Computer Graphics Tietokonegrafiikka 52493S Winter-Spring 2004

bullet1 Homeworks

bullet2 Animation with Blender

The last homework involves animation with a 3D design software called Blender.

At the local Blender page  you can find a link to Blender home page as well as instructions for installing it. There are also several tutorials that get you started on Blender, and links to more tutorials on the web. You can also buy a PDF tutorials and manuals from the Blender web site.

You can do this homework, if you so choose, in groups of two people.

The homework is to produce an interesting animation. You should explore the possibilities of Blender and pick up ideas from tutorials and mix them to a visually interesting animations. Your animation should include at least the following elements:

  • texture mapping ( tutorial   tutorial )
  • inverse kinematics ( tutorial   tutorial ) (on the Animation lecture notes there are more links)
  • animating the camera (yes, it can be animated like any other object) ( tutorial )
  • Python scripting (on the local Blender page there are some examples, also on the Animation lecture)

Some ideas for the topic of animation:

  • A flaming asteroid hitting a house, destroying it ( explosion tutorial )
  • An animated logo / intro for a research group
  • A short sequence from a movie you have seen
    • a mass sequence (replicate objects / characters, modify them a bit)
    • physical simulation of a drop hitting water
    • Terminator II: the bad terminator morphing from the floor to metallic man to real man
      (morph both geometry and materials / textures)
    • ...
  • A small story or joke you want to illustrate
  • A simulation that relates to your work, diploma thesis project, etc.
  • ...

With your report you should include the animation, the *.blend file for the animation, and selected snapshots of the animation explaining which features of Blender you are using. Also acknowledge the sources for ideas and Blender techniques you used.

The animation should be a compressed low-resolution version of your animation with your report (e.g., use the AVI JPG format, or AVI Codec), make sure your report + video clip is no bigger than 3MB. You can put a hi-res version on your web-site if you have one and include a link to that (in addition to the lo-res version you'll send).

Due dates

You need to prepare a plan / script of the animation and discuss it with the the teacher (in conjunction with a lecture). Ascii text is fine, pen & pencil might actually work the best. The sketch will also be graded as part of the excercise.

The homework is due May 5th (9:00 AM).


Grading:

  • sketch (1p)
  • report (1.5p)
  • geometric modeling (3p)
  • appearance: lighting, materials, texturing, ... (3p)
  • animation (3p)
  • story, artistic effect / expression (1.5p)
  • you need to use Python to at least 2 out of 3 (geometry, appearance, animation), otherwise there is a penalty of (2 x -0.5p = -1p)