Please keep in mind that this an ideal and suggested schedule that may change to accommodate class needs.
Week 1
Tuesday
1) Introduction to the class and instructor and undergraduate assistant
2) Take Role
3) The release claims forms and The syllabus and structure for the class.
Inspiration, class demos, book lessons, assignments, critiques, practice, refinement.
4) TED talks (JJ Abrams) Mystery and knowledge.
5) Discussion of the ability to create narratives in 3D and to tell compelling stories.
The most important questions: One: WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE? Second: HOW WILL YOU COMMUNICATE WITH THEM?
Examples of animation and soundtracks.
Make all full screen.
Neighbors by Norman Mclaren Stop-motion animation.
Discussion: Sound, narrative development, escalation.
Animation and Soundtrack based on Andrea Martignoni. Hand-drawn animation.
Using sound to suggest and drive image sequence. C
Brandon Blommaert Hothouse 5: Batmilk Digital imaging and drawn animation.
Sylvie Trouve, 2009 Orange 2D animation compositing with video.
Artificial Paradise by JP Frenay Experimental 3D animation.
Questions to ponder before the next class. What is a teaser? How can mystery and the unknown be a catalyst for developing a good animation? How will you address and communicate with your audience?
Structure of the class will be:
Project one:
a) Research and inspiration (assignment one for the first project)
b) Character and set design. (assignment one and two)
c) Production involving compositing and test animations.
d) Sound design and compositing.
e) Test screenings and multiple versions.
f) Refinement and rendering.
g) Final presentation screening for Art & Technology exhibition. (production of showreel)
h) Discussion of research using Google Alert
Project two:
Will involve all the same processes as with project one, though will involve doing a storyboard, production of an animatic as well as final work of 3D animation. ht. The animation in this class can be broadly applied to traditional and experimental forms including real-time animation, projection-based, montages between real and virtual and new ways of thinking about the nature of animation in the larger field of art and installation.
Lessons:
Introduction to the tools & Intermediate Modeling Techniques: Polygons
The animation palette.
Animation of objects.
Move, scale, rotation
Point level animation
adding color
Homework Assignment: create 3 completely original sketches due by next Tuesday in class for critique. Each sketch should have one primary detailed drawing and 2 other views for proper modeling. I.e.; Perspective view, top view, and front, right or left view. You are only required to sketch the object you are going to animate.
Choose an object and think about the journey of that object, and the associations and the story it can tell?
What is the story of common objects like dinner plates or clothing or boulders? What is the story of a hubcap or a gate? What does it see? Can they be used to tell a larger story and allude to something to create visually interesting works and compelling works of moving images?
These should be posted to your blog and ready to go on Tuesday week two.
This is project one and will result in a work of art that has mystery.
Lessons:
Basic menus, object manager, frame default, orthogonal views, perspective view, top view.3-Button mouse use.
System preferences
Menus
Materials
Content browser
parametric primitives
software / 3D Interface
Moving objects
scaling objects
rotating objects
selection properties
simple materials.
Thursday
Artist Inspiration: Sasha Svirsky https://vimeo.com/user21884251
Review advanced C4D modeling techniques.
Parametric vs polygon meshes
move, scale, rotate
Introduce basic animation and the timeline
using viewports
translating and moving objects in the viewport
the attribute manager
the object manager
Homework
Week 2
Tuesday
Homework Sketches critique. All posted to your blog.
Discuss your concept and present your drawings. 3 minutes per student.
Further research: The History of animation
Thursday
Artists Inspiration: Johnathon Monaghan iconic works
Interview and article with Johnathon Monaghan
Lessons:
The animation in relation to:
form with splines
Subdivision surface to smooth it all out
deformers
Boolean operations
Polygon objects
Extrude and extrude inner
Studio time: Work on models in the class.
Intermediate models.
Work with the professor to define methods to model best for animation.
Inspiration: Short Films, animated and live-action
You’ll need to sign up for Kanopy, a Netflix-style streaming service OSU Library provides free access to. (Thousands of more films there too, short and long.)
Watch with an eye for tension, mystery, development, resolution, pacing, and more.
Keep poly counts low.
Homework: Read this article.
Week 3
Tuesday
Artists Inspiration
Young Juvenile Youth “Animation” by Kosai Sekine 3D, compositing, rhythmic and compelling
Lessons:
Inverse kinematics
Rigging simple
grouping objects
Keyframing in conjunction with Record Function
Class studio time: work on project 1 models.
Homework reading: Review these techniques linked below and imagine how you are going to communicate emerging storylines around your “hybrid” using various cinematographic techniques. Cinematography and techniques
Thursday
Inspiration: Chris Cunningham. Discussion of elements of surprise and cutting and moving work into more experimental directions as exemplified by Cunningham. Bjork and Chris Cunningham All is Full of Love
Lessons
Shaders of all sorts vs texture mapping
FFD deformer
Understanding materials and material channels in relation to animation
Rough and bumpy surfaces
Shiny reflective surfaces
Transparent materials
Introduction to Shaders
Animated shaders
Animation with Metaballs
Animation of lights
renders settings
render settings
Liquid drops processing time
physics engine
Rigging a character
Bones and inverse kinematics
How to add bones and align them to splines.
Skinning an object for animation
Rigging a character using the Character tool
c-motion to allow characters to walk
Studio:
Time to work on your 3D models in the class. Professor assists.
Homework: Chris Cunningham All is Full of Love how they made it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJoE7nI6xnQ
Studio time: work on project models.
Week 4
Tuesday
Art inspiration: Interactive animation real-time animation by Ursula Damm https://vimeo.com/151520536
animation installation.https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/pierre-huyghe-anlee-short/
Lessons:
Volume Builder and voxels
Reminder metaballs with splines
connecting objects reminder
The animation timeline
Pasteing and stretching frames
object browser to create the scene with assets
Camera navigation around the scene
Setting the stage for your models.
Staging for individual projects and choosing the best renders.
How to set your render settings.
working with the projector
Lessons:
Working with F-Curves and changing the relative speed of objects
Easing in and easing out
Vibrate Tags
Align to spline tag and used to move the object
Keyframing continued
Thursday
Animation inspiration selections from Semiconductor
Professor views your characters rendered and posted to your blog with one paragraph. Your main character modeling and object models are on your blog, for review with the professor. Post all to blog.
Lesson:
Render all at 1280 x 1024 at 72 DPI. These models must be colored with shaders and keep your poly counts low.
Allow detail where things need to bend for rigging for a character that will move or walk.
Week 5
Tuesday
Full Studio day to work on your projects.
No lessons today
Thursday
Studio day to work on your projects. Professor offers individual help to students
Another work; Kurt Hentschleger and Ulf Langheinrich
Week 6
Tuesday
Class views your characters rendered, animated and posted to your blog with one paragraph about your 60-second animation. Your main modeling and object model is on your blog, for review with the full class. Post all to blog. Render all at 1280 x 1024 at 72 DPI. These animations must be colored with shaders and keep your poly counts low. Allow detail where things need to bend for rigging for a character that will move or walk.
Thursday
Artists Inspiration selections from Chris Landreth Ryan and Doll Face from Andrew Huang and Christina Frizel
Artists Inspiration: Selection from Ars Electronica reel 458nm Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, Tom Weber / Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg (DE) Golden Nica Award Winner from Ars Electronica in Austria.
Discussion of montage and Sergei Eisenstein who defined the concept of dialectical montage in film editing.
Mika Rottenberg films google these and watch
Project two Discussion: will involve all the same processes as with project one, though will involve doing a storyboard, production of an animatic as well as final work of 3D animation. ht.
The animation in this class can be broadly applied to traditional and experimental forms including real-time animation, projection-based, montages between real and virtual and new ways of thinking about the nature of animation in the larger field of art and installation.
Lessons: Review:
Camera Deformers
How to use hair in animation
Gravity and vibrate with hair
Hair lighting and shaping
animating with Mograph
Cappuccino recording frames and frame reducer
Sound sources
Here is the BBC free sound site with sound effects. http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/
Here is Freesound with composers contributing their works for your creative use: https://freesound.org/
Taping your own sound: OSU sound booths: https://odee.osu.edu/digital-union
Workday to pursue your projects #2.
Workday to focus and receive help on your animations and technique rendering scenes from your models for critique on Tuesday
Week 7
Tuesday
http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story
Art Inspiration Chris Coleman
Discussion. What makes a great story?
Forward Kinematics vs inverse kinematics
setting up bones in objects
weights manager and smoothing your mesh by blending
Dynamics with bones and form
vibrate tag on
removing the anchor
Workday to pursue your projects due on Thursday.
Thursday
Artists Inspiration: Kurt Hentschleger. How do rhythm and abstraction work to make these works so resonant?
Lessons:
Gravity and dynamics
Material and breaking objects apart as a method to create complexity
Fracture demo
Glass
Rigid Body
Soft Body colliders
Cloth
Cloth colliders
Project two sketches due today for professors’ critique. Setup in 180A by linking to your website on the professor’s workstation, for presentation.
Have documentation of your work posted to your blog as animation sketches and or stills for your plan for project 2. Storyboards are recommended here.
Week 8 Feb 25th.
Tuesday
The plot comes from Character; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt2PcwKHbxc
Lessons from a screenplay Teasing in the Matrix
Discussion with your neighbor workshop today.
What are the questions your character or set is asking?
Write seven responses down on your blog during the discussion.
How will you create these questions?
Write down seven answers on your blog.
Bring up your blog for class discussion.
Bring back to the class for discussion today.
Lessons:
Subdivision Surface editing using the . period
Depth of field lesson
Rendering with the Physical Render Engine
animation and the Shatter deformer
animation and the Spherify deformer
animation and the Wind deformer
Animation of giggle deformer
Homework: Interview with Rebecca Allen UCLA American Career Review
Thursday
Emily Subr Undergraduate Assistant takes the role
Analysis of screenplays https://www.lessonsfromthescreenplay.com/
Review Ex Machina — The Control of Information
Then ask the class to list their revelation sequence in writing on their blogs.
Refer to your storyboard and list 10 sequences. Send professor link to that on your blog
Then watch this with the class https://vimeo.com/189791698
Professor arrives one hour after class starts to review progress on your projects
Week 9
Tuesday,
Artists Inspiration: Generative Animation in a game engine: Ian Cheng Emissaries
How does rendering affect the mood of the animation?
Lessons:
Mixamo https://www.mixamo.com/#/?page=4
Make Human
Using particle systems to create objects and chaos
Adding forces to your particles
Gravity, Rotation, Turbulence, Deflector
Studio: work and advise students on approaches to their models.
Homework: Filling in the character.
Where does it live?
Is there a story there?
What is the “backbone” and what are the motives of the character or object?
Thursday
Due: one 500 frames or two 250 frames renders, of your character moving in some fashion according to your storyboard plan; for review by professor
Artists Inspiration: Gaelle Denis and Masanobu Hiraoka
Studio:
Class time to work on models to get ready for Tuesday’s deadline.
LESSONS
TBA
Homework; Think carefully about how the look of your work and the transitions are going to create mood and rhythm?
SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK
Week 10
Tuesday, March 24
Online Zoom meeting to check in on our new plans for the semester.
Thursday, March 26:
Artists Inspiration: Gaelle Denis and Masanobu Hiraoka
Class requests for Lessons:
Camera work tutorial, the motion of the camera. Cinematography
Read this content and watch the Utube tutorials on editing and camera work in order to tell a good story.
https://u.osu.edu/animation/cinematography/
Here is a great tutorial on choosing the right camera for your shot.
https://greyscalegorilla.com/2018/03/cinema-4d-camera-movement-tips/
Morph Animation facial morphing and control
Rope or string dynamics (FK & IK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoMY_lOoTcQ
Dramatic lighting methods tutorials.
https://greyscalegorilla.com/tutorials/how-to-use-volumetric-lighting-in-cinema-4d/
Studio:
Work time to pursue your projects at home. Professor on call and at home if anyone needs help.
Week 11
Tuesday: March 31
Zoom Meeting:
Due: two 500 frame renders of your character moving in some fashion according to your storyboard plan; for review by professor and class for a Zoom Meeting to be invited
Artistic Inspiration: Toni Dove interactive cinema. https://vimeo.com/15461511
Animation Inspiration Brandon Morse
Radiohead: House of Cards Justin Glorieux
Artistic Inspiration: Blinkink
Anime and cell shader work about being and the universe
Lessons:
Snapping and menus
Workplanes
Quantize settings in relation to modeling
Weight tool with rigging review
Studio:
Due: two 500 frame renders of your character moving in some fashion according to your storyboard plan; for review by professor
Thursday, April 2
Artistic Inspiration: from Ars Electronica winners 2017
Branded Dreams – The Future Of Advertising Studio Smack
https://vimeo.com/150799305
Scavengers
Joseph Bennett (US), Charles Huettner (US)
https://vimeo.com/179779722
The professor is available and online for online tutorials with screen sharing.
Try and have two 500 frame renders of your character moving in some fashion according to your storyboard plan
Lessons online: How to do Sketch and Toon in Cinema 4D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLG3cqMgweE
Week 12
April 7th Tuesday:
Studio:
Most of the day is studio time to pursue your animation projects.
Art Inspiration from Blink Blink mix of live footage, 3D and stop motion
https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/an-otters-tale
Due for class review: two 500 frame renders of your character moving in some fashion according to your storyboard plan; for review by the professor in individual zoom meetings. A zoom meeting invitation will be sent at 3:30.
Lessons:
How to grow a tree using hair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1207&v=pb-S9ojZELE&feature=emb_logo
How to use and edit hair and work with lighting hair at the same time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6wT33DcCf0
Using_Hair_Guides and hair colliders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hySRGmLYI9g
April 9th Thursday
Due: Plan on having two more 500 frame renders of your character moving in some fashion according to your storyboard plans. Be prepared to show the professor.
The professor is available and online for online tutorials with screen sharing.
Lessons:
Cloth waving flag or other material structures with fixed points
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OheaRFFpDw
Cloth colliders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Ta75RV9vQ
Lessons/studio production
Individual help on your projects by the professor.
Week 13
April 14th Tuesday
This is for project # 2.
Workday to refine all works in preparation for final critique
April 16th Thursday
Professor reviews a rough cut version of your animation with sound integrated due today in class for critique. This should be pulled together in Adobe Aftereffects or Premiere.
(Note at end of Film: By Your name and year. Produced in The Department of Art: Art & Technology; The Ohio State University. All sound you use must be acknowledged and absolutely no use of commercial sound without the explicit written permission of the composer)
Week 14
April 21
Workday to assist student finishing up their final edits
For project 1 complete and all titles sound etc should be a part of what you show on Thursday as well as new work.
For animation project #2 all renders and composites should be complete and posted to VIMEO or Utube or your blog, No exceptions. Sound should also be part of the work.
(MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FINAL PROJECT IS IN BOTH QUICKTIME .mov and as an h264 format.
Thursday,
April 23rd
The final version of your animation is due today in class, for critique with the full class with sound and titles added.
No late work will be accepted beyond this point. This is for project # 1 animation and for project #2 animation.
Class workday for pulling together the class reel of the course animation works for the exhibition set up on Friday and Monday.
Expect to help out with the production of the exhibition in some way: clean-up, gallery sitting, the snack organizing or the installation set-up. This show is a group effort.
Art and Technology Exhibition + Department of Art Open House.
Cloud Crusher
We are collected, crunched, and curated by surveillance capitalism as we move through real and virtual spaces. New and improved pleasures, fears, insecurities, and desires are constructed for our consumption; continually forming and reforming us along the way. We experience our own data shadows and code bodies. Our data fingerprints possess a mirror of us, with in-depth knowledge about who and what we have become.
Can we be who we are, or have become, without our quick connections to search engines, our constructed social media selves, friends, and our surveillance data? Does it matter?
Though we imagine it as an immaterial, fluffy cloud, the internet is the biggest coal-fired machine on the entire planet. Our server clouds are crushing us. And 90% of the internet is advertising, which is paying the electric bills and simultaneously fueling global warming through increased energy use – and material consumption of the earth.
- What does it mean to be a human animal in a technologized world, where our means of connection is also a major cause of global warming?
- Can we decolonize technology and communication infrastructure?
- Can we maintain artistic integrity when we use technological tools?
- How can we work towards a connected future that moves beyond the green-washing narratives Big Tech sells us?
- Can we crush the cloud, confront the environmental challenges, design a greener internet, while remaining connected?
Cloud Crusher is the Spring the Themed Art & Technology Exhibition, where students explore these ideas and themes through their courses in Digital Imaging, 3D modeling, Art Games, 3D Animation, Moving Image Art, and Studio Practice.
Art & Tech show and Art open house date is TBD
We will set up on TBD.
Fri.
Monday is the opening an Invite your friends/family.
Congratulations! YOU now have excellent works to add to your graduate or professional portfolios.