Massey University - SHORT COURSES - JULY
Throughout July 2010 The College of Creative Arts at Massey University will be running the following courses:
3D Special Effects for Film and Games
Maya Dynamics Introduction
If you enjoy explosions, breaking stuff, fire, smoke, fireworks, and general mayhem in 3D this is the short course for you. With nearly a decade of creating anything from planet explosions to fairy dust in Maya; Taylor Carrasco from Weta Digital will be introducing you to the ever-expanding tools available for creating Visual Effects in 3D packages.
You will be given a few dozen example files as a starting point to show the vast amount of effects that can be created quite quickly with Maya's powerful tool-set. Examples will be discussed and explored, interspersed workshops will be given to let students have a hands-on experience creating their own visual effects.
A basic knowledge of navigating in Maya and how the software works is all that would be needed to gain the most knowledge from the short course. All course materials will be provided to the students as well as a bounty of resources so students can explore dynamics and further their knowledge on their own as well.
The course will cost $250 for the two days and will take place in one of the newly refurbished computer suites at Massey’s Wellington campus with Wi-Fi access and a machine each per participant.
Register your interest with Massey University by emailing Megan Nash: m.e.nash@massey.ac.nz
Python Introduction Primer
Basics of Python for Beginners
Ever wanted to get into scripting but didn't know where to start? Massey is offering a two day course taught by someone who remembers exactly how it felt to be new to programming and scripting; An artist-turned-programmer, Taylor Carrasco now works as a Technical Animation Director at Weta Digital with nearly a decade of experience in Python.
Python is an excellent language to learn for many reasons: Ease of use. Python uses white space (spaces, tabs, returns) as delimiters instead of semicolons, hard brackets, etc. so it is much easier to read and write. Portability. Python works on virtually every operating system, including Windows, OSX, and Linux. Massive library. Extensions to the language called “modules” are plentiful and standard with the basic install, making it extremely versatile. And of course the most important reason, it's named after Monty Python.
Numerous basics of Python will be discussed and examples will be examined, including but not limited to Modules, Variables, Strings, Numbers, List, Dictionaries, Tuples, Functions, Scope, Instances, Objects, and we will skim the surface of Object Oriented Programming.
After the short course you will have a good handle on the basics of Python and the know-how to apply it towards your career or hobbies. Jobs requiring Python are plentiful as well as jobs where Python gives you that “extra edge” above the competition, even if you're only a novice.
The course will cost $250 for the two days and will take place in one of the newly refurbished computer suites at Massey’s Wellington campus with Wi-Fi access and a machine each per participant.
Register your interest with Massey University by emailing Megan Nash: m.e.nash@massey.ac.nz
Interactive Physical Computing
A crash course in Arduino
Tim Carr from MindKits and Massey University are offering 25 participants a fantastic opportunity to sign up to a two day short course that introduces you to the world of micro-controllers and electronics through Arduino. On the first day, you will be shown how to get up and running with the Arduino environment and the principles of electronics along with loads of hands on tinkering to put the principles into practise. You will learn how to leverage the vast pool of community resources to allow you to interface with just about any piece of hardware and find code to make it do what you need without having to be a hardware hacking genius yourself. You will be encouraged to experiment hands on with electronics and Arduino and have knowledgeable resource there to make learning easy, fun and fast.
You will also receive $80 worth of Arduino equipment and components to walk away with at the end of the workshop which gives you everything you need to start learning while being guided and having fun.
The second day will be focused around putting your new found skills to good use and adding new skills to those from the first day. You are encouraged to ask as many questions as you like and your tutor will help you all the way. After gaining a foothold on what Arduino is and what it can do for you, you will be given a chance to extend your knowledge by working on a real life project of your choice or one of our pre-tinkered project ideas while your tutor helps you when you have questions and will advise on best practices. You will not only gain the hands on experience and confidence to continue tinkering after the course but you will work through many of the fundamental issues that lead to quality design and implementation.
If you're new to electronics and micro-processors, think they are a mystery but have an inquiring mind and would like to learn more then this is the course for you. We take the concepts of electronics, combine them with the fun of micro-controllers and programming and give you an opportunity to learn new skills and have good fun building a project at the same time.
The course costs $300 for the two days and includes $80 worth of kit from MindKits. The workshop will take place at Massey University and we'll provide WI-FI access for internet on the day. You are encouraged to bring your own laptop which you will set up on the day but if you haven't a laptop we'll provide you with a computer in the lab on the day to use.
Please feel free to contact Tim Carr (Tim@MindKits.co.nz) if you have questions and register your interest with Massey University by emailing Megan Nash: m.e.nash@massey.ac.nz
3D Maya Crash Course
Introduction To Maya for the aspiring 3D enthusiast
This is intended for those new to either Maya, or 3d software packages in general and want to get an idea of what Maya is capable of achieving. For cutting edge movies and games, Avatar and Halo2 depend heavily on Maya's flexible and ever-expanding plethora of tools. Maya has been and continues to be the most widely used 3D software package in several industries, not just games and film - architecture, simulation in hundreds of science fields, military and more.
As this course is for beginners, the user interface will be discussed in detail. You will learn how to model basic shapes, use deformers to sculpt in 3D, rotate, scale, poke holes, push and pull edges to sculpt as you desire. You will be shown how to add textures to their models and UV systems will be glazed over so that students will be able to place images as textures onto their models using Maya's Hypershade. Finally, you will learn how to render out their results.
This is a great primer course for those intending to get into the 3D realm of education, or for those wondering if 3D is something they may be interested in but aren't quite sure. A cheap short course with nothing to lose!
The course will cost $250 for the two days and will take place in one of the newly refurbished computer suites at Massey’s Wellington campus with Wi-Fi access and a machine each per participant.
Register your interest with Massey University by emailing Megan Nash: m.e.nash@massey.ac.nz
Visualizations through code with Actionscript 3
A visual introduction to Actionscript 3
Taylor Carrasco from Weta Digital is offering 20 participants a fantastic opportunity to sign up to a two day short course that introduces you to the immensely powerful programming language of Actionscript 3.
On the first day, you will be presented with the principles of Actionscript 3 and shown how it can drive SWF architecture. You will be introduced to Tween engines as well as some introductory User Interface concepts. The document class, packages, Tween engines, and basic object oriented concepts will also be discussed.
After an initial grounding you will undertake a visual project using the knowledge you have gained from the beginning of the session and also additional resources that will be provided. The project will be an open-ended visual experience that can be chosen from dozens of concepts in the form of fully functional Actionscript 2 source code as well as several AS3 mock-ups.
The second day will be full lab, where any and all questions are welcome and you will receive one-to-one guidance and help with your visual project from Taylor.
To get the most out of a transitional introductory AS3 course, you should have a good handle on the Flash IDE and some basic Actionscript experience, either AS2 or AS3. You should know the relationship between Movieclips and a Timeline and Tween principles. Knowledge of standard programming mathematics would also be a bonus.
The course will cost $250 for the two days and will take place in one of the newly refurbished computer suites at Massey’s Wellington campus with Wi-Fi access and a machine each per participant.
Register your interest with Massey University by emailing Megan Nash: m.e.nash@massey.ac.nz