art/csc/fst 320 resources

The 220 resources page is similiar but may contain additional useful information.

Software

The Aqsis renderer, compliant with the RenderMan standard defined by Pixar, downloadable from www.aqsis.org.

HDRShop and the related LightGen plugin are also downloadable from this site. (Check for current versions, instructions, and related information at www.debevec.org and www.hdrshop.com.

Examples

Modeling and animation examples and possibly sample character reference, storyboards, and imageplanes as well.

Here's a neat article on a microscopic cellular animation, The Inner Life of a Cell, that made it into SIGGRAPH's Electronic Theater, 2006.

After You by Christopher Cordingley

Documents

You may find this Beginner's Guide useful as we introduce various material. It could help you get up to speed in Maya.
For more information on shaders, read over this sample. The full book, The Art of Maya, is available in the Randall Library.
Here is a good tutorial by Alias on using envSky in Maya to create skies. There is also a .zip file with example material.
Poetics by Aristotle.

Story/boarding materials:

Shot-list template, courtesy of Scribd.com.
Storyboard Template in .pdf and .tiff.
Single Frame 16:9 storyboard template.
Excerpt on composition from Famous Artists Course, courtesy of ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

Slides/Notes

Slides from our discussion on narrative structure and a script example.
Link to a page on script format.
Slides from our discussion on Visual Storytelling: Crash Course in Filmmaking and Storyboarding.
Slides for discussion of facial modeling, animation, and lip syncing.

Drawing Resources

Here are some good resources for gesture and figure drawing:

Fantasy Art Resource Project (Basic Pose and Construction): Concisely details a good method to follow for building basic character drawings (great place to start).
Drawing Tutorials Online with videos as well, such as this short gesture drawing tutorial.
Character Designs: An Artist's Resource which has tutorials, demo work, and details recent creations such as these by Hong Ly, artist for Uncharted 2 and others.
Some free Figure Drawing eBooks.

Artist Web Pages

Look over a few of these for some guidance and inspiration in your character design.

Open-Source Animation Projects

Studios and Other General Links

Highend3d.com -- look under the Maya menu at the top for tutorials, tips, shaders, etc. Now re-branded as CreativeCrash.
Learning-Maya.com -- lots of great tutorials.
Alias -- the brilliant people who bring you Maya. (Now owned by Autodesk).
PIXAR -- the brilliant people who bring you RenderMan as well as all those great films.
AQSIS -- home to a good RenderMan compliant renderer that won't break the bank.
GNOMON -- providers of some good educational materials for Maya and 3-D work.
Rhythm & Hues -- studios behind Elektra and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as well as many others.
Blue Sky Studios -- Ice Age, Robots, and Bunny and on the east coast (NY) even!
Dreamworks Animation -- Shrek, Shark Tale, and Madagascar.
SONY Pictures Imageworks -- one of the largest studio fx houses and the guys behind Spidey.
Industrial Light and Magic -- not our local airport, although it's nice to tell people you're flying to ILM.