Schedule

Week 1 – Wed 1/23
Intro to class, pipeline overview, story development, what makes a good story, character design, example projects, intro to maya, primitives, transforming, duplication, shading. Pixar short screening. Story workshop, maya lab.

Week 1 – Fri 1/25
Character/Set design in animated films. Maya – component mode, soft select, lattices, non-linear deformers. Character/set workshop, maya lab. Character layout sheets in Adobe Illustrator.




Week 2 – Wed 1/30 - DUE: Character/Set Designs
Modeling over sketches, character modeling principles, poly tools, types of shots in film, writing a shot list for drama and tension. Understanding topology for deformation, defining edge loops. Shot list and character modeling workshop.

Week 2 – Wed 2/1 - DUE: Shot List
Storyboarding basics. Understanding the language of cinema. Rule of 3rds, 180 degree rule, action continuity. Advanced character modeling tools and techniques, sculpt surface tool. Curve modeling.



Week 3 - Wed 2/6  – DUE: characters, props, sets – rough models
Modeling, con't. Connecting separate meshes, mesh smoothing. Modeling hair and clothing. Storyboards, con't. Naming conventions.

Week 3 - Fri 2/8
Using textures and materials for believability and mood, understanding UV space for texture placement, UV mapping techniques, UV strategies. Advanced storyboarding examples.



Week 4 - Wed 2/13 - DUE: Storyboards
Creating a 2D animatic in Aftereffects, part 1. Maya UV layout, exporting UV maps to photoshop. Creating textures in photoshop. Maya 3D paint tool.

Week 4 - Fri 2/15
Creating a 2D animatic in Aftereffects, part 2. Review professional animatic examples. Shot timing, adding sound and music. Intro to rigging. Blendshapes.



Week 5 - Wed 2/20 - DUE: CHARACTERS, PROPS, SETS - FINISHED MODELS
Model review. Layered textures. Rigging, continued. Blendshapes, skeletons, smooth bind. Naming conventions.

Week 5- FRI 2/22
Bump, specular and displacement maps. Rendering with Mental Ray. Toon shading. Painting weights, component editor. Blend shape strategies. Animatic in-progress critique.


Week 6 - WED 2/27 – DUE: 2D ANIMATIC
2D Animatic review. Inverse kinematics for leg controls. Mirroring skin weights. Planning and reseaching animation sequences.


Week 6 -  FRI 3/1
Texturing workshop. Advanced texturing workflow. Advanced rigging techiques. Foot roll, finger controls. Basic eye rigging.




Week 7 - WED 3/6 – DUE: characters, props, sets – rough textures
Texture review. Advanced eye rigging. High-level blendshape controls. Creating a color script for lighting reference.

Week 7 – FRI 3/8
Rigging workshop. rig completion checklist. Character sets. Basic 3D layout strategies for animatic. Shooting video reference for animation.



Week 8 - Wed 3/13
Final rigging checklist. Deformation tests. Principles of animation, part 1. Planning 3D animatic. Animating basic character blocking. Video reference continued.

Week 8 - Fri 3/15 – DUE: FINISHED RIGGING AND TEXTURES
Planning scene breakup and camera angles. Blocking, continued. Referencing rig files into animation files. Playblasting layout sequences.



Week 9 – SPRING BREAK NO CLASS


Week 10 - WED 3/27
3D Animatic production. Maya to Aftereffects pipeline. Establishing shot and action timing. Principles of animation, part 2.

Week 10 - FRI 3/29 – DUE: 3D LAYOUT ANIMATIC
3D Animatic review. Planning animation shots using thumbnails. Blocking in character animation using pose to pose with character sets. Dopesheet overview. Anticipation, Action, Reaction.



Week 11 - WED 4/5
Review blocked shots. Moving holds. Adjusting timing in the dopesheet. Blocking to first pass workflow. Auto-key workflow. Adding breakdown poses. Adding weight to character movements. Intro to particle systems.

Week 11 – FRI 4/7
Graph editor intro. Working without the character set. Manipulating and editing tangents. Add key tool. Ghosting and replacing curves. Principles of animation, part 3 – arcs and overlap. Particle systems continued. Intro to lighting, light types in maya, cinematic lighting techniques. Intro to rendering.



Week 12 - WED 4/10
Review animation in progress. Animation cleanup, fixing pops and floaty actions. Pushing the acting and performance of animated characters. Re-blocking portions of scenes in the timeline to re-strengthen poses and gestures. Eye and facial animation techniques. Lighting strategies for mood and drama. Creating a light rig.

Week 12 – FRI 4/12
Cloth and fluids systems. Using dynamic curves for secondary animation. Animation polish checklist, part 1. Lighting effects, shadows and fog. Camera cuts in maya. Rendering animation sequences and importing rendered footage into aftereffects. Story workshop, evaluating narrative ending/conclusion.



Week 13 - WED 4/17
Animation workshop, review animation in progress.. Modifying rigs for custom scenes. Advanced mental ray materials and settings. Depth of field and motion blur. Rendering multiple shots and cameras.

Week 13- FRI 4/19
Animation polish checklist, part 2. Creating dynamics caches for better rendering and playback. Fluids, continued. Advanced rendering workshop. Global Illumination and ambient occlusion. Review current edits.



Week 14 - WED 4/24
Final animation polish. Juicing your performances and acting ability with small details. Wrapping animation production. Final FX polish. Rendering strategies.

Week 14 – FRI 4/26
Lighting and rendering workshop. Review current edits. Last minute animation and FX fixes.



Week 15 - WED 5/3
Finalizing lighting and rendering settings. Review current edits.

Week 15 – FRI 5/5
Rendering, review current edits.



Week 16 - WED 5/8
Render, review final edits.

Week 16 – FRI 5/10 - FINAL PROJECTS DUE.
Screen and review final projects. Celebrate!