Winter School – Computer Animation

At II. Primary School, on February 22nd and 23rd, 2024, the “Computer Animation Winter School” was conducted for fourth-grade students, led by teachers Helena Lacko and Marinela Schatten. Students were introduced to the world of computer animation, where they creatively created their characters, designed them, and then transformed them into digital figures that came to life through animation using computer technology.

During this winter school, visual culture, art, and various digital tools were combined. Students created presentations, video works, and animations of their drawn characters.

The first part of the winter school involved creating a video using the popular tool MS PowerPoint and the Pixton Characters add-in for PowerPoint. To create the video, advanced settings and commands within the PowerPoint tool were used, along with the addition of animations that required specific knowledge and skills in using the tool. The theme of the video creation was to raise awareness among students about nature conservation and its potential consequences, as well as the message sent to the audience. Students first drew characters for the gif animation on paper, and then brought them to life using digital tools such as Unscreen and MetaDemoLabs. Animations and video materials are available on the website https://sites.google.com/view/zimskakola-raunalnaanimacija.

The computer animation workshop was particularly challenging for students in terms of the computer technologies used and the knowledge they gained during the workshop. The created video and gif animations brought special satisfaction to the students, especially as their characters became part of the digital world and the produced works. The workshop was extremely creative, educational, and engaging.

Photos from the “Computer Animation Winter School” are provided below: