Syllabus

This course is designed for students with an interest in computer-generated imagery (CGI). It covers all the latest features in Maya 2015, while providing a background in the basics of 3D modeling, texturing, animating, and rendering. Students will learn the basic concepts behind animation and 3D development using an industrial standard 3D application such as Maya. The course will cover the basic methods of creating objects and characters in three-dimensional space. Students will also learn shading, texturing, rendering, and the use of dynamics to make creations appear realistic. A copy of Maya Personal Learning Edition will be provided to students so they can practice skills outside of class.

Units (Topics):

Introduction to the course
Communicating with Blogger
Dropbox
Maya 2015

Quarter One
Getting familiar with the Maya interface
Creating hierarchies and layers
Creating polygonal objects
Working with subdivision surfaces
Extruding a mesh
Smoothing geometry
Lofting & extruding with the NURBS tools
Converting NURBS to polygons
Creating and applying texture maps
Applying UV mapping
Adding lights and cameras to a scene
Creating realistic effects such as depth of field
Batch rendering

Quarter Two
Animating in Maya

Design Thinking
Introduction to design thinking (empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing).
Designing and asking good questions
Scamper technique

Final Projects
Research, identify and solve an authentic problem (to be decided).