3D Character Modeling & Animation
Syllabus

Objectives:

By the end of this course you should be able to ...

State and define the major phases of a typical animation process
Contrast and compare various character animation techniques
Given an animation clip, propose what techniques were used in its production
Demonstrate the ability to integrate various character animation techniques in a short animation

Assignments:

There will be seven (7) graded assignments during the term. Assignments and due dates will be published on the course website. No assignment will be accepted for full credit past its due date. All assignments must be submitted no later than the end of the sixth week of the course.

Final Project:

In order to receive a grade for the course, a student must complete and submit a final project. A student will select an animation problem, from a supplied list of problems, and develop both a solution program/animation based on the article as well as a short (3-5 pages) paper discussing how the problem was solved.

Attendance:

Students are expected to attend all lectures. If you cannot attend a lecture, you are responsible for obtaining notes and/or handouts from others in the class. If materials are distributed during a lecture, extras will be subsequently discarded.

Grading:

Classs participation:    10%
Lab exercises:    10%
Assignments:    60%
Final presentation:    20%

Tentative Topics

Week	Topics	Reading(s)
1	Introduction Principles of animation Animation process Storyboarding	Principles of traditional animation applied to 3D computer animation / John Lasseter Animation Process – A Case Study / Michael Comet Acting With a Pencil – Storyboarding Your Movie Larry's Toon Institute
2	Storyboarding (cont) Concept boards OpenGL & animation
3	Character development Model sheets Hierarchical models Modeling Bones & rigging	Character Model Sheets Computer Animation Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques - a Historical Review
4	Animation paradigms Physically based animation Gravity
5	Human motion Biomechanical models Locomotion Walking Running Grasp	Computer Animation of Human Walking: a Survey A Biomechanics-Based Model for the Animation of Human Locomotion Goal-Directed Navigation for Animated Characters
6	Simulation Vs. Moton capture
7	Rigid models Deformable models Parke's facial models FACS	Interactive Control for Physically-Based Animation Facial Action Coding System (Wikipedia) Lip Syncing (Blender tutorial)
8	Emotional expressions Lip-syncing
9	Cloth systems	Elastically Deformable Models Cloth Animation (slides) Fast Cloth Aimation on Walking Avatars A Survey on Hair Modeling: Styling, Simulation, and Rendering A Method of Human Short Hair Modeling and Real Time Animation
10	Hair