(28-01-2026) Welcome to the webpage of Computer Animation 2025-2026
(28-01-2026) The course schedule for the 2025-26 academic year is updated. Lecture material will be updated in due time.
Announcements and News
(28-01-2026) Welcome to the webpage of Computer Animation 2025-2026
(28-01-2026) The course schedule for the 2025-26 academic year is updated. Lecture material will be updated in due time.
The course Computer Animation is given as part of the GMT Master programme at Utrecht University. The course consists of a number of lectures, as well as presentations by participants. Next to an introduction to basic animation techniques such as interpolation, blending, skeleton animation, facial animation, kinematics and motion synthesis, we will focus on a selection of relevant animation-oriented research papers. As part of the course, participants will make a short animation movie or work on a small research project on speech-driven 3D facial animation synthesis.
| Week | Date | Time | Room | Lecture | By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 3rd Feb | 09:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Introduction & Animation Basics | Zerrin Yumak |
| 6 | 5th Feb | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Interpolation and Blending | Zerrin Yumak |
| 7 | 10th Feb | 09:00-10:45 | BBG- K.62 (Basement) | Mocap Lab Tutorial | Kazi I. Haque |
| 7 | 12th Feb | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Skinning and Facial Animation | Zerrin Yumak |
| 8 | 17th Feb | 09:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Deep Learning 1 | Metehan Doyran |
| 8 | 19th Feb | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Deep Learning 2 | Metehan Doyran |
| 9 | 24th Feb | 09:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Advanced Facial Animation; Project Intermediary Deadline (until 23:59) | Kazi I. Haque |
| 9 | 26th Feb | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Paper 1, 2 | |
| 10 | 3rd March | 9:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Paper 3, 4 | |
| 10 | 5th March | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Paper 5, 6 | |
| 11 | 10th March | 9:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Paper 7, 8 | |
| 11 | 12th March | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Paper 9, 10; Essay Intermediary deadline (until 23:59) | |
| 12 | 17th March | 9:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Paper 11, 12 | |
| 12 | 19th March | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Paper 13, 14 | |
| 13 | 24th March | 9:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Paper 15, 16 | |
| 13 | 26th March | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | No lecture due to Exec(ut) | |
| 14 | 31st March | 9:00-10:45 | BBG 223 | Paper 17, 18 | |
| 14 | 2nd April | 13:15-15:00 | BBG 223 | Paper 19, 20 | |
| 15 | 7th April | 9:00-12:45 | BBG 223 | Paper 21, 22, 23 | |
| 15 | 9th April | 13:15-17:00 | BBG 223 | Project Festival; Project and Essay submission deadline (until 23:59) |
Introduction and Animation Basics
Supplementary Material on Linear Algebra
Interpolation and Blending
Motion Capture System
Skinning
Facial Animation
Introduction to Deep Learning
During the course, you will read research papers and give a presentation in teams of three. You will also produce a short animation movie or work on a mini research project on speech-driven facial animation, in teams of five. Roughly halfway the course, you will send an intermediary planning report for your preferred project assignment. The final animation movies and demos of the programs will be shown at the last session. You will also write an essay on a topic within the animation research area.
You will get a grade for the research papers (R), project (P) and essay (E). R includes the paper presentation and the 6 paper reviews. You will get a grade for your presentation and this will be counted complete only if all 6 paper reviews are also delivered. Paper reviews and essay are to be done individually. Presentation and project are group assignments.
The final grade is then calculated as 0.3 * R + 0.4 * P + 0.3 * E. In order to complete the course, there is an additional restriction that E >= 5.
Retake essay: If you didn't get a sufficiently high grade, you may do a retake essay to still complete the course. Exactly the same rules as the regular essay apply. The grade you get for the retake essay will replace the (missing) grade of the regular essay. You may improve the essay you originally handed in, taking into account the feedback from the teacher, and hand in as the retake essay, or choose a new topic and write an essay about that. Note that you can only qualify for a retake essay if you have done all the parts of the course (give a presentation and deliver paper reviews, do project assignment, hand in the essay) and have a final grade of at least 4.
Attendance overall is not mandatory. However, you are required to attend the paper presentations for the papers that you write a review.
Year 2024-25: Dr. Metehan Doyran, Kazi Injamamul Haque, Evangelia Chamilaki
Year 2023-24: Dr. Zerrin Yumak, Kazi Injamamul Haque, Fabien De Costa Barros
Year 2022-23: Dr. Zerrin Yumak, Kazi Injamamul Haque, Stefan Stan
