Welcome Guide 2016BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts

Tom Farrington, Computer Animation Arts,

UCA Rochester

In this section you’ll find your enrolment and induction timetables. Please take careful note of the dates and times you’ll need to attend during your first week.

INDUCTION AND ENROLMENT TIMETABLES

If you are not able to make any of these dates, please let your Campus Registry contact know as soon as possible.

Blogger FAQs

TIME LOCATION

MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBER

11:00am CAA Base Room, Lower 4th

Floor

2:00pm

4:00pm - 6:00pm Refectory

TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER

WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER

11:00am

THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER

10:00am - 3:00pm

FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER

ACTIVITY AND DATE

Welcome to CAA

Library Support Service Briefing

Welcome Drinks

Free day

The CAA Survival Guide

CAA Base Room, Lower 4th

Floor

CAA Base Room, Lower 4th

Floor

Enrolment 3:00pm Seminar Room 507, Upper 1st

Floor

Lecture Theatre 1

11:00am - 3:00pmFreshers’ Fayre Reception/Foyer

4:00pm - 6:00pmInternational and EU Welcome Event

(An event for new non-UK students which includes a

welcome from the leadership team, free food and drink and an

opportunity to meet other new students).

Reception/Foyer

3:00pmMeet your Students’ Union CAA Base Room, Lower 4th

Floor

Ice Breaker Event / Group A 10:00am CAA Base Room, Lower 4th

Floor

Ice Breaker Event / Group B 2:00pm CAA Base Room, Lower 4th

Floor

WELCOME

Welcome to UCA! We’re delighted you’ve chosen to study with us and become part of our creative community. To help you prepare before joining us in September, this guide outlines your reading list, the equipment you’ll need for your course, and any projects you should do over the summer.

Remember to look at your Induction Timetable in this guide too.

If you have any questions, the contact details for your Course Administrator are opposite – get in touch and they’ll be happy to help. We look forward to seeing you at UCA.

Urvashi Lele, Computer Animation Arts,UCA Rochester

View our website to see more work from our current and graduating students:

computeranimationarts.com

You can also follow us on Twitter @animation_arts to keep up with the latest course news over the summer!

If you have any questions, please contact the Campus Registry Office:

Natalie HolmesNHolmes2@uca.ac.ukTel: 01634 888745

An answer phone service is available on the above line for any out of hours enquiries.

UCA ROCHESTERThree years full-time

PRE-ARRIVAL In this section you’ll find a list of activities to complete before you join us in September.

Jon Stewart, Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

Wells, Paul. (2006), The Fundamentals of Animation,Ava Publishing; ISBN 13:987-2-940-37302-4

Williams, R. (2002 ), The Animator’s Survival Kit, Faber and Faber; ISBN: 0571202284

Blair, Preston. (1998), Cartoon Animation, Walter Foster Publishing, ISBN: 1560100842

D. Katz, S. (1991), Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen, Michael Wiese Productions, ISBN: 0941188108

ESSENTIAL READING LISTThese are some books you’ll need as essentialreference throughout the course.

RECOMMENDED READING LISTThere are many books dealing with the nature of CG Arts and Animation- these are some books you’ll need as reference throughout the course.

Dariush Darakhshani (2014), Introducing AutoDesk Maya 2015, Autodesk Official Press.

Paul Naas (2013), Autodesk Maya 2014 Essentials, Autodesk Official Press

Please note: Maya 2009 & 2010 books are available from many stores and websites. Despite the current version of Maya being ‘Maya 2015’ these books are still relevant.

OTHER RESOURCES-Computer Arts magazine-3D World magazine-Cinefex magazine

There are many websites dealing with issues concerning film and game design. These are a few that are important to explore and visit. They’ll also contain professional work and tutorials produced in applications such Maya, Photoshop and After Effects.

CG ARTICLES, GALLERIES AND DISCUSSION FORUMS:

- awn.com- 3dtotal.com- conceptart.org- area.autodesk.com

CG DVDs AND SOFTWARE TUTORIALS:

- thegnomonworkshop.com- digitaltutors.com- creativecrash.com- videocopilot.net

Lydia Caplan, Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

EQUIPMENT/MATERIALS NEEDED:

We ask you to equip yourselves with a graphics tablet for digital sketchbook and painting - the Intuos Pro Medium.

You’ll also need a Portable Hard Drive (1TB +) or USB Memory Stick/ Flash drive (16GB+).

You are also asked to equip yourselves with storage devices to help transfer and back up your work.

The course currently uses the following core software:- Autodesk Maya Entertainment Suite 2016: Maya, Matchmover, and Mudbox.- Adobe Creative Suite CS6: Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Flash, Audition and Premiere Pro.Autodesk offer a range of software which is FREE to download. Software can also be purchased on a student discount to be used with your own computer. Software can be anything upwards of £500 depending on the need.

You also need to put together a traditional artist’s toolkit before you join us in September:

- Pencils- Pens- Charcoal- Putty rubbers- Masking tape- Ink- Paints- Brushes- Sketchbooks.

EQUIPMENT LISTEQUIPMENT/MATERIALS RECOMMENDED:

We have excellent computing resources which you’ll be able to access throughout your time at UCA. However, if it is at all possible, you’ll benefit enormously from having a machine at home that you can use to develop your skills.

If you are able to buy a Windows-based PC computer, expect to pay between £1000 and £2000. You need to aim for a 64 bit computer with 4Gb (minimum) of RAM. Please visit the Dell website (dell.co.uk) or Hewlett Packard (hp.co.uk) as a guide to buying ‘Workstation’ computers and compatibility with Autodesk Maya.

In addition, by visiting the ‘Autodesk Maya’ home page you can select ‘System Requirements’ to find the latest details for recommended graphics cards. Staff will be able to give more detailed advice at the beginning of the term if you are unsure about what to buy*.

Example computer spec for Dell or HP:

- Dell Precision or HP Z Range Workstation- Intel Xeon Quad Core 2.80GHz+ CPU 4 to 8GB of RAM- Nvidia Quadro K600 or K2000 Graphics Card 250GB+ HD- Windows 7 or 8 Professional 64 Bit- Dell or HP (1920x1080 HD) Monitor

*Please note, there are computers available for use on campus by students throughout the duration of the course.

Year 3 students are encouraged to budget for rendering costs for their final animations. Students outsource rendering via Garagefarm.net. Costs vary on a project-by-project basis.

Degree Show or External Shows

There may be additional costs involved in participating in a final degree show or an external showcase event such as New Designers. Some students organise income generating events to help support the costs of these.

Joey Ku, Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

VISITS

In the past the course has made overseas trips to European cities. These trips are not compulsory but there is a charge for students to participate. As examples, the trip to Prague in 2014 cost £250 for travel and hotel and the trip to Barcelona in 2015 cost £350 for travel and hotel.

GET BLOGGING:

Before you start your course at UCA, it’s essential that you create a blog.

Your blog is your online sketchbook, archive,forum and creative thinking space. It’s an assessable component of all project work throughout your degree.

Go to blogger.com and set up your own blog as instructed. Once you’ve created your blog, please email the address to: pgomm@uca.ac.uk

There are many different ways to personalise your blog template and you’re free to do so.Make sure your blog banner includes your name, and full course title:

BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester.

Samuel Cannon, Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

SUMMER PROJECT

As a part of your summer project, you’re challanged to produce 101 concept drawings using only the selectionof objects shown below:

We’d like you to generate concept drawings in three categories:

-Structures-Life forms-Machines.

You can work in pencil, pen, paint or on agraphics tablet. You should think of your drawings as thumbnail sketches or works-in-progress. Work quickly and instinctively- you’re not trying to create perfect images, you’re trying to develop, innovate and refine your ideas.

Think laterally and don’t rub anything out, startover or throw anything away; you need to getused to visualising your ideas promptly andwithout inhibition as effective 2D visualisation skills

will be fundamental to your success on this course.

You might consider extended drawings - using a selected object as ‘a seed’ from which new designs grow; you might try tracing, re-sizing, repeating, rotating, inverting and fusing objects as a method to work up new and exciting concepts; another approach might be to treat the various objects as silhouettes before extending or hybridising them.

Please number your drawings.

Here are some examples of thumbnail drawings.

Samantha Niemczyk, Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

When you’ve finished your 101 developmental drawings, you are to pick three (one structure, one life form, one machine) and develop them further into resolved designs.

Your final concepts should be presented as turnarounds- i.e., the subjects should be depicted from the front, back and side.

All developmental work and the final three designs should be uploaded to your creative development blog.

You’ll be asked to present your work to your tutors and classmates during Induction Week. You’ve got to get used to pitching your ideas to other people, so on CAA we say ‘the sooner the better’.

Get drawing and good luck!

Mike Smallwood, Computer Animation Arts,

UCA Rochester

BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts runs a course blog which contains a wealth of information about what’s going on, both in the course and the world of computer animation:

ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.co.uk

Check out Post With The Most, which is updated reguarly and will give you a fantastic insight into the type of work you’ll be creating on the course from September:

ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/PWTM

COMPUTER ANIMATION ARTS BLOG POST WITH THE MOST

uca.ac.uk