Diploma of 3D Design and Animation

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This subject provides students the ability to develop a digital portfolio focusing on the key areas required to develop employability outcomes within the digital design field. This subject identifies the requirements and approaches to freelance work, in conjunction with investigating trends and emerging technologies to inform entrepreneurial attitudes and solo operator work opportunities. This subject will culminate in students devising their own personal story, identifying their niche style, and packaging their work into a portfolio and/or showreel that they can continue building upon in years to come. This portfolio will be the central piece that is used to engage with work opportunities either to digital studios or as their own freelance designer.

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This subject introduces a wide array of emerging trends and interdisciplinary career opportunities that sit outside traditional creative industries. This subject explores the intersection of technology and design across a range of industries looking beyond the field of entertainment. Students broaden their understanding of potential career opportunities by challenging existing stereotypes where specialist technical skills are utilised. Students are encouraged to investigate case studies, identify emergent trends and examine strategies to develop, navigate and cultivate collaborations with professionals from other specialisations.

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This subject explores the fundamental principles and a variety of techniques to produce animations within 3D software. This subject introduces the fundamental concepts and ideas relating to keyframe based animations such as speed, ease and velocity. Students are also introduced to alternative methods of animation including expressions and custom scripting, procedural and dynamics based animations. These skills are designed to expand student awareness of applying animation to a wide range of potential outcomes such as game design, broadcast motion design, social media, branded identity or advertising.

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This subject is designed to provide students with professional experience in an area related to their field of study or the career they are working towards. Within the framework of an industry brief in conjunction with an industry client, students will learn how to unpack a defined challenge into achievable outcomes and use this framework to guide the creative process and final deliverable. Students will develop presentation techniques and objectively respond to constructive criticism and feedback. This experience will enhance work-ready skills and allow students to see first-hand how their learning translates into practice.

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Game Production Foundation combines art assets and basic scripting, enabling students to recognise how user experience is affected through art, design, and code. Utilising game development techniques and tools, students will create their own games, which requires a multifaceted approach including the following: project management, art and design theory, user interaction, menu systems, audio integration, scripting, game design and release. These trans-disciplinary artefacts scaffold the student’s knowledge for when they will interact with other disciplines in a professional development environment.

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3D Asset Creation introduces the fundamental concepts of developing 3D models for use in digital media and allows the students to familiarise with industry standard 3D modelling tools and techniques to communicate complex ideas and emotions. Students will develop a foundational understanding for the principles and techniques required for creating practical digital assets such as props, characters and environments.

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2D Visual Asset Generation utilises traditional art foundation theories and contextualises these practices for the digital domain. Students will create artefacts in digital formats for a variety of uses including concept art, pixel art, in-game assets, colour keys, user interface flow diagrams and more. Practical applications of art specifically for games will also be covered such as the basics of 2D digital animation. Students will receive critique from lecturers and learn to evaluate their own artwork with a critical eye.

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Game Design Principles introduces students to game design foundations, techniques and paradigms through a series of lecture-led and student-led activities. Students will explore game design principles through the analysis of existing game artefacts, applying those findings to the development of their own games. Students are introduced to a variety of analysis, development and presentation techniques encouraging discussion, creation and dissemination of their design choices through prototyping and documentation.

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This subject introduces a core set of industry-standard specialist design software tools. The emphasis of this subject is on building a comprehensive familiarity with these tools and features so that their application becomes second nature and can be treated as part of the overall creative tool kit. Students will work through a range of small exercises to cement their learning and to build their working knowledge by experimenting with the different tools and techniques. Students will then combine these tools and techniques to explore print and screen-based projects and in doing so, become aware of how to create flexible visual outcomes not wedded to single-use mediums

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Design Studio 2 offers an introduction to the building blocks of creating and developing brands and is designed to give students a broad understanding of the stages and methodologies adopted in the brand development process. The subject draws on the theory and practice that sits behind brand creation. It covers the broad spectrum of brand development, values, trends and branding techniques, as well as fundamentals such as brand positioning and brand architecture. The subject also explores the relationship between branding and audiences, cross-cultural influences and shifts in consumer behaviour. Students must first understand and apply the fundamentals of branding and then go on to use that knowledge as the basis for developing and progressing a brand. This theoretical and practical subject will equip students with the knowledge and insight with which to build their own branding expertise.

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This subject explores the relationship between materials and storytelling. It introduces students to the attributes of materiality and encourages them to re-imagine the possibilities of creating through making. Students will explore the art of paper folding, developing skills and taking creative risks. These results will be captured digitally and altered using the appropriate software. Individual tasks allow students to develop an understanding and appreciation of materials, their many varied uses, properties, and the sustainable manufacturing processes related to them. Students will progress towards determining suitable materials in which to construct their final model with its form and function contextualised and supported by a documented process journal. Their final submission will be a model that reminds us that stories which fill our lives are not only spoken and written but sometimes are best told through craft.

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This subject covers the theory and methodology of 3D procedural geometry and animation workflows which enable students to develop 3D models, assets and content in a programmatic way as opposed to a linear asset development path or individual asset sculpting and modelling workflows. The subject explores how retaining the ability to edit 3D assets and animation up to the final step is beneficial for both artist and client within a procedural workflow. This subject introduces how procedural scripting and programmatic node based 3D development of models and animations enables for powerful results for particles, simulations, and dynamics. This alternative procedural workflow expanded upon in this subject is designed to expand student’s capabilities for 3D outcomes to match industry leading approaches.