Masters of Science in Digital Arts
Background
Digital Arts (DA) is a dynamic modern discipline that is developing and evolving rapidly. Emerging mere decades ago, DA was accessible only by the largest corporations, studios and universities. Today, DA touches the daily lives of individuals in the form of public, private and personal media. The appetite for content and creators is insatiable.
Definition
What constitutes or falls under the umbrella of DA? In the simplest and broadest definition, Digital Arts consists of all works produced and consumed in part or completely in the digital medium. Digital Arts is the intersection of art, science and commerce. The knowledge, discipline and technique required to produce such works include utilizing analog and digital tools with an eye toward societal responsibility and impact.
The intense use of computer techniques in the art fields has not only influenced and changed the way in which former art activities are conducted, but also created totally new areas and techniques of art. Since the term Digital Arts covers a vast and hugely varied field of modern art activities, it must be considered an umbrella term for artistic work that uses computers and digital media in any way.
Curriculum
The Master of Science in Digital Arts (MSDA) is a two-year academic program that leads to the MSDA degree. The development of ITU’s graduate curriculum for the MSDA incorporates and includes the experience of international film, video game and digital media productions from Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
The ITU MSDA curriculum is focused on providing students with the required technical and artistic design skills to succeed in the international markets and industries. Students will be exposed to and become familiar with the underlying technical, scientific, and algorithmic knowledge; production management; industry application; global and local cultural significance; exposure to visiting professors who are experienced international industry professionals; intense training in labs with industry projects and mentors. Students will learn to work in live action, animation, virtual and interactive media. The program thus prepares students for careers in state of the art DA production, advertisement, movies, game development, and mobile and Internet media applications.
An additional driving force in the development of this curriculum is the intent to inspire creativity and cultivate skills that are in high industry demand by training them for active professional productions of major commercial studios. Recent and current examples include projects Film Group where students were active professionals in Disney and China Film Group projects. In addition, ITU’s Research & Development programs are in partnership with major world-wide universities, institutions and companies. Current R&D projects and programs include partnerships with Beijing University and Tsinghua University supervised by Google and Intel research executives.
It is the vision and drive of ITU’s MSDA curriculum to truly balance the practical and the academic needs of the world’s digital arts industries and markets. ITU’s MSDA graduates are not only prepared to participate in today’s digital arts fields, but also to create and lead the industry into the future.
Prerequisites
An undergraduate degree is required for admission. If the undergraduate degree is in the area of computer science, digital arts or a related field then a minimum grade point average of 3.0 is required for the last half of courses taken that count for the degree. If the undergraduate degree is in a different field then the minimum grade point average required for all courses in that degree is 3.5. Exceptions to these requirements can be made by the academic council.
Courses
Required Core Courses:
The student must select 6 courses from the required core courses below for a total of 18 credit units: . . . (18)
MMM 810 General Production Pipelines (3)
MMM 830 Graphic Design Fundamentals (3)
MMM 909 Intro to Game Development (3)
MMM 910 Graphic Design with software (3)
MMM 911 Web Graphic Design (3)
MMM 920 Storyboards and Layouts (3)
MMM 930 Manufacturing Cinematic Space (3)
SEN 991 Computer Graphics (3)
SEN 993 Computer Graphics with HTML (3)
Elective Courses
The student must select 4 courses from the electives below with the advisor’s approval for a total of 12 credit units . . . . (12)
SEN 956 Unix Operating System (3)
SEN 957 GUI Development with Java (3)
SEN 958 Android Application Development (3)
SEN 965 iPhone Application Development (3)
SEN 991 Computer Graphics (3)
SEN 992 Advanced Computer Graphics (3)
SEN 910 HTML/CSS Programming (3)
Applied mathematics courses:
1 course from the Applied Mathematics courses below for a total of 3 credits units . . . . . . . . (3)
AMN 910 Linear Algebra (3)
AMN 912 Applied Mathematics Methods (3)
AMN 952 Probability & Statistics for Engineers (3)
Joint Seminars
The student must select Joint Seminar Courses for a total of 3 credit units . . . . . . . .(3)
GRN 597 Joint Seminar (3)
Master’s Thesis: (3)
MMM 826 Basic Image Manipulation (3)
MMM 840 Survey of Western Art I (3)
MMM 841 Survey of Eastern Art I (3)
MMM 998 Technical project (1-3)
MMM 999 Thesis (3)
