Cogswell Polytechnical College
Digital Art and Animation Program: Bachelor of Arts Degree in Digital Art and Animation (DAA) Digital Art and Animation offers students preparation in four specialization areas: 3D Animation, Entertainment Design, Game Design, and 3D Modeling. The coursework bridges traditional and digital arts classes and includes solid components of theory, production, and general education. Digital Art and Animation provides many opportunities for collaborations with other programs at Cogswell, including Digital Audio Technology, Digital Motion Picture, and Digital Arts Engineering. The Portfolio I and II classes provide a format for bringing together all of the elements of the concept to delivery pipeline in a final capstone project. 3D ANIMATION The animation program encompasses character, non-character and experimental animation. Character animation fuses acting, performance and the principles of movement to create believable, genuine, emotive characters. Character design, story structure and strong animation fundamentals are used by students to create a short, animated film project in their senior year. Fundamentals and the development of the "craft" of animation are stressed. Students may produce animations fusing both traditional and computer techniques. Non-character animation focuses on visual effects, abstract animation or the motion of inanimate objects. Students are encouraged to combine media to produce original, creative work and content. ENTERTAINMENT DESIGN The Entertainment Design specialization integrates a strong traditional art background with skills in digital imagery. The course of study includes drawing, painting, illustration, character design, and concept art. It is designed for students interested in digital matte and texture painting as well as concept design. Issues of presentation and delivery are addressed. The ability to transform verbal and written directions into visual representations of characters and scenes is emphasized. GAME DESIGN AND INTERACTIVITY The Game Design and Interactivity specialization studies the theories and production processes used in professional video game development. Students study how a game is created from initial concept through production planning, implementation, iteration and testing. They also learn how to work efficiently, effectively, and collaboratively in teams. The course work includes projects which realistically simulate real-world video game production and requires hands-on application of learned theory and tool skill-sets. This specialization serves to train digital artists, software engineers and game designers seeking a career in the video game industry and exposes them to the growing casual, serious and massively multiplayer online (MMO)/virtual worlds markets. MODELING The Modeling specialization develops both 2D and 3D skills in modeling. It allows the student to focus on strong conceptual visual skills, hands-on model building, digitizing, texture mapping, and other skills necessary for model data set creation. These models find applications in movies, commercials, simulators and emulators, games, animation sequences, product design, and product development.
