Unique New Academic Degree in Visual & Game Programming for Southern California

July 18, 2006; 04:32 AM

The Art Institute of California - Orange County announces the launch of a new bachelor's degree program in Visual & Game Programming, designed to prepare the next generation of technical artists for the animation and video game industries.

The program begins with a foundation in art and design. Then students enter into the more technical areas of programming for 3-D animation. Students learn the essential skills to effectively solve technical problems and play the indispensable role between the technical programmer and the creative artist. With an advantage of having artistic talent combined with the knowledge and skills of programming for 3-D development, the students will have an edge in finding a wide range of employment opportunities in the entertainment and game production industries. The curriculum trains students for entry-level positions that include technical artist, technical developer, assistant technical director, 3-D tools programmer, artist wizard, data wrangler, rendering wrangler or junior technical cinematic artist.

The program focuses on student ability to write, extend and modify programs/scripts for 3-D animation. Students will be introduced to the principles of programming, which enables them to enter into the world of shading development, motion capture management, and pipeline streamlining. They will learn programming and scripting tools such as Perl, C++, C-shell, MEL scripting, MAXScript, DirectX & OpenGL and become familiar with various operating systems. The bachelor's degree program is 12 quarters and contains 192 quarter credits, including 56 quarter credits in general education.

"Local video game and animation companies are clamoring for employees with these specific technical programming skills. This major will be a great service to the local industry," said Tom Jung, Art Director at Point-of-View Studios in Irvine, Calif. and Game Art & Design Instructor for The Art Institute.

"To develop a game or animated feature film, it takes the work of both artists and programmers," explains Larry Richman, Media Arts & Animation Academic Director at The Art Institute of California - Orange County. "The artist creates characters, backgrounds and other graphics to make the game visually appealing and exciting. The programmer creates programs and scripts to enable the various movements and interactions of characters and objects. For both sides to work effectively as a team, it is critical to have a third party known as the technical artist."

The curriculum was developed with input from game and animation industry veterans, including professionals from the International Game Developers Association, Electronic Arts, Acclaim, Red Storm Entertainment, Digital Domain, Pixar Animation Studios, PDI/DreamWorks, Microsoft, Stormfront Studios, BioWare and other companies.

According to Richman, the technical artist must have the artistic talent and abilities, and as importantly, be well versed in the technical aspects of the game or animation in order to be capable of comprehending the intent of the artistic creator and the technical needs to achieve the intended results of the game designers. With that unique understanding, the technical artist can customize the programming tools in a computer software application to best meet the needs of an individual production.

Students may now enroll in the Visual & Game Programming major for the Summer 2006 quarter, which starts July 10. For more information call 1-888-549-3055 or visit www.aicaoc.artinstitutes.edu

The Art Institute of California - Orange County

The Art Institute of California - Orange County is a design, media and culinary arts school providing bachelor's and associate's degrees in Advertising, Culinary Arts, Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interactive Media Design, Interior Design, Media Arts & Animation and Visual & Game Programming. Located in the heart of Orange County's South Coast Metro region, The Art Institute is ideally situated in close proximity to Orange County's thriving business community, cultural attractions, shopping, entertainment and its famous beaches. The school is one of The Art Institutes, www.artinstitutes.edu, with 32 education institutions located throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.