3D artists used to sculpt with clay to pre-visualize a 3D model. With the introduction of digital sculpting tools and the quick move towards digital sculpting over the last few years, digital sculpting became a key standard in the industry.

Mudbox is an Autodesk software. Learning its basics will help students acquire more skills in digital sculpting and become advanced users in hard surface and polymesh modelling.

The student will be able to sculpt a character of their choice, pose this character in 3D, texture it, and achieve proper proportions.

This course is an introduction to digital drawing using Photoshop. It will help the student learn 2D illustration and painting using layers, masks, brushes, etc. The student will acquire a basic understanding of human anatomy, light & shadows, perspective, composition, colour theory, and harmony.

By the end of this course, the student will be able to produce a character illustration in its environment with respect to the rules of one-, two- and three-point perspective.

This course covers two complementary topics: character design & storyboarding. It will enable the student to produce a character and its environment.

Character design is about searching and analyzing the various aspects of a character–physical, physiological, mental, emotional, social, environmental–to be able to create a balanced character within its environment.

The storyboarding part of the course will focus on storytelling, scripting, and illustration of a storyboard. It will also teach the various types of tools and processes used in the movie industry, such as camera shots and angles, safe frames, fps, etc.

In a storyboard, the idea, concept, and creativity are key. Students are encouraged to show their talents and skills in producing a well-done storyboard.

During this course, the student will be introduced to different tools and techniques used by 3D modellers using Maya and will understand the balance between quality and performance.
The student will acquire a strong understanding of polygon modelling using various standards and extended primitives, modifiers, splines, compound objects, etc. By the end of this course, the student should be able to model a fully functional vehicle with respect to the original blueprints, dimensions, and proportions.
The modelled vehicle will be used again during the next two courses (Introduction to Textures and Introduction to Animation). This way, the student will learn to texture and animate the same vehicle.

Students will learn how to unwrap a 3D model using Maya’s various tools (UVW Unwrap and Mapping). The student will learn how to acquire, correct, adjust, and manipulate images using Photoshop for textures. Finally, the student will be able to navigate back and forth between different software and understand their interdependence.

Students will learn the basics of object animation and the difference between key frame and semi-automated animation. Students will be able to create different types of animation using a blend of various tools and techniques, and understand each one’s usage and constraints before applying it to mechanical projects. Finally, an introduction to lighting (standard and photometric lights) and rendering (Scanline vs Arnold) will help complete a full cycle of production.

This module introduces the concepts needed to model organic shapes and characters using the polygon modelling with loops technique. This type of modelling allows you to create characters that can be animated for various types of actions, such as walking or talking.

Students will learn how to model a head (head shape, eyes, ears, and nose), hands and arms, feet and legs, and finally the torso to attach all of the pieces.

This module introduces the concepts of character rigging and its role in the creation of motion libraries. Rigging is the process of adding a bone structure to the modelled mesh. Students will learn how to complete a ready-to-animate model using morph targets, weighting, and skinning tools.

This course is an opportunity as well to get introduced to the Biped, the motion mixer, and other tools.

This course introduces students to assigning material attributes to their models and environments. It demonstrates how materials can be manipulated to save render time and decrease the size of a 3D file.

Lights and textures are important in the creation of things like bullet holes, blast marks, lightning, fires, and explosions. Students will produce their own custom textures from existing photos and from scratch for use in their future productions. Included are techniques for creating seamless tiles, environment maps, and character skins as well as special maps used for creating bumps, displacements, reflections, and transparency on selected parts of a 3D model.

The first session helped students learn how to do simple mechanical animations. Now they will begin working on a more complicated process: character animation. Getting back to the roots of 2D animation based on the 12 principles of animation, students will begin to learn how to create realistic actions and cycles such as walk, run, kick, jump, throw, pull, push, and more.

This module picks up where Character Animation left off, moving from the body to the character’s head and face. Students will learn visemes for proper lip synching.

Students are shown the secrets of bringing animations to life with personality and character. Squash and stretch, secondary motion, overlap, moving holds, exaggeration of movement, and anticipation are added to the animation repertoire. Also, the subtleties of facial animation to express emotion and personality will be examined further.

This course introduces students to advanced architectural modelling based on original architectural blueprints.

Working from macro to micro, students will begin with the environment such as the streets, moving to the buildings, rooms, furniture, and finally props.
The objective of this module is to create realistic detailed constructions with respect to real-world scale, materials, lighting, and rendering.

During this course, students learn how to create special effects using several types of particle systems, forces, space warps, deflectors, etc.

It is an exciting opportunity to learn how to simulate, water, fire, explosions, smoke, and many other effects used in the video game, cinema, or television industries.

Within a group project, students will reproduce a special effect by simulating a volcano, tornado, or tsunami. Students will be introduced to video editing using Adobe Premiere and After Effects for their final produced video.

This course is a continuation of the previous one. At this stage of the program, the student should be able to create a fully animated scene with various particle systems, advanced lighting techniques (GI, Caustics) and advanced rendering using Arnold.

This is a project course where the student will choose the project, tools, and production process to reach a life-like simulation, render it, and edit it using a compositing or editing tool, such as After Effects or Premiere.

During this course, students will work on a team project making a video game level. The student will be involved for the first time in a complete production process.
Students learn about the video game industry vs VFX for TV and cinema, types of games and studios, the role of each individual within a team, cost vs quality vs deadlines, etc.

Students will review their previous work, revising and improving their initial efforts, with the goal to create a 15-to-30-second demo reel. The focus will be on helping each student decide about their career orientation in the various fields of 3D. It will be the time to brainstorm, try, test, experiment, and improve some particular skills with regards to the final output.

At this stage of the course, with the help of the instructor, students will put together the pre-production pieces for a successful demo reel (Character design, storyboarding, milestone, production forecast, etc.) At the end, the student should have all the needed material for a high-quality demo reel.

Students will keep on working on their demo reel under the supervision of the educator. Seventy-five hours of production is the minimum time required to develop a 15-to-30-second demo. Obviously, each student is responsible for the extra time that is required to complete an outstanding project.

Students must take into consideration render time and respect regular one-on-one production meetings with the teacher. At the end of Demo Reel II, students must present their work to the class, the college staff, and industry guests. It is the first step toward an external internship.

Students will continue to improve their demo reel for a period of eight weeks. Contact hours per week are increased to 35 and evening lab hours may be necessary.

At this stage, students should show leadership in properly organizing the work they have developed over the duration of the program. They will also have to present their work to the class, staff, and industry contacts at the end of Internship Part 1.

After completing the demo reel, students will use the skills and knowledge acquired in the program to do an eight-week work internship in a company. The goal of the internship is to continue to work on perfecting modelling, animation, texturing, and lighting or special effects skills.

Due to the very selective nature of the industry, it is important that the student provide a good demo reel. The company will select the talent they need. Students may find their internship in a film or television studio building characters, staging sets and 3D objects, or working with companies creating 3D products, parts, and room views.

During the internship, students will reinforce competencies acquired through the program, learn new skills and work methods, learn time management, build a professional and positive attitude, learn to work independently as well as in a team, and build rapport with colleagues and customers. Students will be expected to document their work and submit it to the college for evaluation.