Assessment & Brief

Semester 1

Design and construct a simple CG biped for the purpose of animation. Your design and workflows should take into account industry standards in the construction of digital models.

You may start your construction of your model only after your final design has been submitted for assessment and approval in Week 3 and added to your module blog. 

In Semester1 you will complete the character sculpt and retopology in Zbrush and Maya.

In Semester2 you will complete the texturing and rigging of your character and create a simple animation test to demonstrate a correctly deforming model. 

Week3 Submission Monday 5th October.

Your development work submission in Week 3 should contain:

• Character Research (at least 3 x A4 sheets of research material influencing your design)
• 5 x character sheets of developmental character design (at least 2 of sheets should be of your final design and show character poses, expressions and colour studies.)
• 2 x Character Model Reference Drawings in the T pose in the front and side views.

All your research and design work should be digitised and uploaded to your blog for assessment in Week 3. The 2 final character design sheets should contain poses and expressions relevant to your character and an indication of colour and textures to be used.

Week 12 Submission

Peer and tutor review of work in progress. By this stage, you should have complete your model sculpt and retopology.

Semester 2

Final Submission  Friday 30th April 2021

 

70% Practical Submission (Model, scene file, design work and drawings).

30% Journal Blog & 2000 word learning report.

Assessment Criteria

1. Generating & Selecting Ideas: Character research and choice of final designs
2. Investigation, enquiry & visualisation: Character sketches, model sheets, reference drawings
3. Process &/or concept development: Industry process and ability to learn software
4. Research & Analysis of information, contextualization & critical thinking: Reflective blog & learning report

What do I submit and how?

• You are expected to submit the final version of your Character Build and rig in Maya. This should include a Maya scene file, including texture maps in an appropriately structured Maya project. (See video instruction Maya Project File Set-Up - shared with you on the One Drive)
• This means it should contain the standard folders i.e. scenes, textures and images etc created by Maya. Your final scene must be clearly marked as “final version for grading”, and should not contain previous unfinished versions.
• At least three images must be rendered. The main composition must contain the entire figure, and the other two model details or different angles. These final rendered images should be uploaded to your blog and clearly labeled/annotated and should be intended to show your model in the best light.
• You are also required to submit a short animation test, to demonstrate that your model is deforming correctly for animation.
• Your submission must be entirely digital. This includes your learning report and annotated blog and any paper-based designs (any relevant designs from your sketches should be scanned and uploaded to your blog and clearly labeled/annotated).
• Your annotated blog should contain regular weekly posts, reflecting on the process of your model build and documenting your insights as you attempt to build a character model to a high professional standard.
• You are expected to make your submission digitally via BlackBoard on Friday the 30^th of April 2021 including a text file containing a link to your blog.
• If your project is too large to submit via BlackBoard, upload it to your Onedrive, share it with me at j.pardo@worc.ac.uk and include a link to it along with your blog link.

N.B. The Journal blog should contain your research, designs and development work. Recording your progress regularly, at each stage of the project and should be accompanied by a 2000 word, reflective learning report as your final post. 

You will be assessed not just on the quality of your creative skills and Zbrush and Maya modeling work but also on the content and quality of your blog. Including your ability to learn professional software and document and reflect on the process in your blog. Your blog is the Academic side of your submission.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Is my blog well annotated so that someone not familiar with my work is can follow my process?
2. Am I making regular posts (at least once a week)? 
3. Am I reflecting on my process and documenting my insights, successes, failures and feelings as I progress through this module?

Further resources are available on Blackboard and also the University of Worcester website here:

 https://www2.worc.ac.uk/studyskills/727.htm

Submission Check List:

1. Maya Project containing only the final character scene for grading and containing all relevant files stored in the correct folder location. For example, your final model should be in the scene folder and your textures should be in the source images folder.
2. 3 rendered images of your model added to your blog.
3. Animation test movie file of your model added to your blog via youtube or Vimeo.
4. Annotated blog containing regular weekly posts, reflecting on the process of your model build and documenting your insights and a 2000 word final learning report.