Course Web for CS777 Computer Animation

These are the parts of the final project.

Note that there are separate handin things for Moodle to turn in each part.

Note: as far as I know, everyone has requested (and was granted) the no-cost extension. Note: if you need to turn things in after the 5pm Tuesday May 14th no cost extension deadline you (1) must make arrangements with me via email and (2) may be penalized.

Note: each part must be done by each person. (unless it is explicitly a per-group component: showing the movie in class, providing the final movie, and the movie synopsis).

1. Presentations

On Friday, May 10th, everyone gets their 5 minutes in class to explain what they did. Feel free to bring materials to use in your “talk” (slides, videos). If you want to bring them on a USB stick and trust my laptop, you can. (this will minimize switching headaches).

Each of the movie groups will also get 5 minutes to show their current state (which may not be the final thing)

Grading: There will be an assessment of how well you present (but this will be a minor thing and won’t influence any grade much). It will also help me assess your content.

2. Reading List / Annotated Bibliography

On Friday May 10th (no cost extension deadline: 5pm, Tuesday, May 14th), you must turn in your reading list / annotated bibliography.

The minimum is 3 papers. I strongly recommend that you have more than the minimum.

For each reading that you did, provide the full citation information (including a web link), a short synopsis (at least a paragraph, maybe a few paragraphs), and a brief explanation of how it influenced your project. (it’s OK to say that it didn’t)

There is a moodle assignment for handing these in. Please upload either a PDF. (I much prefer a PDF to a word document – but if you really have to, other forms will be accepted).

Grading: These will be assessed on a qualitative scale, and contribute towards your project grade.

3. Project Writeup

On Friday May 10th (no cost extension deadline: 5pm, Tuesday, May 14th), you must turn in your project writeup.

This is the document where you describe what you did. Be sure to describe what problem you were trying to solve, the approach you chose (and maybe others that you considered), a discussion of you implementation, and a presentation and evaluation of your results (even a personal, qualitative assesment). Your writeup really needs to convey what you did, what you made, what the “thing” does, what you were able to do with it, …

One thing: if there is something that might not be obvious from looking at the results, be sure to explain it.

Use pictures as much as possible to help give me an idea of what systems look like, as well as to show the results.

I strongly prefer a PDF to any other format, but will accommodate other forms if that isn’t possible.

Grading: These will be assessed both for document quality, as well as for being the primary way I decide what you’ve done and how good it is. So they are a big part of how I will determine your project grade.

There is a separate moodle assignment just for handing these in.

4. Project Artifacts

On Friday May 10th (no cost extension deadline: 5pm, Tuesday, May 14th), you must turn in your project artifacts.

Please upload a single ZIP file to the moodle assignment (there is a specific moodle assignment for these). You zip file should include:

1. a README file listing all the files and explaining what they are
2. any examples you created (movie files, pictures, …) – be sure to describe them in the README (or have an additional caption file explaining the pictures beyond the readme)
3. your source code (please include instructions in the README on what is required to build it)
4. any data files you think are relevant (for example data required to make the examples you turned in).

Grading: these will be examined (especially the examples) to help figure out the magnitude and quality of your project. I may look at code to get a sense of how much you implemented, and how much effort went into building something decent, but I will not assess your code or try to build it. (if I feel the need to do this, I will contact you)

The moodle limit for a ZIP file is 200MB. You should not need anywhere near this much.

Self / Peer Assessment

Note: this may be turned in up to 12 hours after the other parts are due. (e.g. by Noon Wednesday, May 15th).

If you worked with a partner, please write up (for each partner):

1. How well did you work together (on the combined parts)?
2. How did you divide up the combined parts (who did what)?
3. How do you assess their individual technical component?
4. How do you assess their contribution to the final group project?

You can send these to me via email.

As far as your self-assessment, please answer the following questions.

• How well did you think it turned out?
• What went right?
• If you had another week, how might it have been better?
• What did you learn from the experience?
• For each member of your group (including yourself): what grade would you give for this project and why? The “why” is particularly important if you don’t give everyone the same grade.
• It’s a cliché to ask “what did you learn from this project.” It’s also a difficult question to answer (but good self-reflection). So you can answer it if you can think of it.
  An easier question (or pair): What advice would you give to someone starting this project? or What would you do the same/differently from what you did if you had to do it again?
• Optionally: what could we have done in class that would have made you better prepared to do this project? Did this project suggest a topic for class we didn’t cover? Is there some skill we should have taught? …

Please upload your self-evaluation to the moodle assignment. Note: I prefer a PDF, but you can actually just enter text into the textbox for this one.

Grading: I will give you an assessment of the thoroughness of your evaluations, but these will not be used to determine what you did for your project (except in unusual circumstances). So, its better to give a thorough and honest reflection, than to delude yourself and tersely say things were great if they weren’t.

The last of the “project checkpoints” is due on Friday May 3rd, by 5pm.

Each person must send me an email.

Please send me an email that:

1. gives me an update on your technical and artistic (if you’re making a movie) progress. a few sentences is fine, but hopefully, I should get a sense of how well things are going (especially if there were issues in prior weeks)
2. an explanation of what you expect to show for your in-class demo on Friday, May 10th. note: informal is fine for this demo (a few minutes demo, and a brief explanation of what you did). we don’t have time for everyone to give a formal presentation
3. describes what form you expect to turn in your final result (do you want to give a final demo, turn in movie files showing off what you did, …). be explicit about what kinds of things you expect to turn in (e.g. source code to a simulator, a few movie files showing off how the simulator works, the final movie, and the 3ds max file and assets in a big zip file)
4. describes when you want to turn it in. (e.g. will you want the no cost extensions, …)

Note: for your final movies, I recommend that you post them on some video sharing service (Vimeo, YouTube) – you can make them private/password protected if you like (just let me know what the password is). However, I will also want a movie file for archiving, as well.

Officially, the final project is due at the end of classes, 5pm, May 10th.

Partially late assignments will be granted (subject the rules below). However, nothing will be accepted after noon on Thursday May 16th (so that I can get grades in on time). Note that in order to qualify for the extension, you need to follow some of the rules below.

What is required from final projects:

1. Each person must turn in an annotated bibliography.
2. Each person must turn in a writeup.
3. Each person must turn in their technical artifacts
4. Each group must turn in their artifact
5. Each group must give an informal demo (or show at least a draft of their movie) in class on May 10th.
6. Each person must turn in a self-evaluation and partner evaluations.

#5 is due in class on Friday, May 10th. If you cannot make this class, you must make an arrangement to show something in front of class beforehand (Tomislav has done this already).

All other parts are due by 5pm on May 10th. You may have a no-cost extension until Tuesday May 14th, 5pm if you request the extension as part of the May 3rd checkpoint. Note: you must present something in class even if you take the extensions. I was going to make going to the distinguished lecture a criterion for getting the extension, but I am not going to take attendance.

You may turn things in later (up until noon Thursday, May 16th) but I reserve the right to penalize you for being late.

Details for what you must do for each of these parts will be announced soon.