrast

4. Shadow Shot - camera shows shadow only, can pan up to actor after, or show interaction between two characters through shadow only

5. Twins - use static camera and split screen effect to show actor and a "double"

6. Window Illusion - overlay semi-transparent video over actor or actors to simulate window reflection

7. Frame Within A Frame - look for environments or architecture that "frames" your actor or actors

8. Background Slide - use a sideways camera movement to give the impression that the background is moving behind your actor or actors

9. Handheld Dolly Shot - follow the action with a handheld shot, must use a tripod as a counterweight to reduce camera shake, change camera height during shot

10. Fall Away - camera walks backwards from actor or actors

11. Walk In - shot begins on actor 1, in the foreground or background actor 2 steps into frame

12. Camera Flow - shot begins with Handheld Dolly Shot following actor 1 walking to the right, actor 2 passes in foreground going in opposite direction and camera changes direction to follow actor 2. This change in direction can happen 2-3 times

13. Spin Shot - camera spins around actor or actors 360 degrees

14. Motionless Camera - camera is tripod mounted, focus on motion in scene, all actor or actors must be moving. extras can help add energy to a scene

15. Whip Cut - camera quickly sweeps away from scene, edit is made to seem like camera ends on a second scene, also called a sweep cut

16. Slow Motion - Video source is slowed down by 75%. slowing down any more can be done but render time is increased. Ask me how to do extreme slow motion with Adobe After Effects.

17. Pass Through Wall - Camera moves up to wall, fades to second shot inside moving towards center of room. Can also be pass through window, pass through keyhole etc...

18. Extreme Angle - camera angle has extreme foreshortening or perspective

19. Saturated Color Background - actor or actors are shot against a background of mostly a single vivid color, such as a brightly colored wall, green grass, etc...

20. Textured Background - actor or actors shot against textured background, brick wall, fence posts, tree bark, ivy etc...

Extra information about these shots can be researched online... have fun!

- Mr. W

Introduction to Editing Video

Hello Students,
Today we will begin our introduction to video editing with Adobe Premiere. You will be editing pre-shot footage to create a fun and compelling promotional tourism spot for the city of San Francisco.

Objective: Learn how to edit video with Adobe Premiere, incorporate video and audio from multiple sources and edit for energy and continuity.

Imagine yourself in the Directors Seat... it's time to make your vision happen!

Part 1 - Learning Adobe Premiere:

• Launch Adobe Premiere.
• Watch videos 1 through 13 in the "Learning Premiere Pro" section of the Adobe TV website.
• Practice the steps that you can as you watch the videos.
• Find a sample video file to practice editing, color correction, outputting, etc...
• If you can watch all 13 videos you are on your way to being a video editing pro! When complete watch the other videos in that section to learn how to process and distribute your edited files.

Part 2 - Editing a Promotional Tourism Video for the City of San Francisco

Project Concept: The City of San Francisco has hired you to edit a promotional tourism video. They have provided you pre-shot footage and your job is to make it sing! Your commercial will play on local television stations coast to coast, so it should have universal appeal. Your commercial should promote the unique sights that the city has to offer.

• Your final video file should be exactly 30 seconds long
• Use music that fits the energy of your video
• Edit your video cuts to be timed with the music
• There should be an edit in the video footage every 2 to 5 seconds
• Make sure your sequence settings in Premiere match the specifications of your source video
• Use color correction to enhance the footage
• Use video transitions to keep the video compelling and interesting, but be careful not to overuse them or repeat them too many times
• Create text titles to create a "call to action" at the end of your video, something like "Visit beautiful San Francisco today!"
• Add a 2-Pop and pad the end with 3 seconds of black, this is your "titles and tails".
• Have fun!

- Mr.Wilson

Visual FX Project: Lightsaber Duel

Hello Students,
To develop our motion graphics and visual effects skills we will work in teams to shoot a short video and use After Effects to apply a lightsaber effect. There a several ways to achieve this effect and I will demonstrate them both to the class. There are tutorials listed below to illustrate effective technique. This project will utilize masks, keyframing and effects to achieve the final result.

Lightsaber Duel VFX Project:

• Work in teams of 2-3
• Shoot a short lightsaber battle sequence that consists of at least 3 different shots, don't make too many shots where the lightsabers appear or you will create too much work for yourself
• Create a short storyboard that shows each shot and include dialog, camera angle and camera action (camera pans left, camera tracks right, etc)
• After shooting, copy the video footage onto each team member's computer, each team member must produce their own final video with their own VFX, SFX and final edit.
• There are 2 methods for creating the saber effect, using the Beam effect or using solids with animated masks and glow effects added, this is the preferred method and will achieve the best results
• Add sparks, lightning or lens flares to enhance the effect from our stock footage library
• Add SFX to complement the illusion
• When complete, export your final movie and copy to external HD for credit

Resource Links:
Saber Plug-in
Saber Tutorial

Tutorial: Using Beam Effect to create lightsaber VFX

Tutorial: Using masks and glow to create lightsaber VFX

Grading Rubric:
2 Points for storyboarding and smooth camera work
2 Points for effective use of VFX methods
2 Points for clean editing, no glitches, added sound effects
2 Points for turning in on time
2 Points for good team work and participation by all team members

Due on tuesday, have fun!
 - Mr.W

Hello Students, 
Your next project is an exploration of Maya Physics. Maya uses a soft/rigid body system and different fields that can modify the interactions of these simulated objects, these fields are things like gravity and wind.... 

Maya Physics Experiment:
Objective: Learn how to use physics engines for complex 3D animations, repeat and experiment for visually interesting interactions. Render with Mental Ray and Image Based Lighting and Layered Shaders for your demo reel.

Your assignment is to follow the simple tutorial below, then create a fun physics experiment and then render it. Don't get too elaborate or your computer will take weeks to complete the calculations in your simulation, keep the number of objects under 20, more will slow down the calculation speed potentially. Use all the skills you have developed up to now to set up your 3D file with a proper project folder, render settings, materials, image based lighting etc.... just as we did in the cornell box project.

Part 1: Basic Physics Simulation

1. Launch maya and make a new file
2. Give your timeline at least 500 frames and zoom out the timeline so all frames are visible in the timeline
3. Create a cube and shape it into a flat  surface like a table
4. Create another cube, along with a sphere and a third shape of your choice
5. Arrange the new shapes in a column that is positioned over your first flat table shape that you made
6. Select the table shape and press down on the spacebar to bring up your marking menu, select "Soft/Rigid Bodies" and choose "Create Passive Rigid Body"
7. Now Select the column of objects, the cube, sphere and third object of your choice and then press the spacebar to bring up your marking menu again and choose "Soft/Rigid Bodies" and select "Create Active Rigid Body"
8. With your 3 objects still selected go back to your marking menu... this time select "Fields" and choose "Gravity"
9. Press the play button to see your objects fall from the gravity and bounce on the tabletop
10. Congratulations! You just made a physics simulation in 3D!

Part 2: Make Something Awesome
With a little ingenuity and some basic knowledge you can make a really cool simulation, try using more shapes or different types of platforms and passive solid bodies for interesting results. You can give passive objects a pivot point so they spin when hit. You can add a few keyframes to an active rigid body to launch it in a certain direction.  Here are some ideas you can do with just basic knowledge:

• Make a wheel or sphere roll down a ramp and into a jump
• Create a Newtons Cradle
• Make a wheel or sphere roll on a track
• Make an obstacle course for a sphere to roll down
• Make bowling pins and knock them down with a sphere
• Make a brick wall and knock it over
• Make a tower of bricks and blow it over with a wind field (or sideways gravity!)

Student Examples of Maya Physics from Mister Wilson

Part 3: Render Your Simulation

• Once your simulation is perfect make some materials for your objects, make some shiny, some glassy and some have a matte surface
• Set up a project folder for this simulation file, make sure you create the file directory first then "set" the project to that new directory
• Turn on Mental Ray and load up your best settings, use an image based lighting setup to add some good realism to your scene
• Render your scene and turn it in as a video file to mad max when it is ready

The Cornell Box and rendering Radiosity with Arnold

For this project you will be getting more familiar with the workflow and methods in using Autdodesk's Maya to create a 3D scene with objects, lighting, a camera and textures. You will then render this scene and adjust quality, then render an animation to learn the basics of keyframing and render settings as well.

Cornell Box Project: Lights, Camera, Action!

History of the Cornell Box: The Cornell Program of Computer Graphics has become best known for its research on physically based rendering. They believe that computer graphic simulations will never become predictive of reality unless we correctly model the physics of light reflection and energy propagation within physical environments. The Cornell Box experiments have come to symbolize our approach to physically based rendering, it is a simply physical environment for which they have measured lighting, geometry and material reflectance properties. Digital, or synthetic images of this environment are created and compared to confirm accuracy of our simulations with 3D software.

A photograph of the original physical Cornell Box.

For this project you will create a scene to simulate the Cornell Box. You will create an environment, objects, textures, a light source and explore the rendering software available in Maya to try and recreate the photo we see above.

A Cornell Box created by Seth Wilson using Maya. This scene contains the famous Utah Teapot. Textures are made with blinn, lambert, phong, the light is a point light using depth map shadows, the scene was rendered with Mental Ray

Cornell Box Project Part 1: Creating The Scene

1. Open Maya and create a new scene
2. Create a cube that is perfectly square, turn on Component Selection and delete the front face of the cube so you have a box
3. Create 2 more cubes and scale/stretch and move them into position to act as your pedestals in the scene
4. Create a cylinder, sphere, triange or cone and other primitive objects and arrange them in your scene as above using the move and scale tools
5. Create a cube and flatten it with the scale tool, position it on the roof of your box to act as a "light" later on
6. Open your Hypershade window (Window Menu/Rendering Editors/Hypershade) and create 2 materials using the Lambert material, make one have a red color and one green. Double click the material to see the material settings
7. Select your box and turn on Component Selection, select the right face inside the box and apply your red Lamber material, then select the other side and apply the green Lambert material. Select the face first, then right-click on your Material and choose "Assign Material to Selection" to apply it to that face
8. Create a point light and move it to the top of the inside of your box using the move tool. Turn on "Use All Lights" in your view options to see it affect your scene
9. Render your scene and check the quality, if your light is illuminating the scene your are doing great!
10. Close your Render Window
11. Open your Hypershade window again and create different materials for each of the objects in your scene, try a blinn, a lambert, a phong and try creating a 2D texture such as a checkerboard patter
12. Select an object first, then right-click on your Material and choose "Assign Material to Selection" to apply it to that object
13. To make your roof light cube glow, create a blinn material and set it to have a white color, set the illumination to half way to make the object bright, scroll down to the Special Effects section of the blinn material and set the Glow Intensity to 0.010 and apply the blinn to your roof light cube
14. Under the Create menu, create a Camera
15. Change your view point to see through your camera, it will be called Camera1 and it is under the Perspective submenu in the Panel menu of your view window
16. Center your camera to view your scene straight on
17. Click the render button to see what you get! Compare with your classmates results

Cornell Box Project Part 2: Render Settings

1. Use the Arnold renderer and Arnold material pack to add materials to your scene.
2. Edit your render quality, render and adjust for best results.
3. Use Arnold Lights for best results in your scene

Cornell Box Project Part 3: Animate Your Camera

1. Spend some time fine tuning your render and scene to make sure it looks it's best, adjust lights, textures and positioning before proceeding
2. Bring up your camera view and center it on your box with the camera move tools
3. In your time line enter 120 frames into the duration field and drag your time slider out so all frames are visible in your timeline
4. On frame 1, with your camera selected (you can select it by clicking on it in the outliner or another view window) press the "S" key to create a keyframe. A red line will appear on your timeline to show that a keyframe has been created
5. Slide your time line down to frame 120 and then use the camera move tools to zoom your camera into your scene, add a slight pan to your camera move as well to add a little dimension.
6. With the camera still selected press the "S" key to make a second keyframe on your timeline
7. Press the play button to preview your camera move and adjust if needed, you should have a nice slow movement like the one above

Cornell Box Project Part 4: Set Up Your Project Folder

1. Rendering an animation requires setting up a project folder which contains your maya file and a set of folders for containing all the required materials, files and assets in a maya project. Your project may not utilize these resources but maya needs this file/folder structure anyway and it is not possible to render animated frames without them
2. Close Maya and make a new project folder on your computer, place your cornell box maya file inside it and open the file by double-clicking on it.
3. After your file is open go to the File Menu / Projects / New and your will see the project set up dialog box
4. In the Name Field type in a name for your project, this should be something like CornellBox_Project
5. Verify that the location is correct, click browse and navigate to your project folder if needed
6. On the bottom of the dialog box, click Use Defaults and you will see the folders names being created
7. Click Accept to complete

Cornell Box Project Part 5: Render Your Animation

1. With your maya file still open, go to the Window Menu / Rendering Editors / Render Settings
2. In the Common Tab set up your options for your animation. under File Output set the Frame/Animation ext to name#.ext
3. Set Image Format to Maya IFF
4. Scroll down to Frame Range and enter your start and end frames, start should be set to 1 and end should be set to 120
5. Scroll down and set Renderable Camera to Camera1, your animated camera
6. Choose your image size from the preset pull down menu, I used a 1K Square image for my own example above
7. Close the Render Settings window
8. Press and hold the Space Bar to bring up the Maya Marker Menu, click on the Render Menu and choose Batch Render, Maya will now begin to render your animation, this may take awhile depending on how long it takes to render each frame
9. When the render is done maya will give a message that says Render Completed in the Mel Script window
10. When your render is done open your project folder and look in the images folder to see your frames
11. Open the Fcheck program (located in the autodesk/maya folder in your applications folder) and load the IFF file sequence you just created to check for quality
12. You may use Fcheck to export a quicktime file, or you can use a program like After Effects to create a video file from your animated sequence
13. Turn in a quicktime file of your animation and pat yourself on the back! Woo! But wait, your not done!!!!