Computer Games and Visual Effects

Interactive entertainment and computer-animated visual effects are now part of our main stream culture. Sixty percent of all Americans older than the age of 6, or about 145 million people currently play video games, making the game industry larger the film industry in terms of gross revenues. In addition, many of the most popular films in theatres today (e.g. Lord of the Rings, Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo, etc.) owe a large part of their success to the quality and believability of the digital special effects.

Creating such computer-generated imagery, however, is no trivial task. It requires a delicate blending of art with science by teams of highly skilled professionals, including artists, animators, writers, designers, engineers and software developers working long hours with cutting-edge technology and tools. Currently there are very few academic programs at four-year universities adequately preparing students for such positions. As a result, companies are now finding it increasingly difficult to hire students straight out of school with degrees in Computer Science, Engineering or Fine Arts who can hit the ground running. Penn's Master's program in Computer Graphics and Game Technology was created specifically to address this need.

Program Overview

Starting in the Fall 2004, the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Computer and Information Science admitted its first class to the newly created Master's Degree program in Computer Graphics and Game Technology (CGGT). The goal of the program is to expose recent graduates, as well as students returning from industry, to state-of-the-art graphics and animation technologies, as well as interactive media design principles, product development methodologies and engineering entrepreneurship. This degree program will prepare students for positions requiring multi-disciplinary skills such as designers, technical animators and directors and game programmers. Opportunities for specialization will be provided in such core areas as art and animation, creative design, animation and simulation technology, human/computer interfaces and production management.

Penn Advantage

Since 1975, the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Human Modeling and Simulation (HMS) has been a leader in the fields of 3D computer graphics, human simulation and the behavioral animation of embodied intelligent agents. The lab has achieved international recognition for its research and is well known for the "Jack" software, a procedural character animation system used in both private sector and government applications. HMS alumni have been influential in computer graphics applications around the world, and include industry leaders such as Nick Foster of PDI/DreamWorks ("Shrek"), winner of an Academy Award for Technical Achievement. The HMS Center provides a collegial and open atmosphere in which faculty, staff, and students interact and collaborate. Ph.D. students are often teamed with students from the affiliated undergraduate Digital Media Design (DMD) program to conduct cutting-edge research and produce animated demonstrations highlighting their results. The success of recent graduates from both these programs, coupled with the industry need for well-rounded designers, programmers and technical directors who understand both the art and science of producing visual media and interactive content, has led to the creation of the Master's program in Computer Graphics and Game Technology.

Submatriculation

Students who are submatriculating from the UPenn undergraduate DMD program will have, more than likely, already taken many of the required courses, such as Computer Graphics (CSE460/CIS560), Computer Animation (CSE393/CIS562), Game Design (CSE464/CIS564), 3D Modeling (FNAR635), Animation (FNAR567), Visual Communication (Comm562), etc. In situations where students have already taken the required course choices in a Core Area, additional course choices, subject to the approval of the Program Director, are shown in the Permitted Course Substitutions table on the Requirements Page

For other information, view the Submatriculation Rules from the Graduate Student Handbook.

Core Areas of Study

In order to adequately prepare students for work in computer graphics-related industries, the proposed Master's program curriculum will be composed of coursework distributed across the following core areas:

Creative Arts and Design

This core area is intended to address issues related to designing, creating and analyzing the visual, auditory, psychological and entertainment aspects of interactive media and visual effects. Topics include creation of 3D models and animation, visual communication, film studies, storytelling and narrative, user interface design and human/computer interaction.

Computer Science, Systems and Technology

This core area will cover topics in the areas of mathematics, physics, artificial intelligence, programming, algorithm design, computer graphics and animation technology, and game design and development.

Product Design, Development and Production

This core area covers topics associated with designing, developing and managing the production of computer graphics and game technology systems, content and authoring tools.

Business and Entrepreneurship

This core area will cover topics in the areas of engineering entrepreneurship, intellectual property rights and management, media marketing, and the economics of the entertainment industry, including the ways games, movies and other digital content are funded, marketed and sold.