Art Institute Of San Francisco Establishes Tech Art Degree Program

The San Francisco campus of the Art Institute of California has announced a new bachelor’s degree program called "Visual & Game Programming". The degree program begins with a foundation in art and design, then continues on with 3D programming courses. According to the school, the program is designed for people who want to "[bridge] ...the technical programmer and the creative artist". Students are introduced to the principles of programming, and then taught how to write, extend and modify programs/scripts for 3D animation. They also are taught about shader development, motion capture management, and the art pipeline. The programming and scripting skills focus on Perl, C++, C-shell, MEL, MAXScript, DirectX & OpenGL. The program lasts 12 quarters and contains 192 quarter credits, including 56 quarter credits in general education. The curriculum is meant for people who are looking for entry-level positions like Technical Artist, Technical Developer, Assistant Technical Director, and 3D Tools Programmer. The new program begins in the Winter 2003 quarter, which starts January 13.