Computer animation

Course goals

After completing the course, the student:

• knows about basic animation concepts such as orientations, interpolations, keyframes
• knows about more advanced concepts such as skinning, deformations and facial animations
• knows about motion capture, (inverse) kinematics and motion synthesis methods
• can apply the knowledge about animation methods in a practical assignment
• knows how to explain the methodology in a research work on an advanced animation topic and able to analyze it
• knows how to compare and critically analyze different research work on an advanced animation topic

Assessment
The participants will be graded by:

• a presentation (P)
• a movie (M), and 
• an essay (E).

The final grade is then calculated as 0.3*P + 0.4*M + 0.3*E.
However, in order to complete the course, there is an additional restriction that E>=5.

To qualify for a repair of the final result the mark needs to be at least a 4, or “AANV”.

Content

The course Computer Animation discusses a variety of topics related to computer animation, such as: motion capture, blending, (inverse) kinematics, physics-based animation, and more.
Furthermore, there will also be one or more guest lectures by experts in the field.
There is also a visit to the motion capture lab, as well as an animated movie project that uses motion capture.
The course is concluded by a movie festival.

Course form
The course will consist of a combination of lectures by the teacher, and presentations by the participants of the course about a given research topic.
During the course, participants will also make a short animation movie in teams.
Finally, the participants have to write an essay about a predefined animation research topic, such as facial animation, body animation, gestures, motion concatenation, and more.