CSS 105 – Interdisciplinary Information Technology:

Computer Animations

General Information

Instructor: Kelvin Sung

In Class Presentations: This class has a duo personality: artistic and technical. Tightly integrated into the technical lectures is the artistic aspect of your final project. We will develop and refine the artistic aspect of your final project in class. We will reserve some lecture time each week where the whole class will work together developing the final projects of each of the groups.

In Class Quiz: First the good news: there is no exam in this class! Yeah! Now the bad news, there will be in-class pop quizzes. There will be no advanced warnings given. The quiz will always be given at the end of classes, about last 30 minutes, each weigh about 3-5%. Now, more good news, the quiz will be open book, open computer, open anything you want to open. The quiz will typically consist of two parts: written part, and practical part. For example:

Written: describe two attributes in a modern 3D application project file system.

e.g. Your answer: scene files, texture files, etc.

Practical: create a project using our 3D application system that utilizes the above attributes, save the project and submit the entire project so that I can grade it.

e.g. Your answer: you will create a Maya scene, with a sphere, with a file texture mapped. Save the project, zip the project and submit it electronically.

You see, this is what this class is all about: learn some theory about computer animation, understand why they are so, and practice simple implementation of the theory. We can pretend it is real hard work, and secretly enjoy the learning process! J

No Late Assignments: There will be no late assignments accepted, period. Let me put this in another way, there will be no late assignments accepted, period. This applies to every single project. Pay attention to the deadline on the assignments (including the time), there will be no late assignments accepted. Refer to the schedule provided, Projects are always due at the beginning of the lecture on the days they are due. We will start examine solutions to the projects immediately after the projects are due. So, you see, there are no possibilities for late assignments. Let me explain this again, there will be no late assignments accepted. I am actually a reasonable person, come talk to me about exceptional circumstances.

In Class Participation: We will develop the storyline and the storyboard of your final project in class where everyone is expected to evaluate and contribute. It is expected that you will come to class on time and actively participate. Almost every week, each person will present his/her project and (constructively) critique each others’. Both of these activities will earn you credit for “in class” participation.

Commitments and such: I am usually very easy going. I like relaxed classrooms for learning and will try my best to create such an environment. Please do not confuse relax environment with relax requirements. I work very hard, and expect students to work as hard. The software we will be using in this class is highly sophisticated applications designed for professionals. This is really cool, for we have the opportunity to experience with the state of the arts in animation creation. This is not so cool because the initial learning curve of the application is very steep. Please try to dedicate time (especially in the beginning of the quarter) to learn the software. I will put in my very best to try to make this class a worthwhile learning experience for you. BUT, remember, you are the only that can do the actually learning,

Collaboration: You will work in groups of three persons. Due to the complexity and sheer amount of work involved, collaboration in media content creation is every bit as important as the actual technical contents themselves. This is saying, it is usually not good enough that you are very good at what you are doing you must know how to work with others.

Since all projects involve computer animation creation based on technical specifications, you are free to create any media content, as long as your content satisfies the technical specifications. This is great! Because you are free to be creative, and please do, do so! After every project is graded, I will demonstrate those that are especially creative in class to inspire the rest of us.