GMAP 421 | Advanced Game Art Production

Bobby Speck | bobby.s.speck@gmail.com

Justin Patterson | justin.h.patterson@gmail.com

Objective

Overview of technical tools and effects at artists’ fingertips to bring life to interactive 3D rendered scenes.

Office Hours: By Appointment

Format

Classes will be a combination of:

• • instruction and tutorial

  • class discussions

  • individual and group assignments

  • lab and presentation period

  • team building exercises

Class participation is an important part of your evaluation and grade. In addition, students will be required to work in teams outside of class in the computer labs, doing research online and in books and journals, and hands-on exposure to various video games.

Submission

Please place your built project in a folder labeled with your name (first initial, last name) or team name in the DIGM421 "Submission" folder for your section, in the folder of the assignment/project name. The DIGM421 folder is located on DIGMShare, which can be accessed from the labs or using a FTP program on your home computer.

Projects are to be put in the folder before the start of class, ready for presentation. You must present what you have; there are no late submissions.

Grading

• • 30% - Assignments (1-3)

  • 10% - Participation/Attendance

  • 20% - Project Assessments

  • 40% - Project Demo Presentation

Attendance

You are expected to attend all classes. Class participation is an important part of your grade. Missing 3 classes results in automatic failure. If a student must miss class, it is the student's responsibility to contact me by email the day prior to the missed class. Students will also be responsible for getting missed notes from the other students.

Cheating/Plagiarism

Copying text, artwork, models, or animations without credit, whether copyrighted or made freely available on the web, is considered plagiarism for the purposes of this class (as it is in industry) and is forbidden. One illegal asset can open an employer up to litigation.

Having another student perform your tasks for you is considered cheating. Group evaluations, class participation, and project debriefings are a very effective means of determining this type of cheating, so do not cheat.

Cheating will result in at minimum a failing of the assignment and an automatic decrease of one letter grade for your final grade, and may result in your failing the course. Cheating and plagiarism are often done not due to sinister intentions, but because of laziness, fear, lack of preparation, overloaded schedule, or other reasons. If you are having a problem in class and are fearful that your grade may suffer, please, please come talk to me about it rather than attempting some shortcut. I am always eager to try to help, and I do not want to have to fail anyone. See Drexel policies below for more information.

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, and Cheating Policy

http://drexel.edu/provost/policies/academic_dishonesty.asp

Drexel University Student Handbook

http://drexel.edu/studentaffairs/community_standards/studentHandbook/

Students with Disability Statement

http://drexel.edu/ods/student_reg.html

Course Drop Policy

http://drexel.edu/provost/policies/course_drop.asp

Course Change Policy

The instructor reserves the right to change the course during the term at his or her discretion. These changes will be communicated to students via the syllabus, website announcement, or email.

Assignments

Assignments may be completely individually or in pairs, based on assignment requirements. Note: Assignment parameters are subject to change. Always check the assignment sub-page for details.

Assignment 1 | Introduction to Game Art

Group: NA

Due: Week 3

Summary: Students must take a standardized Unity scene and enhance it using the basic techniques (lighting, basic shading, and image effects) learned in weeks 1 and 2. There are no strict guidelines for this project; it is a creative exercise designed to test student’s basic facility with the material and compare different approaches to extending the same base scene.

Assignment 2 | Introduction to Procedural FX

Group: 1 - 2 Students

Due: Week 4, 5

Summary: In this exercise, students will focus on creating a short scene (15-30 seconds) using procedural effects. In particular, students will make use of programmatically-driven particle effects (using the Shuriken particle system or an equivalent engine), in-engine mesh generation/distortion scripting, and/or procedurally generated animations using existing assets or assets created in real-time.

Assignment 3 | Advanced Lighting and Shading

Group: 1 - 2 Students

Due: Week 6

Summary: Students will to create multiple variations (2-3) of a original scene, using different lighting techniques, materials (including normal maps, specular maps, etc.) and custom image effects (using RenderTextures and/or Pixel Shaders).

Project

The term project will be completed in groups of 3-5. Groups will be tasked to create a short, original game art production. This project should incorporate custom shaders, image effects, and procedural modeling and/or animation techniques in an interactive experience. Students can make use of existing assets, modified for incorporation into the project, as well as reference video. The term project is not required to be a full “game” experience, but must have elements of interactivity.

Deliverable 1:

Title: Project Proposal

Due: Week 7

Summary: Students will present a brief (1-page) proposal for their chosen scene. Students MUST provide initial concept art and/or detailed examples of proposed techniques.

Deliverable 2:

Title: Project Updates

Due: Week 8, 9, 10

Summary: Students will present their progress in creating their chosen scene. Students should create a project journal (recommended in the form of a blog) detailing their individual and group contributions for the week.

Deliverable 3:

Title: Final Presentation

Due: Week 11

Summary: Students will demo their completed scene, as well as give a brief presentation on the techniques implemented as well as the artistic and technical hurdles they were required to overcome to create the completed scene.

Schedule

Week 1:

Title: Course Overview

Due: N/A

Summary: Review syllabus and academic policies with the class. Following this review, there will be an in-class discussion of students’ experience with and conception of advanced game art production techniques. This discussion will conclude with an overview of some examples of completed productions featuring techniques expected to be demonstrated in this class. There will be a presentation on basic shading techniques. Topics include: an overview of simple shader construction.

External Material:

• • CG Cookie Unity Shaders Lesson 01a

  • CG Cookie Unity Shaders Lesson 01b

  • CG Cookie Unity Shaders Lesson 01c

Week 2:

Title: Basic Shading, Lighting, and Effects

Due: N/A

Summary: There will be a presentation on extended shading and basic lighting techniques, as well as an introduction to image effects. Topics include: an overview of extended shader construction; a review of baked vs. real-time lighting, as well as differentiation between different lighting models (point-based, forward rendering, etc.); a quick explanation of image effects in general, as well as an introduction to the game engine’s built-in library.

Links: Week 02 Presentation

Week 3:

Title: Basic Procedural Model Generation/Scripting and Pipeline Techniques

Due: Assignment 1

Summary: There will be a presentation on generating simple models (using primitives and prefabs) at run-time, as well as controlling rendering components (attaching basic shaders, etc. to generated primitives/prefabs). There will also be a presentation on basic procedural animation techniques.

Links: Week 03 Presentation

Week 4:

Title: Basic Particle FX Generation/Scripting

Due: Assignment 2, part 1

Summary: There will be a presentation on creating different particle systems within the game engine, as well as controlling particle generation and appearance via scripting. Generating particle systems by sampling existing prefabs will also be covered.

Links: Week 04 Presentation

Week 5:

Title: Advanced Shading, Lighting, and Effects

Due: Assignment 2, part 2

Summary: There will be a presentation on advanced shading and lighting techniques. Topics include: scripting shaders and lighting, and additional particle FX uses.

Links: Week 05 Presentation

Week 6

Title: RenderTexture Usage and Shading

Due: Assignment 3

Summary: There will be a presentation of advanced RenderTexture usage and shading techniques.

Links: Week 06 Presentation

Week 7-10

Title: TBD

Due: Final Project Deliverables

Summary: TBD

Links: TBD