3-D Animation I Syllabus for 2022-2023
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Instructor Information

Office Location

<p>Online Appointments by request.</p> <p>Please send an email to dante@infernovfx.com and we&#39;ll set up a Zoom Conference Call.&nbsp;</p>

Office Hours

A fast way to send an email to Dante - online form or immediately book a time to video chat!

https://stage03vfx.com/page.asp?content_id=35626&s=vfxunleashed

 

 

Course Information

COVID-19 Protocols

Recording Policy

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Students who do not attend class on or prior to the census date will be administratively dropped. Effective Fall, 2016

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Course

ARTV-1341-VFX02 3-D Animation I

Prerequisites

Course Description

Three-dimensional (3-D) modeling and rendering techniques including lighting, staging, camera and special effects. Emphasizes 3-D modeling building blocks using primitives to create simple and complex objects.

Student ResourcesStudent Resources Website

Department Expectations

Occupational License Disclaimer

Notice to Students enrolled in an educational program for preparation of issuance of certain occupational licenses:

Students enrolled in an educational program in preparation for obtaining certain occupational licenses are potentially ineligible for such license if the student has been convicted of an offense. For further information, please contact:

Melodie Graves
Justice Involved Advocate
Student Service Center 117
mgraves24@actx.edu
806-371-5995
Make appointment at https://melodiegraves.youcanbook.me

You can also contact the Legal Clinic, or the faculty member in charge of the educational program that you seek to enroll in. The further information you will receive will include notification to you of your right to request a criminal history evaluation letter from the licensing authority in order to clarify your particular situation.

Hours

(3 sem hrs; 2 lec, 4 lab)

Class Type

Online Course

Syllabus Information

Textbooks

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, Second Edition

By Ron Brinkmann

Supplies

NukeX Compositing Software, by Foundry

Student Performance

Introduction to VFX compositing incorporating multiple elements into the compositing workflow. Topics such as color correction, plate integration, green-screen lighting, rotoscoping, and advanced keying for traveling mattes. 3D animation, shaders, lights and materials will be discussed. Programs used: Photoshop, Nuke

Student Learning Outcomes:
• Students will be able to light live action elements and pull a high quality key from green screen footage.
• Students will be able to successfully composite various image sources into one professionally-integrated, composited image.
• Students will be able to build or create professional quality, production-ready 2D assets with external matte channels.

Students Rights and Responsibilities

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Log in using the AC Connect Portal

In order to receive your AC Connect Email, you must log in through AC Connect at https://acconnect.actx.edu .

If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".

Expected Student Behavior

Introduction to fundamental principles of motion through the exploration of traditional animation processes, including key framing and graph editor animation techniques. Emphasis will be on creating expressive movement with meaning through the principles of animation. Programs used: Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve

Student Learning Outcomes:
• Master timing and spacing as it pertains to digital workflows via the graph editor.
• Explore, experiment and understand various techniques used within the realm of vfx, animation and motion design.
• Conceptualize and execute animation from idea to final render and collaborate and communicate both in small and large teams.

Grading Criteria

There are 11 Explorations the student is required to submit. 
Each assignment should be uploaded to the individual student folder on Google Drive.

Each assignment is worth 10% of the final grade, with the lowest of all assignments dropped.
Individual assignment rubrics we be available in the Module.

Attendance

You are expected to watch the weekly class videos during the week they are assigned and complete the assigned homework. Often this involves finishing the course demonstrations. However, if you are not able to keep up with the work, contact the instructor before the week. Missing class for unexpected emergencies will be taken into account. Please discuss it with the instructor.

Calendar

WEEK 01    
01 A Over B 00 Course Introduction - Digital Compositing 1:04:00
  10 Welcome to the Course 3:34:00
  20 Introducing Nuke 12:57:00
  30 Node-Based Software 9:16:00
  40 The VFX Pipeline Part 01 10:52:00
  50 The VFX Pipeline Part 02 15:14:00
  60 The Nuke Interface 10:58:00
  70 Toy Box of Nodes 8:18:00
  80 Bringing Images Into Nuke 6:44:00
  90 Finishing Our First Script 13:00:00
  100 Know the Viewer Controls 15:03:00
  110 Introducing Alpha Channels 9:07:00
  120 The B-Pipe Method 11:53:00
  130 King Kong Additional Elements 13:17:00
  140 Build the Castle Shot 2:12:00
  Total (in Hours): 2:23:29
     
02 UFO Rough Landing 10 Importing Footage 13:39:00
  20 Putting the Comp Together 15:25:00
  30 Saving Your Work and Rendering 14:09:00
  40 Writing Out Individual Frames 13:33:00
  50 Reading Assignment W01 0:11:00
  Total (in Hours): 0:56:57
     
WEEK 02    
03 Keyframing and Batman 10 Caught In The Spiders Den 7:22:00
  20 What Is Key Frame Animation 7:55:00
  30 Constant and Transform Nodes 15:19:00
  40 Transform Node Properties 8:30:00
  50 Setting Animation Keys 10:47:00
  60 Animating the Bat Symbol Part 01 15:42:00
  70 Animating the Bat Symbol Part 02 12:07:00
  80 Adding the Spinning Element 11:06:00
  90 Blending Modes and Finishing Up 10:37:00
  Total (in Hours): 1:39:25
     
04 Advanced Pixel Selections 10 What Are Channels? 8:22:00
  20 SuperNova Over The Stars 12:31:00
  30 Crazy Hair In Times Square 14:38:00
  40 File Formats with Alpha Channels 6:54:00
  50 Backgrounds of Floating Elements 8:18:00
  60 Resampling Pixels 10:56:00
  Total (in Hours): 1:01:39
     
05 Read Nodes and the Dope Sheet 10 Back to the Start Game 4:00:00
  20 The Read Node Details 12:37:00
  30 Assembling The Farm Movie 14:49:00
  40 Complete Assignment 0:20:00
  50 Reading Assignment 0:11:00
  Total (in Hours): 0:31:57
     
WEEK 03    
06 The Channel Challenge 10 Exploration Introduction 3:49
  20 The Shuffle Node 8:20
  40 Building the BMW 14:01
  50 Color Correcting with Mattes 13:03
  60 The Channel Challenge 15:10
  70 Channel Practice with Maleficent 10:07
  80 Complete Assignment 0:20
  Total (in Hours): 1:04
     
07 Black and White Points 10 Introducing Color Correction 7:40:00
  20 Black White Points and Gamma 15:12:00
  30 Adjusting Black Point 13:09:00
  40 White Point and Gamma 14:05:00
  50 Fixing Hue and Saturation 9:58:00
  60 Don't Always Trust Your Eyes 9:46:00
  70 Gamma Slamming 14:35:00
  80 Matching Blacks in Casablanca 12:05:00
  90 Matching Blacks with Darth Vader 14:06:00
  100 Ratatouille and the Curve Tool 16:28:00
  110 One More Practice with Sky Captain 15:17:00
  120 Can You Trust The Computer 7:51:00
  130 Watch Out for Specular Highlights 16:28:00
  140 Reading Assignent Week 03 0:11:00
  Total (in Hours): 2:46:51
     
WEEK 04    
08 The Triangle of Exposure 10 Why Learn About Cameras 11:48:00
  20 The Triangle of Exposure 12:36:00
  30 Bracketing and Tone Mapping 2:41:00
  40 Three Camera Modes 4:17:00
  50 Shooting Raw 3:05:00
  Total (in Hours): 0:34:27
     
09 Color Correction Fun 10 Color Correction Fun 2:57:00
  20 The Saturation and Gamma Connection 8:28:00
  30 Desaturation vs Luminance 4:08:00
  40 Clipping Pixels 7:31:00
  50 The Cinematic Look 4:28:00
  60 Color Correct Ranging 15:53:00
  70 Normalizing and Color LookUp 9:31:00
  80 Building Your Own Mattes 11:33:00
  90 Color Correction Challenge 17:52:00
  100 Homework Assignment 0:11:00
  Total (in Hours): 1:22:32
     
10 PreMultiplication 10 Introducing the Problem 8:16:00
  20 Back in the Day 8:36:00
  30 Unpremultiplying Rango 8:00:00
  40 Ball on Pavement Part I 9:43:00
  50 Ball on Pavement Part II 7:20:00
  60 Coca-Cola Fix and Homework 4:47:00
  70 Week 04 Reading Assignment 0:11
  Total (in Hours): 0:46:53
     
WEEK 05    
11 Creating Depth 10 Depth Cues 19:43:00
  20 Lining Up Stormy Weather 20:37:00
  30 Efficient Bounding Boxes 6:23:00
  40 Animating the Background 9:59:00
  50 Animating the Car 10:57:00
  60 Creating the Storm 13:46:00
  70 Adding Atmospheric Perspective 8:40:00
  80 Shadows, Defocus, Finishing Up 14:18:00
  90 Creating Depth Homework 0:11:00
  Total (in Hours): 1:44:34
     
12 Blur vs Defocus 10 The Bokeh Effect 5:51:00
  20 Comparing Blur vs Defocus 12:40:00
  30 Rendering Depth of Field 8:22:00
  40 What Is A ZDepth Pass 13:38:00
  50 Creating the New Depth Of Field 14:20:00
  60 Week 05 Reading Assignment 0:11
  Total (in Hours): 0:55:02
     
WEEK 06    
13 High Dynamic Range Images 10 What is Color Bit Depth? 13:25:00
  15 Comparing Footage 22:40:00
  20 Reading the MetaData Info 4:27:00
  30 Viewing High Dynamic Range 8:03:00
  40 The Anatomy of HDRI Photos 7:20:00
  50 The Advantage of High Dynamic Range 7:44:00
  Total (in Hours): 1:03:39
     
14 Proper Lighting of a Green Screen 10 Pulling Keys Introduction 3:55:00
  20 Creating Worlds 8:55:00
  30 Four Types of Screen Replacement 14:16:00
  40 Why Green or Blue Screens? 6:24:00
  50 Shooting Over GreenScreen 7:40:00
  60 Matte Paintings vs CG Enironments 12:01:00
  70 Week 06 Reading Assignment 0:11
  Total (in Hours): 0:53:22
     
WEEK 07    
15 Keyers 10 Introduction to Nuke Keyers 4:31:00
  20 The Difference Node 8:02:00
  30 The Hue Keyer 10:55:00
  40 Keying with Luminocity 15:13:00
  50 Using the ColorLookUp Node 7:40:00
  60 Image-Based Keying Part 1 16:38:00
  70 Image-Based Keying Part 2 11:56:00
  80 The IBK Stack Method 14:30:00
  90 Analyzing Our Keylight Footage 12:47:00
  100 De-Noising Footage 14:25:00
  110 Color Difference Keying 13:09:00
  120 Screen Gain and Clip Black and White 11:46:00
  130 Creating a Core and Edge Matte 11:00:00
  140 Creating Garbage and HoldOut Mattes 17:50:00
  150 Spill Suppression with HueCorrect 12:25:00
  160 Adjusting DeSpill Bias 5:40:00
  170 Fixing an Uneven GreenScreen 12:38:00
  180 Additional Spill Suppression Tricks 18:25:00
  190 Week 07 Reading Assignment 0:11
  Total (in Hours): 3:39:41
     
WEEK 08    
16 Rotoscoping and Digital Paint 10 Intro to Rotoscope and Paint 5:02:00
  20 FX Has The Movies Promotion 1:42:00
  30 Analyzing FX Frame By Frame 15:23:00
  40 Drawing Bezier and Roto Tips 16:13:00
  50 Changing Roto and Matte Order 11:25:00
  60 Compound Roto Shapes 8:17:00
  70 Sandwiching The Comp 6:21:00
  80 Rotoscoping Animated Footage 14:29:00
  90 Color Correcting with the Roto 8:48:00
  100 Using a LumaKey to Help Roto 13:15:00
  110 Using Tracking to Help Roto 12:13:00
  120 Moving Roto with Tracking Data 14:04:00
  130 Movies and Digital Paint 10:10:00
  140 Cloning New Artwork In 10:21:00
  150 Painting Out the Moving Barn 15:52:00
  160 Week 08 Reading Assignment 0:11:00
  Total (in Hours): 2:43:46

Additional Information

No additional information available

Syllabus Created on:

01/17/23 12:08 PM

Last Edited on:

01/17/23 12:11 PM