Posts Tagged 3d game design
Expect the Best With Digital Media Academy Summer Camps
Digital Media Academy News + Events | May 31st, 2010 by Instructor
What can you expect from a Digital Media Academy Instructor?
What are the summer camps like?
As a regular instructor for several companies around the San Francisco Bay Area, I believe it is important to ensure that every class I teach is different from the last. Even if I teach 5 consecutive classes on CSS, each class has a completely different set of students, each with different skill levels and interests. In many training centers, often classes really do end up exactly the same. Many instructors I have worked with simply plod along, following the curriculum word by word, line by line. No deviations, and no excitement. Of course, as a student you can ask questions and take advantage of their expertise in the field. But that experience doesn’t make for an interesting class. You may learn the topic, but it’s not fun.
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3D Game Creation – Level Design – Building Virtual Worlds
Digital Media Academy News + Events | May 20th, 2010 by Penny
The Growing Market for Virtual Tourism
The breadth and scope of games today have expanded far beyond the early efforts in the medium. Where previous games once tracked only a few actors and a single play-screen, modern games immerse players in sprawling worlds filled with talking people and objects to interact with.
Simple Graphics for Vintage Video Games
Stanford Summer Camp for kids 6-18
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 31st, 2010 by Ben Hess
Stanford University’s innovation fuels creativity at Summer Camp !
Spring has sprung here in Silicon Valley, and before you know it, the school year will come to a close. We’re thrilled about Digital Media Academy’s summer camp lineup at Stanford and hope your 6-18 year old will join us for a week or two … or more!
Digital Media Academy offers both residential sleepaway and day summer camp options on Stanford’s picturesque campus, just minutes from downtown Palo Alto, in the heart of innovative, dynamic Silicon Valley. Whether you’re local, hosting grandchildren, or bringing the family out for a visit, Stanford University is the ideal location for US summer camps to explore filmmaking, game design, web design, photography and all the creative digital arts.
While the kids are soaking in the Stanford University summer camp experience, and learning to create visual effects for future careers with Avatar 6 or World of Warcraft, you’ll have prime access to all the Bay Area has to offer – San Francisco Giants or Oakland A’s baseball, Wine Tours in Napa Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains, and beaches in Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, and Marin County.
As we’re an Apple Authorized Training Center, you can explore Digital Media Academy’s adult classes at Stanford University, regardless of whether you’re a seasoned pro or avid hobbyist.
One of our Stanford University summer camp instructors, Melanie Levy, is a professional documentary filmmaker and video producer. She recently reflected on the broad diversity of previous Digital Media Academy students, and she’s excited to guide this summer’s aspiring filmmakers through the documentary process.
Simply click here: Stanford University Summer Camps to see class availability and instructor bios at Stanford. We look forward to meeting you and teaching your child this summer!
Videogame Abacci
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 22nd, 2010 by Instructor
Videogame Abacci
By Oliver Barraza: 3D Game Design & Programming Instructor
Remember all those math classes you’ve taken, remember how fun they were? Yeah, neither do I. But imagine a class where you learn math while playing a video game. Did I get your attention now?
Videogame Abacci is Stanford Mathematician Keith Devlin’s theory of how math should be taught. Devlin says textbooks are quite possibly the worst way to teach math at a grade school level. People learn the best when they experience something in a real world situation as apposed to just reading it in a book. Devlin’s goal is to create a game like World of Warcraft, but as you play online with your friends your actually learning how to do basic algebra and geometry at the same time.
I’m sure by now you’ve said to yourself, “This guy can’t be serious, games about learning are for babies.” So lets use our mind’s eye to imagine one of these math based games. The kids are required to build a flying machine to help them get around in the world—lets pretend in this world there is no land, only floating cities. Now in order to build one of these flying machines the students must select the individual parts: Engine; Wings, Landing Gear; Propeller Prop(s), Machine Body; etc.
Now the game will allow you to use any parts you want without restriction, and when your done it gives you the stats of your flying machine: Weight, Max Thrust; Wing Span, Cargo Space Dimensions; etc. Now the kids can login to the game and try their airship, but without a knowledge of physics their sweet new airship will just fall apart or run itself into the ground.
This will encourage the students to go to their teachers, parents and older siblings with a desire to learn more about physics. Once they master the basics they will be building cooler and cooler flying machines to show off and battle.
As you can see this game model not only sounds fun but the reward for creating your own machine is even better when you do it yourself.
At the Digital Media Academy we take a similar approach. The pre-teen courses, 3D Game Programming and 3D Role Playing Games & Strategy, introduce the boys and girls to computer game programming in a way that doesn’t involve heavy textbooks. Using the Alice Object Oriented Programming system we teach kids and teens how to program by showing them how to create their own games and stories! In the process of creating their own game they are also learning the basics of videogame and computer programming.
Check this video out for a little more information on Alice.
All DMA instructors have real world experience to bring into the classroom. We teach the youth, teens and adults what we do every day in our industries. We give real world examples and talk about your favorite games.
Are your kids or you interested in video games or computers? Learn more about our Summer Camp, or Sign Up and join me at this year’s summer camp at Stanford University in sunny Palo Alto or any of our ten other locations.
And be sure to keep up with out blog, there is always new and exciting things being posted here!
Virtual Teaching in our 2nd Renaissance
Digital Media Academy News + Events | April 3rd, 2009 by Instructor
By Chris Platz, Lead 3d Game Art and Design Instructor, DMA @ Stanford University
After last week’s Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, I realized that we are indeed in a new Renaissance, and most of us don’t even know it. The current convergence of social networks, virtual worlds, and games is connecting people world wide faster, and in new ways that are mind boggling.
The research going on in the two departments I work in at Stanford has opened my eyes to many of these new paradigm shifts on the Web. The current group I am spending the most time with is the Stanford Humanities Lab shl.stanford.edu
This is where society meets art, meets technology. Our new open source 3D virtual world platform Sirikata is being developed so that anyone can build a networked virtual environment, and use it for what ever they like.
http://www.sirikata.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
The other research going on the the Computer Science Department, Graphics group, is also truly amazing. Tools that allow for anyone to build a great avatar will soon be available. A few Ph.D. students have a rendering system that rendered over 12 BILLION polygons realtime, and with 6 simultaneous users in that networked environment! Incredible advances.
What does all of this mean for me as an instructor? By next year we’ll have a virtual classroom environment in 3D, with people logged in from all over the world. Inside people will be able to upload their 3D models and textures directly from their favorite 3D package, and we’ll build worlds, games, whatever, together and be able to talk with Voip. All of this will happen with dynamic lighting.
This should all trickle down to K-12 education, and allow children to start building virtual environments to express themselves, learn, and communicate in such a manner that they will far surpass us old folks by the time I see them in my DMA students in college classrooms. They already know more than I do in many ways, and I love the collaborative learning that goes on when generations come together around new technologies.
Amazing 3D Flash Website with "Real" Interactivity : Learn How to Make a Website at DMA
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 23rd, 2009 by Philip Harding
Learn how to become a web designer at DMA!
This is such an exciting time to be a web designer! Web users are getting more web savvy every day, online software applications are becoming the norm, the internet has become a part of most people’s daily lives, people are connected almost everywhere they go, half of everyone’s life is help somewhere on the net, and internet connections are faster than ever! This is a great time to be a web designer!
At DMA you’ll learn the web design skills and techniques to build amazing websites. Digital Media Academy’s pro web courses are built around Adobe’s web creative suite of applications including Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Flash.
Earlier this week I came across a CNN “Breaking News” video clip that demoed a new site by GE. This site uses 3d animation, live video, and Flash technology together with a tangible piece of paper you print out from the site. They are calling this “Augmented Reality.” The website uses your computer’s built-in camera and microphone to interact with website. Check it out! It is a very interesting site that shows a little of what is possible when combing your web developer skills and a good chunk of imagination. Creative web designers and web developers continue to push the limits of what is possible on the new web frontier.
Watch the CNN Video Clip!
(Opens in New Window)
Learn more about web design training courses and summer camps at DMA!
Video Games Fight the Economy: Making Video Games + Playing Video Games = Making More Money & Feeling Better!
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 23rd, 2009 by Philip Harding
We all know video games improve your life, right?
This morning I pulled out my digital newspaper (iPhone), espresso, and bowl of Wheaties… I watched my CNN video news update on my iPhone. Who reads real newspapers anymore? I enjoy listening to Marc Andreesen, (creator of Netscape, founder of Ning, etc..) who is calling for all newspapers to stop the presses – saying print is dead. Interesting idea… but I digress.
What I found very interesting was one of the CNN top stories involving the video game industry. Even though there are a few supposed rumblings going around about a struggling economy and some crazy idea about a recession, the video game industry is fighting back and stronger than ever. The video game industry earned $1.3 billion dollars in video game and console sales in January! This dollar amount is up 13% from January 2008! This is a great time to switch job careers and become a video game designer at DMA!
“Video Games also Reduce Stress and Anxiety!”
After digesting my morning digital news, I switched over to one of my favorite iPhone Apps from Howcast.com (in about 30 seconds I can watch a video and learn how to make fortune cookies or talk my way out of a speeding ticket – one of the best time-wasting Apps you can download from the iTunes App Store). One of the top videos in the list was “How to Reduce Anxiety“. Researchers have found that playing a video game eased anxiety in young patients awaiting surgery better than a prescription tranquilizer! Way to go Mario! Goal oriented video game play boosts dopamine in the brain – a chemical linked to positive feeling!
Making video games & playing video games never felt so good! This is a great time to be a video game designer!
Video Game Courses for Adults
Video Game Courses for Teens
Video Game Camps for Kids
Adventures: Kids Learn Video Game Creation
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 17th, 2009 by Ben
I’m Ben Jaffe, one of the instructors for Digital Media Academy’s Adventures Program. I teach Game Design and Web Design.
On the surface, the Game Design class may look somewhat straightforward. But it’s much more than simply creating fun games with our students. In our classes, we also teach important programming concepts, which can be the foundation for a future programming career.
Game Building can be frustrating for somebody who has never done it before. As games become more and more complex, the instructors are there to help them understand how to build their games well. Programmers call it “extensibility.” Here’s an example of how students encounter this in DMA’s Adventures Game Design class:
A few days into the week, we usually start working on an RPG game. The player controls a character who interacts with bystanders in the game to get information or collect items. The students quickly discover how frustrating it is to program actions for every single bystander in the game individually. The same goes for other objects in the game, such as allies, enemies, keys, coins, and projectiles. It’s much easier to group them together, and make a rule saying, “Whenever the character talks to any bystander, run this action.”
Extensibility is not the only programming concept that we teach to the kids. They learn the importance of game planning, bug testing, and proper pacing to effectively meet deadlines. They also develop an understanding of variables, and an introductory understanding of object-oriented programming. Instead of lecturing to the students, we let them discover and understand the concepts by themselves, with guidance.
Most importantly, we teach the kids programming concepts without them even realizing it! If they pursue a career in computer science or game design, they will already understand the importance of extensibility, testing, planning, and pacing. Though it may seem like just another fun summer course, every student gets much more out of it – skills they can use for the rest of their lives.
See you in the Summer!
3d Video Game Design Experience at DMA Summer Camp
Digital Media Academy News + Events | February 19th, 2009 by Philip Harding
Watch an actual student talk about his experience at DMA’s Teen 3d Video Game Design Program. He used 3ds Max to create a 3d Mario World and 3d characters to match.
