3D Modeling Animation

This is an intensive introduction to the complexities of working in a 3D application. The first portion of the class will focus primarily on the tools in Maya with navigation and the interface as a key element. Students will learn through simple and intermediate projects how to work in 3D. Time will then be spent introducing modelling in both NURBS and polygons. Students will then cover simple unwrapping procedures while understanding the complexities of UVs. Basic lighting tools will be covered to ensure that the projects developed in this term can be presented in a professional manner. The course will conclude with a series of projects focused on character rigging and fundamental animation principles applying the lessons learned in 2D animation to 3D animation.

This course is dedicated in large part to drawing and representing the skeletal structure and musculature of the human body. Students will learn the anatomical names of the skeletal elements, landmarks, and muscle groups. Students will learn how to draw the structures of the human skeleton and then add the surface muscle groups and features appropriate to the skeletal sub-structure. The course will also explore the differences in the portrayal of male and female musculoskeletal features. Students will also be introduced to the drawing of animal forms and basic animal surface coverings.

This course explores the design and production of characters for the animation and video game industry. Students will learn the principles of good character design, from research to final detailing, while focusing on character development, style, and personality. Students will apply principles and techniques of design and anatomy to achieve expressive, well-developed, appealing characters. By the end of this course, students should be able to work with a variety of styles, archetypes, and body structures to construct their characters.

This course introduces students to the concept of storyboarding for modellers and animators. Students will learn how to create clear, concise storyboards. Students will explore the elements that contribute to the final production of industry standard storyboards, including everything from a 30-second commercial, a television show, computer games, and feature films. Topics will include concept and production boards, thumbnail sketches, the role of character design, character staging, model sheets, art direction, background (layout) design, and camera positioning.

This course continues the coverage of modeling techniques. A key focus of this course is the exploration of modeling techniques using a low polygon count and the effective use of this technique. Students will learn to identify situations where a low poly count is appropriate versus situations where a higher count is required. Students will learn to design and model both organic surfaces and hard surface objects. Students will learn to produce models using polygonal modeling and splines while working with geometric shapes. Students will also work with textures and materials to create the different types of surfaces. Topical coverage includes geometric types and primitives, modeling techniques, spline modeling polygon modeling hard surface modeling and organic modeling, lighting, and rendering.

This course builds on the material delivered in Life Drawing II and continues strengthening the student’s knowledge of the human form. Students will work with life drawing samples and reference material to add appeal and strengthen their own personal style. Time will be spent both in class and during the student’s own time researching and developing these techniques. Props, drapery, and clothing will be introduced to the students. In the final weeks of this class, students will learn how to work with real world observations to strengthen their ability to develop concepts. Life Drawing III will also introduce additional digital and traditional creative methods that will give the students the tools to develop a life drawing portfolio for future classes and graduation.

This course continues the study of character design principles and the conceptualization stage of 3D character production. It then contextualizes this process by continuing the production of a 3D character through to a complete textured, rigged, posed, and rendered character. Building upon previous character design courses the aim is to have students produce an appealing, stylized character with unrealistic yet believable anatomical exaggeration. It will also build upon modeling techniques, while exploring the nuances of efficient edge loop topology. This focus on topology will be justified contextually when the time comes for students to texture and rig their characters. It will become apparent that clean efficient use of edge topology saves time and streamlines the texturing and rigging processes.

This course will explore the basic techniques of 3D animation. Using industry standard software students will take their first steps to animating a basic character. Using a hands-on approach, students will learn the techniques of basic animation. Topical coverage includes animation software tools and functions, key framing, modifiers, basic morphing techniques, and linear and non-linear animation.

This course addresses the creation of multilayer textures for environments and high-resolution textures for character and environmental models. It also seeks to provide students with the various production contexts in which the techniques are applicable, from texturing characters faces for film and games, to developing environment textures for next-gen game environments. In addition, the course seeks to provide students with an in-depth look at various direct lighting tools and controls available when lighting 3D assets. Topical coverage includes using the layered texture node, ambient occlusion, lighting control, shadows, three-point lighting, light fog, render passes, advanced UV mapping techniques, high-resolution character texturing, baking textures, transferring detail from highresolution geometry to low resolution geometry, normal maps, displacement maps, transparency.

This advanced studio course explores the design and development of 3D environmental modeling and design. Students will work with a developed concept and follow the required specifications to develop professional environments and then translate their research into producing dynamic environments. Students will also learn to consider staging, atmosphere, and environmental mood to enhance the professional look of the environment. Topical coverage includes effective advanced environment design, composition, matte painting (fundamentals), and actions and strategies for creating a professional demo presentation. The final goal of this course is to explore environmental demo reel options.

This course continues the study of modeling techniques with a focus on the design and modeling of a 3D character from an original idea, to a finished textured and rendered final 3D model. Students will need to develop and complete an original model to a standard suitable for film or television. Moreover, unlike previous character modeling projects thus far, which have had lower polygon counts and have been more suitable for interactive gaming, students will instead be more conscientious of fine details, topology, and anatomical correctness. Students will combine skills developed during previous courses such as character design, life drawing and the foundation modeling courses and build upon them with new knowledge from this course, to produce a character that could potentially form the basis of future work in their forthcoming courses and could become part of their final portfolio submission. Character creation will follow industry standard production workflows.

Animation II focuses on acting and intermediate animation techniques, students will improve on their skills from Animation I and push their timing, anticipation, follow through secondary action and cycles. Students will use live reference to enhance their animation. Time will be spent improving both technical and acting techniques to prepare the students for advanced animation and portfolio development. Students will have time to explore professional animation samples and apply this knowledge to their animation sequences.

This course builds upon the previously covered topics of lighting and textures. It will take the students beyond the basic light sources and shadows and explore lighting and texturing as an art. Students will learn advanced lighting and texturing skills and techniques and how to apply them to their final modeling and animation projects. Students will learn to select the appropriate light type for a particular situation, as well as the correct material 2D and 3D textures. Topical coverage includes lighting colour and composition, Maya light types, high-quality shadows and effects, Raytracing, 3D textures, and projections.

This course explores the process of preparing the setup of a character model for advanced animation. The course will take the students through the steps of character modeling and animation, with a focus on the rigging of the characters. Students will learn how to prepare and set up character rigs, bind structures to geometry, and work with meshes and armature. Students will learn how to rig facial expressions and lip movement and how to rig and animate armature. Topical coverage includes joint orientation, preparing skeletons, rigs, inverse kinematics, facial rigging, armature, binding structures to geometry, and meshes.

In this advanced character modeling class, students will develop high poly models working between both Maya and Zbrush with a special focus on digital sculpting and texturing. Students will learn the interface and tools in Zbrush while designing and modeling their own characters. By the end of this course, students will understand the industry approach to developing character models and begin to assess if this is the creative direction they would like to explore for their portfolios.

This course focuses on teaching required programming fundamentals of Python and MEL for Maya. Knowledge in these languages will assist students in the practice of writing custom expressions and scripts for the purpose of creating toolsets, expression applications, problem solving, visualization, design, process methodologies, data organization and much more within current industry production pipelines.

This course explores production and rendering techniques for the purpose of showcasing scenes in a professional manner, be it animated sequences, turntables, look development scenes, moving cameras through a 3D environment or any other visual products that can be made with a physically based renderer. This course will examine what samples are, what path tracing is, what a linear workflow is and why it is important. After understanding 3D render theory, students will be able to draw a connection between render quality and render time and learn to optimize for both.

This is an advanced animation course. Students will deepen their understanding of the twelve principles of animation as originally described by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. Students will further develop their observation skills so that they will be able to apply key principles from film and life to apply to their animation, Students will learn to apply advanced software techniques while pushing their creative boundaries in the context of design problems that will extend their artistic talents. Upon completion of this course, the student will have portfolio pieces that demonstrate an artistic awareness and identification with the audience experience, to the extent that their art will clearly demonstrate that they understand what the audience has been feeling, what they are currently feeling, and what they are intended to feel next, key attributes to effective storytelling.

Portfolio I is a conceptualizing and planning course for the development of the final student demo reel and portfolio. Students will discuss, create a plan, and consider their individual options while developing designs and storyboards. The development of two pre-visual animatics will be completed along with a production proposal focusing on design, colour, and composition. Time will be spent considering the timing of the final presentation and the overall aesthetic. Students will also consider a final presentation with all elements such as technical information and traditional design work. Students will develop a production schedule and build targets and deadlines that will be followed though to graduation. Peer reviews and discussions on planning and presentations will be part of this course.

This course focuses on the video presentation aspects of the final demo reel. Students will work with compositing and editing tools to add the final touches to their presentations. The first six sessions of the course will focus on small projects that will help the student understand the complexities and tools of compositing and editing. The final 6 sessions will be the creation of the final edit with the assistance of the Portfolio and Compositing and Editing instructors. Students will work primarily with After Effects and Premiere.

Students will explore the basics of digital effects animation and work with particles and effects tools with Maya. Students will work with digital tools to develop simple, dynamic animations while considering effects elements to add life and atmosphere to their reels. Students will cover the basic forces and elements such as fire and water and discuss lighting, mood, and atmosphere created by these effects. Timing, physics, and design will be key components to ensure that the effects developed in this class will have a natural look and are believable.

This course teaches introductory sculpture for modellers and animators. In this course, students will transfer their knowledge of anatomy, drawing of anatomical features, and character design, in developing a 3-dimensional sculpture. This course explores the materials, tools, and industry production techniques used in producing sculptures called ‘maquettes. Maquettes are used any time a studio (game, visual effects, 2D/3D feature films) wants to visualize a character in 360 degrees. A new character will be designed, with a strong line of action in the final pose. Students will also learn how to use sculpting tools effectively when using ‘Super Sculpey’, create clothes for their character, body, and facial sculpting, and build an armature to support the sculpture. The result will be a finished painted ‘maquette’ of their own design.

The emphasis of this course is to prepare students for graduation and final portfolio development. Time will be spent developing a final demo reel to showcase the strengths and talents of each student in a branded visually appealing presentation. Students will have the option to develop a demo reel that focuses on their interests and skills within the 3D industry. Time will be spent focusing on content that showcases primary skills such as animation or modeling. There will also be an opportunity to plan and showcase secondary abilities to increase the potential opportunity of employment. Planning and production pipelines will be followed, and deadlines will be achieved. Students will be critical of their work and change their artistic material if necessary. This course will work in conjunction with Portfolio I, compositing and editing, effects animation, and lighting and texturing. Students will be expected to present their content and participate in class activities with respect to graduation and course material.