Teens: Digital Media Academy Certification: Maya

Overview

Digital Media Academy Certifications are recognized by both industry and education as a standard of excellence.  Over the past 7 years DMA has earned a reputation of providing some of the highest-level instruction in the quick moving and ever-changing world of Digital Media.  DMA’s Maya Certification Program is created from 4 unique weeklong courses that together cover all of the major components of the professional modeling and animation workflow with Maya Unlimited®.

Because DMA’s Maya Certification Program is built from multiple courses students can attend one, two, three or the entire four weeks in one summer or over multiple summers.  This gives students flexibility on how many weeks they choose to attend. Each week stands alone as a complete learning experience with a defined set of objectives and a final project. Students who choose to, can then move on over multiple weeks and earn certification.

Outcome

Being (DMA) Maya certified means that not only has the student touched on all major parts of the Maya software and work flow, but that he/she has completed an animated short film. The knowledge gained in Maya I, Maya II, and Maya III is illustrated through a completed narrative-driven short completed at the end of Maya IV. This short will be a student designed, modeled, textured, lit, animated, and directed project — many of which will be ready for the animation festival circuit. The project is a tightly constructed project showing mastery of the art and tools of Maya animation.

Highlights

  • Fleixble, modular program
  • Earn DMA Maya Certification
  • Complete a portfolio of your work and an animated short film
  • Learn professional modeling and animation techniques and workflow with Maya Unlimited
  • Earn (optional) Stanford continuing studies credit

Week by Week Curriculum Overview

Week Course Title Learning Objectives Outcome
DMA Certification in Maya
Week I Maya I
  • Explore the Maya interface, workflow and production pipeline
  • In-depth analysis of the modeling and texturing process
  • Basic rigging and character animation
 Completed, fully modeled, textured, lit and rendered interior set design.
Week 2 Maya II
  • Explore the high-end aspects of Maya’s animation package
  • In-depth exploration of the dope sheet and graph editor
  • Custom character control systems, rigs and skinweigts
 Completion of multiple animation projects
Week 3 Maya III
  • Advanced character animation
  • Customized facial animation
  • Exploration of core issue of arcs, spine and hip placement, weight shift, and other character animation techniques.
 Completion of several mini-scenes in which a character or characters walk, talk, and speak.
Week 4 Maya IV
  • Narratives & storyboarding
  • Framing, Cinematography
  • Animation animatics
  • Creation of custom characters rigged to interact with their environments
 Completion of an animated short film
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©2001 - 2011 Digital Media Academy, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Media Academy, Inc. represents the best in high-tech teen summer camps, advanced media, digital art and computer training classes for professionals and adult learners, and day and overnight kids computer camps. Learn more about Digital Media Academy on Wikipedia.

Locations in the United States and in Canada. For Adults: Stanford University in the San Francisco Bay Area; Digital Media Academy Training Center; Northern and Southern California; University of California, San Diego; University of Texas at Austin; Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For Kids & Teens: Stanford University in the San Francisco Bay Area; in Northern California; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, San Diego; University of Texas at Austin; Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts;University of Chicago - Illinois; University of British Columbia; George Washington University in Washington DC; Drexel University in Philadelphia; Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.