V48HOURS is a filmmaking competition that just has to be experienced.
Yoobee@Natcoll tutor Alex Perkins has a long history with this crazy weekend…”My involvement with the 48 Hours Film competition began in 2004 even before it became a super crazy nationwide competition. I competed with a team of friends in Wellington under the name ‘Traces of Nut’ and shot/edited the film ‘The Flatmate Tree’ which made it into the finals. Taika Waititi (of Boy fame) won the Wellington competition that year with a crazy little film called ‘Heinous Crime’ – I will never forget the laughter he received from the audience or the enormity of the cardboard cheque he carried away as winner. It was awesome.”
The following year Alex competed in Christchurch. This time with a different team running under the name ‘Evil Genius Labs’. They made a film called ‘Bruised Gold’. The film won the Christchurch regionals and came runner up at the Nationals. “It was the first year Peter Jackson became involved with the 48 so it was a massive deal to know he would be watching your film as a finalist.” Alex also made ‘Soft Boiled Love Story’ in the same year with his wife. They still hold that unique record; making 2 films in one year over the 48 hours that both made it into the finals.
YOOBEE@Natcoll Design School Auckland campus is pleased to announce a new English and Design course.
This unique new course is for students to improve their English skills and at the same time get a taste of a variety of digital media. You will learn the basics of design and improve your general English at the same time. Based at our Auckland design school campus, this is no ordinary language course, you will be surrounded by creative students and the latest Macintosh technology.
Forget language schools where no one speaks English outside of class – at YOOBEE @Natcoll Design School you can socialise with New Zealand and international students as you improve your English and create exciting design work using the Adobe Creative Suite. There is nothing else like it in New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »
Great web design is not easy. You need to create something clean to the eye, but also something that conveys some personality. Not to mention something that grabs the viewer’s attention. Plus the elements should be consistent throughout. And don’t forget to make it useable!
It’s no easy task, which is why so many web designers start by enrolling in web design school. Natcoll’s web design courses cover all the basics of graphic design, the fundamentals of working with the web, plus the skills needed to pull off the advanced that will make a site really pop.
Web design combines creativity with technological know-how to form a medium that communicates ideas visually and encourages the viewer to explore deeper. It’s unlike traditional print design in many respects, but when it’s done well the results can be just as stunning as any work of art.
One of the best ways for designers to figure out what works for web design is to look at examples of other works. Here are some great blogs that regularly post the best designs on the web. Check them out for some inspiration and who knows? Maybe something you design will make the list!
Web development describes the technical aspects of creating a web site. This can involve simple coding for a static page or developing complicated applications or eCommerce functions. Great web developers can make a page easy to use, look great and work smoothly with applications.
As far as job security goes, this is a great choice: the Internet isn’t going away any time soon and a web presence is becoming increasingly important in the lives of businesses, organisations and individuals. Web development is also a great choice for people who love to learn new things and continue to develop their skills: new web programmes are being innovated all the time.
Your first job is always the hardest to get. If you’re launching your 3D animation career, there are a few things you should know about to to make the transition from school to career a smooth one:
Putting together your show reel and CV
Just like any job, getting hired requires first sending out a CV and cover letter to potential employers. These will highlight your relevant skills, your interest in working for them and what special qualities you can bring as an employee.
To make sure you have an edge on the competition, you’ll also want to have a really stellar show reel on hand. A show reel (sometimes known as a demo reel) is similar to a portfolio a 2D graphic designer or artist would use, but in the form of a DVD. Your show reel should only be about two minutes long, and should be carefully planned and edited to show the best of your work in regards to depth and breadth.
For some thorough tips on how to put together a winning 3D animation show reel and CV, check out some showreel hints in our previous post from one of Natcoll’s tutors.
A digital designer is a broad term used to describe anyone who uses a computer to design. This includes we designers, print designer, animators and more. An individual with the skill set that makes a great digital designer has a wide range of fun career paths and opportunities to choose from.
At Natcoll, we teach some of New Zealand’s best aspiring digital designers and we’ve noticed a few things about what makes a great digital designer. Read on for some qualities that make for a successful career in digital design…
Here’s a quick lesson on how to use the Photoshop ‘Content-Aware Spot Healing’ tool, taught by one of the fantastic instructors at our school of design.
The tool we’re going to use today is new to Photoshop CS5, so if you have an earlier version of Photoshop you won’t have this. It’s a tool called ‘Content-Aware Spot Healing’, and is really handy for getting bits and pieces out of the image.
In this Photoshop class, we’ll look at using the Content-Aware Scale function, available in Photoshop CS4 and CS5. I’m going to use this tool to make my portrait-type shot (taller than it is wide) look like a landscape (wider than it is long), but without the distortion that would occur just by stretching it.
The first step is to unlock the layers, so Photoshop can identify the background layer from the foreground objects. So to do that, I’m going to go to the lower right corner and double click the lock icon.
The tool I want to talk about today is called ‘Refine Edge’. This came out in Photoshop CS3 or CS4, but it really wasn’t very well refined until Photoshop CS5. What this tool does is make it easier to select certain objects and make them look more realistic when imposed on a new background.
Hair is one of the hardest things for selections, especially hair with curls or frizz sticking out. What I’m going to show you now is the best way to handle these types of tricky selections. We’ll start with this image of a woman with wild hair:
