Course Syllabus
Course Number: CA500
Course Title: Advanced Computer Animation
Class Meetings: Mondays 8am - noon, Room 512
Session/Year: Fall 13
Instructor Name: Greg Lemon
Email Address: glemon@edmc.edu
Instructor Availability Outside of Class: email me!
Advanced Computer Animation
Course Description:
This is a beginner/intermediate grad level course in 3d character rigging. The course will focus on the demonstration and application of industry-standard character rigging techniques.
Course Length: 11 Weeks
Contact Hours: 44 Hours
Lecture:22 Hours
Lab: 22 Hours
Credit Values: 3 Credits
Course Goals: Students should enter the class with a basic understanding of animation concepts and good grasp of basic skills for creative animation design. Students will finish the class with a solid understanding of the various techniques and methodologies used in the field of c3d animation.
Course Competencies:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
Understand and incorporate hierarchical animation, time curves and motion paths,
Understand and incorporate color and light animation,
Apply advanced rendering techniques.
Integrate audio/visual synchronization.
Create procedural descriptions of natural phenomena.
Course Prerequisite(s): None
Text(s): Suggested:
Maya Secrets of the Pros, Edition 2.
The Art of 3-D Computer Animation and Effects, Third Edition ; Isaac Victor Kerlow
Materials and Supplies: Storage medium , notebook and sketchbook and drawing materials.
Estimated Homework Hours: 4 Hours
Technology Needed:
Hardware: PC Linux / Windows, (Mac as applicable)
Software: Maya or other 3D software, After Effects, Shake, Renderer (Mental Ray / Renderman Mtor & Slim), Photoshop.
Grading Scale:
All assignments must have clear criteria and objectives to meet. All students shall be treated equitably. It will be that student’s right to know his/her grade at any reasonable point that information is requested by that student. The criteria for determining a student’s grade shall be as follows (on a percentage of total points basis):
A 100-93
A- 92-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-83
B- 82-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-73
C- 72-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-65
F 64 or below
Process for Evaluation:
Attendance and Participation --- 10%
Project 1 - story, visual research, concept art - 10%
Project 2 - 2d animatic - 20%
Project 3 - 3d animatic - 20%
Final Project - 40%
Student Evaluation/Grading Policies:
Class time will be spent in a productive manner.
Grading will be done on a point system.
Points for individual activities will be announced.
All work must be received by the set deadlines.
Late work receives a grade of zero.
On-time projects may be redone with instructor approval.
ABSOLUTELY NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE FINAL CLASS MEETS WEEK 11.
Classroom Policy:
No food allowed in class or lab at any time. Drinks in recloseable bottles allowed in classroom.
Edible items brought to class or lab must be thrown out.
If student elects to eat/drink outside class or lab door, missed time is recorded as absent.
Attendance is taken hourly. Tardiness or absence is recorded in 15-minute increments.
Break times are scheduled by the instructor at appropriate intervals.
No private software is to be brought to lab or loaded onto school computers.
No software games are allowed in lab (unless in course curriculum).
Headphones are required if listening to music during lab. No headphones are allowed in lecture.
Any student who has special needs that may affect his or her performance in this class is asked to identify his/her needs to the instructor in private by the end of the first day of class. Any resulting class performance problems that may arise for those who do not identify their needs will not receive any special grading considerations.
Disability Policy Statement:
“It is our policy not to discriminate against qualified students with documented disabilities in its educational programs, activities, or services. If you have a disability-related need for adjustments or other accommodations in this class, contact the Disability Coordinator, Suzanne Raffeld, at 415 276 1060 or see her at at Room 609.”
The class and the project
This class, in conjunction with CA 505, is focused on providing students with a thorough understanding of narrative storytelling concepts and an opportunity to showcase this through the creating of a 3d animated short film.
CA500 will primarily focus on the narrative elements of production: storytelling, cinematography, 3d character animation, and editing.
CA505 will primarily focus on the technical elements, such as 3d modeling, texturing, rigging and lighting.
The two courses are designed to overlap and certain assignments count towards both classes, such as the 3d animatic and final project.
Project delivery expectations:
- Backup through dropbox or drive. Thumbdrives get lost.
- All work should be uploaded and kept on a website, blog, or tumblr account created by each student. Videos can either be stored on a server, or uploaded to a youtube or vimeo account and embedded in blog posts.
- All video work should be rendered out at 1280 x 720, .H264 movie format.
Project Breakdown
Project 1 – Story,Visual Research and concept art - 10% of final grade- due week 2
Story:
Create a story that you will tell through animation. This story will become the project you work on for the duration of the semester in both CA500 and CA505. Pick something you will enjoy working on, but keep it simple - your total animation time should be 0:30 - 1:00 (30 seconds to 1 minute).
The story should have at least one character. Good stories are about characters solving problems.
Visual Research:
Find 20 - 30 images that you think will inspire the look of your short film, and post them on your blog.
Keeping the look and style of your film simple will benefit you tremendously through production.
Concept Art:
Create 10+ conceptual sketches of the characters, props and sets of your short film. This should be a fun exercise, and it should be focused on exploration of style, form, etc.
One of the sketches should be a model sheet, which is a front and side view of your character(s) standing in a symmetrical pose. We will bring this sketch into Maya and model on top of it in CA505.
Project 2 – 2D Animatic - 20% of final grade - due week 5
Create your movie using storyboards, sound effects and music. Think of this assignment as the scaffolding that will help you construct your finished piece in 3d.
Details:
- Resolution: 1280 x 720
- .H264 file format
- This assignment is dependent on completion of the following:
- beat sheet, beat boards - due week 3
- storyboards + soundtrack/effects - due week 4
Project 3 – 3D Animatic - 20% of final grade - due week 7
Create a blocked out 3d movie using finalized assets (models, textures, rigs) and blocked character and camera animation. Character animation should be detailed enough to sell the idea of the action the character is performing.
- Resolution: 1280 x 720
- .H264 file format
- This assignment is dependent on completion of the following:
- 2d animatic - due week 5
- assets from CA505: models/textures/rigs - due weeks 4,6
FINAL PROJECT DUE WEEK 11 - 40% of final grade
Your short animated film, rendered to perfection.
- Resolution: 1280 x 720
- .H264 file format
- This assignment is dependent on completion of the following:
- everything you've done in CA500 and CA505!
Suggested Course Outline
Week 1
- Discuss: Course overview, introductions. Project discussion. Concepts of storytelling, characters solving problems. Storytelling = story delaying. Hope and fear, dramatic structure, etc. Camera angles, shot selection, geometry in cinematography. Review animation examples, break off into brainstorming session.
- Homework: Story, concept art and model sheets
Week 2
- Due: Story, visual research and concept art - 10% of final grade
- Discuss: review and give feedback on story, concept art and model sheets. Story beats and their purpose. Drama and clarity vs. confusion and boredom. Beat workshop.
- Homework: Beat sheet and beat boards
- Beat sheet: write out a list of every single beat you think your film needs in order to tell your story in a clear and dramatic fashion.
- Beat boards: 10 of your most impactful story beats, drawn out as 1280 x 720 storyboards, in digital format.
Week 3
- Due: Beat sheet and beat boards.
- Discuss: review and give feedback on beat sheet and beat boards. Story beats and their purpose. Drama and clarity vs. confusion and boredom. Beat workshop.
- Homework: The full set of storyboards for your film
Week 4
- Due: Storyboards
- Discuss: review and give feedback on storyboards. Storyboard revision assignments. Intro to After Effects and Premier. After Effects animation techniques. Sound and pacing, rendering.
- Homework: 2D animatic
Week 5
- Due: 2D animatic - 20% of final grade
- Discuss: review and give feedback on 2d animatic. Animatic revision assignments.
- Homework: animatic revisions, begin planning 3d animatic with thumbnail sketches.
Week 6
- Due: Animatic revisions, thumbnail sketch review
- Discuss: review revisions and thumbnails. Acting and movement video workshop. Animating characters in Maya using character sets and blocked poses. Time slider and dopesheet.
- Homework: animatic revisions, begin planning 3d animatic.
Week 7
- Due: 3d Animatic (due date is tuesday for CA505)
- Discuss: review and give feedback on 3d animatic. Animatic revision assignments.
- Homework: 1st pass character animation.
Week 8
- Due: 1st pass character animation.
- Discuss: review and give feedback on animation Animatic revision assignments.
- Homework: 2nd pass character animation.
Week 9 - 10
- Workshop, focus on animation cleanup and project completion
Week 11
- Final projects due - 40% of final grade!
