Intro to Course and to Blender

The Assignment: Use the Quick Effects under the object menu. Render an animation (or 2 if needed) that demonstrates the default settings for each quick effect.

Watch this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8U0TJUJxrE
The Assignment: Rig, texture and animate a human going into forward lunge, right leg forward, left leg back, and raising hands. You do not need to make a movie for this assignment.

Create a Wood Textured Cup using Displacement

3 Point Lighting

Cloth Effects

The Assignment: Produce a still image that contains at least the following: a wood bowl or cup, a cloth, and 3 point lighting. Evaluation will take into consideration lighting, composition, and render quality.

Watch

Morphing a Ball into a Glass Using Shape Keys

Atmospheric Lighting

Take your character head from ICTX 11 and morph it into a human model in a room with atmospheric lighting. Final animation does not have to be rendered, but render one image to show the scene.

Watch this tutorial Principles of Character Animation
Using BornCG's videos #71-#72, animate a character who starts from a stand still, walks 5 steps, jumps in the air (and makes an arc, not straight up and down), takes 5 more steps and stands. Evaluation will consider realism of the motion.

Watch Sidewalk. At 1:30, what is the problem with the animation?

Animate a wheel with realistic rotation: Constant Rotation Wheel, Rigging a Wheel

Animate a wheel (or barrel) rolling along a plane for 15 seconds with no slips, slides, or burnouts.

Read 4 Ways to Speed Up Cycles. Make the appropriate changes to your default Blender file.

Create and render a scene that may be used in your final movie. Create an image so beautiful, it could be sold as a fanstasy poster.

Marking Criteria

Watch Blender Layers: the Basics

Watch Blender Layers and Render Layers

Watch Blender Cycles Render Layers Tab

Use the skills learned here to organize your future projects. Due: tba.

This video will be shown in class.

12 Principles of Animation

These principles will be considered in the evaluation of your final project.

Water Effects

Sculpting

Hair

Post Processing Renders #57

Cycles #10, Rendering with Cycles #11, #46

Using the camera: BornCG #45, 50, 52, 53

Animate a wheel with realistic rotation: Constant Rotation Wheel, Rigging a Wheel

Watch this tutorial on Blender Layers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4aa_ZPiuQQ&feature=related

Watch this tutorial which will teach some animation techniques while using layers:http://www.pxleyes.com/video-tutorial/blender/8334/Simple-IPO-Extrapolation-and-Working-with-Layers.html

Read this tutorial on animating an object's layer: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Animation/Basic/Object_Layer_Animation

The Assignment: Make an animation 200 frames long where one only one snake appears for the first 100 frames and the second snake magically appears beside the first snake in frame 100. The first snake should show surprise when the second snake appears and the two should continue moving synchronously for the remaining frames. Due: tba.

The Node Editor is used to edit the various tools within Blender. In assignment 2, you learned how to use the Materials mode of the Node Editor. There is also a Compositing mode.

Watch this tutorial on Compositing Nodes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAnxoJsdAAM&feature=channel

Watch this tutorial which shows how to use Composite Nodes to modify Depth of Field (DoF): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKH0LyZYQyQ&feature=channel

Now watch this tutorial on applying composite nodes to different Render Layers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEa-xw7CvXQ

OPTIONAL: These Blender 2.5 Tutorials demonstrate how render layers and composite nodes can be used to create a Great Night Scene and Lightning.

The Assignment: Using skills learned here, create a render of your snake world the demonstrates the use of composite nodes. Include as many examples as you can to create an interesting scene. Due: tba.

**Blender 2.79 has improved (less) noise when rendering in Cycles as compared to 2.77
Camera Tab (properties window):

• Seeding section:
  1. click the clock icon next to 'seed' so it becomes dark. This will randomize grain in each frame = better for video.
  2. Render samples: set to 50. (less = faster)
• Light Paths Section:
  1. Turn off reflective caustics and refractive caustics
  2. turn 'filter glossy' up to 1
  3. Set 'Max Bounces' to 4.
  4. Transparency: Set max bounces to 4 and min bounces to 3.
• Performance Section:
  1. Change 'Tile Order' from Hilbert Spiral to: Top to Bottom
  2. For a render size of 1920 x 1080, set tile sizes to:
     • x: 30
     • y:30
     • **both of these numbers are factors of 1920 and 1080, so no half-tiles will need to be rendered

Scene (3rd) Tab (Properties Window):

• Simplify Section:
  1. Enable simplify section with checkbox
• Change both viewport and render subdivision to 2

If rendering on faster (than room 203) computers, enable de-noising (new feature in 2.79):

• Under the Render Layers Tab (2nd tab in properties window) > Denoising Section
  1. enable Denoising
  2. turn strength down to 0.25
  3. turn feature strength up to 0.7