Environmental Design and Modeling 1

26-3082-01 Environmental Design & Modeling 1

Course description

This course emphasizes the design and technical ability needed to model non-character 3-D objects. Students will be introduced to level design, industrial design and architectural terms and concepts. Using 3-D software, students will design and build environments, set dressing and vehicles. Level of detail exercises will introduce the concept of polygon and image budgets.

Exercises in stand-alone software packages will teach advanced texture-mapping.

Course rationale

This course fulfills one of the required courses in the Game Major’s Animation Concentration. It is an advanced elective for the Film Major’s Computer Animation Concentration.

Goals and Objectives

1. Learn to design and model 3-D environments.

2. Learn to design and model 3-D set dressing and props.

3. Learn to design and model 3-D vehicles.

4. Learn to adapt models and texture size to specific limits

Goals and Objectives (rev.)

1. Design and model 3-D environments with game level design in mind

2. Design and model 3-D set dressing and props

3. Adapt models and texture size to specific limits

4. Create efficient polygonal models.

5. Export models to a game engine

6. Render in a game engine

7. Create lighting schemes that work in game environments

8. Create basic atmospheric effects using dynamics simulations

comments on the current course content and structure:

-Why are vehicles used as examples and assignments? This duplicates material taught in Modeling for IM.

-This class should concentrate on environments, stressing

    *Designing environment for pathfinding
    *Playability of levels
    *Level design

-It needs to have an interrelationship with design courses for purposes of team building (scheduled to meet at same time, with some common projects.

-IAM needs dynamic control over content (as well as location and time)

-Final project should be to get mockups from the design class and create & export them (connecting w/ engine based design 2)

- Projects should be designed with the characteristics and limitations of the game engine in mind (ie, doorway = 256 units high)

-There are only movies, not game examples shown/referred to.

-There are references made to texture mapping but none to mapping lights

- There are references to exporting to the game engine, but since Torque wasn’t installed until recently, how could it have been?

- Why do game students need info on set extensions for motion pictures? (matte paintings)

- Why using Cinepak? Update codec information.