I was bemoaning the apparent lack of polish in my science animations and not quite understanding all the criticisms, but now it's a few days later, and something has dawned on me. I remember now reading people's blogs, and them saying all all their photos are put through pre-sets in Lightroom. Meaning every photo gets… Continue reading Scicomm made polished, part 2
Tag: science outreach
How to make scicomm look polished
They say you should be open to feedback, and of course, of course, yes, yes. But ugh, I so hate being told that something I've done isn't "polished". I hate hate hate that. So I met with a designer yesterday, and I showed her this latest Twitter thread I made for work. And yes, after… Continue reading How to make scicomm look polished
Explosions in blender
I need to make an explosion in Blender for work. First I used this tutorial, which was only 7 minutes long, and I followed it easily and got the result. But then I decided it looked too cartoonish, so I went for this tutorial, which was 14 minutes long. So still quite short, and for… Continue reading Explosions in blender
Honest feedback from kids
When I make animations with kids, part of the point is that other kids will want to watch the stories and learn something about the environment and about science on the way. Well, after I had finished "When Anders, Dilsa, and Reza were mean: a bird story" with the kids at a local summer camp,… Continue reading Honest feedback from kids
Scicomm on Halloween
I made this short little video for work way back, just in time for Halloween: Here's a very special witch's brew to enjoy this Halloween ... the brew that brought us life. #HappyHalloween from CLEVER Planets@RiceEarthSci @RiceUniversity @RiceSpace @RicePhysAstro pic.twitter.com/fW6LwJk7YF — CLEVER Planets (@CLEVER_Planets) October 31, 2019 I spent the week leading up to Halloween… Continue reading Scicomm on Halloween
Feeling ghosted – Animations with kids
I feel like I have very bad follow-through sometimes when it comes to my Science animations with kids program. Sometimes, it's my fault. Like at my last viewing party, about 30 parents, grandparents, aunts, everyone, showed up. I gave them all a little slip of paper with the URL of my website (the one you're… Continue reading Feeling ghosted – Animations with kids
Bad audio, all the time
I usually use my trusty laptop to record kids' voices for animations. It usually works out really well, and picks up the kids' voices even when they're speaking softly. But I ran into a problem this time around at the summer camp. There was a super annoying buzzing sound in the hall where I started… Continue reading Bad audio, all the time
GIS and Blender at once
Two of my favorite pieces of software are QGIS - used for making maps on a computer - and Blender 3D - used for 3D animations. Both of these pieces of software, furthermore, are open-source. That means they are free for anyone to download. Every time I make an animation with a group of kids,… Continue reading GIS and Blender at once
Five-year-olds computer animating
Is there a minimum age-limit when it comes to computer animation? Well, I'm sure there is for toddlers and babies, but in the summer camp I'm in, there's three little kids that are entering kindergarten in September. They're all five. They reach out their hand for me to hold if I chance to walk them… Continue reading Five-year-olds computer animating
Animating at a summer camp
I had written a dour and grim post about the futility of applying to grants, but before it went live, I actually received one. Which means I was able to do one more 'Animations with kids' project in Concord before my run here ends (at least for the expected near future.) I am working with… Continue reading Animating at a summer camp
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