Henry S. Baird    Spring 2008 Course


Introduction to Engineering Practice:

Computer Animation

ENGR 5       CRN:  41682


First-year practical engineering experience: introduction to concepts, methods, and principles of engineering practice.  Problem solving, design, project planning, communication, teamwork, ethics and professionalism. Innovative solution development and implementation. Introduction to various engineering disciplines and degree programs.

Prerequisites:  None.  No prior computer or programming experience is required.

Course objective: To provide an intensive small-team software engineering project experience.  In five weeks, two- or three-person teams will design and implement a short computer animation or interactive game using a 3D color animation programming language, Alice (www.alice.org).  Alice is a rich subset of the widely used systems programming language Java, in which instructions control movement, shape, lighting, etc of a vast assortment of objects (persons, animals, vehicles, buildings, skies, etc), including camera moves.  The goal, however, is not mastering a programming language; rather, it is building and running an interesting/amusing/beautiful animation or game. 

Textbook:  Textbook is provided by the Instructor.

Laboratories:  Wednesdays & Fridays 1:10-3:00 PM.

Instructor:  Prof. Henry Baird, CSE Dept.; Email hsb2@lehigh.edu; office:  Packard Lab 514C.   Office Hour:  Wednesdays 12-1 PM.

Lab Assistant: Yaoyao Zhu (yaz304@lehigh.edu)

BlackBoard site:  <to be determined>

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:  If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting accommodations, please contact both your instructor and the Office of Academic Support Services, University Center 212 (610-758-4152) as early as possible in the semester.  You must have documentation from the Academic Support Services office before accommodations can be granted.

Topics Covered:  How to brainstorm creatively within small teams. How to plan using storyboards.  How to construct an Alice "world" of objects, ground, sky, lighting, etc.  How to control the virtual camera.  How to capture and program motions and poses of animated people, animals, etc. How to coordinate motions of multiple objects.  How to simulate physics of statics and dynamics. How to synchronize music and other sound effects. How to make animations run interactively. Development by top-down refinement.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask the instructor: hsb2@lehigh.edu.