Education Database Online

PREREQUISITE(S): GD260 This course analyzes the game development and design process and introduces game engines. Topics include manual and conceptual skills, material collection, research, interface planning, game structure, and fundamental game engine operation. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to create a game design document and navigate a game engine

PREREQUISITE(S): GA330, GD360 This course develops advanced skills in texture mapping for games. Topics include high resolution and low resolution texture mapping for game assets. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to apply texture mapping to characters, environments, and other assets using industryrelevant software and techniques.

PREREQUISITE(S): GD150, GD395 This course develops advanced techniques in character animation. Topics include animation cycles and loops, acting,weight and balance, and interaction. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to complete animation cycles and import them into a game environment

PREREQUISITE(S): GD380 This course covers special effects as applied to games. Topics include particle systems, volumetric effects, sprites and animated textures, and dynamics for games. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to produce various effects for use in a 3D game engine

PREREQUISITE(S): GA340 This course covers level and environmental design as applied for use in a 3D game engine. Topics include controlling level flow, technical limitations, environmental design/layout,troubleshooting, and playability. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to design, create and test a game level or environment in a 3D game engine

PREREQUISITE(S): GA361, GD380 This course provides the opportunity to apply advanced game art design knowledge and skills to a portfolio quality game art project. Topics include enhancement and incorporation of game art assets to a portfolio quality product. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to effectively incorporate art assets into a working game level.

Prerequisite(s): Program Chair Or Dean Approval This Course Focuses On The Development And Critique Of A Professional Game Art Portfolio. Topics Include Industry Interviewing Techniques, Portfolio Refinement And Self-marketing Skills. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Analyze Their Personal Traits And Present Both A Print And Digital Portfolio And Résumé That Highlight Their Individual Game Art Skills In A Professional Manner.

This course covers the theoretical and practical considerations governing the development of a game, and how these considerations are manifested in the design and development of games. Topics include game history, terminologies, philosophies, and genres. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the basics of gaming.

This course covers the concepts behind the development of games, conceptual reflection, genres, and the determination of what actually defines a game’s playability. Topics include game world concepts, game story development, game character development, and considerations for genre-specific game design.Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to document game playability through analysis of graphics, sound, artificial intelligence, and intended audience.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours This Course Introduces Fundamental Drawing Concepts And Terminology. Topics Include The Principles Of Drawing, Drawing Styles And Technique; Including Lighting, Perspective Fundamentals, Gesture, And Contour. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Demonstrate Effective Drawing Skills Using Fundamental Drawing Tools And Techniques, And Properly Use Industrystandard Terminology.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd110 This Course Covers The Basics Of Digital Image Editing And Compositing. Topics Include Digital Photography, Scanning Techniques, Photo Retouching And Manipulation, And Texture Creation. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Use Industry-standard Software To Create Seamless Textures, Prepare Digital Images, Work With Painted Textures, And Utilize Alpha Channels In A 3d Application.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd110 This Course Introduces The Fundamentals Of Traditional And Digital Animation. Topics Include The History And Principles Of Animating Key Poses, Timing Cycles, And The Mechanics Of Motion. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Present A Short Animation Using Traditional And Digital Techniques.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd110 This Course Covers Advanced Drawing Concepts As They Relate To Character Modeling And Animation. Topics Include Basic Human And Animal Anatomy And Form As It Relates To The Surrounding Environment, Spatial Relationships, And Introductory Sculpting Techniques. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Effectively Capture And Develop Gestures And Motion In Various Media For Use In 2d And 3d Animation.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd120 This Course Covers The Fundamentals Of A 3d Application. Topics Include Modeling, Rendering, Texturing, Animation, Lighting And Cameras. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Apply Fundamental Skills, Techniques, And Terms Toward Components Of A 3d Short.

3.0 Credit Hours/20 Lecture Hours/20 Lab Hours This Course Explores The Principles Of Color As It Applies To Digital Media. Topics Include Rgb Versus Cymk, Digital Color Principals In The Game Environment, Color For Screen, Bit Depth, Color Pallets, Color Channels, Alpha Channels And File Formats. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Demonstrate An Understanding Of The Psychology Of Color And How To Properly Apply Digital Color Theory For Screen And Digital Media.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd110 This Course Builds On Traditional Drawing Skills, Focusing On Advanced Drawing And Perspective Techniques. Topics Include Advanced Drawings And Perspective Terms And Techniques Used In Concept Design, Industrial Design, Storyboarding And Other Relevant Areas. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Apply Skills To Develop Effective Concept Art For, But Not Limited To, Organic Forms, Environments, Industrial Design And Buildings.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd304 This Course Covers The Elements And Techniques Of Sequential Storytelling. Topics Include Story Boarding And Scene Layout, Graphic Arts Publishing, Pencil Tests, And Animatics. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Create Dynamic And Effective Narrative Content For A Variety Of Visual Media.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd260 This Course Expands Upon Modeling And Texturing Skills And Concepts In A 3d Application. Topics Include Poly-modeling, Nurbs/spline Modeling, Sub-division Surfaces, Texture Mapping, Lighting, And Rendering. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Model, Texture, Light And Render A Complex 3d Object Or Environment.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd360 This Course Covers Advanced 3d Methods And Techniques. Topics Include Rigging, Scripting, And Advanced Rendering Techniques; As Well As An Introduction To Particles, Dynamics, And Simulations. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Apply Advanced 3d Techniques Towards The Production Of A Professional 3d Short.

6.5 Credit Hours/30 Lecture Hours/70 Lab Hours Prerequisite(s): Gd240, Gd360 This Course Explores Character Design And Modeling. Topics Include Traditional Pencil Sketching And Drawing Techniques, Low Poly And High Poly Character Modeling, And Rigging Characters For Animation. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Apply Traditional Techniques To Design An Original Character And Then Model It In A 3d Software Application And Prepare It For Animation.

3.5 Credit Hours/35 Lecture Hours Prerequisite(s): Hum250 This Course Provides A Brief Overview Of Historical Ideas And Events In The Development Of The Arts. Topics Include A Review Of The Styles And Schools Of Art As Well As The Functions Of Art In Varying Cultures. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Describe Major Characteristics Of Art And Architecture, Analyze Visual Images, And Identify Historically Significant Artistic Styles, Individual Artists, And Works Of Art.

Prerequisite(s): Foundational Course(s) If Indicated By Placement Scores This Course Presents An Overview Of The Various Theories And Methods Of Personal And Professional Communications. Topics Include Written And Oral Communication Techniques, Presentation Skills, Intercultural Communication Skills,and Negotiation Skills.upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Communicate Effectively In Personal And Professional Environments And Be Able To Manage Personal And Professional Conflicts.

Prerequisite(s): Foundational Course(s) If Indicated By Placement Scores This Course Introduces Productive Writing Techniques With An Emphasis On The Writing Process. Topics Include Brainstorming,critical Reading And Thinking, Analyzing Audience And Purpose, Developing Clear Thesis Statements, Developing Effective Sentences And Paragraphs, Drafting, Revising, And Editing. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Use The Writing Process To Produce Effective Essays.

This course covers the principles and applications of ethical and critical thinking. Topics include argument construction and analysis, inductive and deductive reasoning, logical fallacies, perception, moral approaches, and social responsibility. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to analyze ethical issues, evaluate and clarify their own thinking,create sound and valid arguments, and effectively weigh the arguments of others.

3.5 Credit Hours/35 Lecture Hours Prerequisite(s): Lit301 This Course Covers The Genres Of Science Fiction And Fantasy. Topics Include The Use Of Language, Composition, And Characterization Within Different Forms Of Science Fiction And Fantasy. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Identify Major Authors And Analyze Significant Works Of Science Fiction And Fantasy.

This course is designed to present an overview of American government. Topics include the federal system; political parties; nominations and elections; the legislative, executive and judicial branches; and civil liberties and civil rights. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to trace the development of the U.S. Constitution, understand and analyze issues in American government, and discuss the policy-making process.

Prerequisite(s): Eng121 This Course Is Designed To Present A General Overview Of Psychology As A Social Science. Topics Include Historical Perspectives, Research Methods, Therapies, Applied Psychology,and Other Current Issues. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Identify Psychological Concepts And Methods As Used Commonly To Address Real-world Situations.

3.5 Credit Hours/35 Lecture Hours Prerequisite(s): Mth107 Or Mth170 This Course Introduces Basic Concepts In Statistics With Emphasis On Quantitative Analysis. Topics Include Measures Of Center And Variation, Applications Of Normal Distribution, Interpretations Of Correlation Coefficients, Analyzing And Graphing Linear Regression Models And Fundamentals Of Probability. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course, Students Will Be Able To Analyze Realworld Data, Interpret Graphs, Create Simple Linear Regression Models, And Form Valid Conclusions On The Basis Of Such Analysis.

Prerequisite(s): Eng121 And Either Mth107 Or Mth170 This Course Is Designed As An Introduction To Physical Science.topics Include Motion, Conservation Laws, Gravity, Waves, And Thermodynamics. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course,students Will Be Able To Describe The Scientific Method, Explain And Define The Principles And Terminology Of Physical Science,and Use Formulas To Solve Related Problems.

This course is designed to increase proficiency in the use of common word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation application software. Topics include the production of business documents and reports. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to prepare documents using word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software.

This course focuses on providing the skills and strategies to achieve personal and educational goals. Topics include learning styles, accountability, self-directed learning, managing resources,goal setting, self-esteem, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate self-reliance and apply the tools for success.

Prerequisite(s): Student Must Have Completed 50% Of Degree Requirements This Course Provides The Foundation For Developing Long-term Career Management Skills. Topics Include Tips For Producing Quality Résumés And Cover Letters And Interactive Techniques For Interviewing Success. Upon Successful Completion Of This Course,students Will Be Able To Research Job Leads, Write A Résumé,prepare For A Job Interview, Follow Up On A Job Interview, And Apply Strategies To Keep A Job And Advance In A Career.

The Advanced Game Characters Course concentrates on the creation of a gaming character from top to bot tom. Students create character mesh and textures, and use animation techniques to test characters for ef ficiency within game and resource limitations. The course helps students to understand the constraints of geometry and textures in a game engine.

The Game Animation Course provides students with their first opportunity to produce animated sequences and cycles for game play. Students develop an overall understanding of animation as it applies to the game industry with a focus on game engine constraints and requirements. Students in this course pay special at tention to character anatomy, rigging constraints, and reusability within all aspects of a game.

The Game Asset Review Course helps students review and continue advancing their overall knowledge of game art asset development. Students use their artistic skills and technical knowledge to demonstrate artistic strength in a defined area of specialization. Assets created for use in the students demo reels are evaluated by staf f art directors while students’ continue to generate new content.

The Game Cinematic Asset Course concentrates on the planning and creation of high-resolution visual assets demonstrating artistic strength and direction. Students will create detailed characters, environments, or animations based on areas of interest with guidance from staf f. Through regular critiques and review the students will produce a final quality high-end asset required for the demo reel.

The Game Production Course continues to expand students’ knowledge, utilizing tools and concepts learned in the completion of a game production. The course builds on all the Game Art foundation courses that precede it, and parallels industry production workflow while concentrating on the aspects of character and environment creation, texture and lighting ef fects, and animation.

The Level Assembly and Lighting Course continues to expand students’ understanding of game requirements with a focus on constructing a playable level. As a team, students design, build, texture, light, and add ef fects for a level. Successful completion of this course provides students with the necessary knowledge to develop content for game environments.

The Project Management and Assessment Courses are concurrent courses taken alongside core curriculum in order to assist students with the development, management, and assessment of program projects. The courses provide an opportunity for students to apply analysis skills, create strategic plans, and foster professional workflow practices.

The Project Management and Assessment Courses are concurrent courses taken alongside core curriculum in order to assist students with the development, management, and assessment of program projects. The courses provide an opportunity for students to apply analysis skills, create strategic plans, and foster professional workflow practices.

The Project Management and Assessment Courses are concurrent courses taken alongside core curriculum in order to assist students with the development, management, and assessment of program projects. The courses provide an opportunity for students to apply analysis skills, create strategic plans, and foster professional workflow practices.

The Texture Painting and Sculpting Course teaches students advanced techniques in texturing, shading, lighting, and animated visual ef fects for games. The course will pay special at tention to ensuring that the textures and ef fects are reusable and ef ficient as they share resources with all aspects of the game.

The English Composition I Course is designed to introduce students to the writing process. Special at tention is given to selecting and refining topics, identifying the audience, developing a purpose, and formulating thesis statements. Grammatical conventions and their applications are heavily stressed. Students will learn to compose mature, logical sentences, and paragraphs in order to create rhetorical cohesion.

The Ethics and Psychology Course provides a strong psychological theory base to the process of character development within the context of storytelling. The foundation of sound psychological theory provides the students with the capability of creating films or games that present characters that have distinct personalities, interesting backstories, and relevant roles within the context of the film or game.

The Fundamentals of Physics Course examines real-world physics and how those rules can be modeled in mathematical theories. Students will explore the fundamentals of momentum and energy, force and motion, gravity, particles, temperature, electricity, magnetism, and light. Students will use the learned concepts to design mathematical models representing the physics environments. The students will use this knowledge to communicate concisely the behavioral characteristics of the natural phenomena.

The Geometry and Measurement Course teaches students a wide spectrum of geometric concepts that are designed to build upon the math learned in earlier coursework. The curriculum will emphasize Euclidean geometry and its relationship to logic, trigonometry, and coordinate geometry. The measurements, constructions, graphs, and problems involve angles, triangles, polygons, areas and volumes. Geometry and trigonometric skills are developed exploring problem-solving through the logic calculations.

The Historical Archetypes and Mythology Course explores how myths, fairy tales, folklores, gods, heroes, and monsters link cultures together in today’s entertainment marketplace. Mythology’s cross- cultural themes are frequently represented in a variety of contemporary media, such as computer animation, video games, game art, and movies. The intent of this class is to provide a foundation for understanding the connections between culture, mythology, history, color symbolism, and iconic archetypes relative to the development of various forms of visual media and entertainment. Students apply course concepts through assignments that demonstrate mastery of archetypal character creation, preproduction planning, applying media localization, and the ef fective use of cultural color symbolism. Additionally, class discussions, activities, homework, and assignments will pertain to understanding the contribution of a culture’s mythology relative to a culture’s ideas, beliefs, entertainment, and destiny

The Public Speaking Course is designed to train students in understanding and implementing oral communication skills. Learning is centered on student participation in a variety of speaking/listening situations, which are designed to increase the understanding of the interpersonal nature of all speech communication. Students study and participate in the creation and delivery of at least three types of speeches. Target-audience identification, surveys, body language, effective speaking techniques, and pre-speech planning are investigated and used to create speeches.

The Interpersonal Communications Course examines the nature of the communication process, variables affecting the process, and the individuals involved. Additionally, this course includes individual analysis of behavior processes that may impede and/or enhance communication processes. Topics include perception, nonverbal behavior, persuasive communication, identity management, intercultural communication and computer mediated communication. This course also enhances students’ ability to analyze and evaluate information.

The 2D Animation Course develops students’ appreciation of the technique and craft involved in hand-drawn 2D animation, and promotes the understanding and successful application of the fundamental principles of traditional animation. Using pencil and paper to explore this art form, students are physically responsible for controlling and manipulating a subject’s volume, weight, proportion, acting, and movement, thus gaining a more thorough understanding of the animation process. This foundation of traditional animation broadens students’ skills as computer animators and enhances their creative ability.

The 3D Foundations Course familiarizes students with the fundamentals of creating 2D and 3D computer graphics using Autodesk Maya and Adobe Photoshop. Students learn the interface and controls of both programs as they learn basic animation skills that prepare them for the more advanced courses later in the Game Art Bachelor of Science Degree Program.

The Advanced Game Characters Course concentrates on the creation of a gaming character from top to bot tom. Students create character mesh and textures, and use animation techniques to test characters for ef ficiency within game and resource limitations. The course helps students to understand the constraints of geometry and textures in a game engine.

The Art Creation for Games Course provides students with a strong knowledge of the way real time 3D content is modeled and textured. Students develop game models of buildings, vehicles, or characters, which includes modeling of high and lowresolution geometry. In addition to modeling, students paint color, generate normal maps, and specular maps for created geometry. Students finish with a low-resolution game model with the visual fidelity needed for next generation games.

The Character Animation I Course focuses on the basics of creating strong character animation in 3D sof tware. Students develop methods for planning an animation, which helps them learn to create work ef fectively and ef ficiently. Students also explore what is important in creating movement that appears lifelike and believable for a character. The goal of this course is to teach students to create bi-pedal animation that implements strong posing, good staging, and the basic mechanics of motion using a rigged character.

The Character Animation II Course continues to strengthen students’ animation skills by exploring methods for creating movement that is not only entertaining and appealing, but also depicts actions that are driven by the characters’ emotions and personality. Students will also analyze methods for creating solid acting choices that are unique and interesting. By using discussion and analysis, students are introduced to the importance of evaluating their own work as well as the work of their peers. This enables them to critique each other’s projects with the intent of implementing what they have learned into their own animation. This class is designed to prepare students for situations they will encounter in the real world.

The Character Design and Creation Course builds upon the skills learned in the Model Creation and Shading and Lighting courses by applying knowledge to 3D characters. Students begin with preproduction of a character, developing concept art and character sheets. Students complete a fully textured organic 3D model for possible use in film or high-resolution game technology.

The Character Rigging I Course introduces students to the foundations of rigging. Through exposure to the core rigging toolset, students develop a strong understanding of how a joint hierarchy works. While exploring these course concepts, students are also introduced to the basics of scripting. Students also explore how 3D sof tware operates, using that knowledge to create scripts to aid in the interface between the animator and the sof tware. Students learn the principles of mechanical rigging, focusing on topics such as set driven keys, constrains, and expressions. Students then apply these techniques while exploring rigging of inorganic objects such as cars and machines.

The Character Rigging II Course builds upon the skills learned in the Character Rigging 1 course. Students explore advanced rigging techniques, binding and weighting models to deform in an organic manner based on concept art and storyboard direction. Students also explore advanced rigging techniques such as dynamic cloth, hair and fur simulation, and how to integrate their capabilities into a production workflow. This course also expands students’ knowledge of higher-level scripting, challenging them to create a character interface for their advanced rig.

The Compositing Fundamentals Course introduces students to beginning and intermediate compositing and integration techniques commonly utilized by film and video professionals. The course focuses on the seamless integration of computer-generated elements with real-world live-action video footage. Students learn how to accurately reconstruct and composite computer generated elements to properly match a high-definition film or video source while working in a node-based compositing environment.

The Demo Reel Creation Course provides students with the time to develop a demo reel commonly expected during interviews. During this time, students take the content developed throughout their degree program and assemble it into a presentable package. Prior to the creation of the demo reel, a student’s content is reviewed in an ef fort to help the student determine the best material for showcasing

The Fundamentals of Animation Course provides students with the animation tools required to create, manipulate, and refine any computer-animated sequence. Building on the traditional animation fundamentals of motion and timing, the course teaches students computer animation techniques and applies them to the process of animating modeled projects. The course focuses on positional animation and control with the use of keyframing, timing curves, dope sheets, and dependency graphs, as well as the tools to manipulate them.

The Fundamentals of Art I Course prepares students for the virtual world by having them step away from the computer and observe, touch, and create in the real world. These courses suggest that real-world observation and touch is invaluable in the planning of 3D computer graphics.

The Fundamentals of Art II Course prepares students for the virtual world by having them step away from the computer and observe, touch, and create in the real world. These courses suggest that real-world observation and touch is invaluable in the planning of 3D computer graphics.

The Game Animation Course provides students with their first opportunity to produce animated sequences and cycles for game play. Students develop an overall understanding of animation as it applies to the game industry with a focus on game engine constraints and requirements. Students in this course pay special at tention to character anatomy, rigging constraints, and reusability within all aspects of a game.

The Game Asset Review Course helps students review and continue advancing their overall knowledge of game art asset development. Students use their artistic skills and technical knowledge to demonstrate artistic strength in a defined area of specialization. Assets created for use in the students demo reels are evaluated by staf f art directors while students’ continue to generate new content.

The Game Cinematic Asset Course concentrates on the planning and creation of high-resolution visual assets demonstrating artistic strength and direction. Students will create detailed characters, environments, or animations based on areas of interest with guidance from staf f. Through regular critiques and review the students will produce a final quality high-end asset required for the demo reel.

The Game Production Course continues to expand students’ knowledge, utilizing tools and concepts learned in the completion of a game production. The course builds on all the Game Art foundation courses that precede it, and parallels industry production workflow while concentrating on the aspects of character and environment creation, texture and lighting ef fects, and animation.

The Level Assembly and Lighting Course continues to expand students’ understanding of game requirements with a focus on constructing a playable level. As a team, students design, build, texture, light, and add ef fects for a level. Successful completion of this course provides students with the necessary knowledge to develop content for game environments.

The Methods of Design Course focuses on the extensive and complex ideas and implications of basic design to help students understand that design is deliberate, allowing them to intellectually connect artistic intention and compositional conclusion. In this course, students plan, organize, and control hands-on projects using various media. They also use gained knowledge to design environments and simple characters throughout the course.

The Model Creation Course Explores The Beginning Of The Computer Animation Process By Creating Hard-surface Models From Concept Art To Final Computergenerated Imagery. During An In-depth Exploration Of The Nurbs Modeling Tool Set, Comparisons Of The Relative Dif Ferences Between Polygon, Nurbs, And Subdivision Surface Definitions Are Made. Students Will Develop Techniques And Strategies For Creation Of Ef Ficient Virtual Surfaces.

The Production Modeling Course develops students’ understanding of model development as it applies to the animation production industry. The course builds on all the computer animation foundation courses that precede it, and parallels industry production workflow to develop portfolio models for presentation. Students explore a variety of topics including developing surface flow, anatomical models, and production modeling techniques.

The Project Management and Assessment Courses are concurrent courses taken alongside core curriculum in order to assist students with the development, management, and assessment of program projects. The courses provide an opportunity for students to apply analysis skills, create strategic plans, and foster professional workflow practices.

The Project Management and Assessment Courses are concurrent courses taken alongside core curriculum in order to assist students with the development, management, and assessment of program projects. The courses provide an opportunity for students to apply analysis skills, create strategic plans, and foster professional workflow practices.

The Project Management and Assessment Courses are concurrent courses taken alongside core curriculum in order to assist students with the development, management, and assessment of program projects. The courses provide an opportunity for students to apply analysis skills, create strategic plans, and foster professional workflow practices.

The Shading and Lighting Course investigates the mood and lighting, look and feel, shadows and shading, reflections and atmospheres that bring scenes and models to life. During this second of three 3D fundamental courses, students develop an eye for texturing and lighting modeled objects and scenes that parallel the real world. This course builds on the concepts established in the Object Perspective Course, including surface lighting and shadow observations and techniques.

The Texture Painting and Sculpting Course teaches students advanced techniques in texturing, shading, lighting, and animated visual ef fects for games. The course will pay special at tention to ensuring that the textures and ef fects are reusable and ef ficient as they share resources with all aspects of the game.

The College Mathematics Course is designed to enable students to build skills and confidence in algebra and applied mathematics that are required to succeed in future math and core courses. First-time algebra students or those needing a review will begin with basic concepts and build upon these ideas by completing work that uses mathematics in practical situations.

The Historical Archetypes and Mythology Course explores how myths, fairy tales, folklores, gods, heroes, and monsters link cultures together in today’s entertainment marketplace. Mythology’s cross- cultural themes are frequently represented in a variety of contemporary media, such as computer animation, video games, game art, and movies. The intent of this class is to provide a foundation for understanding the connections between culture, mythology, history, color symbolism, and iconic archetypes relative to the development of various forms of visual media and entertainment. Students apply course concepts through assignments that demonstrate mastery of archetypal character creation, preproduction planning, applying media localization, and the effective use of cultural color symbolism. Additionally, class discussions, activities, homework, and assignments will pertain to understanding the contribution of a culture’s mythology relative to a culture’s ideas, beliefs, entertainment, and destiny.

The Interpersonal Communications Course examines the nature of the communication process, variables affecting the process, and the individuals involved. Additionally, this course includes individual analysis of behavior processes that may impede and/or enhance communication processes. Topics include perception, nonverbal behavior, persuasive communication, identity management, intercultural communication and computer mediated communication. This course also enhances students’ ability to analyze and evaluate information.

In this course, students learn to draw anatomically correct structures of the human body while observing live models. Correct anatomical proportions and accurate musculature are emphasized. Students are also introduced to shading and lighting techniques and views and perspective.

This course is an introductory level drawing course designed to have the students apply the fundamental concepts of drawing. Students will experiment with the use of basic shapes and techniques in drawing simple objects comprised of lines, shapes, forms and shading patterns. This course will also continue the coverage of the notions of perspective, scale, and proportions and their role in the production of realistic looking drawings. Students will also gain an understanding of light source placement and shadow casting and how these translate into a final drawing. Students will be able to practice the various techniques learned throughout the course by developing drawings in a progressive manner.

This course introduces the students to the popular image-editing software Adobe Photoshop. The main objective of this course is to teach the student graphical image production using Adobe Photoshop. Through this ‘hands-on’ course, the student will learn the fundamentals of design, as well as advanced features and tips, to prepare images for the Web and for print. By the end of this course, the student will be able to create and enhance sophisticated images using Adobe Photoshop’s tools and features. They will learn how to correct and modify print as well as Web images using various techniques and organizational tools. They will also learn how to apply special effects to original and composite images.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to the fundamental principles of design and color theory. Students will be introduced to the principle concepts of design such as layout, composition and balance, as well as the theories of color and how to use color creatively. These concepts will be presented in theory as well as reinforced through specific practical exercises and activities that will serve to demonstrate how each of the concepts is integrated into good design.

In this course, students will learn the basic principles of animation. Students will participate in several practical projects designed to illustrate the fundamental processes of animation. The course will explore the traditional techniques of animation and how they apply in the modern world of CG animations. The course will explore the different types of animation including stop-motion, visual effects, traditional animation, and CG.

This course is dedicated in large part to the drawing and representation of the skeletal structure and musculature of the human body. Students will learn the anatomical names of the skeletal elements, landmarks and muscle groups. Students will learn how to draw the structures of the human skeleton and then add the surface muscle groups and features appropriate to the skeletal sub-structure. The course will also explore the differences in the portrayal of male and female musculoskeletal features. Students will also be introduced to the drawing of animal forms and basic animal surface coverings.

This course introduces students to concept of storyboarding for modelers and animators. Students will learn how to create clear, concise storyboards. Students will explore the elements that contribute to the final production of industry standard storyboards, including everything from a 30 second commercial, a television show, computer game, and feature films. Topics will include concept and production boards, thumbnail sketches, the role of character design, character staging, model sheets, art direction, background (layout) design, and camera positioning.

This course is an introductory level course exploring the foundations of 3D modeling. Students will learn to think in a 3D environment and design objects in 3D using the typical 3D coordinate system. In addition to learning the fundamentals of modeling, students will also learn how to use the industry standard modeling and animation software package such as Maya to produce a model. Students will learn to work with polygons, NURBS, subdivisions and deformers as well as a brief introduction to lighting and textures.

This course will explore the basic techniques of 3D animation. Using industry standard software, students will take their first steps to animating a basic character. Using a hands-on approach, students will learn the techniques of basic animation, texturing, visual effects and rendering.

This course explores the design and production of characters for the animation and video game industry. Students will learn the principles of good character design, from research to final detailing, while focusing on character development, style, and personality. Students will apply principles and techniques of design and anatomy to achieve the expressive, well-developed, appealing characters. By the end of this course, students should be able to work with a variety of styles, archetypes and body structures to construct their characters.

This course explores the principles and theory of sound game level design. Through extensive practical activities, students will learn the steps and processes for taking an idea and designing a game level prototype.

In this course students will be introduced to the process of creating and working with textures as they are used in game design. Students will learn to work with the advanced functions of digital imaging software to produce textures that can then be mapped onto surfaces in subsequent steps in the modeling an animation process. The course will explore advanced image manipulation techniques and procedures which the student will apply to create various textures and materials.

In this course, students will transfer their knowledge of anatomy and drawing of anatomical parts to a three dimensional sculpture. This course explores the materials, tools and techniques used in producing a sculpture and how to refine the sculpture into a finished work of art.

This course continues the coverage of modeling techniques. Students will learn to design and model both organic surfaces and hard surface objects. Students will learn to produce models using polygonal modeling and splines while working with geometric shapes. Students will also work with textures and materials to create the different types of surfaces.

This course continues to enhance the students knowledge of 3D animation. The principles of acting in animation are introduced and applied. Students learn how to animate the body language of a character first in pantomime, and then how to do full facial animation to a dialogue track using a single character, and with two characters interacting.

This course focuses on the drawing of human form in various poses that imply movement or motion. This course focuses on drawing the relationships between the body parts and the environment which surrounds them. Students will study and draw these relationships between anatomy background and foreground elements. The course will also explore the drawing of simple motion, facial expressions and gestures from both a human and an animal perspective.

This Course Introduces The Student To 3d Scripting Using Maya Embedded Language Or Mel Scripting. Students Will Learn The Various Features And Functions Of The Language That Will Add Advanced Capabilities To The Animations. Students Will Learn How To Use The Mel Scripting Language And Its Capabilities To Streamline And Automate The Character Rigging Process. The Course Will Then Explore The Use Of Mel Scripting To Create A Character Animation.

This course continues the study of modeling techniques with a focus on the design and modeling of 3D characters. Students will explore techniques of character modeling and how to take a character project from idea to final model. Students will design and model individual parts of the character anatomy culminating in the building of a complete character.

This course explores the design and development of game environment modeling. Students will learn how to observe real world environments and then translate those observations into producing a model of the environment. Students will also learn to consider staging and environment mood into the design and modeling of the environment.

This course covers the importance of materials, textures and lighting as an integral component in the process of creating an effective look and feel to an object or character. This course explores the fundamental use of lighting texture, and material strategies and how they can add to the effectiveness and realistic appearance of game assets. Students will learn to identify and select appropriate materials and textures based on the type and mood of a game or scene.

This course introduces the student to 3D sculpting using industry standard software. The student will leverage the capabilities of the brush-based sculpting and modeling software package to create realistic looking character models with effective textures. Students will apply the software’s texturing and morphing capabilities to design and model a 3D character based on predetermined specifications.

This course is aimed at preparing the students’ transition to the professional world. The focus of this course is to prepare students for job interviews by helping them compile and defend a first draft of their portfolio. The portfolio will contain pieces produced by the students that demonstrate their skills in conceptualization, design, modeling and animation. This will be the first step in assisting students to identify a preferred skill set and to select distinguishing portfolio pieces that showcase this skill. This will then provide them with a focus for polishing their technique and developing a unique style. Feedback will come in the form of industry, instructor and peer critique.

This course continues the study of modeling techniques. The focus of this course is the exploration of modeling techniques using a low polygon count and the effective use of this technique. Students will learn to identify situations where a low poly count is appropriate versus situations where a higher count is required. Students will then apply modeling techniques using a low polygon count to model characters and objects in an appropriate level of detail.

This course explores the process of preparing the setup of a character model for future animation of the character. The course will take the students through the steps of character modeling and animation with a focus on the rigging of the characters. Students will learn how to prepare and setup character rigs, bind structures to geometry and work with meshes and armature. Students will learn to rig facial expressions and lip movement as well as rigging and animating armature.

This course builds upon the previously covered topics of lighting and textures. It takes the students beyond the basic light sources and shadows and explores lighting and texturing as an art. Students will learn advanced lighting and texturing skills and techniques and how to apply them to modeling and animation projects. Students will learn to select the appropriate light type for a particular situation as well as the correct material 2D and 3D textures.

This course is aimed at preparing the students’ transition to the professional world, allowing the student to place the final polishing touches on their portfolio work. Students will be required to explain and defend the presentation structure of their portfolio and individual pieces to a panel of their peers and industry in the format of a job interview. All portfolio components should demonstrate the student’s mastery of the programs core competencies while highlighting the uniqueness of their work. Selected pieces should reflect a standard of quality evidenced by additional time spent polishing applied skills. Students will be required to complete their presentation website and marketing collateral.

This course is designed to introduce the importance of professional business conduct and attitude. Students will learn the importance of preparing themselves properly for the job search process and how to prepare and present the proper marketing collateral. In this course the student will learn the techniques that will help them to properly market themselves to potential employers.

This course covers the advanced topics in 3D animation. Students will learn to produce real-time 3D animations and work with camera angles and lighting techniques to produce complex animations and effects. Students will learn to distinguish between camera movement and character movement in an animation. Students will be required to apply previously acquired skills in design, modeling, rigging and animation to produce an animation from design to final rendering.

In this course, students will explore advanced lighting and texturing strategies. Students will learn different methods and techniques to use the full potential of lighting, shading, and textures to increase the detail of an object and enhance its realistic appearance. The course will also look at ways of increasing the detail of the render without necessarily increasing the complexity nor the load on resources. The course will explore the blending of colors, the automation of a scene with the various sampler nodes and utilities, custom UVs, maps and sliders global illumination and final rendering.