PROD142-24S2 (C) Semester Two 2024

2D and 3D Art for Game and Film

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 15 July 2024
End Date: Sunday, 10 November 2024
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 28 July 2024
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 29 September 2024

Description

The goal of this course is to introduce students to concepts, techniques and tools they can use to communicate ideas and narrative through visual media in both 2D and 3D. Students will learn skills such as sketching, storyboarding, and visual framing, and examine existing practices in print (e.g. comics, graphic novels), film (e.g. storyboards) and games (e.g. concept art) to help them ideate, prototype, develop and communicate visually. A key theme of the course is an introduction to visual culture, including representation and objects as taonga. Students will learn how to create art in styles ranging from caricature to photorealistic, understanding how these different styles focus and emphasise different things depending on what must be communicated. In addition to 2D art, students will also learn how to create visual assets in 3D, including both translating existing artworks from 2D and developing new artwork in 3D from scratch. Students will learn the differences between creating 3D artworks for fixed camera mediums (e.g. film) and dynamic camera mediums (e.g. games).

This course aims to help students build skills and confidence in creating art assets for game and film productions, and other forms of visual storytelling. In lectures, students will learn about a broad range of topics surrounding the history, context, and processes of creating and communication through 2D and 3D art forms for different forms of visual storytelling. In the workshops, students will be trained in how to use industry standard techniques and tools to create their own 2D and 3D art works.

The following topics are covered through lectures, workshops and activities:

• The history of film and animation
• Aesthetics
• Comics, manga and video game art styles.
• Role of concept art in preproduction.
• Masking and sequential art.
• Icons, ideograms, and symbolism.
• The triangle of realism, abstraction and iconography.
• Spatial design, lighting and contrast.
• Environment art, spatial design and map creation.
• Digital asset pipelines and standard formats for sprites, textures, materials, models.
• Hands-on practice sketching ideas and developing them into production-ready assets.
• Understanding of visual culture, representation and objects as taonga.
• Sketching, storyboarding, and visual framing
• Ideation, prototyping, development and communication through visual media
• How to create art in styles ranging from caricature to photorealistic, and how these different styles focus and emphasise different things
• Translating existing artworks from 2D to 3D and developing new artwork in 3D
• The differences between creating 3D artworks for fixed camera mediums (e.g. film) and dynamic camera mediums (e.g. games).

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
1.            Communicate ideas through sketching, storyboarding and visual framing.
2.            Create 2D art using a range of styles, ranging from caricature to photorealistic.
3.            Make informed decisions about the most appropriate art styles and formats for ideation, prototyping, development, and communication, and explain their reasoning.
4.            Create 3D art suitable for both fixed camera mediums and dynamic camera mediums.
5.            Explain the considerations required for producing 3D art for real-time and non real-time rendering.
6.            Use industry standard art creation tools such as Photoshop and Maya.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

Employable, innovative and enterprising

Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.

Timetable 2024

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Tuesday 09:00 - 10:00 Otakaro 236 L2 Lecture Theatre
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
Lecture B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 15:00 - 16:00 C2 Lecture Theatre
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
Lecture C
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Friday 11:00 - 12:00 C2 Lecture Theatre
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
Pals A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01-P1 Tuesday 12:00 - 13:00 Ernest Rutherford 260
22 Jul - 25 Aug
01-P2 Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00 Psychology - Sociology 411
9 Sep - 20 Oct
02 Friday 10:00 - 11:00 Jack Erskine 240
22 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
Workshop A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Tuesday 11:00 - 13:00 Rata 342 CAD Lab
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
02 Wednesday 09:00 - 11:00 Rata 342 CAD Lab
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
03 Wednesday 13:00 - 15:00 Rata 342 CAD Lab
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
Workshop B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 16:00 - 18:00 Rata 342 CAD Lab
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
02 Thursday 12:00 - 14:00 Rata 342 CAD Lab
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct
03 Friday 13:00 - 15:00 Rata 342 CAD Lab
15 Jul - 25 Aug
9 Sep - 20 Oct

Course Coordinator

Oana Jones

Course Administrator

Alison Lowery

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Communicating in 2D 22% Communicating in 2D
Communicating in 3D 23% Communicating in 3D
A Visual Artists Digital Portfolio 30% A Visual Artists Digital Portfolio
Theory Quizzes 20% 4 x Theory quizzes worth 5% each
Drawing Exercises 5% Weekly submission of sketching exercises


A student must submit all assignments in the course. A minimum grade of 25% in each assignment is required to pass this course (assignments receiving a minimum of 25% will receive a "complete" mark; those below 25% will receive an incomplete mark). Students who fail to meet the 25% threshold / receive an incomplete mark may improve their work based on the feedback they are given and resubmit their assignment for grading.

For resubmitted assignments, the original assignment criteria will be used. A student who then meets the 25% threshold or higher in their resubmission will be awarded a "complete" score, but no additional points will be awarded towards their final grade.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,059.00

International fee $6,000.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see School of Product Design .

All PROD142 Occurrences

  • PROD142-24S2 (C) Semester Two 2024