Coding and Animation - Two New Skills to Learn

I am back again today to tell you all about two new skills I am trying to learn. One, which I think I already mentioned before, is HTML and CSS coding. I have been using CodeAcademy along with a library book and an online collage class for creating web pages. Well, the other thing I am just starting to learn is 3D animating. How did I come up with the idea to do animating or 3D over 2D? Read on to find out!

Well, I guess the idea to do 3D animations came from watching Slamacow's Minecraft Animations. I think I already mentioned Slamacow in past posts... or maybe that was somewhere else. Ever since watching Slamacow's animations I have liked animating. Why had I not tried before? Well, I saw something that said the good 3D animating programs were sometimes more than $3,000 which was just way too much. Luckily for me, my mom found this free 3D animating program that even Slamacow recommends called Blender. I downloaded it today, but I still have to get around to watching tutorials on YouTube so I can start. Maybe - if I ever get good enough - I can animate the Hero's Prophecy series I am writing... just maybe. Note: The video below is not mine, but it is a sample of what can be done in Blender.

One thing I know about 3D animating is how long it takes to make one single, four or five minute animation. Slamacow's animations take multiple months to create, and he is skilled in animating. For me? Um... I have to first learn how to even create a basic, unmoving object. I would like to do some real animating, but I have a feeling it could take a while to get there. Meanwhile, I have coding and animating practice to do.

So, what is HTML and CSS? I don't really know how to explain that... Oh well, I might as well try. HTML and CSS is what creates things like webpages. Coding is sort of like a different language, one that a viewer to a webpage cannot see. HTML consists of... what would you call them? Tags? Okay, I'll just call them tags. One HTML tag is this: <p> (The paragraph goes here) and </p>. I would show you more examples, but HTML is much longer than normal words thanks to all the tags.

First one is 2D Mario, second is 3D

Why am I learning these two things - coding and 3D animating? Well, first of all, I think they are cool and good to learn. Secondly, I am thinking of a computer related career which animating and coding both are under. You might also ask, like I listed in the first paragraph, Why are you doing 3D instead of 2D? Isn't 2D easier? Well, here is my answer to that: I would rather do 3D because it looks cooler even though it is indeed harder to do. 2D, in my opinion, just is not as cool as 3D. And why do I care about everything being "cool"? I am not at all like Hero from the Hero's Prophecy, so why do I care? Well, I would rather learn something cool or fun than doing something boring. I sort of classify the word cool as fun, so that could be an easier way of explaining that. Simple answer: Cool = Fun. So as you can - or maybe - see, I like doing fun things and I find coding and animating fun.

Okay, enough with my ranting on Cool = Fun thing. I really want to get that tutorial done on YouTube so I can get started with basic object making in Blender. Also, the video above is a Blender Demo - not one that I made, obviously - that I thought was pretty cool. I am really wanting to do another one of my Daily Life posts, but I had decided to do those only once a month. When October comes I will do it, but that is still a little ways away. I am also trying to decide when I should do my blogging so sorry if one day I post in the afternoon, one at night, one at 2:30 am, another at midnight, so on, but don't worry, I'll decide soon enough. I'll be signing off here so I can get back to work, but I will do the Weekly World Facts for tomorrow's post so be ready!