Chia (7) loves Moshi

My 7 year old loves to play on the Moshi Monsters web site (www.moshimonsters.com). Not only has it meant I can’t get near a laptop in the early evening, she is inspired by the imaginative characters and the interactive features. She can talk for ages about the shops, games and interior design (!) aspects. Given some plasticine and a camera to play with one afternoon, she insisted that her sister help her make an animation about Moshi Monsters. This is it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20100929074638/http://www.youtube.com/v/9BWOMjQTk0s&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1

She then went on to write me a report on why she should be able to play it at school:

On Moshi monsters you have your own monster and then you get your own house!!!! You can click on the door to go outside and buy things outside is like a map. You can click on the places you wold (sic) like to go. and by things. You press scroll to move your moshi left and right.. if you click another moshi monster you make friends with them. After you’ve ben shoping (sic) you might wont to play some puzzles time challange (sic) or hall of puzzles on time challange its a challnge  hall of puzzles you choose a puzzle and on to play. If you click on your pet it tickles it your pets eyes follow your mouse when it moves. You get your own garden and you can plant 3 seeds to get your own pet a pet!!! At the side of the house is some writing and pictures one is your pets happy and its tempiture (sic)…

and theres lots more youve got a box at the side of the screen and if you click on it, it will have all of the wallpaper. Now that’s all you need to know. Good luck and play it.

So that’s Chia’s review! She isn’t allowed to play it at school but must chat with friends about it and although they don’t live nearby they can play together in the evening in this virtual world.

Autodesk Maya introduction (Game design)

Having just completed a C&G certified Maya course, I can navigate the kitchen looking for right-clicks to open cupboards and sub-menus that will make toast. It’s surprising how wrapped up you get in an interface after continuosly working with it for 18 hours (or perhaps not). Pity the poor s*ds who have to work on major Maya projects for months on end – although the end results are stunning.

So the 3 day course involved 3d object modelling, geometry, animation techniques, rendering and more. Next time I see some cgi on Dr Who I’ll be a lot more appreciative of the work that went into it. Next step is to build on my limited skills and draw up a plan to teach kids some simple animation techniques. This software is far more versatile than the ubiquitous Flash that seems to be everywhere. If you want to try out Maya for research/education then download the PLE version from the Autodesk website – www.autodesk.com.

By the way, I did my level 1 with Warren Fearn from Wak studios – his showreel and examples are well worth a visit (and he is a good tutor). Google “WAK Studios” and you’ll come across the latest site. You’ll recognise some of his work from the BBC.

Stop-motion animation fun…

Yup – that is supposed to be me! This took about 4 hours in all to create… individual stills on a DV camera and soundtrack afterwards in Audacity. Great laff for the kids who couldn’t wait to get their mitts on my plasticine!

http://web.archive.org/web/20100929080431/http://www.youtube.com/v/YZPdGjY4Xwk&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1