Hi guys! I know it's been awhile! I really never come on here much anymore. I lot has been going on at once, I applied for a restricted major earlier this year and was accepted to the program of around 30 something members. It was truly a miracle which saved me at a point where I was at a wall. After knowing that feeling, I wish to work harder than ever before. I'm an Advertising major now but I still hope to become a computer animator eventually and still have not given up with it. I'm working on animation studies in my spare time, when I'm not working on projects for classes. I am looking into an online school for computer animation too, Animation Mentor.

I still really love animation and have never lost sight of it despite my major switches. Despite the broken road I have taken I would never have done things another way after everything. So when others look at my like I am crazy after having six majors, I just smile thinking, "Is it so horrible to try to find where you are meant to be? Is there a rule saying we can only fail once?" Many look at me like I have failed after telling them that, and it is true, I have many times but I have become something I never thought was possible also because of it. I wish to stand for what is possible if you believe in something so much a million failures for it would not be enough for the one success that cannot be explained in words.

I've learned a lot of great skills by applying to this program as well as made some new friends. I plan to work hard with it even though it may be rough at times.

Some of the things I figured out this year are: how to create a custom portfolio dvd, complete with a printed cover, custom disk design, and booklet. It was also my first attempt burning a dvd so I'm glad it worked! Apparently if you go to have something printed you need to leave about a centimeter border around the thing you are printing so the ink won't run off the page and so it can be cut the right size. Just a tip for anyone trying to attempt the same sometime.

I worked with iMovie to create movie clips and found a cool feature Macs have to record a video of your screen thru Quicktime which should already be downloaded or you can just download it for free. Once you have Quicktime just open it and go to File >> New Screen Recording. It works amazingly, I was able to create HD video clips for my portfolio dvd with this option and it is awesome compared to a lot of the other screen recording softwares out there that I've tried before finding this.

Screenshots with: Command + Shift + 4

I created a portfolio site when I applied to the program, which really needs to be redone but it has some neat stuff on there if you want to check it out: www.mindtale.com

I tried using DreamWeaver at first for it but ended up hand coding it after I ran out of time for the application deadline to create it fully in the program. I might recreate it this summer using DreamWeaver to understand the program better. I'd also like to work with After Effects more, I attempted to try it out for the application I worked on but it became too time consuming for what I wanted to use it for.

I've also worked on a few of my own projects throughout the year, most are still works in progress but I'd still love to hear ideas for new projects! I have the summer off this year so I hope to work on some new projects! I hope everyone has a great summer!

~Karen

PS: I can't wait for the new Final Fantasy XIII-2 to come out for PS3, the graphics are nothing less than amazing.