DT-216-1/FM-216-1 Intermediate 3D Modeling and Animation Greg Lemon Prerequisite: DT-116/FM-116 This course will focus on utilizing and enhancing the skills learned in DT-116 to help students create a single piece of animated digital art. Students will further explore a variety of 3D digital creative techniques as they each conceptualize and create a polished animated short film, emphasizing shape, form, camera work, mood, and storytelling techniques. The course is designed to lead students through all stages of animated film production, including narrative development, storyboarding, art direction, and editing. Additionally, intermediate Maya tools and techniques will be demonstrated, focusing on advanced polygonal modeling, UV mapping tools, texture painting, IK skeletons, character setup, key frame animation techniques, lighting, and rendering. This course will provide students with the technical skills needed to produce high-quality animated films, while maintaining an overarching focus on creativity, exploration, and experimentation through a narrative context. Satisfies Design and Technology Media Techniques Distribution Requirement or Design and Technology Elective DT-220-1 Smarter ArtDesign for Smart Devices Chris Kubick Prerequisite: DT-113 or DT-115 As smartphones and tablets become more and more ubiquitous, these portable, location-aware, touch-screen multimedia devices are changing the way we consume, create, explore, and experience art. What’s more, these devices are changing the way we live, by accelerating social interaction, challenging accepted notions of public vs. private space, informing and enabling political activism, and giving us new means to document and share our lives. And, as these new ways of life become more and more mundane, artists step into the breach, asking us to re-imagine the possibilities presented by these digital devices. A diverse range of artists including Brion Gysin, LoVid, Kristin Lucas, Mendi and Keith Obadike, Phil Kline, Joe McKay, and Bjork have released apps that challenge our accepted understanding of the way we use our devices. Some of these projects (iParade, UnSilent night) use the locative and social aspects of these devices; others, such as Free Fall Highscore, ask us to use these phones in unexpected ways (in this case we compete to record a video of our phone dropping from as high a place as possible without breaking it); and still others use phones to map out lived space (Sonic City Lagos, Urban Rhythms) or as tools to “re-mix” reality (Spine Sonnet, Yard Sale In The Sky). This course will explore a variety of approaches to making art for and with mobile phones and tablets and introduce students to the key concepts and technologies that enable the creation of artwork for this platform. Students will be asked to understand the design issues specific to the mobile platform, will learn what is necessary to plan and produce prototypes in various types of phone apps,
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and will be introduced to tools such xCode, UIKit, Interface Builder, Open Frameworks, Unity, and much more. Satisfies Design and Technology Designed Objects Distribution Requirement or Design and Technology Communications Design Distribution Requirement or Design and Technology Elective DT-221-1 Signal to Noise: Interactive and Electronic Performance Andrew Benson Prerequisite: DT-101 In communication theory, noise is anything that distorts a signal as it travels between a transmitter and a recipient. In this class, students will experiment with sound generation (synthesis), custom effects processing, sampling, and automation in order to create unique sounds. Students will develop their own modules or instruments for making and processing sound and/or video, learning to use both the precision and the “noise” inherent in such hybrid systems. In addition to gaining fluency with Max/MSP software and signal-flow concepts, students will gather control signals for their work using sensors and simple electronic input devices. Projects will culminate in a final performance or interactive media installation. Satisfies Design and Technology Media Techniques Distribution Requirement or Design and Technology Elective DT-222-1 Typography: Context and Practice JD Beltran Prerequisite: DT-101 Artists and designers use words in a variety of formats and venues. Poetry, prose, wordplay, graffiti, graphic novels, calligraphy, the printed page, and the motion of letters on cinematic, cathode ray, and LCD screens all make expressive use of the written word in the context of exhibition, installation, and performance. The use of letterforms, both artful and mundane, speaks more deeply and artistically than we often suppose. In this course, students will explore conventional and unconventional uses of typography to promote cultural and political messages, create aesthetic projects, and intervene in social contexts that inform the reader and audience through a variety of media forms. Students will begin with typography projects that quickly develop basic skills, continue with more creative and experimental work, and conclude with an independent project that engages their own artistic practices and concerns. Students may choose a specific media focus or a variety of media as appropriate for the content of their final project. Typographic media covered will include type for print, video, motion graphics, and installation graphics. A combination of studio and seminar, the course will address both technical and conceptual frameworks, with readings, critiques, and discussions of the history and theoretical issues surrounding modern typography, including 19th century commercial illustration, the Bauhaus, the grid, and its deconstruction. Satisfies Design and Technology Communications Design Distribution Requirement or Design and Technology Elective