Digital Art and Design
Curriculum Rationale and Goals
Over the past decade traditional Fine Artist and Applied Media Art Designers alike have accepted digital technologies into every phase of their creative process. Students concentrating in Digital Art and Design are being uniquely prepared to pursue graduate degrees in a variety of fields, function as exhibiting fine artist and/or developing careers as new media designers.The Digital Art and Design curriculum is designed to give students a direct engagement with the emerging aesthetic forms and cultural issues growing out of art created entirely by or mediated by digital information technologies.
Class goals are globally to synthesizing the purely technical aspects of learning digital skills with the development of fine aesthetic judgment. To bridge the gap between skills acquisition and aesthetic judgment, students learn the fundamentals of visual literacy and graphic design along with digital systems and processes.
Digital Art and Design Primary Focus - Interactive Arts
Studio Course Requirements
All studio classes within the Department of Art meet for 3 hours, 2 times a week. The longer time span allows for lecture, demonstrations and student working time with Students are expected to work in class and outside of class work is required to obtain a
Digital Art and Design Course Descriptions
Digital Art and Design I
This is a introductory level course with an emphisis on interactivity, web design, imaging for web content, logos, ads and icons also limited 2D animation for the web.
(full course syllabi for Digital Art and Design I)
Main Topics Covered in Course
Digital Image Processing for Interactivity - Photoshop- BitMap Image Manipulation and Processing
- Design of Logos - Icons - Graphics
- Layer Effect for Gel Style Logos - Icons - Graphics
- GUI Design and Website Layout Design
- 2D BitMap Animation - Animated Logos - Icons - Graphics
- 2D Vector Animation - Graphics - Text - Banners - Splash Pages
- Interactive Flash Interface Design
- Audio for Events - Animation - Background Scores - Content
- Video Encoding - Components for Video Control
- Designing with CSS Style
- Ajax Scripting for Lite Box display of Images - Video - Flash
- Scripting for Embedding Video - Flash Interactive Animation - Audio Files
- Domain Names and ISP's
- FTP (file transfer protocol)
Digital Art and Design II
In this course the concepts and skills for "Game" based 3D interactive are the primary focus.
(full course syllabi for Digital Art and Design II )
Main Topics Covered in Course
3D Modeling and Texturing - MAYA 2008 - Photoshop- Polygons Modeling for Games Tech and Interactive Animation
- Shaders - Materials - UV Texture Mapping
- Geo Rigging and Animation - MAYA 2008
- Joint Construction - Geo Binding - Influence Weighting - Controllers
- Keyframing Animation Clips
- Terrain Development - Sculpting - Texturing - Plant Generation
- First Person Controller - Lighting
- Importing 3D Assets - Models - Animation Clips - Audio Files
- Intro Scripting for Interactivity - JavaScript
- 3D Interactive Deployment - Unity 2.0
- Website Based Files
- Stand Alone Application
Digital Art and Design III
A intermediate level course for the development of "Game" based 3D interactive works. The rapidly developing market for a wide variety of new game based genres is explored as students continue to expand their skills, creative problem solving and career possibilities.
(full course syllabi for Digital Art and Design III )
Main Topics Covered in Course
Intermediate 3D Interactive Game Tech - Unity 2.0 - MAYA 2008 - Photoshop- Triggering Events
- Creating Unity Shaders and Materials
- Video Textures
- Intermediate Scripting for Interactivity - JavaScript
- 3D Interactive Game Tech - Special Topics
- Custom Skyboxes
- Create 2D Gameplay
- GUI Design
- Waypoints - Mapping Paths for Animation
Digital Art and Design IV
This is a indepentdent study course for advanced student who have taken all 3 of the Digital Art and Design courses. Student write a proposal for a wide varity of projects to be worked on during the semester under the supervision and support of the instructor.
(full course syllabi for Digital Art and Design IV)
Main Topics Covered in Course
Student Designed Projects- Web Design - Net Art
- Unity and MAYA Based 3D Interactive
- Limited 2D and 3D Rendered Animations
- Limited Video Fx
- Sound Works for Web and Instillation
Other Concentrations
Department Chair
Ronald Onorato
Office Hours:
Monday 10:30pm to 12m
Tuesday/Thursday 2pm to 3pm
Or by appointment
FAC 207
News and Events
A&AH 2009-2010 Newsletter (PDF)
