Second Programming Assignment Out

CMPT 466/766: Computer Animation

(Spring 2022)

Introduction
Prerequisite

Course Staf f
Resources

Course Schedule

Introduction

Topics and techniques in computer animation, including: The history of animation, traditional animation, animation production pipeline, 3D model representation, kinematic animation, motion capture, particle systems, physics-based animation, character animation, soft objects and deformation.

Prerequisite

Must-have: CMPT 361 Introduction to Visual Computing, and MACM 316 Numerical Analysis I.
Good-to-have background: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Ordinary Differential Equations, Data Structures and Algorithms, Fundamental Physics.
Good-to-have skills: strong in programming; comfortable with math.

Course Staff

Principal Instructor: KangKang Yin
Guest Lecturers:
Teaching Assistant:

Resources

Recommended Textbook: "Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques (third edition)", Rick Parent. Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 9780124158429. The first edition of this book is available online here.

The movie and game industry has strong presence in Vancouver:
Electronic Arts Atmosphere Sony Imageworks

Publication venues for animation research:
Siggraph Eurographics SCA Motion in Games CHI Pacific Graphics I3D

Some cool confereces you wanna check out:
GDC GTC

Course Schedule (tentative, subject to changes, check regularly)

The classes will be held on M/W/F @ 10:30 - 11:20. Instructor's office hours Thursdays 10:30-11:30am. TA's office hours Thursdays 1:30-2:30pm.
The Maya Labs will be in CSIL 9840. Most machines should have Maya installed. Alternatively you can bring your own laptop, but make sure to install a free strudent version of Maya prior to the classes.
There is no mid-term exam for this course. The final exam for undergraduate students is scheduled on TBD. The graduate students need to do an individual term project.
Lecture notes will be available before classes. Please do not circulate the notes electronically, however, as I don't have time to contact the original authors to obtain proper copyright for all the images and videos I use. We need to follow the fair use principles.
Evaluation and Grading: Programming Assignment: 50% (C++ and Python); Animation Assignments: 10% (Maya); Final Exam or term project: 40% (open book).

*Week*	Monday (10:30-11:20) AQ3159	Wednesday (10:30-11:20) AQ3159	Friday (10:30-11:20) AQ3153
1	Jan 10 Introduction to Animation Siggraph on YouTube Graphics Papers on the Web Graphics Gems The 5 Types of Animation	Jan 12 Animation Production Dreamworks Animation Pipeline Chapter 1.3 (before 1.3.1) Chapter 1.4 and 1.4.1;	Jan 14 Review: Coordinates and Transformations Chapter 4.1 Chapter 2.1.2-2.1.4 Appendix B.3.1 and B.3.2
2	Jan 17 Principles of Traditional Animation Chapter 1.3.1 Principles of traditional animation The cartoon animation filter 12 Principles of Animation 12 Principles of Animation in Games	Jan 19 Python Tutorial https://www.python.org/	Jan 21 Interpolation and Smoothing Chapter 3.1; Chapter 3.4.3
3	Jan 24 Maya Basics (CSIL 9840) Maya Interface Tour	Jan 26 Curves and Splines Appendix B.5	Jan 28 Curves and Splines (continued) First Programming Assignment Out
4	Jan 31 3D Rotations Chapter 2.1.5 and 2.2 Appendix B.3.3 and B.3.4	Feb 2 Building a Character in Maya (CSIL 9840) Maya Basics - Shaping and Positioning Objects Maya Basics - Building Your First Model	Feb 4 3D Rotations (continued) Visualizing Quaternions
5	Feb 7 Interpolation of 3D Rotations Chapter 3.3; Chapter 2.2.3 Maya Gimbal Lock Explained	Feb 9 Skeletal Animation and Forward Kinematics Chapter 5.1; Chapter 5.2	Feb 11 Motion Capture Chapter 6 Second Programming Assignment Out
6	Feb 14 Motion Capture (continued)	Feb 16 Inverse Kinematics Chapter 5.3 Damped Least Squares Method	Feb 18 Inverse Kinematics (continued)
7	Feb 21 Family Day (no class)	Feb 23 Reading Break ( no class)	Feb 25 Reading Break ( no class)
8	Feb 28 Maya Assignment (CSIL 9840) Maya Assignment Out Maya FK and IK	Mar 2 Physics-based Animation Intro Chapter 7.1; Appendix B.7 Chapter 7.3; Appendix B.8	Mar 4 Particle Dynamics and Particle Systems Differential Equation Basics Particle System Dynamics
9	Mar 7 Particle Systems in Maya (CSIL 9840) Creating Passive Colliders in Maya Fluid simulation with nParticles	Mar 9 Rigid Body Dynamics Chapter 7.4 RIgid Body Dynamics Third Programming Assignment Out	Mar 11 Rigid Body Dynamics (continued)
10	Mar 14 Articulated Rigid Body Systems	Mar 16 Introduction to Deep Learning Deep Learning: A Crash Course The Theory of Everything	Mar 18 Physics-based Character Animation Chapter 9.1
11	Mar 21 PyTorch Tutorial (CSIL 9840) Structure of MNIST Training of MNIST	Mar 23 Physics-based Character Animation (continued) Chapter 9.3.3; Chapter 9.3.4 SIMBICON	Mar 25 DL-based Animation Methods
12	Mar 28 PyBullet Tutorial (CSIL 9840)	Mar 30 Introduction to Deep Reinforcement Learning CS285 at UC Berkeley Forth Programming Assignment Out	Apr 1 DRL-based Animation Methods
13	Apr 4 Rigging and Skinning	Apr 6 Maya Skinning (CSIL 9840) Painting Skin Weights in Maya	Apr 8 Review and Discussion
14	Apr 11 (no class)
15
16	Apr 25 Project Presentation 10:30-11:30 ASB9921 (for graduate students) Apr 26 Final Exam 19:00-20:30 AQ3150 (for undergraduate students)