The
Texas Center for Educational Technology gives the following course
description for Digital Graphics & Animation:
Digital Graphics and Animation is
an introductory course in design, typography, and imaging techniques.
The course includes topics such as digital composition, color, imaging,
editing, and animation. An integral component in other areas, understanding
design elements is essential in the creation of a successful product
in this course. The student will use the computer's set of tools,
common to bitmapped and object-oriented software programs, to produce
and edit digital designs as well as to incorporate design principles
when capturing digital images with the scanner and camera. Students
will work with color, resolution, and halftones as well as other
image enhancing strategies including outlining, cropping, digital
manipulation, color correction, masking, and the use of channels,
paths, background, and layers. Animation, both 2-D and 3-D, will
be introduced in this course. Students enrolled in this course will
be computer literate and have experience with the basic electronic
productivity and telecommunication tools. A prerequisite for this
course is grades 6-8 Technology Applications Knowledge and Skills.
The
Impact of Digital Graphics & Animation on Society
Digital
Graphics and animation has impacted our society in so many ways.
We see images or animations on the internet, on the television,
at the movie theaters, in magazines and newspapers, in the games
we play, on the products that we purchase, and many other places.
As children we grew up watching cartoons and commercials. But as
teachers, we can help our students to distinguish between reality
and creative art. Technology applications does help students to
look critically at today's technological world.
History
The
history of digital graphics and animation does not actually begin
until the 1950s, although some timelines trace back to the beginning
of computers. Here are links for digital graphics and animation
timelines:
History
of Computer Generated Imagery - This is
informative but hard to read. It was created by an instructor at
Ohio State
Timeline
of the History of CGI - This timeline goes way back to the beginning
of computing
Digital
Art Museum - Very easy to read
History
of Animation - This site also goes all the way back to the beginning
of animation.
History
of Computer Animation in the Movies - This site looks at digital
animation in the movies only
Pesuasiveness
and Marketing
Digital
graphics or animation is definitely used as persuasive marketing
tool today. They are created to appeal to the viewer. Large amounts
of money are spent in marketing research. As the digital world changes,
companies will have to work harder and spend more money to keep
viewers interested. The
Change Mariner reports that companies will not be able to rely
on network ads alone because consumers can tune out commercials
with the new technologies. They will have to step up their other
avenues of marketing to keepin touch with consumers. This commercial
site tries to cover all aspects of marketing, except for television:
Marketing
in the 21st Century.
Role
Played
Digital
graphics and animation play many roles today. Advertising and entertainment
are the top two. The outlook for students interested in graphic
design is very favorable. Below are links to sites for graphic design
related careers:
Job
Descriptions
Job
Outlook
Graphics
Design Schools
Computer
Animation Schools
Point
of View
We
can look at digital graphics and animation from several points of
view. The consumer is normally looking at the entertainement value.
The student may be looking at the entertainment value but they also
may be intrigued enough to further their studies in graphics design.
As educators we look at how we can use digital graphics or animation
to supplement our curriculum. Business looks at it as a tool, either
for advertising or marketing purposes: a magazine ad, a television
commercial, or maybe a corporate logo.
Fredel,
Timothy (2004). Digital Impact, Television Advertising.
Retreived July 5, 2004, from: http://www.changemariner.com/a/002894.html
Machover,
Carl (1978). A Brief, Personal History of Computer Graphics. Retrieved
July 5, 2004 from: http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/PDFs/machover.pdf
Mitchell,
Keith, Ph.D (1999). Dr. Mitchell's Perspective on the Digital
Graphics/Animation Course. Retreived July 5, 2004, from: http://www.tcet.unt.edu/START/instruct/hs/dga_km.htm
Resources
Dr.
Mitchell's Perspective on the Digital Graphics/Animation Course
- Dr. Mitchell is an Education Development
Executive for Apple Computers and these are his reflections or opinions
on this course.
Sample
Course Outlines - Sample Course outlines
compiled by TCET
Sample
Teaching Ideas - Sample teaching ideas
compiled by TCET
General
Animation Resources - General Animation resources compiled by
TCET
Flash
and LiveMotion - Flash and LiveMotion resources compiled by
TCET
General
Graphics Productions - General graphics
resources compiled by TCET
Software
Specific Graphics Resources - List of resources for specific
graphics programs, like Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator,
Macromedia Fireworks and more.
Scanning
Resources - How-tos for scanning images.
Professional
Organizations - Professional Organizations that may be helpful.
Logo
Examples - Nice website for showing students
examples of logos. Also has some good tutorials under "All
the other stuff".
Chemist's
Art Gallery - List of science-related animations.
Collection
of graphics and animations - Nice collections of award-winning
graphics and animations.
Graphics
and Animations - Very nice collections of graphics and animations
from the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab.
Computer
Graphics Research - Information on the mathematical foundations
of computer graphics
The
Toy Story - Summary of how The Toy Story was made.
Pixar
and The Toy Story
- An article about the first, full-length, all digital movie.
Universal
Studioes - The Computer Graphics Dept. at Universal Studios
CGI
Training - An article about training to work in the entertainment/film
industry
Making
of Monsters - Interview with Pixar on the making of the Monsters
Inc.
Java
Applets - Java applets for use in teaching computer graphics
concepts
Free
Graphics Tool - A free graphics tool for classroom use.
Games
- Graphics in games
Graphics
Den - Lots of examples of graphics and some lessons
Computer
Graphics Labs - Large list of computer graphics labs
Photoshop
- An interesting site created by a Photoshop Hall of Fame winner
Comstock
- Large collection of images
Graphic
Design Center - Lots of resources
Lynda
- List of resources from the lynda.com
Graphic
File Formats - Links to resources about file formats
What
is Computer Graphics - Tutorial from Cornell's Computer Graphics
department
History
of Computer Graphics - A history of computer graphics by decade
Computer
Graphics History - The history of computer graphics according
to Carl Machover
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