Media Arts & Animation | Visual Effects & Motion Graphics | Digital Film & Video Production    
     
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Industry News
Spring 2010 Quarter News
Low enrollment forces two summer quarter class cancellations
DF2430 Electronic Field Production& DF3400 Media Theory & Criticism have been canceled due to low enrollment. Anyone who was registered for these two classes has been pulled out. Please see your advisor or director to register for another class.
Summer quarter still has open GE classes
Check here for a list of open general education classes for summer 2010.
Spring 2010 Portfolio Show
Friday June 1th, 2010 9:00am - 12:00pm Solera Restaraunt. Join the best and teh brightess from the Spring 2010 graduating class.

Winter 2010 & Spring 2010 Graduation
Friday June 18, 2:30 at the Pantages Theater on Hennipen. That's one block north of our Pence building on Hennipen Ave.

Course Outlines
Now you can always find out the appropriate order of what to take and what quarter to take them. Prerequisites are also listed.

DFVP        MAA         VEMG

SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Is Coming
what's it all about? Why should you save your money to travel to LA, CA? Read and watch to find out. Start planning with your fellow classmates to get good rates on flights and rooms.
Graduation Information
All a graduate will need should be answered here. Dates, times, caps & gowns, to receiving your diploma. It's all here...
Tuition Savings Opportunity
Learn how to save on tuition money by staying in school over summer quarter.
It registration time.
Come prepared to meet with your advisor or director. Plan wisely. Many classes are offered. Many will not be available for fall 2010.
Plan Ahead for Summer & Fall quarters
Here I have published not only summer quarter classes but also expected fall courses. This should help you figure out what to plan to register for summer registration.
New Storyboarding class is here
The new storyboarding class for film (DVFP) and Visual Effects (VEMG) students is offered for summer quarter only (for now). Plan on registering for it. Read more....
Preview of Summer 2010 courses
Take a look at what core DFVP, MAA, & VEMG courses are planned on being offered for Summer 2010 quarter.
Mpls.-St. Paul International Film Festival offers a cinematic feast
The two-week festival offers a deep core sample of world cinema, American indies, documentaries, children's stories, Minnesota-made movies and more.
TED talks have arrived at AIM. Ideas worth spreading.
Come, engage, be inspired by a variety of speakers talking about topics from tech of tomorrow, what kids can teach adults, emotion behind invention, how entertainment industries are changing what we see, to photos that changed the world. We spend 45 minutes watching and discussing a different presentation each week.
Winter 2010 Quarter News
It's about time! Best Director Kathryn Bigelow
It was director Kathryn Bigelow’s night as 'The Hurt Locker’ nabbed 6 awards and edged out "Avatar" for best picture.
What a night!
Three and a half hours later the results are in. Read more...

When Core Classes are offered
Please review these two lists. Posted here are Spring & Summer 2010 offerings. If you have the pre-req for any of these classes, you should take them. They will not be offered for a quarter or two or more. See your AD if you have any questions.
Open Classes as pf 03-08-10
Check here to see a curent list of open general education classes.
Course Forecast
Here you will find the course forecast for when (projected) classes will be offered for the next four quarters. This is very important information for any to start planning their next quarter schedule or thinking about dropping a class.
Know your academic Record
If you don't know what your degree audit is, start by reading this information and watch the little video I made to help you understand and begin planning your registration process.
Check out the new DFVP course offerings
Spring 2010 quarter has a nine different classes and fifteen different sections (total) for you to choose from. This doesn't even include any Gen Ed classes. Sign up for DF2440 History of Motion Media & Mass Communications; a new DFVP class to be taught by Barbara Wiener.
The Annie Awards
A very mixed bag of winners at the Annie Awards. 'Up' wins Best Feature and Best Director. Read more...
AIM Graduate has been published
VFX alumni, Jared Simeth, has an instructional video out on the gold-standard of VFX/Animation instructional labels, Gnomon. I It’s a whopping 305 minutes and looks as if it illustrates the Production Meeting process as well, as he is working (as in production) from a concept artist’s sketch. Read more by Michael Heagle about Jared...
The Dean's and President's Choice award is coming up.
Win $250 scholarship. Read more...
Hollywood Director to visit & free Screening of flim.
There will be a screening coming up for CRAZY HEART, starring Jeff Bridges, James Keane & Maggie Gyllenhaal. The writer/director Scott Cooper will be in town and will be doing a Q&A at the screening that night! The screening is scheduled for Monday, January 11th at 7pm at the Landmark Lagoon in Uptown, Mpls. We would love to invite the first 100 admit two’s to join us! If interested please send an e-mail to ______________ and I will respond to the first 100 people! Please advise them to put “AII Minnesota” in the subject line so they know who to respond to.
VE2450 Maps, Mattes, and Masks has been closed due to low enrollment.
This doesn't happen very often. Especailly this late. The few students that are affected please see your academic direcotr ASAP to pick up another class. My appologies for the pain in the ....
Fall 2009 Quarter News

$250 is up for grabs!
The Dean's and president's choice awards deadline is coming up. December 11th. Read more...

Learn to build your own web site workshops
The WDIM program will be hosting a number of on campus workshops teaching how to create interactive online portfolios. Read more...

Open General Education Classes
Here is a list of open general education classes for Winter 2010 quarter. Fill 'em up!. Read more...
VE3453 Intermediate VFX for Winter 2010!
Intermediate VFX is runing for winter quarter 2010. I just need each VFX student how needs it (or wants it) to come and talk to me to get registered.
Wacom Cintiq tablets ROCK!
We now have 10 Wacom Cintiq tablets, five in lab 227 and five more in alb 233. The Cintiq is the ground breaking pressure sensitive tablet that lets you draw on the screen.
A flash based Color Scheme Designer
Use this web resource to help you figure out warm and cool combinations, mono, complementary, triad, tetrad, analogic, or accented analogic color combinations. Then export them to HTML, CSS, XML, Text, Photoshop or GIMP palette.
Blockhead 2009 was a smash hit!
The full show is online for your viewing pleasure. Come watch Vic, Vanna, the finalists, and the award winning entries. Congratulations to all the students!
Free 6 Month license of 3ds max & Maya
A great offer with a possible catch. Yes this offer is true, but you have to sign up for a free account with Autodesk and there is a "print banner" on the output. More on that later. Read more and sign up now!

School H1N1 information
Please read carefully before spreading rumors as well as the flu...

The Animation Club needs your help.

I hear it's coming back for Fall quarter 2009. Read more...

New Digital Film & Video Production Program Announcement!
The Art Institutes International Minnesota is pleased to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in Digital Film & Video Production beginning in the summer of 2009. Read More...
Academic Achievement Center
The Academic Achievement Center (AAC) and the Interior Design Skills Center at The Art Institutes International Minnesota (Ai Minnesota) provide peer-tutoring in various subjects for both program and General Education classes. Their hours are posted here...
Blockhead 2008 Reel
The Blockhead 2008 reel is online and ready for your viewing please. It's long. Enjoy.

Internship Now Required of Animation, VFX, and Digital Film Students
Curriculum changes to benefit students, build experience, and increase job placement possibilities is now in affect starting Summer 2009 quarter. Read more...

ILM's presentation, December 3rd, 2009 on Transformers 2 was phenomenal! Doug Sutton talked for over two hours even before he got to the Q & A section. The amount of shots, previs, compositing, effects, polygons, and particles that went into making Transformers 2 was mind blowing. Rendering passes, render times, and hundreds of layers went into this movie. And we got the chance to see it all!. From the "parts library" as Doug called it, through the thirty some new robots, to the mammoth devastator robot- whose' rig was so thick, the rig looked like a dense mesh in wire frame display mode, the amount of effort these artist put out was astounding. An awesome presentation.
ILM is in town today!
Doug Sutton, a sequence supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, is presenting at this years MET. Read more...
The 2009 Minnesota Electronic Theater is today and tonight!
will be held Thursday, December, 3rd 2009 5-10PM. The deadline for animation and effects submissions is
November 13th, 2009
Oscar®-nominated film Director was on campus
Jason Reitman presented a lecture to students Ai Minnesota regarding his recent work and experiences in the film industry Tuesday November 10th 1:30-2:00PM in Pence 109 & 113.
 
Register for Winter 2010
Start by clearing any holds you might have on your account. Next start planning on what you want to take for Winter 2010. Course catalogs are due out early this week. I will post it as soon as it is available.
Know your academic Record
If you don't know what your degree audit is, start by reading this information and watch the little video I made to help you understand and begin planning your registration process.
Ai Web Design 202 Workshop:
Come and learn about HTML coding languagesfor self promotion, coummunication and much more.
The HLC visi.
Read up on how you can contribute toward the future improvement of our school. More information...
Free 3ds max character Rigging Plugin: Puppetshop!
Lumonix has made Puppetshop a free download for users of 3ds Max 8, 9, 2008 and 2009.
Inspiration Room
A database of advertising, music videos and other inspiring graphics to explore the creative form.
Free 3ds max Digimation Plugins
Digimation pioneered the plug-in business for 3ds Max. To date, we’ve released over 50 products and now we’re offering a collection of twelve tried and true favorites to the 3D community for free!
Long awaited trailer for the animated film "9" is finally online!
I think it looks pretty fun - I hope this one turns out. It's been a long time coming for this flick - starting as a short film and then being transformed into a full length deal. CLICK HERE to check it out.
Disney & Pixar's- What's Next?
Disney and Pixar unveiled their complete animated movie line-up from 2008 to 2012 today at a press conference in New York. Featured in their announcement is a diverse and ambitious slate of 13 new animated feature films, most of which will be featured in 3D.
Economic Slowdown Hits Home
Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc., whose titles include "Rock Band," posted a wider quarterly net loss Thursday and said it is laying off about 6 percent of its work force to cut costs as it heads into the most lucrative season for the games industry.

Autodesk Swallows up Softimage
Autodesk is now the definitive leader in 3D Animation. They just annouced they are acquire Softimage. Who's next? What's left?
Read more...

Spore is out
If you haven't seen it yet take a look at YouTube.com for samples. I got the creature Creator for $10!. Its awesome and a blast to play. The main site can get you going.
Adobe Photoshop World Keynote '08 - Vegas
In this special episode you'll Adobe's SVP of the Creative Business Unit - Johnny L and Photoshop Product Manager John Nack show off some upcoming CS4 technologies as well as technology Adobe is working on beyond CS4. (34 minute video presentation)
Adobe Podcasts from Terry White
1. Premiere Pro CS3's New Support for XDCAM Footage
2. Insert Flash content into a PDF with Acrobat 9 Professional
3. The Acrobat Forms Workflow from Creation to Collecting the Data
4. Create Non-destructive Text Effects In Photoshop CS3
       

 

 

 
 
   
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