Assessment

Assignments

• completion exercises - pass/fail
• projects - letter grade

Portfolio

• web based "work-in-progress"
• presents all the images/notes produced during the course
• links to other work

Web Portfolio

Purpose

The on-line portfolio of work that you will produce over the next 10 weeks will become a valuable resource that can support your future applications for internships. An outstanding portfolio will show that you are developing advanced technical skills and a professional personal aesthetic. It will provide detailed information about your experimentations, explorations and approach to solving problems related to visual effects.

week 1

Assessments

• completion exercises - pass/fail
• projects - letter grade

Portfolio

• web based "work-in-progress"
• presents the technical breakdowns produced during the course
• links to other work

session 1

Introduction to Mel

Topics

• Montgomery Hall evacuation procedure
• what is plagiarism
• installing customization scripts
• accessing mel documentation
• running scripts - script window
• sourcing a mel script
• executing mel using Cutter
• commands & flags (creation, query & edit modes)

Before session 2:
1   Read chapters 3 & 5 of Mel Fundamentals,
2   Review the tutorial Cutter: Integration with Maya.

session 2

Mel Basics I

Topics

• introduction to datatypes
• "for" loops and "if" tests
• datatypes in more detail
• local & global variables
• custom procedures

Refer to quick reference for examples of using datatypes, conditionals, looping statements & procedures.

Before the next session:
1   Read chapters 6, 7 & 8 of Mel Fundamentals before session 3.
2   Complete the mel matrix assignment ready for session 7.

week 2

session 3

Mel Basics II

Topics

• mel quick references I II
• organizing source code into multiple scripts
• coding style - intentation, naming conventions & comments
• using groups,
• duplicates and instances
• setting and getting attribute values

Re-code the matrix project so that it is divided into procs.
Note the final review of this assignment is session 7.

session 4

Mel Matrix

Topics

• developing the code for the matrix assignment.

week 3

session 5

Mel Matrix

Topics

• finalizing the look of the matrix.

session 6

Mel Matrix

Topics

• development of the technical breakdown.

week 4

session 7

Matrix Animation

Review the mel matrix technical breakdowns.

Topics

• preparing the scene for animation,
• using RenderMan's batch rendering system,
• batch rendering via python.

session 8

Matrix Animation

Topics

• using Disney's denoising technology,
• finalizing the animation.

The final review of the Matrix Animation assignment will be session 9.

week 5

session 9

Python

Fianl Review the mel matrix animations.

Topics.

• executing a python script from the command line
• executing a python script from Cutter
• accessing python documentation
• Python: Quick Reference I
• Python: Quick Tutorial
• built-in datatypes

session 10

Python + Maya

Topics.

• implementing a proc
• using if __name__== "__main__":
• loops & conditionls
• converting a MEL proc to a python proc

week 6

session 11

Porting Mel to Python

Topics

• fixed directories for Maya python scripts
• mel procs and their "equivalent" python functions
• mel arrays and python lists

session 12

Porting Mel to Python

Topics

• trouble shooting the porting process

week 7

session 13

Porting Mel to Python

Topics

• preparation of the Mel to Python technical breakdown

session 14

Python - UI Design and Implementation

Fianl Review the Mel to Python assignment.

Topics

• python classes
• class methods and instance variables
• introduction to qt designer
• implementing a BASIC GUI with limited functionality

Have a "proof-of-concept" working implementation of the BASIC GUI ready for session 15.

week 8

session 15

Python - UI Design and Implementation

Review the student's BASIC GUI implementations.

Topics

• pre-visualization of a Matrix GUI
• implementing the GUI

Complete the Python Maya UI assignment ready for session 19.

session 16

Python - UI Design and Implementation

Topics

• continued use of the subclasses of the PySide2 module

week 9

session 17

Python - UI Design and Implementation

Topics

• final trouble shooting of their GUI implementions

session 18

Python - UI Design and Implementation

Topics

• preparation of the technical breakdowns

week 10

session 19

Python - UI Design and Implementation

Final review of the Python Maya GUI technical breakdowns.

session 20

Final Presentation

Presentations and critique of the students web portfolios.