Description:	Computer animation. Extensive use of scripting languages and high-end production software.
Prerequisites:	Consent of instructor.
Required texts:	None.
Recommended texts and references:	Vogel, Nathan; Sheridan, Sherri; Coleman, Tim, Maya 2 Character Animation New Riders, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1999 [ISBN: 0-7357-0866-5] Maestri, George, Digital Character Animation 2: Essential Techniques New Riders, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1996
Supplemental texts:	Hammel, Michael J., The Artists' Guide to the Gimp Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. (SSC), Seattle, WA, 1999 [ISBN: 1-57831-011-3] Brinkmann, Ron, The Art and Science of Digital Compositing Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, 1999 [ISBN: 0-12-133960-2]
Outside reading:	Current literature.
Professor:	Dr. Andrew Duchowski
Office:	Edwards 444, 656-7677, andrewd@cs.clemson.edu
Office hours:	Tue,Thu 2:00-3:30 and by appointment.
Objectives:	To gain an understanding of computer animation production and to obtain experience with high-end production software.
Laboratory content:	Graphics workstations located in Martin Hall will be used for experimentation with high-end software.
Evaluation: % Grade 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D	Lab Assignments 30% Final Project 60% Final Project Presentation 10%
Assignment late policy:	Late assignments generally will not be accepted.
Attendance:	Roll will be taken for the first one or two weeks while the class roll fluctuates. However, attendance is not required. Absence, excused or not, does not change the responsibility for assigned work. Tests missed due to excused absences will normally result in the test not being counted in the average grade (i.e., there will normally be no makeup tests). An unexcused absence from a test will normally result in a grade of zero for that test. Students are expected to give at least one week advance notice for excused absences.
Independent work:	Unless otherwise stated explicitly (e.g., in the case of the final project), each student must do his or her work independently.
Academic dishonesty:	The University policies on academic dishonesty apply. Publicly-available code or other material may be freely used if appropriately attributed. Each student is responsible for protecting his or her files from access by others. Work that is essentially the same and submitted without proper attribution is considered to be a violation of academic dishonesty policy by all those submitting the work, regardless of who actually did the work.
Class cancelation:	Students are expected to wait for 15 minutes after the class beginning time before leaving if the instructor is late.
Topical outline:	The course centers around the production of a short movie using the Maya animation software package. The class will be divided into small "production teams" (about 4 students). Each student in the group will gain experience in each of the modeling "sub-disciplines" (i.e., character modeling, set/lighting design, "saber" work, and character animation). To ahieve this, the final animation must be composed of at least 4 characters, 4 sets and 4 special effects (e.g., smoke, haze, etc.). Other than these requirements, the subject matter of the animation is open. Students will go through a shortened version of a movie production schedule: Storytelling and story concept development Generating ideas (Maya2 CA: Chp.1) Developing (ieas for) characters (Maya2 CA: Chp.2) Storyboarding (Maya2 CA: Chp.3) Preproduction: budgets, timelines, etc. Modeling & texture mapping Creating humanoids and fantastic creatures (Maya2 CA: Chp.4-6) Texture mapping NURBS characters (Maya2 CA: Chp.7) Lighting and set design (Maya2 CA: Chp.8) Character animation Techniques for setting up and animating characters (Maya2 CA: Chp.9-11) MEL scripting (Maya2 CA: App.A) Maya plug-ins (Maya2 CA: App.B) Postproduction Proposed assignments: Animation concept report Character models Animatics Final animation