Educational Access to all the right 21st Century Tools

Educational Access to All the Right 21^st Century Tools

2011 School Year at SASIC offers students Animation classes in Maya®

-Gabriel Diego Delgado

The San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity, an “arts-infused” curriculum school in San Antonio, can now boast something no other High School can- an Animation class for high school students using the industry-standard computer software Maya®.  Maya®, a 3-D computer graphics software, is used by a plethora of film and movie companies, production studios and gaming designers. Maya® boasts clients like DreamWorks Animation, Industrial Light & Magic who produced Rango and the Transformers, EA: Medal of Honor, LOOK Effects: ABC’s LOST, The Last Season, Starz Animation, The Jim Henson Company, Lucas film Ltd., Sony Pictures Imageworks and CBS Digital: Restored Effects for Star Trek TV series, and now the students of The San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity.

On Maya®’s website they state: “Whether you work in film, games, television, advertising, publishing, or graphic design, Maya® offers state-of-the-art toolsets…for pre-visualization and game prototyping, extended simulation capabilities, and improved pipeline integration.”  

Allysun de Leon, a faculty member of SASIC’s Urban Film School remarks, “If your serious about animation, and are looking for a local facility that offers it {Maya®} for free…Why wouldn’t you want to be here?”

Based on her first few weeks in Austin, Allysun confidently remarks, - “Animation will have a strong hold on the productions at The San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity's Urban Film School…students will have hands-on experience dealing in developing animation prototypes in connection with what is seen on virtually every television, film animation production…creating short animations and incorporating animations in their very own film productions.”

Starting August 22, students will be taught Maya® by Allysun de Leon and Christopher Guerra; seasoned educational veterans; well-known artists, filmmakers and musicians in their own right, they have been spending their summer taking courses at the University of Texas at Austin; enrolled in a unique accredited course with Stanford University. This intense month long session is a crash-course in the newest 2010 animation platform.  Although SASIC currently offers classes in Final Cut Pro®, Photoshop®, Pro-Tools® and many others; Maya® is now a step above and beyond. Their courses in Austin covers everything from a general Introduction to Maya® and its abilities to Character Modeling and Rigging, Animation and Visual Effects, to Texture and Lighting.

Dr. Deb De Leon, Superintendent of the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity says, “My dream is to give our students access to a program where they can make their own video games, and now they can!” With Video Companies like AE and their signature game Medal of Honor, Maya® has made a huge impact in the gaming world.  Dr. De Leon, comments on the intense nature of the animation program and hopes by offering this kind of experience to students at such an early stage in their professional career, they will have an artistic edge on any of the competition- whether it is in  creative industries or the collegiate level.

Using almost a dozen Apple™ I-Macs set up in a newly renovated Art Room, SASIC’s Maya® Animation class is geared to hold up to 10 students at a time; with teacher led hands-on instruction. “A more advanced art class, Maya® is only for the more dedicated art, film, music, or video students”, says Allysun de Leon. She continues by saying. “It will be very intense and exciting, but also very rewarding”. 

With an introduction to Maya®, students will learn basic animation, modeling, simulation, visual effects, rendering, and compositing. With colleges like the acclaimed Full Sail University, students taking the SASIC’s course will inevitably find an easy transition into Art Schools and Colleges with animation programs and degrees. 

Allysun is quick to say, “For years I have noticed students with artistic aspirations limited technologically to Photoshop and other nominal animation programs that stifle their mode of creation. Students need opportunity not to just look at what other professionals have created, but have the opportunity to know and explore their own artistic abilities… so others can look at their unstoppable ability to create the same level as professionals with the availability of Maya 3D program.”

Although considered by most to be a film and movie program, Maya®’s versatility offers itself to a variety of media; including gaming, graphic design, architectural, and fine art.  Mr. Guerra, the Music Production instructor at the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity, is involved in the acquisition of this program into the school for its musical and sound attributes.  He sees a connection to this program and the cross-over students can achieve through audio as they work with the program to sound score their own movies, films, and gaming.  Chris says, “Sound is what makes a successful film or game; without sound, the whole experience is lost, and students need to know how and why music and sound will play a role in the projects they create.”  In the past, students enrolled in the Music Production courses at SASIC were granted the opportunities to sound score films done by other students enrolled in Film and Film Production within the Urban Film School. This partnership and meshed departmental curriculum is unique in itself, but with Maya® , a student’s creative vision can now cross over into all aspects of the school’s artistic curriculum.  

With the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity building its arsenal of industry-standard equipment; already student equipped with the same HD video cameras used to film parts of Avitar, its own in-house Music Recording Studio, HD Movie editing software like Pro-Tools and I Motion, and one of the largest Sprung Dance floors in Central Texas, their reputation will soon precede them.