DDA 616 Design for Interactive Media and DDA 620 Graphics Programming are co-requisites for this course.
In an intensive, hands-on production-focused approach, we explore the capabilities of two major authoring tools, via localized and internet delivery, employing traditional and outside-the-box interfaces. Students produce screen-based 2D and 3D experiences individually and collaboratively, through two major projects and a number of short exercises, most of which are posted by each student weekly to the web.
During the course, students will strengthen their abilities to learn and explore on their own, solve problems creatively, work collaboratively, and apply critical thinking to their own work and the works of others. They will gain a greater appreciation for the range of authoring options and technologies available to them as artists and designers.
This course will also begin to assist each student to find in the craft their own relevance, motivation, and expressive voice.
Students will be prepared with introductory-level skills to pursue advanced interactive digital media studies in screen-based art experiences, game creation, and physical installations.
1. Professionally plan and present concepts for interactive projects, which include flow charts, keyframe screens, statements of artist intent, and analysis of typical users – both orally and in writing.
2. Create 2D and 3D screen-based interactive experiences, employing imaginative concepts and original content, which demonstrate qualities of dependable feedback, navigational freedom, and experiential flow.
3. Demonstrate aesthetic sensitivity and technical proficiency in the preparation, integration, and digital publishing of media assets, including sound and video.
4. Discuss and critique their own and others' interactive projects, with considerations to usability, originality, and significance, in a social and historical context.
5. Exercise independent learning skills, professionalism in presentation and conduct, and a willingness to experiment.
Syllabus policies and course objectives.
Introducing the core concepts and projects.
• Introduce first artist research project
• Setting up a web site. Using FTP.
• Demonstrations of interactive media works
• Overview of Flash environment. Making simple animation.
“Freedom” vs. “Motivation”
Connecting with the user.
• Students discuss artist choices & why interesting.
• HTML review. Modifying your page.
• Flash: Symbols, instances, importing.
• Preparing and optimizing visual assets.
• Publishing & uploading.
User interaction and code-driven art.
“How INTERACTIVE is it, anyway?”
• Sound. Recording, preparation, formats. Types of sound in Flash.
• Movie clips, separate timelines, sending messages.
Web Artist Presentations.
Video: Why and how to include it.
• Video. Shooting, editing, streaming (or not).
• Compressing video
• Video control in the timeline.
First project due: Critique of aesthetics, interaction, & originality.
Begin “Gamelet” Project. Considering “Manipulation”...
• Keys to a good game
• Flowcharts and keyframe boards.
• Basic game programming concepts.
• What it takes to go beyond the ordinary.
Describing an interactive project “on paper.”
Reading and understanding other people’s code.
• Collision detection.
• Timers.
• User interface techniques. Input and feedback.
• Counting and decision-making.
Being the player.
Expecting the unexpected.
• Communicating to the player. Setting goals and fulfilling expectations.
•How to see a bug; how to report it; how to fix it.
Gamelet Project Due. Midterm Quiz.
Introduction to Director.
Demos of 2D, QTVR, imaging and 3D projects.
• The interface. Similarities and differences from Flash.
• Practicing with the cast and timeline.
• Importing media, including FLA.
• Xtra implementation.
Media management.
Reading the keyboard and mouse.
• Behavior scripts.
• Importing assets.
• Using key input to alter properties.
• How to play sound and video.
• Movie scripts.
“Immersion”
Introducing Shockwave 3D
• Basic 3D world structure
• Using 3DPi to make new model primitives
• Modifying properties
• Coding primitives and textures.
Interactive Media Artist presentations.
Preparation for serial-control project.
• Burning CDs professionally.
• Setting & getting camera properties.
Working with video and serial inputs.
Introduction to electronics concepts.
Team formation.
• Video input. Reading changed areas and using that information to trigger events.
• Serial input from sensors. Reading switch signals and data to alter properties.
• Electronic circuit principles, do’s and don’ts.
Parsing serial input from external sensors/switches.
• Construction methods.
Testing and debugging beta versions.
Evaluating user responses.
Formal presentation of “Beyond the Mouse” projects.
Projects will be graded both on overall performance and impression, as well as on the individual efforts of the students. Students will also rank their fellow team-members’ contributions.
Flash 8 Visual Quickstart Guide. Katherine Ulrich (Peachpit) ...or...
Foundation Flash 8 Bhangal and Besley (Friends of Ed)
Special Edition Using Macromedia Director MX Gary Rosenzweig (Que) ...or...
Director MX2004 Visual Quickstart Guide Schaeffer and Persidsky (Peachpit)
Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML Elisabeth Freeman (O'Reilly) ...or...
Sams Teach Yourself HTML and CSS in 24 Hours (7th Edition) Oliver and Morrison (SAMS)
Other related books...
Creative Code John Maeda (MIT Press)
Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers Igoe and O'Sullivan (Course Technology PTR)
These will be handed-out in class:
Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. Selected chapters.
The Art of Computer Game Design Chris Crawford. Selected chapters.
Resources available on line:
Instructor's site http://pratt.edu/~pmackey/html/read.html
Web link collection http://del.icio.us/PrattInteractive
A list of additional references is distributed in class.
First-half Project.
Create an abstract 2D game that alters its content, behavior, and/or appearance based on the actions of the player.
Second-half Project.
Create a minimalist 3D space that users can explore or alter using either a physical device of their own design, or input from a video camera. Teams will be formed for this project.
Two artist presentations are also required...
Due in Week 4 Web Artist Presentation
Research an Interactive Media Artist who primarily delivers their work on the web, and give an oral presentation with visuals, approximately 5 minutes.
Due in Week 11 Installation Artist Presentation
Research an Interactive Media Artist (specializing in physical installations or non-web-based experiences), and give an oral presentation with visuals, approximately 5 minutes.
Specifications for both presentations________________________
• Cite at least 3 different sources. Include examples of artist's work, what themes they explore and why significant, and when & where they worked. Critique their work in terms of Usability, Aesthetics, and Content.
• Turn in a bibliography and outline as a printout, and the presentation file.
________________________________________________________
Grading
· Participation, Professionalism, and Resourcefulness 15%
· In-class Presentations - two - total 20%
· Midterm 10%
· First-half Project (2D Art game) 20%
· Second-half Project (3D Custom interface) 20%
· Weekly Exercises and Quizzes 15%
Grading criteria for projects = Aesthetics: 33%, Interaction:33%, Originality:33%. Project grades include work-in-progress reviews and related presentations.
Grading criteria for presentations = Effectiveness of visual support 25%, Clarity of spoken presentation 25%, All aspects of the assignment addressed 50%.
Participation. This portion of the student's grade rates how actively and professionally she/he asks questions, contributes to discussions, volunteers ideas, and engages in critiques without prompting. Obviously, if the student is frequently late and/or has many unexcused absences, his/her value in class will be impaired. (See also Attendance policy below.) Please note that simply showing up every week but remaining silent is not considered participation.
Professionalism. Evidence, from all projects and presentations, of the students' attention to detail, clarity of communication, and considerate conduct, individually and collaboratively.
Resourcefulness. Evidence, from all projects and presentations, of the students' ability to research and learn independently, plus a demonstrated willingness to experiment and explore.
Individual contribution to team project. When working on a team project, part of a student's project grade will be based on confidential evaluation by the team members of each student's participation in team production efforts, including how well each student communicated, lived up to commitments, was willing to compromise when necessary, and made extra effort toward the final project.
Work-in-progress. If a student fails to demonstrate work-in-progress in any studio session where projects are being reviewed, one letter grade will be deducted from the final project grade for each such occurrence. Finished projects turned in with no demonstration of work-in-progress will not be accepted.
Late work. There is a one-letter-grade per week deduction for work turned in late. Work is considered late if turned in after the close of class, for any reason. Major project work on formal presentation days is late if the student is late for the start of class.
Incompletes. No incompletes will be given, except for documented medical or family emergencies. Refer to the official department policies for additional information.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend all classes. Only fully documented absences due to illness or significant hardship may be excused, solely at the instructor's discretion. However, even excused absences do not fulfill class participation requirements, and grades may therefore reflect this. Three unexcused absences constitute failure.
A student is counted as Late for arrival beyond 15 minutes from the published start time of class. Departure before the end of class is also counted as one Late. Two instances of lateness are considered equal to one absence.
DURING STUDIO SESSIONS
Attend studio sessions from the start of class, as usual.
Bring project elements to work on in class, and for work-in-progress review.
Expect unscheduled lecture/demos to be given on relevant topics.
DURING FINISHED PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
All students must be present from the start of class, since evaluation will be part of the review process. Lateness to or absence from these classes constitutes complete failure of the given project.
Additional Guidelines
You must have easy access to a multimedia-capable computer with portable external storage for bringing your work to class. Do not count on the lab's removable-media drives, bring your own. A small external Firewire or USB flash drive is very useful. If using your own system at home, have Quicktime 7 or later installed. The Pro version is highly recommended.
Technical failures are not accepted as an excuse for late work. Do not mis-read sympathy from the instructor as forgiveness. Expect the unexpected. Be paranoid and be prepared. Don't wait to do work until the last minute, and always save sequential work-in-process. Back up work frequently on CD-RW or other media. Make 2 copies, and keep them in different places. (Students can also use their personal storage space on the DDA server, but only consider this as temporary storage.)
Remember: Except during your presentation of the final versions of your exercises and final project, you must show "work in progress" (which includes unfinished art, rough animations, and bugs... all of these things are normal). It is expected that each student will show what they are working on, each week. Showing nothing at all is not acceptable. Even if something is not working, you must bring it to class. Do not erase code that failed; comment-out the bad code, but bring it in so we can debug it. Before leaving for class each week, check your portable media to be sure you actually have the current version of your project files.
Students who are experiencing difficulties, or feel they are falling behind, are encouraged to see the instructor immediately.
Plagiarism Policy
When you copy work that was actually created by another person -- from any book, web site, computer file, anywhere -- without giving credit to the original author, you are implying that you yourself did the work. This is called plagiarism. It is dishonest and is not acceptable at Pratt Institute.
Getting help and collaborating with friends is acceptable, as long as the work the students submits in class is her/his own. Using a few images or sounds by someone else, copying samples of code, or using sentences from another work, is also fine: IF credit is given to the source of the original work. When no credit is given, that is plagiarism.
Beyond this, note that festivals, galleries, and competitions will expect that a student's work is completely original, or that -- for the portions which are not -- he/she has secured legal permission to use the works of others. It is also unwise to include work in a portfolio which is not entirely original.
It is the policy of DDA and Pratt to emphasize respect for the creative works of others. Infringement takes place when -- without permission -- a substantial part of a work is copied, made available to others, or adapted into a new form. Images, text, logos, software, sounds, film/video clips, email, postings to newsgroups, and other works distributed electronically are protected by copyright, just as they are in traditional media. Appropriate use of the internet and digital storage media implies responsibilities and is encouraged. Protection technologies such as watermarking and encryption are supported and must be respected. DDA does not condone copyright infringement and disciplinary action will be taken if this policy is violated.