On a personal level I lave learnt many new skills within Max, mainly character modelling, bipeds and skinning, adding motion to bipeds, cloth modifiers and also the ability to create a UVW unwrap to aid materials within a scene.
Working as part of a team was very different to what I have been used to, you are relying on others rather than just yourself. Fortunately for myself we all stuck to the deadlines set and produced the work set out at the beginning of the assignment. I think the message we were trying to promote was encouraged within the animation. The message being that the YMCA welcomes all people, whoever you are or whatever your interests are and that the organisation is all about bringing people together. This was found to be an issue the YMCA are trying to overcome, this is because manly people believe it is specific to one genre and therefore not appealing to everybody within the community.
When we had the meeting at the YMCA is was said that the animation should not be too serious, as our target audience would prefer a more laid back comical approach. We have to tried to achieve this by using cartoon characters and not using the faces modelled during the first six weeks. I personally tried to give my character lots of movement to project a light hearted energetic mood.
The time scale we had to work within was a lot less than I have previously been used to, which meant the work had to be produced at a much quicker rate!! If more time was available there are areas of my work I would like to improve, one of which being my map for my character, I would liked to add more detail to this. Although the character is not supposed to be life like and maintain a cartoon appearance, I would have still like to add some more detail to her clothing. Also if the animation is looked at frame by frame there are a few areas of the character where envelopes could be modified to produce a smoother animation when the character is in motion. However when time is not on your side you have to draw the line somewhere and move on to ensure the work is completed on time, unfortunately this means that the highest quality can not also be achieved within the time scale.
Generally I was pleased with the work me and the group produced and the way in which the group conducted it’s self, everybody pulled their weight and completed the tasks asks of them, we communicated well and helped each other when we needed to. I have picked up many new skills within 3D Max and Photoshop which will aid my future work. As a individual I have learnt to work within a group whilst also producing work for an organisation and trying to provide for their needs. The final piece was as we had intended and I feel it promoted the message we wanted it to, that the YMCA is about bringing people together and that everybody is welcome. 
