CMPT 466: Computer Animation

(Fall 2026)

Introduction
Prerequisite

Course Staf f
Resources

Course Schedule

Introduction

Topics and techniques in computer animation, including: The history of animation, traditional animation, animation production pipeline, 3D model representation, kinematic animation, motion capture, particle systems, physics-based animation, character animation, soft objects and deformation.

Prerequisite

CMPT361
Good-to-have background: Multivariable Calculus, Numerical Analysis, Ordinary Differential Equations, Probability, Data Structures and Algorithms, Fundamental Physics.
Good-to-have skills: strong in programming; comfortable with math.

Course Staff

Principal Instructor: KangKang Yin
Guest Lecturers:
Teaching Assistant: Vincent Hu

Resources

Recommended Textbook: "Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques (third edition)", Rick Parent. Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 9780124158429. The first edition of this book is available online here.

The movie and game industry has strong presence in Vancouver:
Electronic Arts Atmosphere Sony Imageworks Relic Entertainment CD Projekt Red

Publication venues for animation research:
Siggraph Eurographics SCA Motion, Interaction and Games CHI Pacific Graphics I3D

Some cool confereces you wanna check out:
GDC GTC

Course Schedule (tentative, subject to changes, check regularly)

The classes will be held on Tuesdays and Fridays @ 10:30. Instructor's office hours Fridays 11:30-12:20. TA's office hours Mondays 3:30-4:30pm.
The Maya Labs will be in ASB 9840. Most machines should have Maya installed. Alternatively you can bring your own laptop, but make sure to install a free strudent version of Maya prior to the classes.
There is no midterm exam for this course. There is a final exam.
Lecture notes will be available before classes. Please do not circulate the notes electronically, however, as I don't have time to contact the original authors to obtain proper copyright for all the images and videos I use. We need to follow the fair use principles.
Evaluation and Grading: Programming Assignment: 40% (C# in Unity); Animation Assignments: 10% (Maya); Final Exam: 50%.

*Week*	*Tuesday (10:30-12:20)* *TBA*	*Friday (10:30-11:20)* *TBA*
1		Sep 11 Course Introduction Siggraph on YouTube Graphics Papers on the Web Graphics Gems The 5 Types of Animation
2	Sep 15 Animation Production; Principles of Traditional Animation Dreamworks Animation Pipeline Chapter 1.3 (before 1.3.1) Chapter 1.4 and 1.4.1 Chapter 1.3.1 Principles of traditional animation The cartoon animation filter 12 Principles of Animation 12 Principles of Animation in Games	Sep 18 Maya Basics (ASB 9840) Maya Interface Tour
3	Sep 22 Review: Coordinates and Transformations; Interpolation and Smoothing Chapter 4.1 Chapter 2.1.2-2.1.4 Appendix B.3.1 and B.3.2	Sep 25 C# and Unity Tutorial https://unity.com/ https://learn.unity.com/
4	Sep 29 Curves and Splines Chapter 3.1; Chapter 3.4.3 Appendix B.5 First Programming Assignment Out	Oct 2 Building a Character in Maya (ASB 9840) Maya Basics - Shaping and Positioning Objects Maya Basics - Building Your First Model
5	Oct 6 3D Rotations Chapter 2.1.5 and 2.2 Appendix B.3.3 and B.3.4	Oct 9 Interpolation of 3D Rotations Chapter 2.2.3 Visualizing Quaternions Maya Gimbal Lock Explained
6	Oct 13 Skeletal Animation and Forward Kinematics; Inverse Kinematics Chapter 3.3; Chapter 5.1; Chapter 5.2 Second Programming Assignment Out	Oct 16 Inverse Kinematics (continued) Chapter 5.3 Damped Least Squares Method
7	Oct 20 Motion Capture Chapter 6	Oct 23 Maya Assignment (ASB 9840) Maya FK and IK Maya Assignment Out
8	Oct 27 Physics-based Animation Intro; Particle Systems and Dynamics Chapter 7.1; Appendix B.7	Oct 30 Particle Systems in Maya (ASB 9840) Creating Passive Colliders in Maya Fluid simulation with nParticles
9	Nov 3 Particle Systems and Dynamics (continued) Chapter 7.3; Appendix B.8 Differential Equation Basics Particle System Dynamics Third Programming Assignment Out	Nov 6 Rigid Body Dynamics Chapter 7.4 RIgid Body Dynamics
10	Nov 10 Rigid Body Dynamics(continued) Constrained Dynamics	Nov 13 Articulated Rigid Body Systems
11	Nov 17 Physics-based Character Animation Chapter 9.1; Chapter 9.3.3; Chapter 9.3.4 SIMBICON	Nov 20 Physics-based Character Animation (continued)
12	Nov 24 Introduction to Deep Learning; DL-based Animation Methods Deep Learning: A Crash Course The Theory of Everything	Nov 27 Introduction to Deep Reinforcement Learning Forth Programming Assignment Out
13	Dec 1 DRL-based Animation Methods; Rigging and Skinning Learning to Move CS285 at UC Berkeley	Dec 4 ML-Agent Mini Tutorial; Exam Review (Last Class)
14	Final Exam