Sunday, December 16, 2012

Controller Evolution v. 2 and the Evolution of an Animator

Nintendo always has been and always will be a constant element in my life. This piece is a tribute to their life thus far.

Music by Heath McNease

I said this over a year ago when I made the first Controller Evolution, and now with the introduction of the Wii U, it only seemed fitting to continue this tradition. I can't think of a better controller's history to track than Nintendo's. The changes made have been so dramatic yet so subtle all at the same time. You really don't notice that until your animating every little piece.

People probably don't know this but the original Controller Evolution was one of the most played videos on my Vimeo page. Mostly due to the content and the fact it was posted on a few gamer blogs. When I had first completed it I was still working in Apple Motion; I was really proud of that piece at the time too. I recall seeing it posted on a blog not too long ago and the poster saying, "I wonder if Chris will update the animation with the Wii U?" At the time it hadn't even occurred to me, but as I started looking at my year old animation I knew it was time for a change. I not only owed it to Nintendo for the many years of joy they've given me, but I owed it to myself to show how much I've evolved as an animator in a little over a year. I am no longer animating in Apple Motion (not that I don't like it, I just think Adobe After Effects is a little more robust). I've taught myself everything I know about Adobe After Effects through experimentation and tutorials. I still have a lot to learn, but when I can look at my work side by side and visually see the progress it helps me know I haven't been wasting my time. Check it out for yourself.



3 comments:

  1. Nice! You should do Game Boy next. There's like a million iterations of that one...

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  2. People were also telling me, as a joke, to do an animation of the iterations of the playstation controller. That would actually be easy and possibly funny

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