If it’s not animated, it’s just not that much fun. In this course, you’ll be given the tools to create innovative and engaging 3D animations in just 15 weeks. You’ll get hands-on instruction with an industry-standard 3D animation package that will teach you the fundamentals of building mesh objects, applying surfaces to objects, and lighting scenes. You’ll also explore volumetrics, modifiers, particle systems, booleans, and inverse kinematics. The result? You’ll leave the course with a short 3D animation that you designed – and the desire to learn more!

Instructor for Spring 2009: Lance Winkel

You’ve got the basics down, now learn to animate like a pro. This course extends the techniques and builds upon the theories introduced in ITP215. In addition to focusing on advanced modeling techniques, such as sub-D’s and NURBS, you’ll learn how to bring your characters more fully to life with techniques like rigging and dynamics. You’ll also explore how to employ the methods and procedures used in the professional production of animation, visual effects, and video games. By the end of the semester, you’ll have acquired some of the most sought-after skills in the 3D animation industry!

If you yearn to create engaging animation like Shrek and Finding Nemo, this class is for you. Learn all the basics for bringing imaginative and memorable characters to life. Make them walk, talk and do whatever you want them to in an interactive, 3D environment. Learn character rigging, lip synching, and how to add a particle effect to a scene to give it that final professional touch. By the end of the course, you’ll have created a short scene that brings all the elements that you’ve learned together – and is the ideal addition to your professional reel.

You need the right tools in your toolbox. Lighting, digital compositing, and visual effects techniques are important but challenging components of 3D animation. In this course, you’ll learn various digital lighting techniques, from basic 3-point lighting to advanced techniques such as environmental lighting, global illumination, radiosity, and baking. You’ll also explore digital compositing and visual effects techniques such as keying, tracking, and camera matching that will allow you to match or merge 3D animation with live footage. As a final project for the course, you’ll design and create composite footage of a 3D environment with live footage, enhancing your professional reel while displaying important industry skills.

When you’re ready to bring your skills to the next level, this is the course that can take them there. An advanced media management course and advanced project course in one, you’ll choose the project you want to create – then spend the rest of the semester developing it. Working either alone or in a group, you’ll learn to meet important deliverables such as the timeline, storyboard and art components. Through the media management portion of the course, you’ll learn how to manage your project by creating a budget, determining human resource needs, selecting talent, motivating your team, maintaining deadlines, and delivering a final result that meets or exceeds client expectations.