Art Department - Spring 2025 - Digital Art - Ronaldo Kiel
ARTD 2821 3D Modeling & Animation
Section TQ8 - code 3421 - T 08:55-12:15PM 5102 BH - Jan 28 to May 20, 2025
Course Description Class Projects Schedule Important Dates Contact
All projects in this course are just devices to get you started. In the first, the modeling should be quite simple but you will experience the entire production workflow, from modeling to compiling your frames into the animation. The second project will focus on polygonal modeling and UV mapping. In the last project we will explore displacement maps and PBR (Physical Based Rendering). It will require some planning but the execution is very simple.
Project #1: 3D Still Life
We will investigate basic three-dimensional modeling techniques to create a still life scene. Select a drawing from one of your other academic classes or a reproduction of a still life painting as a starting point. Then, you will create a detailed three-dimensional model of all the elements for the scene.
Once all the elements in the still-life are modeled and positioned according to the two dimensional image that you are using as reference, you will create all the texture maps necessary for your scene. For example, if your still life is on top of a wooden table you should create the image that will be mapped on the table top: a wood grain texture.
You will have to analyze all elements in the scene and develop the material properties for them. How much transparency for the glass objects? Do they have any color? Do you have any other reflective surfaces in your scene? How will the metal surfaces react to the lights?
Lighting the scene is crucial. You will be working in a "virtual environment" where all the "realism" is generated by the software tools. The lights will not behave exactly as they do outside the computer if you don’t use IBL (Image Based Lighting) and PBR (Physical Based Rendering) workflows. Lights don’t necessarily have to bounce off of the object’s surfaces or cast shadows automatically. The illusion of natural, physical laws will only happen in PBR systems and your conscious choices.
You should create several different renderings besides the one that matches the image you used as reference. These stills will help you to plan your animation and troubleshoot any problems before you commit yourself to a long rendering.
Your final task will be to shoot the scene with your "virtual" camera. Your animation should not exceed 15 seconds. The rendering time for your animation can vary from a few hours to several days depending on the complexity of your still life. Keep your models as simple as possible and try to work with very little or no reflections.
Final Rendering specifications:
Duration: minimum 5 seconds
Resolution HD540
File Format: QuickTime
Note: There are videos on the “documents page” of the Black Board site for this project.
Project #2: Indoors
One of the most common uses of three-dimensional modeling is in architectural models where simulations of buildings (exteriors and interiors) can be explored with fly-through camera movements. In games also, it is very common to be inside complex architectural environments. In this project you will be creating an enclosed environment. You can approach this project in many different ways. For example; you may create a space that can be used as a set for a movie or a three-dimensional space of a computer game. You may develop the set design for one play, or simply create the interior of a room, a realistic rendition of an architectural space.
Steps to follow:
1. Choose the indoors space that you are going to reproduce in 3D. You can work from an already existing photo, or blueprint. You can also take photos of the space of your choice, or make sketches of an imaginary space.
2. Make sure you have enough information about the space you are going to create. You will need to draw at least one front, one top and one side view of the space. These views are going to help you to build the space in 3D.
3. You should model all the elements in your 3D space paying close attention to the proportions. It is very easy to make mistakes if you don’t model every object in proportion to the others. For example, the size of chairs and tables should be relative to the doors and the walls. The depth of your object also has to relate to its height and width. (It is common to end up with walls that are several feet thick.)
4. You will continue this project using the same steps that you followed to create the still life: generating texture maps, setting up materials and lights and adjusting the camera for the renderings.
5. You will be required to create an animation showing the space you built in 3D. One simple camera movement, a fly-through is sufficient. Your animation doesn’t need to be long, in 15 seconds you can show plenty. Render a series of stills showing all the parts of the model that you want to appear in your animation and create a story board.
Three-dimensional animation can be time consuming. Make your models as simple as possible. Don’t put too much detail in the geometry, remember that you can probably accomplish the same effect using textures or bump maps.
NOTE: Before you commit yourself to long rendering make sure you have already done as many test renderings as necessary to create your final animation.
I published, on our documents page of the Black Board site, some videos to guide you through the creation of a low poly geometry for Project#2 with emphasis on the texture mapping. There is also a series of videos for project#2 based on an old school house.
The videos cover the modeling, UV mapping of the geometry, textures creation in Photoshop and the development of surface materials, lights, rendering and animation.
The two versions of Project 2 are just teaching materials, they are not to be seen as art production pieces.
Project #3: Outdoors (landscape)
You will have to animate the camera in a predetermined path over a landscape created using a displacement mapping.
We will experiment with displacement maps from Tangram to animate a camera moving a very large distance. The simulated view from a drone camera.
An other important aspect, in this project, is to achieve a realistic outdoors light using a Hight Dynamic Range Image (HDRI). If we remember some landscape paintings, sky can represent 2/3 of the visual field. The simulation of the sun light can be more difficult than the simulation of a studio light set. There are videos on the documents page of the Black Board site for this project.
NOTE: Keep your projects simple and try to create your models with the minimum number of polygons. Too much geometry will slow you down and increase your rendering time.
Your animation for this project should be at least 20 seconds long.
General requirements for all projects:
The final version of all projects for this course should be rendered at HD 540 (960x540) resolution.
Sound effects or audio tracks are not required for any of the projects in this course. But as you know, sound is in many cases, the element that brings your animation to life. Consider using sounds in your projects.