DMC 07: Sumi-e

Held on the week of July 16th, the ETSU Digital Media Camp provided its participants a chance to explore the world of 3D modeling, animation, and video editing. I was lucky enough to be one of those participants.

Though not as fancy as SI, the DMC at ETSU produced one week of “intensive” training in the 3D modeling program Maya, and the video editing program Premiere. I have to say, being completely new to modeling, most of the instruction I received was all new. Before this, I have only heard of programs such as Maya and Blender.

First Impressions

Being a fairly small sized camp, Digital Media Camp 2007 was filled with some “interesting” personalities, a few which fit very well in stereotypes of summer camp attendees. I’ve also made a couple of new friends, two of which are geniuses when it comes to modeling. Aside from the participants, the camp environment was nice, and the instructors were definitely helpful. I have learned a great deal.

Maya and Premiere

As campers, we received extensive training in Maya and Premiere. This included demonstrations, one-on-one help, and example tasks to work with. The instructor and staff encouraged us to “play” with Maya. It’s the best way to learn in their opinion, and I completely agree. We learned and modeled a character, Frankenstein, animated cartoon text, and built a solar system with revolving and rotating planets and moons. During this process, we also formed three different teams to complete a project. In my camp’s case, we all made Public Service Announcements for International Animation Day on October 28th of every year.

Camp Life

On the flip side at camp, I am sure every had a great time interacting and gaming. Yes. The Dell Precision workstations we worked on also had Unreal Tournament 2004. Although I am not a gamer, and thus didn’t play, many others found the LAN parties at night to be extremely fun. We also got to know each other very well. I’ve made several new friends with whom I keep in contact, including the lead counselor.

Conclusion

Not to brag, but my project did come out to be the winner in our mini-contest, earning each member of my team a $35 Best Buy gift card. The Digital Media Camp at ETSU was definitely fun while it lasted. I would definitely recommend this one week adventure on the East Tennessee State University campus during the summer.