3D Modeling, Art and Animation

​In this course, students are introduced to image creation and editing software and how it specifically applies to texturing 3D objects. Students will create and prepare textures for 3D objects using industry standard texture creation software. Students will explore different methods of photo manipulation and texture creation, alongside the basics of applying those textures in 3D animation and modeling software applications with minimal stretching or visible seams. Students will be introduced to unwrapping the UVs of various organic and hard surface models early on and its importance will be reinforced in assignments and tests. Baking normal maps and the various techniques to achieve clean results will be introduced.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​Rigging is the process of preparing and setting up 3D models for animation. In this course, students are taken through the steps of specific 3D modeling techniques to setup and prepare basics 3D objects for animation. The course will focus on the rigging of basic characters and props. Students will create a skeleton for different 3D model types and prepare and setup a rig for different 3D models, bind structures to geometry and work with meshes and skeletons.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of art. Students develop and practice their skills while learning the principles of art composition. Movement, contrast, proximity, emphasis, balance will all be explored and how they can be used to lead the viewer's eye around the artwork. Students will learn how to use leading lines and color to create appealing artwork. Famous works of art will be examined to explore these techniques. Thumbnail sketching will be used quickly form ideas. Students will gain digital painting and photo manipulation techniques using a leading 2D software package.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course, students will be introduced to the principles of lighting, shading and rendering in 3D. Through hands-on practice, students will setup lighting in various 3D environments. Students analyze the role of light in different art forms (classic to modern) and practice recreating those conditions in a virtual environment. This course also examines the basics of rendering a 3D environment using industry standard applications. The overlying goals of this course are to develop the practical skills to light 3D scenes, render images sequences and videos, and to develop the artistic skills to analyze lighting in the real world and re-create it in 3D.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course, students will explore the fundamentals of animation using specialized 3D software. They will be introduced to posing, timing, key framing, interpolation, and how they are applied in 3D animation. Through assignments and exercises, students will practice with industry standard software to develop animation for models and props that will help them gain the foundations of animation.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course, students will be introduced to using three-dimensional space, modeling concepts, and creating 3D objects. Creating 3D objects is a fundamental skill in the digital arts industry. Students will create basic objects, and develop their skills in the 3D modeling production pipeline. This course covers the basics of 3D including navigation, tools, and proper modeling techniques for modeling simple objects. The emphasis of this course is to explore the various modeling tools and how they can effectively be used to create 3D models.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

​In this course students will build upon the principles of texturing using specific techniques to create believable and stylized surfaces for props and environments. Texturing will be explored in more depth with an emphasis placed on details. 3D painting software will be explored to detail textures directly on the model. Procedural texturing software will also be explored to create seamless textures that can be easily modified to the project's needs. Students will learn to apply trim sheets to their work to speed up their environment texturing workflow.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 1 must be successfully completed.

​Upon completion of this course the students will have been exposed to multiple aspects of the digital sculpting interface, enabling them to navigate the program with ease. Students will be shown various tools and techniques that will allow them to create complex forms and shapes within a 3D sculpting environment. The students will have also been introduced to fundamental anatomy principles, allowing them to create believable organix forms and structures.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 1 must be successfully completed.

​In this course students will build on the essential rigging techniques learned in the previous term and advance their skills in 3D character setup. Students will create a proper skeleton for a human or creature character based on the expected motions, setup character rigs for that skeleton, and skin, and bind the structures to the mesh. In addition, students will utilize the inverse and forward kinematics controls for complex animation. Creating facial rigs for human or non-human characters to present different facial expressions and lip movement is also discussed. Students will practice scripting for rigging to enhance the overall performance of a character rig. ​​
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 1 must be successfully completed.

​Students will examine the effects of lights, cameras, and surface interactions. Students will setup cameras and camera effects and create a shading network for a high quality 3D scene that is optimized for efficient rendering. Both offline and real time renderers will be explored and the benefits to both will be examined. Students will be able to render their shots in passes, and composite them together in an editing package. Focusing on industry standard presentation techniques, camera moves, pacing, and framing will be explored so students can showcase their work effectively.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 1 must be successfully completed.

Students will continue to build on the core principles of animation learned in past courses. Students are introduced to interactive animations, FK IK blending/ switching, and the techniques used to engage characters within their environments. Animation exercises covering movement mechanics, weight lifting, facial control, eye darts, blinks, expression changes, speech and full body acting, allow the student to develop further acting skills while building a workflow for a dealing with a variety of acting situations. Students will gain control over the camera and understand how to frame characters appropriately in given contexts and adding motion to the camera where necessary.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 1 must be successfully completed.

​In this course, students will focus on proper modeling work flow including concept development and reference gathering. through lectures, in class demonstrations and assignments, students will use tools and practice techniques to model non-organic objects and environments. Students will continue exploring polygon modeling and the tools needed to create clean, well laid out 3D objects. Students will be provided with multiple opportunities in-class and through assignments to practice 3D modeling and develop their skills according to industry standards.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 1 must be successfully completed.

In this course, students are introduced to many aspects of a game engine editor. This includes importing models, creating master materials, lighting scenes, assigning animations, controlling characters, creating landscapes, using the foliage tool, and using the blueprinting system. Throughout the course, individual projects will be created through the help of in-class demonstrations. Each student will use both marketplace assets, as well as their own viewpoint, therefore only minimal blueprint coding will be required. Students will learn the technical constraints of modeling, texturing, lighting, and animating for games and how to overcome those challenges. Optimization techniques will be discussed to ensure high frame rates are maintained.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​In this course, students will continue to advance the skills of texturing by creating textures for use on characters. Creating believable textures and shaders for characters is often an essential part of a character artist's responsibilities. Students will explore the different textures required to create a character such as skin, eyes, hair, and fabrics. They will apply these textures to shaders that take advantage of subsurface scattering settings and effective use of UVs and UV sets. Micro detail will be applied through use of scan data or procedurally generated textures to create realistic textures on close up shots. Techniques will be shown for texturing both game characters, as well as characters for film and tv.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​This course is built on the previous rigging courses. Students will create and utilize custom tools for a more efficient rigging process. In addition, students will create characters rigs that are captible across several characters to save time during the production work flow. By the end of this course, students will be able to create powerful scripts with UI's to build and support their rigs. Students will also be able to create fully rigged characters with user friendly systems for animators.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​Students learn how to create and present artwork for an online portfolio. Video and still image renders are examined and discussed to students can deliver a result that shows off their art favourably. Proper lighting, staging, camera moves, and titling are all considered when creating a final render. Scheduling and time management are discussed and students need to adhere to this schedule for their final project. Learning how to give feedback as well as to receive feedback is explored to further enhance the professionalism of the student. During the course of the semester, students receive feedback to implement into their ongoing project. The final for this course is a project presented using the skills learned in this course.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​Real time rendering is used across many different industries. In this course, students will examine in depth the capabilities, limitations, and advantages of rendering in a real time renderer. Students will set up cameras and learn to animate their cameras for effectively showing off models and environments. Lighting will be explored for both pre-computed lighting and run-time lighting. Materials will be created with parameters exposed for quickly iterating on different looks for the surface. Finally, post process volumes will be used to achieve cinema quality renders.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​The ability to animate life-like characters whether human or creature through the use of realistic facial animation, hand gestures, body language and emotions is a foundational skill in the world of animation and digital art. Students in this course will examine the advanced techniques and details of character animations. Students will be implementing acting techniques on to 3D characters. Students will use motion capture data that will be imported into the scene and under the instructor's supervision, clean up and apply motion capture animation to their characters. Finally, students will explore how to create animations for video games.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​Students in this course will focus on modeling a human character using a variety of techniques. Using reference, students will examine the human head, torso, arms, legs and their underlying structure and how they play a role in modeling a human character. The creation of hair will be discussed and a variety of methods for creating different hairstyles will be demonstrated. Students will use industry standard digital sculpting packages and explore how they interact with a 3D production pipeline. Clothing simulation tools will be explored for realistic animation. This course will culminate in the modeling and rendering of a fully posed character.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 2 must be successfully completed.

​In this course, students will be placed into teams to mirror the real life, deadline oriented, team-based environment of work in industry. Students will work on group projects that are focused on different aspects of the 3D industry and create content to support those projects. Students will identify their strengths and areas of interest and will choose the tasks that they want to work on, allowing them to exercise the specific skills that they want to develop. Students must submit their work for weekly review and take note of any revisions that their instructor identifies. These notes should be addressed and implemented in future submissions. Students will be assessed based on the planning and revision of the work done throughout the course.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 3 must be successfully completed.

In this course students build on the skills developed in Game Design Pipeline 1. Students create complex materials that can be configured for multiple purposes within a game engine for both meshes and terrains. Students create animated camera moves for creating non interactive sequences. Students develop skills to add extra visual impact to environments and characters using the particle system. Students also learn to create modular games assets to build out an optimized environment and setup animations to use in the game engine. In groups, students create a working game demo incorporating assets developed throughout this course.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 3 must be successfully completed.

​In the world of 3D Arts, industry professionals need to keep up with the evolving changes and progression on technology. In this course, students are introduced to methods of incorporating emerging hardware and software into 3D workflows through in class demonstrations. Students are guided on how to research these new and emerging trends in the industry and are shown how 3D can also be used outside of games, television, and film. Students explore different tools and plugins for VFX, game engines, and 3D software packages. Students are given assignments during the course that allow them to try new approaches to common workflows to increase work efficiency and produce a higher quality product.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 3 must be successfully completed.

​Students in this course will focus on the techniques and methodology for drafting and prototyping a demo reel. Under the direct supervision of their instructor, students will create a rough draft piece that shows the alignment of their demo reel to their plan. Students will present their animatic to their instructor and receive feedback and guidance for their plan and ultimately their capstone project. Reference material will need to be gathered and approved. Students will need to finalize and have approved their concept for their demo reel capstone project. By the end of the semester, students will have completed and refined the camera moves and edit of the final demo reel and will be ready to replace assets with their final versions.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 3 must be successfully completed.

Students will be introduced to the essentials of acting and characteristics to create 3D character animations. Students will examine the acting techniques for body language, facial animation, lip-sync, eye direction, emotions and expressions for animating 3D characters. Proper framing and camera movements will be explored. Students will practice the art of body mechanics, pose and actions and performance. Under the instructor's supervision students will shoot reference videos and pictures from different poses and performances and then create a sequence.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 3 must be successfully completed.

​Modeling for different industries will be the main theme in this course. Students will go through the entire 3D workflow to model, texture, light, render and present props consistently throughout the course. Students will learn the constraints and freedoms for modeling for different industries. Presentation techniques will be emphasized throughout student submissions to ensure the work is effectively being displayed. Still renders and image sequences will both be examined. Tight deadlines will force students to examine what is important to the model and will increase the speed of their work to get them ready for industry. Modeling to concept design is a skill that will be developed over the course of the semester. In addition, students will have an ongoing project throughout the semester to create a high quality demo reel piece.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 3 must be successfully completed.

Students in this course will be guided to the latest information about the techniques, industry trends, methodology and standards in their field of interest as it applies to their capstone project. At the start of the course, students will meet with their instructor and present their draft and pre-visualization project. Based on field of interest and specialty, students will be directed to learning materials to help them apply the best approaches and techniques for their capstone project. Throughout the term students will meet with their instructor in person or online to present their progress and receive feedback.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 4 must be successfully completed.

​In this course students will work on developing their demo reel based on their proposal and planning created in the previous term. Under the supervision and direction of the instructor, students create, test, revise and deliver their final professional demo reel based on industry standards. Students meet with the instructor (in person or online) and review the progress, receive feedback, and implement any revisions necessary for creating an industry standard demo reel.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 4 must be successfully completed.

​In this course, students will practice job search techniques that will assist them in finding employment. They will design a resume and cover letter to suit their field of interest. They will practice responding to a variety of commonly used interview questions, explain the appropriate business methods used to contact prospective employers, practice networking, and apply their new knowledge and skills in fields of animation, 3D art and film. The workshop setting will model and encourage self-reflection, constructive feedback and collaborative group work.
Prerequisite(s):

• All courses from term 4 must be successfully completed.