Essentials
1 | essentials
Introduction
When people view a canonical work by Piet Mondrian like the one at right, they are quick to observe its flatness, its graphic quality, and its precision. Upon closer inspection, they are surprised to find the artist’s hand in brush marks and a lack of ruled (i.e. guided) edge; these are paintings, and the works have to be seen in person to appreciate their material reality. In Philadelphia, the home of newMediaWiki, we have the opportunity to do so at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
What’s harder to understand, even in person, is that the works are not flat. There are implications about space — and time — in the works that can only be understood by placing them in the context of the artistic evolution of Mondrian’s classic vocabulary of orthogonal lines, planes, values, and saturated primary hues.
With 3D modeling, rendering, and animation, we have the perfect media to explore the space-time ramifications of Mondrian’s work.
Composition with Large Red Plane,
Yellow, Black, Gray and Blue
oil on canvas, 1921
Objectives
After completing this project you will be able to:
- understand and use the basic historical and theoretical framework of modeling, the basic dimensional elements of 3D visual design, and the expressions of geometry and projection drawing inherent to the digital modeling process
- work with the user interface, basic polygon, basic light and basic camera modeling tools of Maya
- understand the importance of Maya project management and proper file setup
- create an emotionally and intellectually satisfying narrative using the animation principles of squash & stretch and exaggeration while accounting for the logical translation of physics to a model
- present your animation process and product using blog and website platforms