Program Overview

Course Description

Animation continues to play a significant role within social contexts as it is an effective method for communicating ideas, values, and emotions to a variety of audiences. Skills involved in these pipelines are now highly regarded within film, television, games, and interactive media industries. This course provides practical skills and an insight into 3D rigging and 3D animation practices for digital artists. Students are introduced to skills and practices involved in contemporary 3D animation pipelines, combining theoretical knowledge, technical and software learning, and research skills in relation to 3D animation practice to produce practical outcomes for specific digital forms.

Topics

• 3D animation production - applied fundamentals, concepts, and practices of 3D rigging and 3D animation
• Explore and creating believable character animation body mechanics
• Apply 3D animation pipelines through contextual applications - games and film
• Convergence of 3D animation theoretical processes and technical application inside 3D software

Availability

The course is available online, specifically in Trimester 1.

Course Contacts

Course Coordinator

Alistair Ward

Enrolment Rules

Course Pre-requisites

• DIT1004: 3D Modelling Studio (1 Unit)

Enrolment Requirements

Requisites Prior to 2024

• Anti-Requisite: FTR2011

Course Requirements

Other

Students undertaking this course will require personal storage space (e.g., portable external hard drive, cloud storage). All students must have access to Autodesk Maya.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, graduates will be able to:

1. Analyse the mechanics and components of an animation-ready model, through the rigging and articulation of a three-dimensional character.
2. Evaluate, and implement strategies for the development of rigged assets within Cartesian spaces.
3. Plan and execute a successful animated scene, utilising strong and effective character poses for initial blocking and timing through to refinement.
4. Apply traditional animation principles to generate convincing and appealing animation.
5. Respond effectively to critical evaluation of work from others.
6. Communicate and reflect visually, orally, and in writing by clearly and logically expressing ideas pertaining to practices and research inherent within individual 3D animation outcomes.

Learning Resources

Prescribed Textbooks

• Title: Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained
  • Author: Cooper, J
  • Year: 2021
  • Edition: 1st
  • Publisher: CRC Press
• Title: Rig it Right! Maya Animation Rigging Concepts
  • Author: O'Hailey, T
  • Year: 2009 (Note: Edition mentioned as 3rd in 2024, but publication year provided is 2009)
  • Edition: 3rd (as of 2024)
  • Publisher: Routledge

Program Level

Undergraduate

Course Level

2000 Bachelor Degree; Intermediate Course and Assessment Level

Student Contribution Band

Band 2

Acknowledgement

The University of Southern Queensland acknowledges the First Nations of southern Queensland and their ongoing connection to Country, lands, and waterways. Further, we recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first educators and researchers of Australia. We pay deep respect to Elders past and present.