SMALLab Animation Student Syllabus.pdf

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Assignments: Your assignments will be evaluated based on: • Following the directions and submitting deliverables on time • Exhibiting an understanding of the principles discussed in class • Conveying your ideas thoughtfully and effectively • Original work only! Plagiarism and usage of generative arti˚cial intelligence in the form of but not limited to ChatGPT, DALL · E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion is not accepted. Process is important and project ˚les are to be turned in with ˚nal renders.

This introduction course explores both the technical execution and artistic methods involved in keyframed animation and performance capture. Through lectures, screenings, critique, workshops, industry outreach, and lab work, students will be able to create short animations using a variety of tools, analyze the mechanics of animation, and have a greater appreciation for the medium and its historical context.

Course Description:

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Student Syllabus

Animation & Motion Capture I + 2

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1. HW

Class Exercise(s) Lecture & clips screening. During the lecture the optical animation toys will be passed around A live collaborative word document where students write their name next to a 1–2 minute clip from an animated ˚lm/tv show/music video/game (unique to each student, no repeats) that will be shared next class with a brief verbal explanation as to why they chose that clip (inspiration, curiosity, etc.) and that clip’s signi˚cance/place in animation history.

Projector / large monitor display

Early cinema 2D animation Early 3D animation Modern animation

o o o o o Materials PowerPoint lecture presentation with of˛ine embedded videos Optical animation toys (phenakistoscope, thaumatrope, ˛ipbook)

Unit 2 History of Animation (2hrs) Objective Students will be introduced to the history of animation covering: Pre-cinema optical toys and illusions

1.

Materials Class Syllabus Projector / large monitor display Class Exercise(s) Guided review/skimming of the syllabus. 2. Rapid-˚re class intros

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Unit 1 Introductions (30-45 minutes) Objective Review the course syllabus and class policies.

Lessons Overview

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between those segments.

1.

Materials Windows/Mac/Linux) Wacom, Huion, etc. Projector / large monitor display Class Exercise(s) Quick teacher led demonstration over projector / large monitor of Fire Alpaca software windows, animation setup (animation mode and onion skin enabled), layering, frames per second preview and export. Draw ˚rst frame, last frame, middle frame, and draw in between frames

out in-between frames. Individual computers for all students (not Chromebooks! OS must be Optional, but very recommended, wired PC connected drawing tablets –

Objective Students learn one principle of animation (metamorphosis – pose to pose) through an introduction to the software Fire Alpaca using layers as frames and onion skinning turned on to see the previous and following frame to ˚ll

Unit 3 2D Animation Deep Dive (1-2 hrs)

1. HW

Class Exercise(s) Show & tell. Suggested watching for preview: 12 Principles of Animation video series

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Unit 2.5 Animation Appreciation (1 hr) Objective Students will present their unique short animation clip from the previous homework and explain its place in animation history and/or relevance to a particular technique covered in the history lecture.

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between those segments.

1.

Materials Windows/Mac/Linux) Wacom, Huion, etc. Projector / large monitor display Class Exercise(s) Quick teacher led demonstration over projector / large monitor of Fire Alpaca software windows, animation setup (animation mode and onion skin enabled), layering, frames per second preview and export. Draw ˚rst frame, last frame, middle frame, and draw in between frames

out in-between frames. Individual computers for all students (not Chromebooks! OS must be Optional, but very recommended, wired PC connected drawing tablets –

Objective Students learn one principle of animation (metamorphosis – pose to pose) through an introduction to the software Fire Alpaca using layers as frames and onion skinning turned on to see the previous and following frame to ˚ll

Unit 3 2D Animation Deep Dive (1-2 hrs)

1. HW

Class Exercise(s) Show & tell. Suggested watching for preview: 12 Principles of Animation video series

• •

Unit 2.5 Animation Appreciation (1 hr) Objective Students will present their unique short animation clip from the previous homework and explain its place in animation history and/or relevance to a particular technique covered in the history lecture.

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Class Exercise(s)

Materials

Unit 5 Analyzing a walk cycle (2 hrs) Objective Students will analyze their own walk cycles both through a mindfulness physical exercise as well as recording themselves. Open ˛at space (gym/stage/grass ˚eld) with no obstacles Mindfulness exercise script/guide Basic cameras with video functionality and tripods Computer lab to stitch together walk cycle in Fire Alpaca

HW

homework. Read p 1-22 (using the archive.org numbering - not actual page numbers) of Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg https://archive.org/details/characteranimationcrashcourse and familiarize yourself with the animation terms and de˚nitions.

1.

Materials Projector / large monitor display Class Exercise(s) One by one the teacher will play the students’ homework animations once or twice, then teacher will ˚rst provide kudos/critique and then optionally if another student would like to chime in, they can. This cycle continues until all the students have received feedback on their

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st

Unit 4 Critique (1-2 hrs) Objective Students will learn how to give and take constructive critique by sharing their homework pendulum and ball animations and receiving impressions and feedback on potential improvements.

viewing and critique next class.

HW

2. Rest of class period students create their own metamorphosis animation that will be turned in for completion (greater than 15 frames) and given individualized feedback and advice. Animate either a pendulum swing loop to demonstrate easing-in/out OR a bouncing ball to demonstrate attention to the squash & stretch, weight, and physical properties of a speci˚c type of ball. Minimum 20 frames – class

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homework. Materials Computer lab access with desktop Maya ready PCs for students

Objective Students will be introduced to concepts of bones, weight paint skinning, and character rig controllers with inverse kinematic and forward kinematic handles and be set forth to animate key poses of their previous walk cycle

Unit 7 3D Keyframe Walk Cycle (1-2 hrs)

HW

1.

Materials Projector / large monitor display Class Exercise(s) The Solar System Maya project, students create a solar system with a sun, at least two other planets “in orbit” that rotate 360 degrees as children of the sun object with a transform pivot offset on a linear animation curve in a loop. Students will follow along with an instructor step by step with plenty of time for asking questions. 3D model a household object of yours using basic shapes, loop cuts, extruding faces, moving and joining vertices, subdividing, sculpting, etc. Turn in maya ˚le (and relevant textures if applicable) in zip archive folder.

Objective Students will be introduced to the basics of Maya including: navigating the viewport, getting familiarized with the menus and common shortcuts, creating and editing the transforms of polygonal primitives, texturing, parenting, basic keyframe animation, and the graph editor. Computer lab access with desktop Maya ready PCs for students

Unit 6 3D Animation Deep Dive (1-2 hrs)

yourself with the walk cycle. Animate a walk cycle of at least 6 frames, turn in GIF

HW

exercise.

1. Physical isolations and walking through space teacher led mindfulness 2. Walk cycle video reference to collage animation exercise Read p 24-30, 136 (using the archive.org numbering - not actual page numbers) of Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg https://archive.org/details/characteranimationcrashcourse and familiarize

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Unit 9 Mocap Intro (3 hrs) Objective Students will learn about various input methods of motion capture and their pipelines, term de˚nitions, and short history of mocap, possibilities, uses, bene˚ts, and tensions with traditional animation.

Mocap”

Behind the Scenes…”

Hanks”

HW - - - - -

Class Exercise(s)

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peers. Materials Projector / large monitor display 1. One by one the teacher will play the students’ 2D and 3D walk cycle homework animations on loop while the teacher will ˚rst provide kudos/critique and then optionally if another student would like to chime in, they can. This cycle continues until all the students have received feedback on their homework. Watch one of these behind-the-scenes videos: Warner Brothers “Polar Express | Behind the Scenes with Tom Insider “How ‘The Lion King’ Remake Was Animated” Stream Wars “Making of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER – Best Of PlayStation “Sifu – Behind The Scenes: Making-of Kung Fu and Vox “Why motion capture is harder than it looks”

nd

Unit 8 Critique (1-2 hrs) Objective Students will have their 2D and 3D walk cycles critiqued by teacher and

(heading towards camera).

1. HW

Class Exercise(s) 2D walk cycle homework. Finish class walk cycle and turn in Maya project ˚le and playblast videos of your ˚nished walk cycle from a side (left heading right) and front view

Projector / large monitor display Given a pre-rigged character example project ˚le, recreate / iterate upon

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Objective

Unit 11 Calibrating & Capture Deep Dive (2-3 hrs)

generations of students.

Class Exercise(s)

there and open. Materials Signed parental permission slips School bus transportation to stage Be respectful and don’t touch anything unless given permission to. You represent your entire school, don’t ruin this opportunity for future

Unit 10 Field Trip (1.5-4 hrs) Objective Students will visit a real motion capture stage in-person and get to see what a professional motion capture setup looks like and ask questions to the brain board of technical directors, technicians, operators, DPs, actors, directors, producers, render wranglers, technical artists, IT, and anyone else who is

OR

OR crouching down/up, attack, etc.) Something else?

projects are welcome!) character animation(s) for game (walking 8 directions, jumping, landing,

HW

SMALLab Class Exercise(s) 1. Mocap & mocap history lecture 2. SMALLab mocap session demonstration Think of potential ideas for ˚nal projects (expectation < 1 min of animation) Consider: animated short for social media reel, i.e., Godzilla doing a silly dance, dramatic cutscene, virtual camera work of classmate’s ˚nal (group

Materials Projector / large monitor display Mocap lecture presentation PowerPoint

Students will also be exposed to a full capture session, suiting up a student volunteer, students markering them with a full baseline 50 marker setup, calibration and wanding of the stage, and some production recording with Maya live linked on big monitor/projector as a mirror.

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Class Exercise(s)

Projector / large monitor display Cleaning cheat sheet Cleaning video guide

Materials

Objective Using the previous unit’s session recordings students will learn step by step how the processes involved in mocap data reconstruction and cleaning from QC(quality checking) to trimming heads and tails, deleting noticeable noise and jitter, ˚xing swapped markers, ˚lling gaps with the various ˚ll modes to get triangles, then smoothing without ruining the actual performance. Learning how to diagnose problems and how to use the reference camera footage to compare side by side what the intended motion is. Computer lab access with desktop Motive ready PCs for students (ideally powered 24/7 and setup with Chrome Remote Desktop or another remote cloud computing solution so they can work off them at home)

Unit 12 Mocap Cleaning Deep Dive (3 hrs)

etc.) away markers, suit, props, etc.

Class Exercise(s)

Materials SMALLab Tripod with webcam or phone holder & phone (for reference video) Apple boxes, Plastic chair, Physical Education soft crash pads Nerf props (soft baseball bat/broom) 1. Instructor led step by step setup: masking, wanding, setting of ground plane, setting up of capture session and naming conventions/organizational structures, markering up of skeleton, Tposing, and calibration/creation of skeleton & rigidbody. 2. Students learn production shoutouts, associated actions, and reasoning behind said actions for recording takes “T-Pose!”, “Mocap speed!”, “Camera speed!”, “Sound rolling!”, “Action! *slate clapboard clap” 3. Recording a few problematic actions (dancing, sitting on a chair, rolling on ˛oor, hugging another actor, slow vs fast motions, walking from one corner to the other and seeing how the skeleton fails when out of range, 4. Saving and closing mocap session as well as cleaning up and putting

props (for a second time).

Students will learn step by step in detail the volume setup and calibration for an OptiTrack Motive mocap system as well as how to calibrate humans and

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10

transforms)

Class Exercise(s)

Materials

by manually keyframing. Computer lab access with desktop Maya ready PCs for students Projector / large monitor display 1. Lightning-fast step by step workshop: How to export FBX from take ˚le (File > Export, ensure rigged skeleton is included and not empty 2. Quick intro to Mixamo (students create a free adobe account, select their character , and download the rig at T-Pose) 3. Quick step by step follow along of importing the FBX mocap data and FBX Mixamo character rig. File > Import 4. Demonstration of how to use the HumanIK window to create a skeleton by assigning bones of your rig to the matching ones in the window. Then a little lab time for students to do it on their own with their Mixamo avatars while the teacher goes around the class checking in and offering individual assistance to those struggling. 5. Once students all have their skeleton in the green and assigned in the HumanIK window, they assign the character to their Mixamo character

Unit 13 Retargeting Deep Dive (3 hr) Objective Students will learn the basics of exporting their cleaned and solved motion capture data from Motive to an FBX skeleton format for use in Maya to control avatars. Using Mixamo, to either generate or ˚nd a pre-existing rigged character, they’ll import their characters into Maya, learn how to create a skeleton with Maya’s HumanIK window and drive it with the motion capture data. Additionally, they’ll be able to easily with a click of a button create a control rig to easily offset and animate additively onto that recorded mocap

HW

to later.

1. Demonstration of scrubbing through recorded data by focusing on one body part at a time (hips, torso, head, R-arm, L-arm, R-leg, L-leg) and ˚nding and making shorthand notes of issues and their timecode to refer 2. Continue demonstration using the notes to ˚x each issue after trimming heads and tails. Using the techniques de˚ned in objective as well as cleaning cheat sheet and of˚cial documentation. 3. In the rest of class time students will all choose a take from the previous day’s shoot, duplicate it with their name to work on, and independently clean them while the teacher hovers and answers questions. Cleaned take ˚le uploaded to the classroom’s Google drive submission folder for the week. Or Turnitin or other equivalent.

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11

HWtheir choice from the readings.

Class Exercise(s) 1. Film Roles Lecture 2. Step by step workshop on importing rendered image sequence into Davinci Resolve and setting frame duration and exporting out video. Students are expected to watch Cuts & Transitions 101 video and one other of

Materials students. Projector / large monitor display Film Roles PPT Editing tutorial video + of˛ine copies of video readings

Objective Through a presentation on ˚lm production and its various roles and responsibilities as well as a screening of Colour in Storytelling, Composition In Storytelling, Cuts & Transitions 101, Lighting 101 Students will learn foundational knowledge of the language of visual storytelling and the various roles that go into making the visually stunning and memorable scenes from media they love. Students will learn how to edit video in Davinci Resolve so that they can apply that language in practice. Computer lab access with desktop Maya/Davinci Resolve ready PCs for

Unit 14 Language of Visual Storytelling (2 hrs)

HW

instruction. Create a ˚nal project outline, deliverable is storyboard (template included) and shot list OR animation state machine ˛owchart (example included) and shot list, if creating game ready animations.

See demonstration here.

and the source to the animated motion capture character and they’ll see their avatar snapping and following the movements of the mocap data. 6. If extra class time, students will learn about the HumanIK window’s bake to control rig, left (shift/ctrl) click to select the balls on the HumanIK window for the IK controllers you want to modify, then navigate to the channel box and create layer from selected in the animation layers tab. If done correctly you’ll notice all the keyframes on the timeline disappear and you’re ready to additively make animation changes and offsets. Have students recall their lessons learned in the keyframed 3D walk cycle assignment to be able to jump into making additive changes to the mocap data using animation layers. See tutorial video for more

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12

HW

Class Exercise(s)

and Maya. Materials Google spreadsheet or equivalent in-classroom table signup sheet for time slots. Rest of time is free time for students to work on their projects either alone or together in groups (for group projects or assistance) 1. Suit is pre-markered up, stage is calibrated, students come in and record/direct what they need either alone or with a classmate and make sure to backup their work on both a ˛ashdrive and cloud storage service. Finish the ˚nal project before ˚nal class.

Objective Students will sign up for time slots to record their ˚nal project motion, if they want to use motion capture as opposed to keyframed animation, and they’ll have access to the stage to record the takes to later be cleaned, retargeted, set dressed, and directed in a computer lab or remotely with access to Motive

Unit 16 Lab Time by Appointment Only (10-30 minutes per student)

HW

Materials for students. Projector / large monitor display Maya Rendering Video Unreal Rendering Video Class Exercise(s) 1. Simple workshop of creating lighting and camera setup in Maya and rendering out an image sequence. Students will light and render out their retargeted mocap animation scene. Students are expected to ˚nish their render from the workshop

Unit 15 Rendering (2 hrs) Objective Students will get quick demos of lighting and rendering image sequences in maya and Unreal so that they may showcase their animations in high quality. Computer lab access with desktop Maya/Davinci Resolve/Unreal ready PCs

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13

unsolicited criticism.

Materials Projector / large monitor display Class Exercise(s) 1. Students each get an allotted amount of time to verbally introduce their project and play it on the projector for all to see. Family and friends are welcome to be invited. Be cool and supportive, now is not the time for

• •

Objective Students will enjoy a celebration of all the hard work they’ve done on their favorite standout homework assignments and ˚nal projects. They will also learn potential careers and future steps and practical advice.

Unit 17 Final Project Showcase and Future Steps(1-2 hrs)