DDSGN 211-2D Animation with Adobe Animate Spring, 2017 Online Prereq's: CIS 121 or equivalent computer experience Section: 5927 5 Credits 4/3-6/13 (Finals due 6/13) Instructors Info: Brian Martin (http://www.pcd.edu/staff/bmartin/instructor.htm) Office: Olympic 313 Office Hours: M 3:30-5:00 pm; T 11:00 - Noon; W Noon - 1:00 pm; Th 9:30-11:00 am; F online only Email: bmartin@pierce.ctc.edu (mailto:bmartin@pierce.ctc.edu) Telephone: 253-964-6473 Course Description: Development of a variety of techniques to create animations using Adobe Animate. Student will create videos from these animations and upload them to the web. Course explores different animation theories and techniques and analyzes their impact on an audience. A PDF of this syllabus is available here (http://www.pcd.edu/staff/bmartin/ddsgn211/ddsgn211_syllabus.pdf). Software: This course covers standard illustration animation techniques using Adobe Animate CC for drawing and rendering and then an encoder or video editor (such as Adobe Media Encoder or Adobe Premiere) for compiling and editing the animation and sound into a video file. Both Adobe Animate CC and Premiere Pro CC are available for use in several media labs at Pierce College if a student does not own them or wish to rent the titles from Adobe. Please note that if you wish to work from home it is your responsibility to rent the software from Adobe. Pierce College or the Digital Design department do not supply ANY software for home use. Students will also want to have access to a Photo Image editor like Photoshop or most any free tool like GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/) that can cut, crop and resize images. Course Help: Since this is a virtual classroom, there are no set meeting times (duh.) I am available during office hours as mentioned above, but for those of you that work, I can stay late on any Monday (I'm out of class at 7:40 PM.) All you have to do is make an appointment by calling or emailing. Appointments need to be scheduled at least one day in advance and if done by email, do not assume it's scheduled until you receive an acknowledgement from your instructor. On Fridays I am not in the office, but am available online and over the phone in the afternoons (except if there are meetings.) Online Lessons: The class lessons are all online at the Modules tab to the left. Each of the online training modules can be paused, rewound and skipped around like most online videos. The lessons are condensed at times, so don't feel bad if you need to listen to one more then once. It is recommended to view the online lesson videos on a high speed connection as the files sizes run 100-400 megs. For those that don't have a high speed connection at home, the Pierce College computer labs at Fort Steilacoom have almost 70 hours of open lab time during the week and on the weekends with the Puyallup media lab having open hours during the daytime Monday - Thursday. Here's a link to the Fort Steilacoom and Puyallup Computer Labs web site. (http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/dist/labs/) Email Responsibility: Each student is responsible for having a working email account that does not filter out instructor email and is checked by the students regularly if they submit questions to the instructor via email. Email the instructor at the school email listed at the top of this syllabus. Any emails sent to the instructor on a weekend will be responded to when the work week commences again. No, we are not a 24/7 service bureau. YouTube Site Responsibility: Each student will be required to have a YouTube account. Students are reminded that anything placed on their YouTube site is required to follow all of student conduct rules (http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/about/policy/studentrr) required of all Pierce College Students. It is in your best interest to read this document and ask your instructor if you have questionable content on any of your web assignments.
All videos uploaded to YouTube are required to be public and not private and videos can not be locked against viewing or download. Assignment videos are required to stay live until the quarter ends and final grades have been posted. After that time students can delete whatever they wish. Student that do not want to upload their work to YouTube need to drop this class NOW. This course is called Animation for the Web, not Animation for your Thumb Drive. Class Materials: 1) Brain 2) Adobe Animate CC. - You can do most all of the assignments with the older Flash CS6 but there will be a couple where Animate CC is needed. The lessons will all be presented in Adobe Animate CC, but using the classic layout. Additional Software: 3a)Adobe Media Encoder CC to convert images sequences into video 3b) Adobe Premiere Pro CC or some equivalent video editing program to compile image sequences and sound into an animation. 3b) Adobe Photoshop or some other image editing program (like Gimp if you want to use something that's free) that has the ability to cut images apart. 4) A microphone. You will be recording your voice or someone's voice for a couple projects this quarter. The microphone can be cheap or expensive (you can use a headset or USB mic or the list goes on.) If you have a Laptop or an ipad or a Surface or pretty much any smart phone, you probably have one built in to your system. 5) Book Recommendations (this class does not use a book. Below are some recommendations for those that want extra resources.) Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator White Focal Press ISBN:978-0240806709 A requirement if you want to be an animator and not just because my name is on the back cover. Plus you can get a used copy for under $20 How to Cheat in Adobe Flash CC: The Art of Design and Animation Georgenes Focal Press ISBN: 978-0240525914 Just a fun little book that this class is gleeming a lot from, though it has a really stupid title and it's really old now (2014 - well old in terms of technology.) Written by the author of Pushing Pixels, another decent, but more advanced Flash animation book. There is a newer version (How to Cheat in Animate CC, ISBN: 978-1138707139 - being released in mid-april, 2017) though you can get the older version a lot cheaper and there's really not much difference being as we're looking mostly at traditional techniques. Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation Jones friends of ED
ISBN: 978-1590599129 More on the production side of webisode type animations. ANY basic Flash book by the guys from friends of ED is worth the cash you'd pay for it IMHO. Plus this one is ancient (from 2007) so used copies are WAY cheap on Amazon (like under $7 with shipping.) 6) Portable hard drive or flash drive, etc. Back stuff up - OFTEN 7) A High Speed Internet Connection as uploading to YouTube takes time. 8) Patience. Animation takes time to make stuff that doesn't suck. Course Outcomes: Examine the Adobe Animate working environment and define its terminology. Demonstrate a working knowledge of the Adobe Animate drawing tools and their functions. Examine and employ the different types of animation Adobe Animate supports. Analyze various animation theories and philosophies and examine how they impact an audience. Create characters, prepare them for animation and add expression and motion. Create storyboards and animatics in preparation to make an animated video story. Incorporate audio into animations and evaluate its effectiveness. Identify and compare historical animation techniques and tools with current methods. Using animation and video editing tools, prepare an animation for delivery on the web. Evaluate the quality, design and impact of a variety of animation projects. Outcomes Assessment: All projects and quizzes assigned in and out of class will be assessed on a 5 to 20 point scale, except for the final project which will be worth 50 points. Your instructor will only have a quiz or two if there are a substantial number of students are not grasping techniques or terminology. The following table illustrates the assessed attributes and their corresponding point values: Attribute Emerging (1 point) Competent (3 points) Exemplary (5 points) Uses appropriate composition techniques. Animation suffers from bad composition. Headroom and Leadroom are seldom correct. The rule of thirds is forgotten. Animation has good headroom and leadroom. The rule of thirds is somewhat followed. Animation consistently maintains good headroom and leadroom. Subjects are constantly aligned and balance well for the subject matter presented. Uses correct technical attributes. Project is hard to see due to bad contrast. Images or parts of images (incl. textures, etc.) disappear. Movement detracts from the presentation. Objects maintain correct contrast attributes throughout most of the project. Animation flows with few problems that detract from the presentation. Project has good contrast. The colros and textures are visible with correct attributes for the given scene. Animation is smooth and fluid, fitting within the context of the presentation. Project makes a intended point. The viewer is confused as to what the project is trying to show. The idea is lost among bad planning and worse execution. With little effort, the viewer is The viewer is clearly able to able to understand and follow understand what the creator is what the creator is saying. The trying to say. The project idea project is at times disjointed. flows well.
Project follows the class topics for the individual assignment. The project includes few of the requirements of the assignment. Those included detract from the project. The project includes the requirements of the particular assignment. The elements don't fit well as a whole. The project includes all the requirements of the particular assignment. The elements fit well into the project. Grading Scale: The following grading table is based upon the submission of all the assignments. Please note that the completion of ALL assignments is required to earn a passing grade. Having even ONE missing assignment will eliminate the possibility of earning credit in this class. Assignments can be turned in late at a 50% reduction of score. Failure to complete the prereq for this class will result in a 0.0 final grade. The prereq is a CIS 121 class or equivalent computer experience. This rule will only be enforced if you are incapable of using a computer and if you are incapable of using a computer how are you reading this? Percentages: 95-100 4.0 90-94 3.7 87-89 3.3 83-86 3.0 80-82 2.7 77-79 2.3 73-76 2.0 70-72 1.7 Under 70 0.0 (Special circumstances will be determined on an individual basis.) Assignment Schedule: Each week the class will have two animation lectures and assignments that will be available for viewing Monday mornings by 8:00 AM (except for the final project.) These assignments will be due by midnight next Monday after being assigned (except for Memorial Day and your final project which are due on a Tuesday.) Each assignment will need to be uploaded to Canvas and also to a YouTube account. If you do not have a YouTube account, they are free and can be signed up at YouTube.com (or at Google.) Students having problems should plan on scheduling time for individual help. Each assignment must be a 1920X1080 HD video and run 30 frames per second. Each project will be uploaded to both YouTube and also here on Canvas (YouTube is for sharing with your classmates and the rest of the world and Canvas is for grading and checking your file quality requirements.) All assignments are to be kept as separate video files. Students combining assignments will only receive credit for one of them. All students will need to email their YouTube site addresses to the instructor by the first due date or include their YouTube channel address with their Canvas Submission. Cheating and Plagiarism: Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a zero grade for the quarter. If you do not understand this, please take your ball and go home. Special Needs: Your experience in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of Pierce College to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you experience barriers based on disability, please seek a meeting with the Access and Disability Services (ADS) manager to discuss and address them. If you have already established accommodations with the ADS manager, please bring your approved accommodations (green sheet) to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. ADS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you and the ADS manager, and I am available to help facilitate them in this class. If you have not yet established services through ADS, but have a temporary or permanent disability that requires accommodations (this can include but not be limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are encouraged to contact ADS at 253-964-6526 (Fort Steilacoom) or 253-840-8335 (Puyallup). Emergency Management Plan: Call 911 and then Campus Safety in response to an imminent threat to persons or property. In the event of an evacuation (intermittent horns & strobes), gather
all personal belongings and leave the building using the nearest available safe exit. Be prepared to be outside for one hour and stay a minimum of 200 feet from any building or structure. So long as it is safe to do so students are expected to stay on campus and return to class after evacuations that last less then 15 minutes. Do not attempt to re-enter the building until instructed by an Evacuation Director (identified by orange vests) or by three horn blasts or bell rings. Please notify the nearest Campus Safety Officer or Evacuation Director of any one left in the building or in need of assistance. Phone: Fort Steilacoom Campus Safety (253) 964-6751 or Puyallup Campus Safety (253) 840-8481 Special Rules: For those that just can't get enough: 1) All rules and regulations of Pierce college apply (duh!) 2) The last day to withdraw from class without a failing grade is Thursday, May 18th. 3) The instructor (me again - hello) reserves the right to remove any student who is interfering with and disturbing the learning environment of another student and not on task (i.e. if you harass anyone in a lab or on email or in a discussion thread you will be removed from this class.) *NOTE: This schedule and syllabus as a whole is subject to change at the whim of the teacher. He will tell you of changes though so you are not expected to read minds. If you missed a lecture and are freaking out about failing the class (since ever assignment is required to be completed to pass) just know that after each lecture is launched it stays live here on Canvas until the end of the quarter. All lectures can be downloaded to your local machine if you wish (just right-click and do a Save-As.)