One student got a position with a design firm in Telluride because the company needed a good designer with excellent computer skills. The experience she gained in ID-496 helped her land the job. One student even designed an AIDS hospice. Using Animator Pro, they apply materials, color, texture, and lighting to their designs. Once designs are completed they are rendered using 3D Studio.
Students create animated portfolios by recording their projects on video tape.
These animated portfolios showcase their computer design skills. Students' traditional portfolios include color still prints made by scanning their designs and importing them into PowerPoint. Another goal of the class is to show students how to help the client visualize a space before it is built. Rendering a space in three dimensions and animating it gives designers another tool to help clients visualize a space. For example, a student can do a walk-through of a kitchen for a client in a wheelchair to determine how livable the space is.