Final Project : Proposals

The final project is open-ended to be responsive to your research trajectory.

You must draft a brief proposal outlining objectives and relevance to the course topics and your research. Present this proposal in class at any time prior to the end of class on Wednesday, May 24. The proposal should be submitted on paper, and included in your process documentation web page.

To develop your idea, consider the following three starting points with technical concepts covered during the course:

Option A: Compositing CG Elements on a photographed or live action video background

• Lighting and shaders of the CG model should seamlessly integrate with the environment.
• The background plate must be created by you (photograph or video).
• The model can be acquired from other sources
• Shaders used do not need to be complex, but should be created by you.
• Lighting can be done through means of standard light models or global illumination methods using HDR imaging. HDR requires shooting light probes on location, and standard light modeling requires sampling (white sphere, etc.) and documentation of light sources on location.

Option B: Develop an animation sequence with camera movement through an environment.

• The emphasis is on lighting of the environment and timing and composition of the camera in motion.
• An appropriate application for this option might be part of an animation project in progress, or an architectural space that you design.

Option C: Develop an advanced custom shader used in an animation sequence.

• Attributes of the shader must change over time. A non-photo realistic shader or simulation of natural media (charcoal, watercolor, etc) may be a good candidate.
• The custom shader is the emphasis, but lighting, camera composition, and choice of models should be considered in the design process as well.

Web Process pages:
Document your design and production process for the project. Include the following:

• The initial proposal document.
• Sketches, reference photos, wireframe views, etc., showing steps of your process
• Writing that explains your design decisions and problem solving process
• An evaluation of the success of the final outcome
• Final rendered images and/or still images from an animation sequence.
• Including animation sequences as a movie file is optional
  

Submission:
Submit the following files to your folder within the class workspace/final_project directory:

• If creating single image renders, then final images in Maya IFF or TIFF format.
• If creating an animation, then the final rendered sequence as a DV NTSC format movie (submitting this on miniDV tape, DVD or CDROM is optional.)
• The web process page organized in a subdirectory
• The maya scene file(s) for your project with dependent files included (sourceimages directory, etc.)