Fillwalk (Quote 1):  Well, I think the students really learned a variety of skills and brought a variety of skills to it as well including project management.  It was a big project that they had to take on and really stay on track with a lot of aspects to that.  But I think primarily nobody had done this before on campus.  So for us it was a link between again the technologies that are over in biomechanics and how to then integrate them into 3D animation packages.  So, there was some research that had to be done to do that to make the technologies cooperate and talk to each other.  Students were involved in that process but they went through the whole narrative story-telling process from storyboard, from visualization storyboard, into the final modeling and animation of the work.

Fillwalk (Quote 2):  Well I think both the undergraduate and graduate experiences here at Ball State for art and music technology are really providing students with a broad but vary in depth technological experience both on the creative side and on the technology side.  So, I think with the faculty expertise here, with again the technological infrastructure, the labs, the equipment that students have access to; it really allows students to work at a more advanced level, and we really push concept here strongly.  So, not only are you learning the techniques, but you're really exploring ideas, history, theory of new media art.  I would say in particular the new BFA electronic art and animation and the degrees over in music technology in our case, in our particular institute's case, the two programs cooperate quite a bit.  In fact, there are some joint courses that they have to take in between the degree programs.  So, the students get to meet each other, they work on projects together, and also of course in the institute it goes beyond that because that's across campus.  We have telecommunication students, computer science, architecture, as well as music technology, and art and animation.  So, it's really a diverse experience that students can immerse themselves in and really get involved in an exciting project-based environment.

Fillwalk (Quote 3):  I think exposure to this sort of technology, this level of technology, is a really great experience for students to have access to and understand the craft side of and obviously has applications to the industry as well.  The software that we teach is all state-of-the-art, industry standard 3D applications.  So students are learning Maya, Softimage, XSI.  We have Rhino, 3D Studio Max.  The VIA lab system is amazing at supporting 3D technology here on campus.  I think now with the biomechanics partnership it again extends the range of capabilities of experience the students get exposed to, and what they can do creatively and should be a great benefit to them in their professional careers.

Fillwalk (Quote 4):  Well, the animation really tells a story that's set out in the woods where basically these fireflies, kind of fairies essentially, come to life and form this dancer who really then does this dance out in the middle of the woods.  As the animation unfolds, you realize that it was essentially a playground area for children long ago.  So, there's neglected toys that somehow come to life in this piece.  So, it has a nice kind of emotional story to it that unfolds.  So, you have this layer of the high tech but its really helping, basically tell a traditional narrative idea.