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Programs
The Serious Game Design Online Program is
comprised of intensive, instructor led, modular
courses that have been designed by experienced
production artists.
The award winning Digital Animation Program at
Cerro Coso College is now in its seventh year of
offering a State Approved Certificate in Digital
Animation, which has been delivered entirely
online since 2001 in courses that are intended
for students who want to "learn anywhere,
anytime" to train for entry level employment in
Serious Game Design, Design Visualization, or
Motion Graphics.
The program features an intensive focus on
preparing students for entry level employment in
Serious Game Design, Design Visualization, or
Motion Graphics through the delivery of courses
led by experienced production artists that are
currently working in these related industries.
Course tools include instructor facilitated
discussion groups, Moodle workshops, wikis,
blogs, live webcasts, course ebooks containing
full screen digital video demonstrations of each
course tutorial and project, on demand
help-desk, and a complete range of student
learning support services [library, counseling,
admissions and records, etc.]. The course
lectures are webcasted in Macromedia Breeze,
Camtasia, RealVideo and Quicktime formats.
In addition to standard course textbooks, most
courses in the program also utilize course
ebooks that contain CDROM of very high quality
digital video demonstrations of course lessons
and projects, and include files, and other
course materials that are required to complete
the course assignments.
The program has been designed to afford students
the opportunity to develop the necessary
foundation skills, master the tools and
processes, and nurture their artistry and
creative vision. In this project-based
curriculum, students undergo standard production
experiences that reflect industry needs and
current industry trends.
Students develop professional skills in
pre-production, story-telling, modeling,
rigging, texture art, lighting, character
animation, special effects, simulation,
technical direction, game design, game
prototyping, object oriented programming, render
management, production management, and portfolio
production as they prepare for entry level
employment as a junior game texture artist, game
environment artist, game character artist, or
serious game developer using Virtools Dev.
The online curriculum design is based upon
industry production pipeline workflow, sequenced
from fundamentals, through all essentials, to
advanced techniques. The online instruction is
organized by a program website, with a
consistent, efficient interface that allows the
learner to accurately track their progress,
navigate resources, and study intensively.
Course Delivery Technologies
Lessons – step-by-step demonstrations
of game design production techniques, with
screenshots, in html/pdf. Each lesson is also
demonstrated in Camtasia, full-screen
resolution, digital videos. Lessons are not
tutorial projects, but instead are tightly
focused demonstrations regarding the execution
of specific production skills.
Projects – project examples that tie
together the use of a set of features as would
typically be found in production. Projects are
demonstrated step-by-step. Each project is
demonstrated in Camtasia, full-screen
resolution, digital videos.
Macromedia Breeze Live Presentations –
the course instructor provides live webcasted
online group study sessions that augment the
instruction within a course. Students can
connect to these live webcasted sessions using
WebCams [IP video], a web browser and
microphone, or a web browser and telephone.
These live web meetings are all archived for
easy access by students that are not able to
attend live. The Breeze Live study sessions
contain text, images, animations, models,
diagrams, charts, hyperlink references. During
the Breeze Live study session, the instructor
can "screen share" his/her desktop and actually
use the software to answers questions or clarify
techniques during the web study session.
Web Discussion Forums – the instructor
monitors and facilitates an online discussion
board, answering questions posted by students to
the course, lesson, and module and projects that
they are working on. The discussion forum
features allow students to clarify their problem
or question by attaching screen shot images,
scene files, rendered DV to their posts. The web
board also provides a collaborative working
environment for student teams and their project
leaders to facilitate the team-based game
production project work that is a component of
each course in this program.
Emphasis Tracks
The Academy of Digital Animation offers 3
emphasis tracks to tailor your learning experience
and target your desired industry profession. The 3
tracks available are:
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