CCS373 Visual Effects Syllabus:
CCS373 Visual Effects Syllabus – Anna University Regulation 2021
COURSE OBJECTIVES
● To get a basic idea on animation principles and techniques
● To get exposure to CGI, color and light elements of VFX
● To have a better understanding of basic special effects techniques
● To have a knowledge of state of the art vfx techniques
● To become familiar with popular compositing techniques
UNIT I ANIMATION BASICS
VFX production pipeline, Principles of animation, Techniques: Keyframe, kinematics, Full animation, limited animation, Rotoscoping, stop motion, object animation, pixilation, rigging, shape keys, motion paths.
UNIT II CGI, COLOR, LIGHT
CGI – virtual worlds, Photorealism, physical realism, function realism, 3D Modeling and Rendering: color – Color spaces, color depth, Color grading, color effects, HDRI, Light – Area and mesh lights, image based lights, PBR lights, photometric light, BRDF shading model
UNIT III SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects – props, scaled models, animatronics, pyrotechniques, Schüfftan process, Particle effects – wind, rain, fog, fire
UNIT IV VISUAL EFFECTS TECHNIQUES
Motion Capture, Matt Painting, Rigging, Front Projection.Rotoscoping, Match Moving – Tracking, camera reconstruction, planar tracking, Calibration, Point Cloud Projection, Ground plane determination, 3D Match Moving
UNIT V COMPOSITING
Compositing – chroma key, blue screen/green screen, background projection, alpha compositing, deep image compositing, multiple exposure, matting, VFX tools – Blender, Natron, GIMP.
30 PERIODS
Laboratory Experiments:
Using Natron:
o Understanding Natron Environment:
o Working with color and using color grading
o using Channels
o Merging images
o Using Rotopaint
o performing Tracking and stabilizing
o Transforming elements
o Stereoscopic compositing
Using Blender:
Ø Motion Tracking – camera and object tracking
Ø Camera fx, color grading, vignettes
Ø Compositing images and video files
Ø Multilayer rendering
30 PERIODS
TOTAL: 60 PERIODS
COURSE OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
CO1:To implement animation in 2D / 3D following the principles and techniques
CO2:To use CGI, color and light elements in VFX applications
CO3:To create special effects using any of the state of the art tools
CO4:To apply popular visual effects techniques using advanced tools
CO5:To use compositing tools for creating VFX for a variety of applications
TEXT BOOKS:
1. Chris Roda, Real Time Visual Effects for the Technical Artist, CRC Press, 1st Edition, 2022.
2. Steve Wright, Digital Compositing for film and video, Routledge, 4th Edition, 2017.
3. John Gress, Digital Visual Effects and Compositing, New Riders Press, 1st Edition, 2014.
REFERENCES:
1. Jon Gress, “Digital Visual Effects and Compositing”, New Riders Press, 1st Edition, 2014.
2. Robin Brinkman, The Art and Science of Digital Compositing: Techniques for Visual Effects, Animation and Motion Graphics”, Morgan Kauffman, 2008.
3. Luiz Velho, Bruno Madeira, “Introduction to Visual Effects A Computational Approach”, Routledge, 2023.
4. Jasmine Katatikarn, Michael Tanzillo, “Lighting for Animation: The art of visual storytelling , Routledge, 1st Edition, 2016.
5. Eran Dinur, “The Complete guide to Photorealism, for Visual Effects, Visualization
6. Jeffrey A. Okun, Susan Zwerman, Christopher McKittrick, “ The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures”, Third Edition, 2020.and Games”, Routledge, 1st Edition, 2022.
7. https://www.blender.org/features/vfx/
8. https://natrongithub.github.io/