Mathematics for Visual Effects and Design

This course aims to provide a basis for Maths for the Artist that says "If I'd known Maths would have been central to effects and animation I would have paid attention in school!" Mike Seymour works through the major areas of maths that are useful to understand for visual effects and animation. This really is a maths course, teaching you both actual maths and the principles of areas of maths in more advanced areas. The aim is to equip you with the tools you need and to demystify the jargon - so you can understand the principles and approaches we use maths for everyday in production and post.

course syllabus

Introduction to Maths - some useful concepts and an outline of the major areas of maths

Co-ordinate systems, simple matrix, vectors and dot product. Plus, a tutorial on some of the basic concepts covered in the class

Vector addition and Subtraction - normals

Fibonacci sequence, Pi, the Golden ratio, noise and turbulence.

Algebra and factoring equations

Equation solving using Matrix multiplication and the Unity Matrix

Velocity, Acceleration and Gravity

Calculus part 2: Integral and Differential equations

Fourier Transforms

Putting it all together: how everything you have learnt this term can unlock a Siggraph paper