12 principles of animation

http://vimeo.com/49092833

Great texture sites

http://www.cgtextures.com/

http://mayang.com/textures/

http://www.textureking.com/

http://freestocktextures.com/

DT-116 Fall 2012 Syllabus

DT-116-1: Introduction 3d Modeling, Texturing, and Animation using Maya
Instructor: Greg Lemon
M-W 7:30 – 10:15
Prerequisite: none
3 Units

greg.lemon @ gmail.com

This is a 3d digital skills course designed to teach the fundamental aspects of modeling, shading, and animation through a series of creative projects in Autodesk: Maya. Students will explore Maya’s dynamic, node-based architecture, developing the technical skills and conceptual understanding needed to create a wide range of 3d digital artwork.

Learning outcomes:

This class will provide students with the technical skills needed to produce high-quality digital, three dimensional artwork, while maintaining an overarching focus on creativity, exploration and experimentation through a visual context.

Attendance policy:
Missing any more than four (4) classes will result in a failing (F) grade.

Late work policy:
1 class late – B grade maximum
2 classes late – C grade maximum
3 classes late – D grade maximum
4 classes late - F

Suggested resources:
www.cgtalk.com
www.awn.com
www.learning-maya.com
www.creativecrash.com
http://www.freemayavideotutorials.com/
http://motionographer.com/

Maya Basics

Required Materials:
Graph paper notebook and pen/pencil.


Projects and grade percentages:

Class Participation – ongoing, due : every class - 10%

• Be on time and prepared for class.
• Comment on and critique other people's work.
• Ask questions and be involved in discussions.

Project 1 – Primitive Composition - 1 week, due Wednesday 9/5 – 20 %

• Create sketches of what you want to create. Think landscape, portrait, or even abstract.
• Use primitive geometry and lights to create the needed shapes and color.
• Frame your composition and render three images.
• Fall 09 Project 1 Gallery

Project 2 – Still Life - 4.5 weeks, due Friday 10/5 – 20 %

• Choose an environment (inside or out) that you would like to create.
• Find reference images that support your idea.
• Use advanced modeling techniques to create detailed the needed organic and non-organic objects.
• Shade and texture your scene using lights, procedural shaders and texture maps.
• Fall 08 Project 2 Gallery

Project 3 – Animated Scene - 4.5 weeks, due Wednesday 11/7 - 20 %

• Think of a simple character/scene that you want to create and animate.
• Stuffed animals and toys work great – think simple!
• Think of the elements and actions you want to animate; walking, jumping, flying, twisting, opening, etc.
• Create storyboards to previsualize your actions and shots.
• Find reference footage of the types of movement and/or acting you want to create.
• Rig your character/environment for animation using joints, deformers, skinning, particle systems and cloth.
• Animate your scene and render it out as a quicktime movie.
• Should be 10-20 seconds in length.

Project 4 - Final project; 4.5 weeks, due Friday 12/7 – 30 %

• Still scene with complex models and textures.
• OR
• Moving scene with complex animation and FX.

Grading standards:

A -
work demonstrates both creative and technical excellence in all regards. Most critiques are subjective and based more on artistic opinion rather than legitimate concerns of quality; effort is quite visible.

B-
work is free from jarring, unintentional artifacts and clearly demonstrates sufficient command of both the medium and creative ability.

C-
work shows decent effort and focus, and displays effort that balances apparent technical and creative errors/artifacts.

D-
work lacks effort, displays numerous poor creative and technical choices.

F-
work is not turned in.

Class schedule

Week 1
Wed - intro to maya, workflow, file management and savin. Basic UI, navigating the workspace, creating and transforming primitives in XYZ space.
Fri- intro to maya, refresh class 1. Framing your composition, intro to lighting + rendering. Render settings.

Week 2
Wed - Project 1 due, project 2 idea due. Basic modeling overview. Geometry types, focus on polys. Lattices and non-linear deformers. Intro to component mode and history.
Fri - Modeling from reference photos. Using image planes. Plan of attack, poly modeling demo. Draw poly tool, Split face and extrude tools. Box modeling, smoothing.

Week 3
Wed - Poly modeling continued. Understanding edge loops/rings. Selection menu tools. Curve modeling techniques. Modeling with nCloth.
Fri - Working with shaders. Using the hypershade and procedural textures. Intro to UVs. Creating and editing UVs.

Week 4
 Wed - Creating quality seamless textures in photoshop. Color, spec and bump maps. Intro to mental ray rendering. Lab.
Fri - Lighting + mental ray demo. Mental ray shaders. Scene organization using display layers.

Week 5
Wed - Using paintFX to create grass, trees, clouds, etc. Lab. Camera settings and depth of field.
Fri - Workshop/lab.

Week 6
Wed- Workshop/lab, project 2 due next class.
Fri - Project 2 due, project 3 idea due. Intro to animation. Setting and editing keyframes in the timeline. Bouncing ball exercise. Dope sheet.

Week 7
Wed - Character reference due. Animation review. Modeling for animation, character modeling lab. Creating skeletons for characters.
Fri - Models for animation due. Blendshapes. Creating and editing skeletons. Binding geometry to skeleton. Painting weights.

Week 8
Wed - IK setup. Character rigging workshop/lab. Finish character rigging for next class.
Fri - Storyboards for animation due. Blocking out rough animation and camera shots. Animating camera moves. Path animation.

Week 9
Wed - Animation, continued. Adding weight and overlap to animations. Playblasting animation.
Fri - Intro to the graph editor. Adjusting keys and tangents in the graph. Animating FX (rain, fire, etc). Cloth.

Week 10
Wed - Animation workshop. Rendering animation.
Fri - Animation workshop, animations due next class.

Week 11
Wed - Project 3 due, final project research and development.
Fri - Final project idea due. Advanced modeling using subdivision surfaces. Particle systems, nParticles. Using fields.

Week 12
Wed - Displacement mapping and non-photoreal rendering techniques. Toon shading/outlines.
Fri - Rigid body deformations. Intro to fluid effects.

Week 13
Wed - Advanced rendering techniques. Autodesk photofly workshop.
NO CLASS Nov 25

Week 14
Wed - workshop.
Fri- workshop.

Week 15
Wed - workshop.
Fri - Final project due