Portfolio Applications

At the end of their first year, students should present a portfolio demonstrating the following skills. The list is not exhaustive.

• Produce digital concept art and storyboards
• Open and work with Adobe Photoshop to generate masks and edit images
• Produce vector art
• Produce a 2-D animation
• Edit and render video
• Produce a slide show presentation
• Produce a portfolio
• Create a low-poly 3-D model
• Create a UV map
• Create a lighting and shading solution in a 3-D application
• Create a 3-D rendering
• Produce a composited video combining 2-D and 3-D assets
• Create a virtual sculpture
• Apply PBR surfacing
• Animate with blend shapes
• Animate using rigging
• Create visual effects
• Migrate and organize assets
• Compose interactive environments
• Compose interactive narratives
• Use modern game engines
• Create 2-D and 3-D interactive experiences
• Basic audio engineering
• Basics of scripts in virtual environments
• Create a level layout
• Create a graphical user interface

At the end of their second year, students should present a portfolio demonstrating the following skills. The list is not exhaustive.

VTD 246: Advanced Lighting and Materials

• Original material networks, with UVs, textures and material blueprints in Substance Designer and Unreal
• Capturing and rendering a 360 panorama and 3-D photogrammetry
• Texturing and rendering simple architectural elements with UVs
• Texturing and rendering terrains, rocks, trees and animated foliage with UVs
• Animated splines for water, vegetation and architectural elements in Unreal
• Ambient lighting and volumetric lighting in Arnold and Unreal
• 3-D sounds (ambient, looping, mixing, sound cue blueprint) in Unreal
• Creating a story and a user-friendly navigation inside a real time VR environment: fully rendered virtual world with natural and architectural elements in Unreal

VTD 271: Cross Reality I

• Storytelling through the use of Augmented Reality (Unity3D)
• Multi-page storybook
• Incorporating 3-D objects, 2-D graphics, audio, user interface components
• Learning modules using Augmented Reality (Unity3D)
• Developing an interactive environment to engage a user in a learning activity
• Incorporating animated 3-D objects, 2-D graphics, audio, interactive user interface components (3DS Max, Adobe Create Cloud)
• Create object animations within the Unity3D game engine
• Spatial visualization environment, complete with meta data, using Virtual Reality (Unity3D)
• Develop an interior space complete with scale appropriate entourage (3DS Max)
• Develop scale appropriate Physics Based Rendering (PBR) materials
• Develop believable lighting solutions (lightmapping) to visually tell the story of the environment
• Develop interactive user interface components to provide metadata about the space
• Enable the user to fully immerse and navigate the environment in Virtual Reality

VTD 245: Advanced Modeling

• Hard Surface Modeling
• Topology Concepts - Planning, Organization, Edge Flow, Edge Retention, Form Evaluation and Surface Transitions
• Box Modeling Concepts - Volumes, Extrude, Inset, Bevel, Chamfer, Subdivision Modeling
• Edge Modeling Concepts - Retopology, Bridge, Weld, Connect, Loop Management
• Baking Concepts - High Poly, Low Poly, Smoothing Groups, UV layout/management
• Texture Maps - Process, Creation Techniques and Usage
• Software Used: 3DS Max and Substance Painter
• Modular Asset Development
• Planning, organizing and developing a scene from scratch
• Game asset types and how they are used to define space
• Spatial Narratives - Guiding movement and developing focal points
• Snaps, Trim Sheets, Pivot Adjustments and Optimization
• Software Used: 3DS Max, Substance Painter and Unreal Engine 4
• Organic Modeling
• Introduction to Character Design Concepts and Development
• Topology Concepts - Planning, Organizing, Deformations, Edge Flow, Form Evaluation and Surface Transitions
• Retopology, Optimization and Peripheral Asset Management
• Basic rigging and bone manipulation techniques
• Baking Concepts - High Poly, Low Poly, Smoothing Groups, UV layout/management Material ID
• Texture Maps - Process, Creation Techniques and Usage
• Software Used: 3DS Max, Substance Painter, Zbrush and Unreal Engine 4

At the end of their third year, students should present a portfolio that demonstrates the following skills. The list is not exhaustive.

VTD 367: Visual Effects

• Present the creative process to produce visual effects and animations
• Creating a composite scene using 2-D/3-D layers and a 3-D moving object in After Effects and Maya
• Full rendering of animations using Physically Based Rendering (Substance, Arnold, Unreal)
• Creating a real time interactive animation in Unreal
• Creating a facial animation using motion capture in Maya and Unreal
• Creating and rendering air, fire and liquid animations in Maya and Unreal
• Vehicle physics in Maya and Unreal

VTD 372: Cross Reality II

• Incorporate 3-D characters into Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality environments (Unity3D)
• Import character animations into Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality environments (Unity3D and motion capture libraries)
• Create character animations within the Unity3D game engine (Unity3D)
• Connect character animations to user input via script development (Unity3D)
• Develop multi-user virtual reality worlds for users to interact with the environment as a group (Unity3D)
• Interactive user Interface knowledge via script development (Unity3D)
• Believable lighting solutions (lightmapping)
• Scale appropriate Physics Based Rendering (PBR) materials
• Scale appropriate characters, environments and entourage (3DS Max)
• Utilizing projectile-based physics in a multi-user Virtual Reality world (Unity3D)

VTD 380: Advanced Character Design

• Digital painting (Photoshop)
  • Silhouette and shape development
  • Light painting and the illusion of depth and form
  • Primary, secondary and tertiary stages of visual communication
  • Brush development and manipulation techniques
  • Contextualized design principles - color theory, composition, balance, line, shape, form, etc.
  • Lighting solutions - local color, global illumination, key lighting, rim lighting, fill lighting, bounce lights
• Digital Sculpting (Zbrush)
  • Creating volumes - blocking out the primary structure of a character
  • Personality through form - line of action, posture, active and passive character states
  • Secondary and tertiary form development
  • Layering forms and details that tell a story
  • Shadow manipulation and the transition of forms on a surface
  • Management and development of additional character peripherals and features
  • Character cosing and local compositions
  • Rendering passes - base color, specular, ambient occlusion, subsurface scattering and lighting
• Compositing (Photoshop)
  • Document setup and resolution
  • Importing multiple render passes into a single document
  • Layer-by-layer construction of a scene
  • Modifying and manipulating layers using advanced masking techniques
  • Final touches - image adjustments, digital painting techniques, focal points and emphasizing characters