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Download: assignment0.pdf.
The practical part of this assignment is to give you a taste of traditional hand-drawn animation: you will draw directly on 16mm film to create a short animation. The theoretical part is a warm-up to working with splines, one of the fundamentals of traditional computer animation.
Due on Monday September 12, preferably in class.
Download: assignment1-cs426.tar.gz.
In this assignment you create a simple animation tool based on Inverse-Kinematics and keyframe interpolation.
Due on Wednesday October 12.
Download: assignment2-cs426.tar.gz.
In this assignment you create a simple simulation of mud with a particle system.
Due on Wednesday November 9.
Preferably in teams of two people you will produce an animation involving an algorithm related to character animation (e.g.\ 3D inverse kinematics, blend shapes, skinning, motion control, motion capture data, flocking, ...) and an algorithm related to passive animation (e.g.\ some form of dynamics, noise-based procedural motion, water waves, ...). If you prefer, this can be an interactive piece---but even then you will need to record screenshots in a movie.
The final exam will be a series of short questions designed to let you show you know the course material. Understanding concepts and knowing the basic vocabulary of computer animation will be critical to doing well.