The Pond

http://www.thepondstudio.com/

The Pond Studio - CG animation studio based in Wilmslow (very local)
The Pond's creative team have experience in all areas of 3d and in a range of media. They have worked on projects for the BBC, Discovery Channel, ITV as well as feature films.

I love some of the work they do however it is all CG and 3D which i am not too great at. I like the fact they are so local too! I was going to ask them for a portfolio visit but what stopped me was the fact my work is varied so i'm not too sure it would be the place to go.

Frog Maya Test

Needs a bit of tweaking and it shall be round but i think progress so far is ok!

Bloody Splash

I can't for the life of me figure out how to animate thissplash! I have tried in photoshop and flash and i can't do it!

I want to try using black card and scan it into the computer and keep cutting it down until its disappears then reverse it to portray a splash?

Failed attempt

Composition

Before i start animating i need to finalise the compostition of where i want my frog to enter and exit the screen...i don't want him dead central because it is slightly boring and predictable i want to use the whole screen to invite the audience. However i can place him right in the corners of the screen because depending on what TV settings you may have it may be cut off! I need to play around with the composition maybe placing him slightly higher or lower on the screen and slight left or right of the centre.

I had a quick look at some advise on compostition i thought this might be helpful ...

'Except possibly for people looking directly at the camera, it's often best to place the center of interest near one of the points indicated by the rule of thirds.

In the rule of thirds the total image area is divided vertically and horizontally into three equal sections.

Although it's often desirable to place the center of interest somewhere along the two horizontal and two vertical lines, generally composition is even stronger if the center of interest falls near one of the four cross-points illustrated in the photo on the right below.

A few still cameras even have the rule of thirds guidelines visible in their viewfinders.

But, remember, we are speaking of a rule of thirds, not law of thirds. The rule of thirds is only a guideline — something that should be considered while composing a scene. Although composition is often stronger using the rule of thirds, many scenes (see below) "work" that do not follow this guideline.' (Television Production:Elements of compostition - www.cybercollege.com)

Another Water Splash in Super Slow Motion

I found this one the most helpful because of the red food colouring i can see exactly which bits of the water go where and where the centre is that the object has been dropped into.

Water Splashes

Trying to figure out how to animate a splash I looked at real splashes and also 2D and 3D animated ones as well.

Tree Frog