(Part 2) Top products from r/UTAustin

I'm in RTF, and I've taken both classes the department offers in 2D animation, so hopefully I can help you out.

The first class, Intro to 2D animation, is really simple. You begin with assignments like some drawing exercises to get you acquainted with 1, 2, and 3 point perspective, making a character sheet, animating a single second in Flash, [animating a bouncing ball] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoR2k3B0ifk), [animating a flour sack] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGPtMvIsjMY) (both of these are really standard animation exercises that basically everybody has to do when learning 2D animation). From there you work up to doing a walk cycle, doing lip sync in Flash, and then for your final project you begin with an animatic, and work from there up to a whole minute of conversational video between two characters.

Advanced 2D Animation is meant to be a direct continuation of the content from the Intro class, but I'd say this class is split into two parts: production readiness and the final project. "Production readiness" is my name for it, but basically the professor, Lance Myers, has you do certain assignments in order to acquaint you with the roles different people would have in a normal 2D animation production pipeline. For example, you do key animation, cleanup, assistant animation, and ink & paint. You also learn to read animation charts, and do a basic exercise where you make a character interact with a heavy object. Once you get into the final project portion, it's kind of the process you'd go through if you went to pitch an original short and develop it through production. You begin with a pitch document, with concept sketches, character designs, and the plot you'll include in your final short. From there you make an animatic, and then you'll proceed onto the final short. These are about 1-2 minutes in length, and can vary greatly in quality. With the pitch document, the animatic, and when working on your final project, you'll have the opportunity to get Lance's and your class mates' input on your stuff because you can share as much or as little with the class as you want.

They're good classes, but I'm a bit overambitious with my final projects, and this usually comes back to bite me in the end.

Now, what I don't like about the 2D classes is that you're taught Flash exclusively. In any creative discipline, I like to know what the cutting edge is, and I can tell you that Flash is not it. In Lance's own words, Flash has barely changed in ten years (he sticks with an older version that's basically identical to Adobe Animate CC), and in my research, I haven't run across a single studio using Flash/Animate in large scale 2D animation production in a long time. ToonBoom Harmony is basically the standard for 2D animation software now, and in Europe a number of studios use a piece of software called TVPaint. After Effects is really popular for motion graphics, and likewise DragonFrame is a helpful piece of software to know if you want to do stop-motion. There was one day when Ben Bays, another RTF professor, came and introduced us to DragonFrame, but by and large, we still stick with Flash. I know it might be a question of departmental resources, but I wish we could get our hands on some other software so we could use what professionals are actually using.

Also, I wish we had a chance to do real, traditional, hand-drawn animation on paper. Throughout both courses, all the animation we did was in software, and the only time someone did hand-drawn was because they decided to do it for a portion of their final short. It would have been a cool thing for us all to at least try.

On the whole, though, I think I've got a solid understanding of basically every aspect of 2D animation because of my time in these courses.

I'd REALLY recommend picking up [The Animator's Survival Kit] (https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Richard-Williams/dp/0571202284), which serves as the optional textbook for both courses. It's not required, but this really helped me in my animation, both in 2D and in the 3D stuff I'm doing now. It's written by Richard Williams, who is basically the god of 2D animation, who gifted the world with this book so that they could become enlightened (or at least semi-enlightened) animators like him.

Also, another thing to consider is that some of my classmates started the Animators Club this semester, which is a student org devoted just to learning animation and sharing it with one another. They've had two meetings so far, but I'd say definitely look into it. Some of their meetings will even cover basic techniques and exercises for someone trying to get into animation.

Also, if you felt so inclined, you can access the course website for my Intro course [here] (http://intro2danimationfall2016.blogspot.com). It's got all the lectures up there for you to view if you wanted.

I hope this helps. If you want to talk about it more either online or in person just PM me. Cheers!

I hear you. Remember, though, that a gun is a tool like any other, and there are only certain situations it can help you out of.*

The single most important and effective defense mechanism to keep you safe is your brain. Your behaviors, your situational awareness, and your body language all contribute to your likelihood of making yourself a target. Some things are obvious—don't walk alone at night; favor well-lit, busy areas; don't walk while using a phone or while using headphones—but there are plenty of smaller, subtler actions you can take that add up to you being more challenging prey.

Some examples:

• Have your house keys in hand before you get out of the car to minimize the amount of time you're outside and distracted.
  
• Develop good relationships with your neighbors and learn their habits and patterns (they'll look out for you, and you'll notice more quickly when something's out of place).
  
• Walk confidently and acknowledge other people without staring.
  
• Whenever entering a new environment, learn to quickly get the lay of the land: What kind of people are here? Where are the exits? What obstacles would I encounter if I had to get out or take shelter?
  
  The most essential thing you can do to protect yourself—and your friends, and your girlfriend, and your family, and whomever—is cultivate an incredibly strong sense of situational awareness. When you can see and feel what is happening around you, when you notice subtle shifts in behavior, when the energy in a room suddenly changes, you can anticipate things and react before they happen. That's how you save yourself from bad situations: by not getting into them in the first place. Train your gut and listen to it. If the current situation feels bad, get out. Worst case is you're wrong, but you're no longer suffering in a situation that feels uncomfortable; best case is your gut was right and that you're not dead.
  
  There's a whole host of interesting books—many written in response to lessons learned after almost two decades of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan—that can help you develop that mindset.
  
  *Side note: there are other tools you can use, too, to make yourself a more difficult target. My favorite is a really bright flashlight. Few criminals want to be easily identified, and getting a face full of bright, white light is a big (and painful) deterrent, especially at night. There are even some—like the Surefire E1D and E2D—that have serrations to make them more effective for striking. I carry a Surefire EB1 in my pocket and a G2X LE in my bag every day. You wouldn't believe how handy a flashlight is day-to-day ("shit, dropped my phone under the car seat again"), and having the ability to check a dark alley or the space between my car and the one next to mine is great for maintaining that situational awareness.

There's a common saying that if you read 3 books on a topic, you will know more about it than ~ 99% of people. I recommend starting with I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Despite its corny name, this is a fantastic intro to personal finance for beginners. A more advanced and in-depth book would be something like Wealth by Virtue which I plan to read soon because people have been singing praises about this book. There's a million books out there about stuff like this and if you just read a few, you will be lightyears ahead of everyone else.

Yeah, just lay the groundwork to get them later.

The book Getting What You Came For will give you a timeline if you're concerned about hitting all of the requisite benchmarks for graduate school applications. Good luck!

Tell her to watch these videos. The first is a concerto with the clarinet professor, the second has an amazing clarinet solo by a current student in the second movement.

If she is interested in the education program tell her to read Intelligent Music Teaching written by the head of Music Education.

I don't know what textbook you're using - but you should check out Dr. Markert's book (a .pdf may be available online), I found this book to be very helpful for taking PHY 301 and tutoring PHY 303K.

Looks like it’s this book. But a cover image and full title would go a long way in making this listing look not awful.

You can always check Amazon.

Total is around $80, including shipping. Maybe not the price you were hoping for, but it is cheaper than the Co-op.

Readings for SOC and Intro to SOC

$96 on amazon for a used paperback version... Don't know that I'd call that cheap. I'd just rent if it's only $45 at B&N

Hey, sorry, just saw this. Yeah that's exactly what it is.

My professor uses a different one of Stewart's books instead of Early Transcendentals like UT Calc. I only co-enrolled because I knew I don't wanna do anything Calc heavy as my major, but I've tried some of my roommate's problems and been able to do them (with a bit more effort). If I were to change my major and take Calc 3 at UT I'd probably refresh my Pre-Cal with a CE credit over the summer before

I haven't taken test or seen what's in the test but Ive taken the first year Korean at UT. These are the two books we use for the first year:

Integrated Korean: Beginning 1, 2nd Edition (Klear Textbooks in Korean Language) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824834402/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_G7bOzbJE8SESN

Integrated Korean: Beginning 2, 2nd Edition (KLEAR Textbooks in Korean Language) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824835158/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_97bOzbVCJARQ1

If you need some pics of contents of the book to see if you are past the level of Korean year 1, pm me.

http://www.amazon.com/CLEP-College-Algebra-REA-Preparation/dp/0878918981

Get into Yale Patt's Introduction to Computing Class (EE 306), and get his textbook for the class and start reading it over Summer.

It's not so much what you write about but how you write it. If you write a boring generic essay that uses the word "passion" 989473 times then expect the admissions person to toss it in the trash. Here's a book that I read that helped me write the personal statement.

It's on ABC. Just buy one of these (to avoid the evils of Time Warner) and tune in.

Also somewhat relevant if you want to understand what happens in communities after tragedy, including the spreading of rumors and the invention of fake eye-witness testimony (anyone ever heard the falsified Cassie story about the girl who claimed she believed in God before being shot?):

Columbine by Dave Cullen