Welcome to Introduction to 3D Modeling and Post-Production! A place where there is magic all around and all of your dreams can come true. As long as your dreams involve making 3D graphics... where there is magic...all around.. :) Okay, let's get to it.

This is a weekly module. Your first weekly module. Every week will have a new module made available to you on this class website just like this one. The format of each will follow the same consistent types of content, messages and instructions. There are a number of different call outs I will use throughout to draw attention to different pieces of information or actions you need to be aware of.

First let's talk a little bit about the todo list to the right. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>

This list represents the main tasks that you need to complete within this weekly module. Usually it will include a reference to reading/watching all of the lecture material, participating in online discussions on UNM canvas, your quiz, and your assignment. Though not always. The check boxes don't save between reloads though, so just use it as a means to check yourself.

Second, each main frame section that has a block header in dark blue will have links across the top to denote main sections of the module. This represents the main areas of instruction that has anchored links to jump around quickly

!! Now let's talk about module instruction formatting. First, this is a well. I'll use this to separate sub points within a module.

This is an instructional message denoted by the italicized font. I will use this when I want to emphasize something in the instructions being provided, but its not a specific action needing to be taken

1 This is an action step that will be used to direct action to be taken by you in the order as denoted by the number in the blue bubble to the left. 1 before 2 before 5 before 412... make sense?

This is a note. This will be used when I want to specifically call out related material that is especially important to take note of.

Okay, now that we know formatting, let's talk a little bit about instructional methods to be used in a weekly module.

Most of the material will be written text with organizational and notification formatting as I just described. However, each module will also have an overview instructional video as well as other specific concept-based videos to complete. I will also include images to support instructional material as well.

All modules will have at least 1 overview video. Some may have many videos that cover different sections of content. DO NOT SKIP ANY VIDEOS as you work through the material. Some of it may have redundant elements within the text, but I will ALWAYS cover content in the video that isn't fully represented elsewhere.

There you go. That should cover the basics. Let's get started with the actual material.

1 Watch this module overview video in full.

There will be quiz questions that reference parts in these videos. Remember that!

This course is split into weekly modules. Each module will consist of activities to be completed by the end of that weekly module all of which are due by 11:59pm each Sunday night after the first week. Those activities will be listed in the "Module Todo List" on the right sidebar of each module page. Most modules will consist of ALL of the following, but sometimes a listing of "None" will be listed indicating there isn't a requirement for that activity that week:

• Review course content and lecture material
• Post a response to each class discussion on the UNM Canvas system
• Complete the quiz that covers the instructional material for that week on the UNM Canvas System
• Complete the listed assignment and submit on the UNM Canvas system ensuring to follow the specific submission instructions including file formats, naming, and more.

• UNM Canvas
  • Quizzes
  • Assignment Submission
  • Review Your Grades
• This Course Website
  • Weekly Module Instructional Material including lectures and specific assignment instructions
  • Course Syllabus
  • Help with course tools (Like Maya) and basic UI videos
  • Links to class resources
  • Contact me (if you forget my email)

REMEMBER:
If you ever come to a place where you are confused about what is expected of you. Ask! Ask your fellow students. Ask me. Ask someone for clarification. If you don't get a response. Keep asking until you get your question answered.

1 Log in sometime on Thursday and review all of the instructional material for the weekly module.

1 Attend the OPTIONAL open lab in ESCP 109 from 4-8pm each Thursday.

2 Complete the quiz (if one is assigned) while the material is fresh on your mind.

3 Make a plan for when in the week you will complete the assignment and quiz leaving plenty of time for "life" to get in the way. The sooner the better.

4 Work on your course material based on your plan. If "life" happens return to step 3 and repeat.

If you know of a timing conflict ahead of time please communicate that with me so we can work a plan with your conflict. If you let me know after, it'll be too late to adjust and will require proof to retroactively adjust.

Now let's get to the meat of things for this class

This week we are going to be kicking off the semester with basic introductions to the course, professor, tools and format.

If you have not done so already, please read through and familiarize yourself with our class syllabus

And if you are inclined to learn a bit more about who will be teaching you this semester, please feel free to read the following

Here, let me introduce you. Maya this is a student of mine. Student, this is Maya. I need to get more drinks for the guests so you two just chat for a bit and I'll be back to check on you later.

You and Maya may be having a bit of an awkward moment right now. You may not know what to say or how to start up a conversation. You may have been acquaintances for a while and aren’t exactly sure why I felt the need to introduce you in the first place. Either way, this week we are going to spend a brief amount of time getting to know the Maya software Interface and how you will interact with it.

If you haven't figured it out by now we will be primarily using Autodesk Maya for our work in this class. If you do not already have Maya 2024 installed on your computer and you plan on completing all or some of this class from home you are going to need to download and install it. Maya cost's $1,620.00 per year, so I hope you have some cash saved up or have some organs to donate. Too high for you? Yeah, I thought so. Good news is that because you are students you have access to download and use Maya for course work for the awesome price of FREE. That's right. Free.

We are also going to be utilizing a few of the Adobe Creative Cloud products at various points in the class as well. We will be utilizing Photoshop for some basic texturing work, After Effects for compositing and Premiere for editing. You will have access to the Adobe software in all of the FDMA labs, but if you want it on your personal machine you can also get it for free, which is AWESOME!!! Click the link below to learn how to get it.

Before you move on to your assignment you are going to need to watch the "Maya Basics videos" at the "Tutorials" link in the header of this website. Or Click this tools link to go directly there and watch those videos right now!!!.

Primitive Sculpture

If you just happened to just skip down here and you did not attend the lecture, first of all, shame on you! Go ahead and just scroll right on up and watch/read all of the material above before coming back here. Seriously. If you already did... well done! Now make sure you have installed Maya and can run it on your computer. Finally make sure you have watched all of the maya basics series interface videos on the tutorials page of this website. If you have all of this done... Dang, you are a rock star student already. Do a happy dance and then move on to the assignment :)

This is going to be an easy open-ended assignment to help you get familiar with the maya interface and tools as well as the process of submitting assignments online. The primitive sculpture is simply some kind of creation within the maya interface made with only polygon primitives and the use of the move, scale and rotate tools to create it.

1. Create a Maya Project Called "yourname_PrimitiveSculpture". Substitue your first and last name for the "yourname" of course :)
2. Using the Create > Polygon Primitives menu create a variety of polygon primitives (cube, sphere, cone, plane, cylinder, etc.)
3. Use the transformation tools (Move, Rotate, Scale only) found in the toolbar to modify the primitives you create to form some kind of sculpture. Ideas could be a temple, table and chairs or a chess set, but it can definitely be anything. The only requirement is that you use polygon primitives and only move, scale and rotate them to create your sculpture. Beyond that the content of the sculpture is up to you.
4. Create a Rendered Still image of your sculpture and save it to your computer as a jpg with the name "yourname_PrimitiveSculpture.jpg"). Again substitute your first and last name for the "yourname" of course :)
5. Go to the UNM Canvas Website and login to our course. You may be taken directly to the assignment. If not, please click 'Assignments in the main menu on the left and select "Assignment 1 - Primitive Sculpture". You will attach your rendered image file to this sumbission and provide some comments about your submission if desired before clicking the submit button at the bottom of the page.