Atari E.T. Video Game Unearthed

During the early 1980’s the home video game console Atari ruled the gaming market. But with the proliferation of competing gaming systems and a lack of interesting games the home gaming boom came to an end with what is known as The Video Game Crash of 1983. Although several other boring games contributed to the crash, the crash is often attributed to the failure of the Atari video game E.T. Credited as the worst video game ever Atari was left with over 750,000 unsold game cartridges which where buried in a land fill in Utah. The game cartridges  were recently unearthed by a team making a documentary about the game and it’s demise.

Pixelated People and Pixel Bodies

Illustrator and children’s book author Andy Rash created a variety of pixelated characters from the 2012 presidential candidates and numerous characters from movies and TV shows. See more of his pixelated characters on his site, by clicking here, or Google his name. Use the sample provided in the links as a model to create a body for your own pixelated characters.

Sample Pixel People from the Internet

Study the following pixelated portraits and search the Internet for your own examples. Identify the form that can be created by using a variety of values to show the highlight, middle tone, and shadow areas of the face. Analyze the features of your face and determine where the values will be placed.

Questions to Consider

What is does 8 bit or 16 bit mean when referring to video games?
How does the bit rate relate to Dots Per Inch (DPI) in computer graphics?
What are the defining characteristics of the second-generation scroll platform video games?
How many pixels would it take to render the details of your face?

Vocabulary

Frame Rate in animation, the number of frames in a second of playback.
Form an object that appears to have volume and that take up space.
Highlight the lightest area of a form under direct light.
Portrait n. a picture, painting, or photograph of someones face.
Proportion n. the size relation between the parts of an object and the whole.
Shadow the darker areas of a forms surface under light.
Shape n. the outward form of an object defined by an outline.
Space n. the feeling of depth in a picture.
Stop Motion Animation a cinematic technique used to makes static objects appear as if they were moving.
Theme n. 1. A subject or motif of a piece of work.
Timeline n. a sequence of event over a period of time.
Value n. the lightness or darkness of a color or a tone.

Tutorial | Pixel Portrait

Use the following tutorial to create a self-portrait in the 8 bit pixelated style using Adobe Illustrator.

Tutorial | Creating the Body

Stop Motion Photography

Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer who is known for his work in photographic studies of motion. In 1877 he conducted a study of animal locomotion, walking or running animals, where he photographed multiple stages of an animals’ movements then viewed them in rapid succession. The result is some of the first motion pictures in history.

Creating Walking Poses for Animation

Animation is the process of creating the illusion of a moving image using a sequences of static (still) images in rapid display. The animation below shows two poses of Mr. Pixel to create the illusion that he is walking. Below is a sample walking sequence of Mario from the early home game version of Donkey Kong. Use the tutorials that follows to create a simple animation of your walking pixel person.

Tutorial | Animated Walking Sequence in Photoshop

Tutorial | Animated Walking Sequence in After Effects

Possible Projects

1. Create a pixel body for your portraits using samples bodies from Andy Rash or 8 Bit Football.com.
   Create a multi layered Illustrator document that can be used in an animation and has the layers for head, bust, right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, right leg stride…
2. Using the skills and techniques developed in the 8 Bit portrait, create a 16 bit portrait of yourself, making more pixels to create detailed facial expressions. Portrait features should include items like eye brows, glasses, 7 different speech motions.
3. Create a background environment that your sprite will move through. Develop a theme, gather reference images, and illustrate your environment in a landscape format.

Mr. Fatta’s Bug Chase

Mr. Fatta’s Bug Bounce Game

Click in the screen to start, use the directional arrows on the key board to move Mr. Fatta and knock the bugs away, land safely and come to a stop. Refresh the page to restart.

Tutorial | Toy Airplane

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Tutorial | Extrusion Tools in Maya | Cadillac

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Tutorial | Image Planes in Maya | The Car Rim

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Tutorial | Extrusion Tools in Maya | Car Study II

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Autodesk Maya

Beginners Guide to Maya
In this series of free Maya tutorials Digital Tutors will be teaching you the essential workflows, terms and techniques to help you get started with Maya. Google Drive Link

Introduction to Maya 2015
This in-depth Maya 2015 tutorial is designed to help students get a solid understanding of the core features found in Maya and help ease the transition into this very powerful program. Google Drive link.

Beginners Guide to Maya
In this Maya tutorial students will learn the basics of working with 3d models in Maya. Digital Tutors will take an introductory look into modeling so students can learn essential terms and definitions and build a solid foundation in computer graphics.

Adobe After Effects

Quick Start to After Effects Volume 1
In this volume students will learn the foundational skills for working in Adobe After Effects, become familiar with the interface, and understand the basic functions of the program. Students will also be introduced to the basic principles of animation.

Beginners Guide To After Effects Students will explore the essential terms and definitions needed to build a strong foundation in computer graphics. Students will understand what motion graphics and compositing are and know how to manage projects, compositions, layers.

As students progress through the year they will develop the technology and software skills needed to create a variety of computer-generated images throughout the course. Traditional media such as drawing, painting, and sketching are also covered in the class. While meeting the NY State standards for the arts the course will also aim to strengthen student writing skills by integrating standards in ELA, and build a thematic base using standards from social studies, technology, science, and more.

Responsibilities.
1. Attendance: Regular attendance is required and students are responsible for getting to class on time. Excessive absences and/or lateness will result in a letter home to parents/guardians and cut slips will be submitted to house deans if necessary. Detentions may also be issued in most the extreme cases and students are responsible for any missed work from absences. Students who expect to be absent for extended periods of time will be required to complete a series of projects using Online Paining Tools with their Chromebook or home computer with assistance from home tutor, the classroom website, and teacher student discussions.

2. Participation: Students are expected to keep an active focus during instruction and discussion times and actively participate during that time. Students are to maintain the classroom work flow on their User Interface (UI) and confine themselves to the applications and websites directly involved with the assignment. Students are expected to conduct themselves in a responsible manner in accordance with an academic setting. Students are expected to work continually on the assignments and/or any related activities during class time and remain seated until the bell sounds. Students who do not meet these expectations will be penalized participation points and may loose network and Internet privileges associated with their account.

3. Network Accounts: Students are required to follow the district’s computer use policy, respect district and student data, and use the computer equipment with care. Students are required to save and maintain their project files within the (H:) drive of the network and back up project files to a course folder in their Google Drive. Lost files and the excuse, ‘it got deleted’ is not valid. Additionally, document titles will be required to follow a strict formula that will utilize a combination of snake_case and CamelCase document titling. Last name with the first initial in camel case, followed by an underscore (_), followed by the project name in camel case, a number, and finnaly the file extension. Example: FattaL_SharkWhite02.jpg, FattaL_SharkHammer.jpg Ok, It’s hard to explain.

4. Internet Service Accounts: Students will be required to maintain the student Google Account established by Middletown City School District. Students are also required to create and maintain certain Internet accounts that will enable them to meet the instructional goals of the class.  Students are required to maintain account access to all Internet Service Accounts throughout the year; failure to remember or retain login information will adversely effect class participation and assessment percentage points on the final average.

• Google Accounts: Students are required to maintain the Student Google Account that has been established by the district. While utilizing a variety of applications within Google, students are required to use Google Slides to maintain a digital portfolio of completed work that will be used to assess student proficiency throughout the course. Specific guidelines for the portfolio will be discussed in class and are outlined on the site. Student email addresses will be utilized as the user name for any Internet Service Accounts associated with the class.

• Learnboot: Each student will have access to an Learnboot account that will enable them to review project grades and evaluate overall classroom performance. Students will be provided login information for accounts that have been established.

• Digital Tutors: Digital Tutors is a video tutorial service that will guide students through the basic workings of a program. Advanced students are required to create a free account with DigitalTutors.com using their Google email account. Completion of viewed videos within the Digital Tutors site will be included within students’ overall assessment.

• Quia.com:  The course will utilize an online assessment tool called Quia, it will be used throughout the year to help assess student proficiency with terms and concepts being studied. Students will be provided login information that they are to keep readily available.

• UI and Classroom Browsers: Students are required to keep a clean and efficient workflow on their desktop free from any distracting elements and websites. Students are expected to disable extra task bars on Internet browsers and maintain all default settings on tools within the applications. Students are expected to be able to access often used websites and applications instantaneously from the Start menu and Bookmarks/Favorites bar.

5. Distractive Devices: Students are expected to keep personal devices in a pocket, bag, or backpack and out of plane sight. Social networking, texting, gaming, and other uses of technology not related to class activity is not allowed.

6. Grading: Projects 80%, ELA Essays 10%, Participation 10%. A Final Exam and Final Project is  assigned at the end of the year will be 1/5th of the final grade for the course. Projects are assessed against project rubrics and student’s own skills and abilities. Students are to evaluate their own projects and submit their self-assessed grade with the finished projects within their Google Slides Portfolio.

7. Procedures for exiting the classroom in an emergency: Remain quiet and listen to all directions, gather immediate personal belongings, exit the class through the front door, remain quiet, exit the building through the front door, walk the back of the main parking lot and gather on the grass where attendance will be taken.

8. All students are directed to review the course syllabus and be prepared to be quizzed on the information. The above expectations will be evaluated daily and constitute the first project grade and will significantly impact interim report cards and progress report results.  Students are required to share the above information with their parents/guardians and instruct them to email Mr. Fatta from at louis.fatta@ecsdm.org

Pixely Fatta Movie

Rubric

First Day’s Site Stats September 2014

The Mr. Fatta Show! ft. Mr. Pixel as Mr. Fatta

An animated sketch of Mr. Pixel introducing a lesson in a screen test for The Mr. Fatta Show! In this FattaCast, Mr. Fatta explores seven motions of the mouth and works to synchronize the animation with audio. In this series students will create a variety of lip motions and facial movements that appear to make the different letter sounds. Students will create a series of facial motions using different layers in Adobe Illustrator and export and title seven different png’s of the facial expressions. The eyes and eye brows can also be modified and combined with the mouth motions to create even more facial expressions that can be used to create a more fluid and natural animation of the character.

Screen test with floating pixel head intro and fluid background with animated elements and logo transitioning in bottom third.

Mr. Fatta’s animated Mr. Pixel introduces a lesson in basic Photoshop tools in a screen test for The Mr. Fatta Show! Includes green screen effects and animated elements in the bottom third.

Samples Images | Motions of the Mouth

 http://arcade.gamesalad.com/games/128021