Projects
Projects
Projects
Projects
Nikki Dunsire
CG Artist | Educator
Swiss Army Knife
Motion Graphics, Oregon22 World Athletic Championships & Working with Nikki
WAP: Student Thoughts & Testimonials
Madyson Arthur - JAD - University of Oregon class of 2023
Jake Savelich - Strategic Communications Master's Graduate - University of Oregon class of 2023
Quinn Connell - CINE - University of Oregon - Sophomore
Darrel Harrison - JAD - University of Oregon class of 2023
General
Anna W. - Multimedia Journalism Master's Candidate - University of Oregon - Class of 2023
In my time at the University of Oregon, there was no instructor more helpful, more supportive, more compassionate, and more willing to go the extra mile than Nikki Dunsire. I took classes with Nikki during every quarter of my time as a Master’s student. I took all of her classes offered in the Oregon Reality Lab in Portland. And honestly—her support and guidance are what got me through what was otherwise a challenging and stressful two years. Before entering Nikki’s classes, I had never been in a VR headset. I had no experience whatsoever with production software like Adobe After Effects. Upon starting my program, if you would have told me that I’d eventually be able to navigate 3D modeling software like Maya or game engines like Unreal Engine, I would have laughed. I didn’t even know that this software existed, let alone that I would one day use these technologies as a part of my work as a multimedia journalist. I now use Adobe After Effects almost daily. I’ve introduced my team at work to 3D modeling, and we’ve decided to add it to our production pipeline for special journalism projects. It’s no small feat: Prior to entering the Multimedia Journalism program, I worked almost exclusively as a writer. Now, the magazine I work for is publishing my terminal project in interactive journalism. My project relied heavily on software and skills I learned in Nikki’s classes: Adobe After Effects, node-based programming methods, and 3D modeling. The magazine receives up to 600k monthly site visitors, so publishing my project and being able to introduce new technologies to my workplace is a major accomplishment for me and one that has an impact. I learned all of these technologies—everything—from scratch in Nikki’s classes. Nikki has a non-judgmental approach in her classroom. She never once talked down to me or made me feel silly for trying to learn something so widely new to me. As a member of my terminal project committee, Nikki was the only committee member who worked with me on a weekly—if not daily—basis to make sure that I met my goals and had the resources and support that I needed. She answered questions promptly. She made video tutorials when I was stuck. She went out of her way to help me learn new skills to apply to my project and career. I have never met a professor or instructor who cares as much about teaching as Nikki. Yet, her classes weren’t easy. What continues to stick out to me about her classes is her ability to balance academic rigor with empathy and compassion. Her classes were hard but accessible—and it felt good to be challenged. The way that she teaches her class made me want to do the work, despite the learning curve. I felt like I was working toward something that didn’t even know was possible for myself. It’s not an exaggeration to say that my time in the Oregon Reality Lab with Nikki changed the course of my career; I can’t emphasize enough how valuable I found her teaching and guidance. So, I wholeheartedly—and without any hesitation—recommend Nikki Dunsire for any teaching position—and anything else she sets her mind to. She’s amazing. With kindness, Anna Wilcox June 28 2023
Jake S. - Strategic Communications Master's Candidate - University of Oregon - Class of 2023
Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of taking four classes with Nikki, and I can confidently say that she is an exceptional educator. Nikki is not only a knowledgeable and skilled teacher, but she is also incredibly patient and makes sure to give students every opportunity to succeed in her classes. She always goes above and beyond to ensure that each student understands the material thoroughly and incorporates a variety of instructional strategies that cater to different learning styles and abilities. Nikki fosters critical thinking, creativity, and independent thought, and encourages students to become active learners. My time in Nikki’s classes helped me gain skills that were immediately applicable to my studies and provided me the opportunity to work with World Athletics for the Oregon 22 World Championships which lead to me also being invited to work the upcoming Outdoor Worlds in Budapest Hungary (August 23’). I have no doubt that Nikki would be an invaluable asset to any educational institution. I wholeheartedly recommend Nikki, she is an exceptional teacher who has had a profound impact on my educational journey. I am confident that she will continue to positively influence the lives of countless students in the future.
Matt K. - Historic Preservation Master's Candidate - University of Oregon - Class of 2023
I've had the opportunity to take three classes with Nikki: Building Immersive (Unity), Building Immersive (Maya+Zapworks), and Photogrammetry For Immersive Applications. In all of these classes, Nikki made expectations and learning outcomes clear, and also did a good job of helping us understand how the skills, tools and workflows are used in real-world professional settings. Nikki used Basecamp effectively to make sure students had all the resources we needed to keep up with a thorough progression of coursework and final deliverables from each class. As a student from another department, Nikki made me feel welcome and free to explore the ways the interdisciplinary aspects of her courses were applicable to my Historic Preservation degree and future career. These three courses (alongside the one other class I took from the Journalism department- Drone Cinematography) have provided a great foundation to some digital documentation and visualization tools that I hope to develop further after graduation and put to use in a future job.
Jenni D. - Multimedia Journalism Master's Candidate - University of Oregon - Class of 2023
Nikki is a dedicated and organized instructor who has taught me a lot of important professional skils. Her guidance helped me to land a job immediately upon graduation, showcase my work, and build skills in animation and website design. She is very approachable and communicative, and has been a consistent source of support in my time at the SOJC Portland. As a committee member for my capstone in Multimedia Journalism, Nikki was both responsive and immensely helpful. She consistently made time for scheduled check-in meetings and impromptu consultations alike, guiding me in refining skilla and teaching me new, streamline processes for achieving the outcomes I wanted in my animations. She was also a great source of encouragement as I navigated self-doubt and roadblocks on the way to achieving this final piece of my graduate eduation. I selected Nikki as a committee member because of my positive experiences working with her in two prior classes: J510 Digital Portfolio in Fall 2022, and J608 Motion Graphics in Fall 2021. I will discuss each class in more depth, but as an overview, I will say that Nikki provides clear structure, instruction, and feedback, which helped me to advance my skills and succeed academically. She also masterfully manages hyflex instruction, which made me feel safe, included, and valued (I have health conditions that made remote classes necessary during the pandemic). I have always felt very comfortable working with Nikki because she has consistently shown understanding and compassion for my chronic health issues and neurodivergence – a rarity in my experience at the SOJC! In Nikki’s Digitial Portfolio class, we developed a personal website and a suite of materials – including a designed resume, a personal business card, and other items that would benefit us as we prepare to graduate and search for the next professional opportunity. Nikki shared modern best practices for building these materials, clear feedback to improve our designs, and personalized suggestions on how to market ourselves for our chosen niche in communications. I am happy to share that the website that I developed with Nikki’s guidance was a significant factor in landing a contract with a local nonprofit organization, which I began right after defending my capstone project! I cannot overstate how helpful this class was, and I have heartily recommended it to other students. I also had the pleasure of taking Motion Graphics with Nikki in Fall 2021. This ignited my passion for animation, ultimately informing my capstone project and the work that I have done in my internship with OHSU’s Relate Lab. The graduated projects were great steppingstones to building skills in Adobe After Effects, and made this challenging field feel both welcoming and do-able! Nikki also shared tips for producing motion graphics in a professional setting, including developing a good file structure. This has also been invaluable in developing my workflow. And again, Nikki provides clear structure and instruction, which helped me to both succeed in this course and carry the skills forward. I feel very happy with the level of challenge, clarity and quality of instruction, and level of organization in my experiences with Nikki. She is also a great communicator and source of support for students. It’s been a pleasure working with her!
Hayden T. - Strategic Communications Master's Candidate - University of Oregon
I have actually thought about this a few times over the course of time that I have been a student in the Strat Comm program because I so appreciate the level of care and detail that Nikki takes in her class structure and teaching methods. Nikki teaches very challenging course material that she is able to make interesting and relevant for many different disciplines. I for instance am a Creative Project Manager in my work life, and I've seen firsthand how designers and production artists can be great partners by paying attention to detail and managing a file structure that is easy to follow. Nikki teaches that and carries that level of detail throughout all of her courses. It can't be overstated how important file structure and project organization is. I appreciate the videos Nikki creates with step-by-step instructions that help immensely as I am trying to remember what we learned in class and take that work home to finish out of the lab. They are an immeasurable aid to learning what are often challenging subjects, such as After Effects or Unity. I can tell Nikki cares deeply about the success of the students and has such passion for what she is teaching. I have no doubt that Nikki wants to make sure her students bring a high level of aptitude out into the 3D immersive world.
Collin P. - Strategic Communications Master's Candidate - University of Oregon
I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in J510 Motion Graphics with Nikki. As a full-time student and full-time working professional at an advertising agency, having a deeper understanding of the software my creative teams were utilizing daily made a substantial impact on knowing what was capable in our day-to-day work. I noticed a positive influence on the work we provided for my clients at Adobe. Nikki was extremely responsive to the varying levels of comfort our class had with Adobe After Effects and Photoshop. Their lessons were very intuitive and there was no shortage of extensive video content to reference outside of class time. I also appreciated that the course encouraged exploration of our own creativity across assignments during the term, which I feel helped solidify the concepts we were being taught by pushing us to think outside the box. Nikki guided our class with industry knowledge on how motion graphics software is being used by creative professionals, and supplemented us with organization workflow tips, and ultimately helped us students build a solid beginning portfolio for any of us who choose to pursue more education or work in the motion graphics field. I can definitely see myself getting a robust utility out of the foundational lessons I learned in the J510 Motion Graphics course!
Esteban D. - Sports Product Management Graduate - University of Oregon
Last term I was part of the Motion Graphics class, and I am extremely glad I took the course. I learned how to utilize multiple tools that I know will become beneficial in the future. In fact, I already used my After Effects knowledge to put together a video about a class trip we took last November to Germany, Baltimore, and New York. Prior to the class I had no experience working with any of the software we worked with such as Photoshop, RunwayML, Adobe Media Encoder, and After effects. Nikki knew that everyone had different levels of expertise so she made sure to go over material that would bring all of us to the same level. Coming from the Sports Product Management Program pushed me to think outside the box when I had to create a story board for my final project. What I liked the most about this class is that’s a learn-do class. As Nikki goes over concepts such as rotoscoping or stabilizing a video, you are following along so that you know what you need to do when working on individual projects. The way the course is structured allows students to understand how to use the tools that are available instead of having to memorize them. Additionally, she records the class sessions and provides supplemental videos, so you still have the option to go back and review them. As you spend more time with the software you become faster and intrigued about what other effects to use. There are so many of them that it’s really up to you how to utilize them. I would highly recommend this class because what you learn can be applied to create content in multiple industries.
Chris C. - Multimedia Journalism Graduate - University of Oregon
I was lucky enough to participate in both Immersive Media courses offered this year by Nikki. I never, ever thought I would study immersive media or any type of intensive programming classes. I have always been a photographer and thought the farthest I might step out of my comfort zone in this program might be photogrammetry or drones. Nikki makes it accessible and even fun. I did not become a master of the medium like some of my classmates, but I feel much more confident speaking about the process of creating 3D assets and enjoyed the process of learning something completely new and trying to understand a form of expression that was hitherto completely unavailable to me. I highly recommend giving these classes a try. Be sure to allocate enough time in your schedule if you are a total newbie but you will leave with skills and an understanding of a world you may not have thought you could access. Highly recommend!
Shauna M. - Multimedia Journalism Graduate - University of Oregon
I am a graduate student and have taken Nikki's Immersive Media I class and Creating Content for Immersive Media. I selected the MMJ program in Portland because the Oregon Reality Lab offered Immersive Media classes like these -- I could not wait to start learning about VR and AR! These classes are among the best I've taken at UO. Nikki is teaching us skills that translate directly to the workplace to fill in-demand jobs. I wish there were even more Immersive Media classes so I could continue to expand my experience with these tools and build my portfolio. Technically speaking, if the UO program had an " Immersive Media " graduate degree, I would be on that track instead of MMJ. As someone looking to enter a field where these skills are needed to understand production, I soak up all the advice Nikki has to offer. She is one of the best professors I've ever had hands-down, and her teaching style makes it possible for us to understand highly complicated, technical skills.
Shawn L. - Sports Product Design Graduate - University of Oregon
These courses are extremely helpful for me who is interested in 3D modeling and interactive immersive experiences. I like the fact that these courses allowed me to understand the overall VR immersive production pipeline and wear VR headset to work with the Unity game engine. I also like the instructor here. Nikki always takes the time to explain the course content in detail and she is very supportive to students who require extra help!
Mary Anne F. - Multimedia Journalism Graduate - University of Oregon
Nikki, I am so thankful that you started at the University of Oregon when I was still enrolled.
The Design Immersive Media and the Create Immersive Media courses taught by Nikki Dunsire in the Winter and Spring of 2020 provided the building blocks that were needed for me to know how to make my stories immersive and interactive. Nikki has the ability to take complex software and make it understandable to someone who doesn't have any experience in creating VR. Her teaching style and these courses provided the necessary tools and knowledge in the growing trends of immersive and interactive journalism. The Design Immersive Media and the Create Immersive Media courses are an important step in learning how to create stories that our viewers can interact with both in a headset and through their computer in a WebVR experience. Additional immersive courses in which we build upon the knowledge of creating immersive settings and we build in the stories and data will make current and future students marketable in various media fields and will put the University of Oregon's School of Journalism on the map of innovative storytelling techniques.
Gen K. - Sports Product Management Graduate - University of Oregon
Motion graphics included the use of multiple graphics programs but mainly after effects and photoshop. Nikki taught the class to a wide range of skill levels from having never looked at a editing program to an intermediate level experienced user with myself being at the never looked at anything stage. The delivery was at a great pace for everyone as you could go ahead or follow along and learn just as much. Nikki’s delivery was probably one of the beter I’ve experienced in my academic life as it was a two-way street instead of just the professor controlling the dialogue which is appreciated and helpful. The course content included learning how to use the programs as well as adding other tools to the ones we learned, for example using runway to help our projects. I myself learned a lot and have been able to apply skills and programs learned in the course to my own portfolio as well as to my groupwork in SPM even if it is a completely different program. The overall class was great to take and moved at the students pace and need which was super helpful especially during a high course load when I took the class. I would definitely recommend the course to other students that are using programs such as illustrator or procreate in the sports industry because it will enhance your knowledge as well as capabilities.