A Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Computer Animation Course

Abstract

Animation has always required a close collaboration between artists and scientists, poets and engineers. Current trends in computer animation have made successful and effective teamwork a necessity. To address these issues, the authors have developed an interdisciplinary computer animation course for artists and scientists, in which student teams produce a professional animation that extends the capabilities of a commercial animation package. A key component of this course is the use of collaborative teams that provide practical experience and cross-mixing of student expertise. Another key component is group-based education: the students learn from each other, as well as from the instructors.

Computer animation has always required close collaboration between artists and computer scientists. However, traditional educational approaches to computer animation isolate artists and computer scientists from each other. Traditional courses fail to teach students the important interdisciplinary nature of computer animation and fail to provide practical interdisciplinary collaborative work experience to students. We have developed an interdisciplinary computer animation course that focuses on contemporary issues in computer animation and requires animators and programmers to work in teams. The goals of this course are the following:

• • to develop students' teamwork and effective group dynamic skills

• • to increase the technical graphics and animation knowledge of computer science students

• • to increase art students' animation skills and knowledge of advanced computer animation techniques

• • to introduce art students to the technical aspects of rendering and animation and expose them to research issues in computer animation

• • to introduce computer science students to traditional and computer animation techniques

• • to introduce art students to the creative potential of writing procedural shaders, models and animation expressions

• • to provide practical animation production experience, using and extending commercial animation software

• • to provide a collaborative learning environment where students will learn from each other, as well as from the course instructors.

A key aspect of this course is that students gain experience in participating in interdisciplinary teams. Teams of 4-5 visual arts and computer science students work together to produce animations that utilize each member's skills and interests, in a manner similar to commercial animation environments. The computer animation industry requires employees to work in teams on large projects, where the teams are composed of members from disjoint backgrounds. We have structured this course to help students learn how to communicate, work and even thrive in this environment.

Background and Motivation

Animation's history, from its origins in the 1880s to contemporary time, is a continuous line of technological inventions that have allowed animators to achieve higher quality effects with greater ease [1]. At the heart of each of these developments has been the successful synthesis of artistic and scientific talents, usually resulting from creative collaborations. Equally important, large-scale animation production has always required large teams of variously talented individuals. The Warner Brothers' animators of the 1930s through the 1950s produced some of the most successful cartoons of the twentieth century, resulting from effective collaboration between its directors, animators, writers, technicians, artists and musicians.

Both of these issues point to the fact that a successful and contemporary animation curriculum not only should be interdisciplinary, but also should encourage students to develop effective team skills. However, crossing the boundaries between areas and departments within universities has always been difficult. Therefore, many schools have been slow to address the industry trend to teach and encourage effective teamwork and collaboration between animators and computer scientists. Currently, however, many animation, special effects and computer graphics houses are creating their own in-house workshops and programs for addressing these issues.

Pedagogical Approach

Our pedagogical approach to this course has two key themes: interdisciplinary work and collaborative education. This is true even in the instruction and design of the course, which is team-taught by a visual arts faculty member and a computer science faculty member. Most of our lectures are designed to include sections presented by both faculty members, highlighting the technical computer graphics aspects and the art/animation aspects of the material. In every aspect of the course, we encourage students to collaborate and help each other. Initial assignments, described below, are designed to include both...