# DIGF-2012-001 Low Poly Game Art
Winter 2021
**Course name:** Low Poly Game Art
**Meetings:** Thursday, 11:50am–2:50pm
**Teams meeting:** [MS Team_DIGF-2012](https://teams.microsoft.com/l/channel/19%3ae5988df9e0ee415eb1390d86f2c3669f%40thread.tacv2/General?groupId=2fb1d950-ce35-4204-8b51-3062739bcddc&tenantId=06e469d1-2d2a-468f-ae9b-7df0968eb6d7)
**Course webpage:** Canvas & [http://jiharu.github.io/lowpoly/](http://jiharu.github.io/lowpoly/)
**Class blog:** [DIGF-2012 Blog](https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.ocad.ca%2Fwordpress%2Fdigf2012-w2021-01%2Fwp-login.php&data=04%7C01%7Chji%40faculty.ocadu.ca%7C981d0ef8ac064685017808d8b3ef262e%7C06e469d12d2a468fae9b7df0968eb6d7%7C0%7C0%7C637457187444681212%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=4CSF2cJyk4U20SMhCL5ii9NzzynRW01vdKA%2F444Higw%3D&reserved=0)
**Office hours:** hji at ocadu.ca by appointment
## Course description
Low polygon 3D art occur in real-time applications like digital games that have historically been constrained by the technologies used. However this approach to 3D modelling has become a contemporary art form evidenced across a wide range of contexts from art galleries to game consoles. This studio course surveys a broad range of approaches to building low poly game art exploring 3D production processes and contexts of delivery. Students will produce low poly playable experiences ready for exhibition.
## Additional Information
The ever expanding domains of games and interactive realtime 3D applications are also media of expression, reflection, and criticality. As a first step to creating games and real-time 3D applications for artistic expression, artists should be able to create their own 3D assets: modular libraries including geometric and textured objects. The most widely-used and approachable surface modeling technique is polygon modeling, building objects as geometric meshes. However for interactive real-time applications, including games, the computational cost demands that these have a low number of polygons, known as "low poly". This constraint has however also become a recognizable aesthetic style, also known as "low poly art", that is often rendered with simplistic modeling & texturing but rich physically-based lighting techniques.
Participants will gain knowledge, experience, and freedom to create, modify, and manage 3D data as assets for realtime, interactive applications and environements including platforms such as WebGL and game engines such as Unity and Unreal. We will choose interdiscplinary approaches working together with both concept and practice, digital artmaking and traditional skills. Among the practical skillsets, participants will work on modeling, texturing (texture cretaion, UV texturing), lighting, Level of Detail (LoD), texture baking, and managing and organising the importing and exporting of data between applications. Each participant will learn how to solve problems in dealing with complex workflows & production pipelines, to express their artistic intentions and to develop their style, and lastly to gain critical and reflective perspectives with regard to game as art, and art as game.
## Technology Tools:
Maya, Unity, Unreal, Blender, Cinema 4D, Sculptris, Rhino, Photoshop, etc.
## Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the pipelines of making interactive real time 3D applications, such as computer games
- Create assets for real-time applications, notably game engines such as Unity or Unreal
- Have developed observational and problem solving skills
- Have developed personal styles and perspectives toward worldmaking
- Have developed quality standards
- Show evidence of teamwork experience including communication between team members to produce an integrated art result
- Use newly integrated skillsets to model, texture, and light 3D assets, including producing LoDs (levels of detail), UV texturing, and texture and light baking, and managing, importing, and exporting assets between independent applications
- Critically examine the possibility of art as game and game as art, to think beyond mainstream and conventional approaches toward games
## Grading/Assignment
#### 1st deliverable: Planning (30%)
In January, each student needs to submit a plan for creating their game art assets including researches about visual style + reference & workflow. Projects may be individual or collaborative.
#### 2nd deliverable: Progress report (40%)
It can be an archive or a tutorial or both to show your structural approaches from your plan to your final artwork. It is recommended to include your key discoveries and problem solving processes.
#### 3rd deliverable: Final project + assets + an artist statement (30%)
The final documentation will include final work images/videos/or others and links to your assets and a short artist statement.
## Required Readings
Required reading will be announced in class. Please check the bibliography list.
### Class website:
- [http://jiharu.github.io/lowpoly](http://jiharu.github.io/lowpoly) : "Low Poly Game Art." It will be updated continuously in class.
### Tutorial link:
- [Class related LinkdeIn playlist link.](https://www.linkedin.com/learning/collections/6572478668336046082?u=56972265)
This is a rich online resource of software instruction available to all OCAD University staff and Laptop Program students. From July 30, 2019, lynda.com is updated to LinkedIn Learning. To log in, browse to [https://my.ocadu.ca](https://my.ocadu.ca) and click on the LinkedIn Learning icon in the navigation. If you’re having trouble authenticating, check out [the ocadu knowledgebase](https://support-its.ocadu.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1651/289/laptop-program-lyndacom) article. Generally, all the Lynda.com links will redirect to the appropriate LinkedIn Learning course by March 21, 2020.
- [Unity tutorials-artists.](https://unity3d.com/kr/learn/tutorials/s/unity-artists)
- [Unity tutorials-graphics.](https://unity3d.com/kr/learn/tutorials/s/graphics)
## Supplies
Students will be required to supply laptop, three button mouse. Please also bring a notebook or small sketchbook and pencils to sketch and collect ideas.
## Teaching & Learning Methods
We will use a variety of learning strategies in this class including project work, discussions, presentations, tutorials, and lectures.
## Bibliography and/or Recommended Texts
This bibliography reflects the material used to develop this course. These are not necessarily required readings.
**Reading:** not mandatory to purchase, most books can be accessed via a Toronto public library account, using the ['O'REILLY books online'](https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=EDB0099) database.
**Practice related:** it is recommended to use them as references to solve problems in your making.
- Maya Help File (in Maya, F1 key)
- Learning Maya | Games and Interactive Paperback – April, 2002
- Omernick, Matthew. Creating the Art of the Game. New Riders, 2004
- McKinley, Michael and Stegmann, Juan Pablo. Maya® Studio Projects: Game Environments and Props. Sybex, 2010.
- Watkins, Adam. Creating Games with Unity and Maya. Focal Press, 2012.
- Patnode, Jason. Character Modeling with Maya and ZBrush. Focal Press, 2012.
- Ahearn, Luke Ahearn. 3D Game Textures, 4th Edition by. A K Peters/CRC Press, 2016.
- McDermott, Wes. The PBR Guide, Allegorithmic
- Doran, John P. Doran; Zucconi, Alan. Unity 2018 Shaders and Effects Cookbook, Packt Publishing, 2018.
**Theory related:**
- Video games as an art form, Wikipedia [Online: last accessed Dec 2018]
- [Gavin, Erin. “Press Start: Video Games and Art,” Valley Humanities Review, Spring 2014.](http://portal.lvc.edu/vhr/articles/gavin.pdf)
- [Bourgonjon, Jeroen; Vandermeersche, Geert; and Rutten, Kris. "Perspectives on Video Games as Art." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 19.4 (2017)](https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3024&context=clcweb)
- [Games AS art: The Aesthetics of Play Celia Pearce Visible Language; 2006; 40, 1; Academic Research Library](http://www.intermass.com/files/pearce.pdf)
- Romualdo, Sofia, Videogame Art and the Legitimation of Videogames by the Art World. xCoAx 2015 Computation Communication Aesthetics and X
- Roger Ebert, Roger, "video games can never be art", Chicago Sun-Times, 2010.
## Course schedule
OCAD U has a twelve-class semester followed by a two-week assessment period for exams and critiques. Students must be available for the duration of this period.
- **Week 1:** NotGames/Indie Games
- Course overview. Introduction to the subject, discussions and the making environment used in lectures & labs.
- Presentation: NotGames/Indie Games
- Theory: Game as art, Art as Game
- Pre-production 1: brainstorming + discussion
- Making: concept art (sketchbook and pencil)
- **Week 2:** Concept art presentation
- Production pipeline focusing on pre-production
- Pre-production 2.
- Concept art presentation (10%)
- Survey for voting, planning.
- Making: Installing applications including Unity. Visual research + planning
- **Week 3:** Team discussion
- Pre-production 3: finalizing pre-production.
- Preparing production process.
- Initiating a collective progress report.
- Team discussion.
- Making: finalizing pre-production process.
- **Week 4:** Polygon modeling process
- Polygon modeling process.
- Lecture: Managing & organizing importing & exporting data
- Tutorial: Introduction to polygon modeling I
- Production 1: modeling - divide roles to landscape, architecture, object, and (simple) character.
- Making: modeling - sketch, research, polygon modeling.
- **Week 5:** UV Texturing
- Lecture: Introducing UV texturing and TURTLE renderer.
- Tutorial: UV unwrapping.
- Making: Polygon modeling and texturing.
- Hands on studio: team discussion & making.
- **Study break**
- **Week 6:** LOD (Level of Detail) & Sculpting
- Level of Detail, controlling complexity.
- Lecture: Introducing LOD pipeline and sculpting using Sculptris.
- Making: 3D sculpting & LOD pipeline.
- Hands on studio: team discussion & making.
- **Week 7:** Joint system
- Tutorial.
- Production.
- Making: Joint system.
- **Week 8:** Motion capture
- Tutorial.
- Production.
- Making: Motion capture.
- **Week 9:** Physically based rendering,
- Lecture: Physically based lighting
- Tutorial: Introduction to PBL
- Production 5: Shading & Lighting
- Making: Shading & Lighting
- Tutorial: Introduction to shading process
- **Week 10:** Normal map, Ambient occlusion, & Texture baking & Real-time lighting
- Lecture: Introducing texture baking, normal map and ambient occlusion.
- Tutorial: Applying Level of Detail and creating Normal map.
- Tutorial: Texture baking
- Production 7: Texture baking
- Making: Modeling: Shading & lighting, exporting.
- **Week 11:** Working on real‐time applications
- Lecture: Introduction to game engines and other real-time applications
- Tutorial: Importing and exporting and managing assets in a game engine.
- Post-Production 1: Working on real-time applications
- Making: Importing & exporting and managing assets
- **Week 12:** Final presentation & Critique
- Final presentation & Critique.
- Final project + process report due.