Art/CGI322-Schneider

Office Hours:Schneider

• 10:30-11AM-- Tues Thurs Art 119 (go through art 118 and near windows on right) until finals week
• 1-2 PM Tues-Thurs Gillet 200 until finals week
• by Appointment
• Tues: May 19: 2-3:50 in Gillet 200
• Thurs: May 21: 9:30 - 10:50 Gillet 200

web page: media.lehman.cuny.edu/~bob/

e-mail:robert.schneider@lehman.cuny.edu

Final Project Critique-- Thurs: May 21, 11-1. Bring your diary. Bring a DVD (or equivalent) with your name on it to use to show your work. I will collect the DVD at the beginning of the session. We will present your work from the DVD. You should be able to answer questions about technical and esthetic difficulties and accomplishments.

On the DVD you should have:

• models of the Calder jewelry you chose. One project using nurbs and the other polygons. They should be fully modeled, textured, lit with an interesting camera view and a good ray trace render.
• several jpg renders to best show off work
  • have low resolution (i.e.: 640 in largest dimension)
  • have high resolution: (at least 2000 pixels in smallest dimension)
  • readily accessible to rapidly present work.
• a working maya project with the latest mb files in their proper scenes director and everything else using defaults so that I can open the project and see everything you have done
• a text file called "Readme" or a sheet of paper that tells me which are the latest mb and jpg files.

Lectures and Homework

Books:

• Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting-- Lee Lanier
• You may obtain a Maya Personal Edition for free
  • will have watermarks
  • is maya 2009
  • typically not compatible with the regular version
• Maya help files
  • need to learn to use these to find answers as literature does not keep current
  • can be vague -- use google to find answers and do simple experiments
    • critical to learn how to keep current
    • major part of course is to give you background to keep learning
• Lighting & Rendering-- Birn
  • an excellent general reference for the rendering part of  modeling -- gives more ideas on how to use lights esthetically than Lanier
• Learning Autodesk Maya 2009 - Autodesk
  • several books covering different topics
  • I have found these books to be fairly informative
  • If can get older editions cheaply may be worth it
  • I have some older editions
• Digital Modeling of Material Appearance -- Dorsey,Rushmeier,Sillion
  • A mathematical book that talks about current state of texturing
• Video tutorials in Art Department 047 first row
  • login: arc
  • Password: arc
• lynda-- $25 per month (unless art dept has subscription)- has short videos that could finish in a month
• Check out recommended books online and browse at big bookstores to see what seems to speak to you

Goals of Course:

• Enough modeling tools to feel comfortable learning anything
  • nurbs, polygons , subdivision surfaces
• Effective lighting
  • including image based lighting techniques that use photography for realistic lighting
• Good texturing
  • texture networks
  • polygon texture manipulation with the UV editor
• Attentive camera work
• Understanding rendering
  • mental ray for advanced lighting and effects
• animation - to enhance model
  • dynamics
  • camera movement

Basic Outline :

• My Public directory at art.lehman.edu with user name bob has some photos from the Calder Jewelry exhibit at MMA (Metropolitan Museum of Art)(you may have to download by using web --go to
  • art.lehman.edu/~bob/
• Pick one and try to model,texture, position, light and render it. Do one version in Nurbs and another using Polygons (Mesh)
  • I will see what your backgrounds are to decide how to proceed
  • I do not expect great results at first
• After trying to model one of images you must go to the museum to see the show (ends at end of Feb.)
  • pick a piece with substantive modeling and sketch it from all angles with comments about details
    • your previous tries at modeling hopefully guide your observations
    • there is no photography allowed
  • you will probably have to return several times
• In class we will explore numerous different techniques for dealing with our problem and in doing so cover the material of the course
• You will do several different full models( model, texture, camera, lights, rendering and animations) of the piece as close to the original as you can using different techniques.
  • I will also ask you to do different models based on the original using different shapes.
  • You can then strike out on your own and create an analogous work or try other pieces.
• If time permits (I doubt it) you can chose another independent design piece.

Grading and Requirements

• Four or more unexcused absences is an F
• You must keep a diary that has all your sketches and description of your work. I will be asking you to do models using different tools and the diary should indicate when you did the work and what name the maya file has. You should keep track of your intermediate results in the diary and should be kept current. I will check the diaries and indicated work periodically, (20% of grade)
• I will make rough web page notes in class as I teach concepts. Each of you will be given pages to rework and produce a finished presentation. You may form groups (up to 3 students) to do this and teach yourself the concepts at the same time (20% of grade)
• Several short proof of concept quizzes (20% of grade)
  • serves as a check that everyone in group did work
• Final project (40% of grade)
• Additional work to help grade