Carinn Gaspar - Animation Research Limited (ARL)
For my Gateway work experience I am working at Animation Research Limited on Fridays from 9am to 1pm. I have been learning how to make 3D models using a program called Maya. There is a lot to learn and I am on my way to creating my first proper 3D animation. In order to be able to make 3D animation from scratch you need to learn, modeling, uv shells, rigging, controllers, skins, digital art, how to manipulate the skin so it fits right during movement and then the animation itself. These are all separate jobs within the workplace and one person would be a specialist on just the modeling, another might specialize in rigging and so on.
In the modeling section of the workplace I found out that people tended to work individually on a project before passing it over to the next person. The reason for this is due to the fact that two people working on the same project can accidentally overwrite the other person's work. Some of the projects they have been working on recently are a baseball simulator for television, an animation of a spine for a spine surgeon, a boat model and an airport condition simulator.
The workplace is normally pretty quiet because everyone is focusing on their work. It is not as quiet when we have visitors or something else happens, like when my supervisor found a massive centipede during work. It hasn't all been plain sailing though as there was a lot to learn about how they do things at ARL but overall I am enjoying my placement there and I am going to work on improving my skills even further in the field.