Class Recording

Assignment

Midterm Presentation (03/24)

Everyone in the class will present about their midterm project. The presentation will be 8 minutes (with questions) and you will talk about:

• Present your work
• Discuss:
  • Your starting point - how this work came to be
  • Process - what this work turned into
  • How did it change from what you expected?

Discussion

• Goodbye Uncanny Valley
• First Experience with 3D: The Sims (Gameplay)

• The Kiss That Changed Video Games - Originally in The Sims development, a decision was made not to allow queer relationships. A new programmer joined the team, who wasn't aware of this decision, and wrote the AI to determine how Sims relationships build (including romance), and included queer relationships (technically, all Sims are bi!). Ultimately, they left this in the game.
• Online games: Second Life, VR Chat, Fortnite, Minecraft, World of Warcraft. Relationships to avatars, 3D games...
• What does it look like to work in 3D? Mixamo/Turbosquid/Daz
  • Blender, Maya, Cinema4D - Multipurpose 3D Software
    1. creating models
    2. animating them
    3. the film side of things: moving a camera, setting up lightning, and also texturing models and the environment
  • Animation
    1. Keyframing
    2. Motion Capture
    3. Simulations - Physics Simulation
  • Film side: Camera, Lighting,
  • Unity, Unreal - Game Engines. Work in real time and have interactive environment
  • Specialized Software - does a few parts of the pipeline
    • Daz3D, Adobe Character Creator, ZBrush, Houdini (Simulations), Nomad (iPad App), Forger
• Increasing Access in 3D
  • Capturing Queer Movement
  • The Black Movement Project
  • Open Source Afro Hair Library
  • Volumetric Performance Toolbox
• Biases in tools:
  • Daz Studio - Women are hypersexualized, models can only be either "male" or "female". Take a look for yourself.
• Toxic gaming culture - GamerGate, The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games
• A YouTuber Finds Wholesome, Heartbreaking Stories Behind Silly VRChat Avatars
• Cursed 3D
  • Meat Puppet Arcade
  • Original Sonic the Hedgehog Trailer
  • I think we are very familiar with Cats (2019) :)
  • Some people think The Polar Express is very cursed.
  • Live Forever As You Are Now With Alan Resnick
• What makes something in 3D cursed? What makes it compelling?