Computer Animation
Art 384 (3 Credit Hours)
Fall 2010
Instructor: Ching Lau, B.F.A.,
Phone: (301) 520-7371
EMail: clau22@gmail.com
Office Hours: Call or Email and arrange
Course Description and Rationale:
This is the first 3D animation course at UMBC. In it, students should learn the
basics of a computer animation in Maya and how to get it to make a sequence of frames of an animation.
Students will learn something about all of the steps of making 3D animation:
planning, modeling, materials assignments, rigging, animating, lighting, and rendering.
They will also be encouraged to think about these activities as artistic activities,
studying related work both ancient and recent and to also think outside the box when it comes to problem solving.
This is a gateway class. You must make a “B” or better in this class to move on in
your AIM classes.
Textbook: N\A
Additional Texts, not required:
There are many, many “Mastering Maya 5” (or 8.5 or 4.5, or 3) books, or
“Learning Maya 3.14” and the like, most by Alias, all more or less technically helpful.
The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams and The Animator’s
Workbook by Tony White are fine books on how to do frame animation.
There are many books about the making of movies under the title set “The Art Of
…” (X-Men 3, Monsters Inc.2 , Toy Story 12)-- good for knowing the field. Mostly they
are advertising. Similarly, movies on DVD usually have “making of” extras that can have
interesting information on them, securely embedded in nonsense about the director’s
vision and genius. Take with grains of salt.
Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator’s Guide, by Eric Keller- nice, weird tutorials.
Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting by Lee Lanier- the best guide to the hypershader, texture tools, and the advanced Mental Ray stuff that I’ve found.
Puppetry, by Eileen Blumenthal-- good for inspiration.
Prerequisites: You must have completed ART 212 and ART 213 with a grade of C or better and the Visual Arts Milestone (portfolio review process) before taking this class.
Required Materials:
If you are going to use computers other than the ones in ENG005 to do your
work, you must use Maya 2010. If you used Maya PLE or (somehow) a newer version
than Maya 2008, you will not be able to use the lab computers to open your files, which
is unacceptable, and, since you’ve been warned, your fault.
If you insist on using computers outside of ENG005, you take on sole
responsibility for maintaining that hardware, even if you do not own it. For example, if
you make your final project on your girlfriend’s computer, and it crashes, and you lose
everything, you get a 0, because you chose to work outside of ENG005.
I recommend owning a flash drive (minimum 1GB). We’ll
end up using vART disks, but having backup storage and transfer storage is very useful.
Lab Hours:
You will have swipe access to the lab, so there are no lab hours.
Special Assistance Notice (from the Americans with Disabilities Act):
If you have a disabling condition that will require an accommodation in tests or class
structure, please advise the instructor or the department accordingly.
Course Requirements:
1) Attendance/Late Policy: I take roll every day. One of your grades is for
attendance. Every time you’re absent, I take three points off this grade. Being late is the
same as being absent.
To get an excused absence, send me an email no later than 1 hour before the start
of class.
No Athlete may miss class for practice in any sport. If any athlete misses a class
due to a game, he/she is responsible for contacting the instructor to make up work. One
week prior to the class to be missed due to a game, the athlete is to present a form from
the Athletic Department with the time and date of the contest signed by either the
Athletic Director or the Assistant Athletic Director. If this is not done, the absence is
unexcused.
2) Academic Integrity
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presenting of others’ ideas as if they were your own. When you write
an essay, create a project, do a project, or create anything original, it is assumed that all
the work, except for that which is attributed to another author or creator is your own
work. Word-for-word copying is not the only form of plagiarism.
Plagiarism is considered a serious academic offense and may take the following forms:
• Copying word-for-word from another source and not giving that source credit.
• Cutting and pasting from internet or database sources without giving that source
credit.
• Paraphrasing the work of another and not giving that source credit.
• Adopting a particularly apt phrase as your own.
• Reproducing any published or copyrighted artwork, both fine and commercial.
• Digitally duplicating or downloading any copyrighted software, programs, or files.
• Paraphrasing another’s line of thinking in the development of a topic as your own.
• Receiving excessive help from a friend or elsewhere, or using another project as
your own.
[Adapted from the Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers. New York: MLA, 1995: 26.]
Bottom Line: If you wish to use work that it not your own, give attribution.
Evaluation:
Technical proficiency gets a B; good art gets an A. We are responsible, not only
to the demands of academia, but to the demands of the industry. If you get an “A” in this
class, for work that can’t get you a job, I have failed you.
All assignments are weighted equally.
Projects: There will be 5 projects. Each one counts equally toward your final
grade.
Tentative Schedule
Week of:
Sept 1 Mon: Intro, Syllabus, 3D concepts, Project A assigned: Primitive person.
Sept 6 Mon: Labor Day
Sept 8 Wed: Basics to Maya's interface
Sept 13 Mon: Polygons: vertex pulling, selection modes, face operations
Sept 15 Wed: NURBS modeling A: lines, points, lofting, revolution.
Sept 20 Mon:
Project A due-- critique. Project B assigned:
Sept 22 Wed: Basics to animation, includes camera and object animations.
Sept 27 Mon: Graph Editor and time line controls.
Sept 29 Wed: Animation practices and tutorial on Adobe After Effects.
Oct 4 Mon: Playblast and batch rendering techniques
Oct 6 Wed: Basics to Dynamics and further animation troubleshooting.
Oct 11 Mon: Project B due-- critique. Project C assigned:
Oct 13 Wed: Setting up an model for either rigging or animation with groups.
Oct 18 Mon: Basics to assigning objects to groups as well as laying out hierarchies and pivot control.
Oct 20 Wed: Basics to rigging. Includes the basics to bones and inverse kinematics (IK)handles.
Oct 25 Mon: Animation Discussion and examples
Oct 27 Wed: Lab Day. Good day for trouble shooting.
Nov 1 Mon: Project C due-- critique. Project D assigned:
Nov 3 Wed: Basics to Lighting
Nov 8 Mon: Basics to Materials as well as a demonstration for the UV window in Maya
Nov 10 Wed: Basics to Texturing and basic pipeline between Photoshop and Maya.
Nov 15 Mon: Polygon Review. Good time to see if there are any question need answering. Last minute modeling needs.
Nov 17 Wed: Animation Review. Good time to see if there are any question need answering.
Nov 22 Mon: Project D due-- critique. Project E assigned:
Nov 24 Wed: Lighting Review and trouble shooting.
Nov 29 Mon: Modeling Practices and techniques.
Dec 1 Wed: Lab Day. Good day for trouble shooting.
Dec 6 Mon: ZBrush Demo as well as tips I have learned over the years.
Dec 8 Wed: Lab Day. Good day for trouble shooting.
Dec 13 Mon: Project E due-- critique.