Digital Arts & Animation

In this project-based approach to learning Digital Arts and Animation, students will learn to create fine arts using the computer and a variety of cutting-edge software to manipulate images with stunning techniques. Students will refine their ability to transform thought into meaningful images using the vocabulary of the visual arts and become increasingly skilled with progressively more advanced digital tools and technologies.

To keep current with technology and contemporary art, this course is ever-evolving. The following is a sample of topics covered, but it may be altered as necessary and as new items come along: Modeling (Maya, curves, open vs. closed, revolves, planar, lofting, NURBS vs polygonal, Autodesk Community); Texture Painting (Mudbox, Diffuse color maps, Specular maps, Bump maps, other map types, exporting to Photoshop, importing from Photoshop); Animation (Maya, Key frame, ease-ins/outs and linear moves, motion blur, dynamics, particle systems, Advanced techniques like inverse kinematics); Lighting (Linear Lighting, 3-point lighting, Match lighting, Final Gather, Advanced techniques like sub-surface scattering, Image based lighting, HDRI, etc); Rendering (Mental Ray render engine, Mental Ray materials, 2.5D cards, mattes, hair/fur, possibly RenderMan); Compositing (After Effects, Rotoscoping, Strong composition, Green screen shoot and extraction, possibly Nuke).