Schedule of Classes and Assignments Spring 2008

We'll try to stick to this schedule but there's always the possibility that something might change. Stay tuned to the announcements on the main class page for updates.

Syllabus

Week of Monday Wednesday Friday
January 14
Week 1 		Introduction and Syllabus
Animations from classes in previous years
Animations:
  • Oral Fixations
Assignments of Technical Demos
Break
Maya Demonstrations
  • desktop
  • polygonal modeling
  • basic mapping
  • lighting
Storyboard clips from Monsters
Animations:
  • The Dog Who Was A Cat Inside - Passion Pictures (Issue 144, SIGGRAPH '03)
  • East End Zombies (SIGGRAPH 2005 Electronic Theater Issue 150)
  • It's not the end of the world - Super Furry Animal - Duran Duboi (Issue 141, SIGGRAPH '02)
  • When the Day Breaks -- Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis
Maya Demonstrations
  • deformers + blendshapes
  • keyframing
  • camera
  • rendering
  • keyframing
  • layering
Reading:
  • pages 2-55 in Inspired 3D Short Film Production

Assignment 1 out

----
January 21
Week 2 		no class -- MLK Animations:
  • Bunny - Blue Sky
  • The Street (Hollywood Salutes Canadian Animation)
  • Discord Metal and Meat
  • Copenhagen Cycles
Work time 		----
January 28
Week 3 		Animations:
  • Cubic Tragedy (National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, SIGGRAPH Video Review Issue 150)
  • Helium (SIGGRAPH 2005 Electronic Theater, Issue 150)
  • Louis (SIGGRAPH 2004 Animation Theater)

Field trip for Mocap Lab Demo

Storyboard due as a powerpoint file (firstnamelastname.ppt)(Tuesday noon)

Pitch storyboards (5 minutes/each)
Vote for ~10 storyboards
Form two person teams to refine storyboards (via email)
----
February 4
Week 4 		Rest of the storyboards
Maya Demonstrations:
  • demo of setting up AFS space (Eakta)
  • mapping (Emily)
  • rigging (Emily)
  • basic skinning weights (Emily)
  • sculpting tool (Jim)

Assignment 1 due (Tuesday noon)

Assignment 2 out

Critique Assignment 1 (graded)
  • Group 1: 1:30
    • JOHN DOMINO
    • JAMES CHAN
    • ZACHARY FLEISCHMAN
    • DANIEL HENRY
    • ERIC FOOTE
    • JI SOO KIM
    • MINGHUI GUO
    • ANGELA WANG
  • Group 2: 2:30
    • NATHANIEL KRAUSE
    • CALVIN HSU
    • JASON MEISTRICH
    • LINDSEY SNIDER
    • ELISE WALTON
    • JESSICA MENG
Work time otherwise
Readings:
----
February 11
Week 5 		Animations:
  • Luxo Jr. (Pixar)
  • Geri's Game (Pixar)
  • For the Birds (Pixar)
  • Lifted (Pixar)

Maya Demonstrations
  • Importing mocap data (Laurel) file to download
  • Strokes (Laurel)
  • Particle systems (Theresa)
Work time

Animations:
  • Oh Hisse (Tohoku University of Art and Design, SIGGRAPH Video Review 154, 2006)
  • Kein Platz fur Gerald (Ars Electronica 2006)
Maya Demonstrations
  • C++ programming demo files for demo (Eakta, CFA 303)
  • MEL demo (Eakta, CFA 317)
  • Dynamic simulation (Theresa)
  • controllers, set-driven keys, and referencing (Luther)
  • trax editor (Luther)
  • Shaders and MentalRay (Elizabeth)
Work time

Revised storyboards due Sunday at noon

February 18
Week 6 		Pitch revised storyboards

  • The Bully

    • ZACK FLEISCHMAN, zmf
    • DAN HENRY, danielhe
    • ANGELA WANG, angelaw

  • Chime

    • DAVID KJOS, dkjosjr
    • ELISE WALTON, ewalton

  • Seeing Eye Dog

    • JESSICA MENG, jmeng
    • WEI-TING DU, weitingd

  • Cowboy Gorilla

    • LUTHER PATENGE, lwp
    • MING GUO, minghuig

  • Indiana Jones

    • ERIC FOOTE, efoote
    • JI SOO KIM, jisook
    • JASON MEISTRICH, jmeistri

  • The Season

    • JAMES CHAN, jamescha
    • NATHANIEL KRAUSE, nkk
    • CALVIN HSU, calvinh

  • Untitled Orange Light

    • ELIZABETH LIU, esliu
    • LINDSEY SNIDER, lsnider

  • Untitled Pellets

    • THERESA CHEN, tchen1
    • EMILY LEE, emilylee

  • Untitled Searching

    • LAUREL BANCROFT, lbancrof
    • JOHN DOMINO, jvdomino
Voting for storyboards
Composers in class
Form teams (email)
Readings:
  • Chapter 12 Model in Inspired 3D Short Film Production
  • Chapter 19 Visual Effects in Inspired 3D Short Film Production
Work time

Assignment 2 due Tuesday at noon

Animations
  • Raymon (SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2007, #156)
  • The Itch (SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2007, #156)
Critique Assignment 2 (graded)
  • Group 1: 1:30
    • JOHN DOMINO, jvdomino
    • ZACK FLEISCHMAN, zmf
    • MING GUO, minghuig
    • ANGELA WANG, angelaw
    • ERIC FOOTE, efoote
    • CALVIN HSU, calvinh
    • JI SOO KIM, jisook
    • JASON MEISTRICH, jmeistri
  • Group 2: 2:45
    • JAMES CHAN, jamescha
    • NATHANIEL KRAUSE, nkk
    • JESSICA MENG, jmeng
    • ELISE WALTON, ewalton
    • THERESA CHEN, tchen1
    • LINDSEY SNIDER, lsnider
First group meetings otherwise
Start webpages for animations

Assignment 3 out

----
February 25
Week 7 		Animations:
  • The Burning Safari (SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2007)
  • Portal (SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2007)
  • 90 degrees (SIGGRAPH Animation Festival 2007)
Maya Demonstrations
  • fluids (Theresa)
  • fur (Weiting)
  • hair (Weiting)
  • cloth (David)
Readings:
  • Chapters 10 and 11 in Inspired 3D Short Film Production
Work time
Discussion of animatics
  • Antz
Demonstration:
  • Video Editing Demo (Michelle)
Animations:
  • Fat Chance (SIGGRAPH 2007)
  • Nature is Ancient (Issue 144, SIGGRAPH 2003 ET)
  • 458NM (SIGGRAPH 2006 Electronic Theater)
  • Noggin (Brigham Young University, SIGGRAPH Video Review Issue #153)
Maya Demonstration
  • Shaders (Elizabeth)
  • Making clothing (David)
Work time

Complete storyboards due (midnight Sunday)

March 3
Week 8 		Critique complete storyboards (separate)
  • Cowboy Gorilla 1:30
  • Indiana Jones 2:10
  • The Season 2:45
  • Orange Light 3:20
Work time otherwise

Assignment 3 due (midnight Tuesday)

Critique assignment 3 (graded)
Whole class
----
March 10
spring break
midterm grades due 		spring break ----
March 17
Week 9

Critique of rest of Assignment 3
Animations:

  • Balance
  • The Building (SIGGRAPH 2006 Electronic Theater)
  • Toohey's War (SIGGRAPH 2006 Electronic Theater)
Work time

Demos:
  • Inverse Kinematics Part II
  • Skin Weights Part II
  • Mapping/Painting on Objects
Animations:
  • Chainsmoker (SIGGRAPH 2003 Electronic Theater, Issue 144)
  • The Fall (SIGGRAPH 2004 Animation Theater)
  • Tim Tom (Issue 144, SIGGRAPH 2003 ET)
Work time
Reading:
  • Chapter 16 Animation in Inspired 3D Short Film Production
Animatic due (Sunday noon)

March 24
Week 10 		Group critiques of animatics (whole class) (graded)
Work time otherwise
Animations:
  • Chubb, Chubb
  • Fog (SIGGRAPH 2006 Animation Theater)
  • Solder Man (Issue 145, SIGGRAPH 145 CAF)
  • Gentleman's Duel (Blur Studies, Issue 156, SIGGRAPH 2007 Electronic Theater)
Reading:
  • Chapter 18 Lighting and Rendering in Inspired 3D Short Film Production
Work time
March 31
Week 11 		Animations:
  • Versus (Supinfocom) (Issue 158, SIGGRAPH 2007 Animation Theater)
  • Clik Clak (Supinfocom) (Issue 158, SIGGRAPH 2007 Animation Theater)
  • La Marche des sans nom (Supinfocom) (Issue 158, SIGGRAPH 2007 Animation Theater)
Work time

Models, preliminary animation, and sample rendering/lighting examples due (Tuesday noon)
Critique Models, preliminary animation, and sample rendering/lighting examples (separate) (graded)
  • Indiana Jones 1:30
  • The Season 2:15
  • Orange Light 3:00
  • Cowboy Gorilla 3:40

April 7
Week 12 		Animations:
  • Walking
  • Ryan
  • Bingo (Issue 125, SIGGRAPH '98)
Work time 		Group critiques (separate)
  • The Season 1:30
  • Orange Light 2:15
  • Cowboy Gorilla 3:00
  • Indiana Jones 3:40
Work time otherwise
April 14
Week 13 		Animation:
  • Ark (SIGGRAPH 2007 Electronic Theater Issue 156)
  • Dreamweaver (SIGGRAPH 2007 Electronic Theater Issue 156)
Work time 		Critique (whole class) (graded)

April 21
Week 14 		Animations:
  • Alter Ego (SIGGRAPH 2007 Animation Festival, Issue 158)
  • Fallen Art (SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2005, Issue 150)
  • Moutons (SIGGRAPH 2007 Animation Festival, Issue 158)
Work time 		Group critiques (separate, ungraded)
  • Orange Light 1:30
  • Cowboy Gorilla 2:15
  • Indiana Jones 3:00
  • The Season 3:40
Work time otherwise
April 28
Week 15 		Animations:
  • La Derniere Minute (SIGGRAPH 2005 Electronic Theater Issue 150)
  • The Regulator (Ars Electronica 2006 and SIGGRAPH Animation Theater 2005, Issue 152)
Work time 		Group critiques (separate, ungraded)
  • Cowboy Gorilla 1:30
  • Indiana Jones 2:15
  • The Season 3:00
  • Orange Light 3:40
Work time otherwise 		----
Final exam slot May 12

Final Presentations during final exam slot (graded)
May 12 9:00-11:30am CFA 303

End of Semester ----

Other Animations of Interest