1. CSC4841/6841 Computer Animation Administrative Issues & Course Overview Ying Zhu

2. Office Hours & Contact Information ●Office Hours –Tuesdays 2:30pm – 4:30pm –Or by appointment ●Office: 34 Peachtree Street (One Park Tower building) room1441 ●Phone: (404) 413-5713 ●Email: yzhu@cs.gsu.edu

3. Syllabus ●http://www.cs.gsu.edu/yzhu/csc4841- 6841/csc4841-6841_syllabus.htmhttp://www.cs.gsu.edu/yzhu/csc4841- 6841/csc4841-6841_syllabus.htm

4. Email Correspondence ●By default, I will send announcements/notice to your GSU email account. ●If you prefer a different email account, please let me know. ●When sending me email, please make sure to include “Computer Animation”, “4841”, or “6841” in the subject line.

5. Software ●Blender –http://www.blender.org/http://www.blender.org/ –A free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems. –No programming is required (but scripting is supported)

6. Computers ●You need a relatively powerful computer –Preferably a desktop computer –Most laptops should be fine, although sometimes inconvenient –Netbooks are not powerful enough ●Hardware requirements –Powerful CPU for fast rendering and video editing –Large memory (at least 1GB) –Sufficient disk space (for storing videos) –Decent graphics card

7. Computers ●The course materials are developed primarily for PCs –Mac computers are fine, but there may be minor issues ●I expect you to use your own computers for content development ●The computer in the Digital Aquarium (http://www.gsu.edu/aquarium/) have Blenders installed ●If possible, bring your laptops to the lectures and follow my demonstrations

8. Computers ●How do I know if my computer is adequate? –Download Blender from www.blender.orgwww.blender.org –Download the test suite from http://download.blender.org/demo/test/test248.zi p http://download.blender.org/demo/test/test248.zi p –If you can open and render most of the examples in that package, then you are fine.

9. Textbook ●Blender User’s Manual –http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manualhttp://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual ●I will add additional links to various Blender tutorials on my course web site.

10. Reference books Blender books – http://www.blender.org/education-help/manuals- books/ http://www.blender.org/education-help/manuals- books/ Introducing Character Animation with Blender, by Tony Mullen, Sybex, 2007 – http://www.sybex.com/WileyCDA/SybexTitle/prod uctCd-0470102608,navId-290541,descCd- description.html http://www.sybex.com/WileyCDA/SybexTitle/prod uctCd-0470102608,navId-290541,descCd- description.html

11. Grading ●For all students: –Homework Assignments: 40% –Team Projects: 60% ●For CSC6840 students –An extra term project

12. Grading ●The grading scale is as follows: –A: 90+ –B: 80 - 89 –C: 70 - 79 –D: 60 – 69 –F: < 60

13. Projects & Homework Assignments ●Team project –The goal: produce a short (2 - 4 minutes long) 3D animation film or a commercial –1 to 4 people per team ●Teamwork is strongly encouraged ●3 to 4 homework assignments –Individual efforts

14. Lecture Notes ●Lecture notes will be posted on course web site before each class. ●http://www.cs.gsu.edu/yzhu/csc4841- 6841/home.htmhttp://www.cs.gsu.edu/yzhu/csc4841- 6841/home.htm

15. Graduate Teaching Assistant ●Mr. Saurav Karmakar

16. Classroom Etiquette ●Please refrain from talking to each other during the lecture –But do ask questions ●Please silence your cell phone while in class ●Please do not take or make phone calls in class

17. Expected Outcome ●Basic understanding of 3D computer graphics concepts and theories ●Basic 3D modeling and animation techniques ●Learn to use a 3D modeling and animation tool ●Learn state of the art in 3D computer graphics

18. About this course ●Generally considered a difficult course by students in my previous classes ●Why? –3D computer graphics has a steep learning curve –It’s time consuming to create 3D content –Blender is a complicated tool –Students need to spend a lot of time outside of class to learn Blender and

19. What I expect you to do ●Read the syllabus ●Get to know your classmates ●Test your computer for compatibility with Blender ●Ask questions

20. Any questions?

21. What is Computer Graphics? The word “Computer Graphics” means different things to different people. We will focus on 3D computer graphics: – How to create and store geometry objects (Modeling) – How to manipulate geometry objects (Animation) – How to generate and display images of geometry objects (Rendering) Images courtesy Discreet Lord of the Rings

22. Major Fields ●Modeling –How to create and store geometry objects ●Animation –How to manipulate geometry objects ●Rendering –How to generate and display images of geometry objects

23. General Goals of CG ●Modeling & rendering: create photo-realistic images –Is it real or is it CG? ●Animation: create visually realistic simulation ●Towards true real-time performance –60 frames per second –Flexible user interaction ●Use CG techniques to advance other research fields –Scientific visualization and engineering simulation

24. Major Applications ●Entertainment –3D games –Feature films, TV series & commercials ●Training and education –E.g. flight simulator, military training ●Scientific and information visualization –E.g. bioinformatic visualization, data visualization

25. Blender ●We will be using Blender as a teaching and learning tool throughout the semester ●Blender is a free open-source software for modeling, animation, and rendering –The rendering part is normally done through a third party package ●Download this tool and start learning it as soon as you can –http://www.blender.orghttp://www.blender.org

26. Next Lecture ●Overview of 3D graphics