Project 5 : Your Favorite Part
Assigned: Tuesday, December 4
Proposal & Reference Due: Thursday, December 6
In Class Critique: Friday, December 14 *
Final Turnin: Tuesday, December 18
Getting Started
Think back over each of the projects you've completed this quarter. Pick one of the four topics (animating, shading, lighting, modeling),
the one that you would most like to explore further. Write up a proposal for a final project exploring your chosen topic as it relates to the story.
You will each be responsible for your own project; however, collaboration between projects
(by using other students' work and adding your own) is
encouraged. When we critique and grade your project, your work/contribution must
be clearly evident based on the goals given in your proposal.
For the motion folks, you will be given a rigged character to
animate. For everyone else, you will be setting up a scene yourself using
your previously used models, borrowed models or any other material you
need. You MUST provide the following information for your project proposal:
- What you will actually do. Specify whether you will model, shade, light or animate.
- Why you want to do it: You like a particular aspect of the areas you are
investigating.
- What you want your project to look like: What the aesthetic challenges are
that you are pursuing.
- What you want to accomplish and how it might help directly or indirectly
to the technical or aesthetic development of our film.
- BE AS SPECIFIC AS YOU CAN so that we can review your proposal and make sure
it is appropriate.
You project proposal should be approximately three paragraphs.
At the bottom of this page are some suggestions for final projects.
What to do
Implement your project proposal.
What we're looking for
- Your best work, period.
- Quality rather than quantity. Don't try to do too many things. Pick one thing and do it well. For instance, it would be better to model just a human head (with no body) and do it extremely well than to do a head AND body of lower quality.
- It might help to think of this project as a job application for spring quarter. Your performance on this project will help us decide who will be placed on certain teams--and who will lead them-- in the spring.
Turn in
Turn in will vary depending on your choice of project, but for all projects include a binary (.mb) file containing your final project.
For modeling, only the .mb file is required, but you may also turn in screen captures.
For shading, turn in two or more high quality renderings of your shaded object from different angles.
For lighting, turn in one or more high quality renderings of your scene.
For animation, turn in a playblast of your animation.
All turnin files should be placed in x:/cse458_au01/<username>/_turnin/proj5/
by 11:59pm on Tuesday, Nov 18.
Project Ideas
General Advice:
- Choose a project you will find both challenging and interesting.
- Though it is not required, you are invited to incorporate into your project the story development that some members of the class have been doing this quarter. Refer to the materials (color swatches, concept art, story boards) posted in the lab and on the web.
Modeling:
Shading:
- Shade a complex object photorealistically.
- Create a shader for some hard-to-achieve effect or material: water, caustics, grain, etc.
- Create a good non-photorealistic shader, such as a cartoon cell shader. Remember that our expectations will be very high and that you will be required to show reference material for the effect you are attempting.
- Build a complex shader that demonstrates an understanding of shading networks and/or render utilities.
Lighting:
- Update your group's room with the latest version of their models and light the entire scene. Consider adding a character as well.
- Create and light some other scene, using objects from other groups, the web, or anything else you can find.
- Create and light a scene made only of primitive objects (spheres, boxes, cones) with simple shaders. The challenge here is to light
it so that the scene is interesting to look at despite its simplicity.
Animation
- Animate a walk cycle
- . . . or run cycle
- . . . or a walk, run and jump.
- Lipsync one of the characters to some dialogue or your favorite song.
- Here are the rigged characters.