Animation

“Dad, what is animation?” asked Gabe the other day.

“It’s a bunch of still images put together to produce movement.” I answered, at the same time thinking for alternative explanation.

“Dad, I don’t understand.. how can still images produce movement?”

I should have thought out alternative first.. but I skipped the mumbo jumbo.

“Cartoon movies are animations, too.” I replied instead.

“So animation is cartoon..” Gabe concluded.

“Not always…. say, I have an idea.. Let’s make an experiment with one of the Transformers..”

“What’s the idea?” Gabe looked intrigued.

“We’ll make a short animation of Bumblebee transforming from Camaro car..”

So I went to grab my old cellphone which has a built in VGA camera, took the Bumblebee car, and set up a chair as stage for the animation.

Gabe was curious.. wondering what was I up to?

But then after having taken a few snapshots of Bumblebee and showed Gabe in slideshow mode, he was so excited.

(click the image to view animation)

“Let me do another!” Gabe begged..

“I’ll make another animation, but watch carefully.. so then you can do it your own.”

I took another figure and make the animation. But Gabe could hardly wait, “Let me, let me, please.. Dad!”

“Okay, here we go.. you take the snapshot, I’ll transform it once at a time.”

“Why not me do it all?”

“Teamwork, son..”

“Can a person do this all by himself?”

“Of course… but it’s so much fun when we do it together..”

And here is the animation of Brawl transformation shot by Gabe.. neat!

(click the image to view animation)

Mission Success!

Gabe said that joyfully at the end of the piano show on Saturday 31th May 2008, at Mitra Keluarga, Kelapa Gading. What an exciting experience for everybody! Gabe and his friends were quite nervous before the show, even after having played the scores, Gabe's hands were frozen cold!

He's been quite edgy since a few days before the show. I understood his situation, his teacher had given a bit hard pressure on him and everyone else for the show to be successful. But in the end, it was worth while.. Good entertainment for the hospital visitors, and everybody was happy and seemed to have enjoyed the show very much. Indeed, mission success!

The hospital staffs did record the show, we'll post the video when we have received it.

Gabe and his 6th birthday

Earlier this month I had promised Gabe a Fraulein Idolmaster figure for his birthday present. Unfortunately I was told that it will only be available in June. So, to make it up, we brought Gabe to a toyshop owner’s home just a few blocks from ours and let him choose on his own. Gabe was picky enough but thankfully oom Stefanus was very patient while offering various toys. It took quite a while for us to wait until he made a choice. But it was an excellent choice, afterall.

A Transformer Bumblebee (movie version), with three additional S7 agents packed in Screen Battles series. Bumblebee is transformable into a Chevrolet Camaro. Whew! It took me an hour to figure out how to convert from robot mode to vehicle. I made a few mistakes at first, but good thing the toy is sturdy and can handle several wrong moves.

I need to mention to readers who happen to have this toy too, remember to pull the back first when trying to pull the front grill up. It serves as somekind of a locking mechanism, and that was what took my time the most.

Although we didn’t go out today, Gabe was having fun playing with Bumblebee. And so have we..