Game Development Game Art and Animation Syllabus

Game Art and Animation syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Game Art and Animation in Game Development, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   2D Art

   3 topics

   • Pixel Art
   • Vector Art
   • Texture Mapping
2. 2

   3D Art

   4 topics

   • 3D Modeling
   • Sculpting
   • Texturing and Shading
   • Rigging
3. 3

   Animation

   4 topics

   • 2D Animation
   • 3D Animation
   • Character Animation
   • Physics-based Animation

Game Art and Animation flashcards for Game Development

18 of 60 cards from the Game Art and Animation deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is pixel art?

   A digital art form where images are created and edited at the level of individual pixels, typically on a low-resolution grid, giving a characteristic blocky, retro aesthetic associated with early video games.

2. In pixel art, what is the term for the grid unit of a single controllable color square?

   A pixel (picture element) — the smallest addressable element of the image. In pixel art each pixel is placed deliberately.

3. What is dithering in pixel art, and why is it used?

   Dithering is the technique of alternating pixels of two colors in a pattern to simulate an intermediate shade or gradient, extending a limited palette and reducing banding without adding new colors.

4. In pixel art, what does 'anti-aliasing' accomplish and how is it done manually?

   It smooths the jagged 'stair-step' edges of shapes by manually placing intermediate-color pixels along edges, blending the shape into the background to reduce harsh aliasing.

5. What is a 'sprite' in the context of pixel art and 2D games?

   A sprite is a single 2D bitmap image (often a character or object) that is integrated into a larger scene, and can be moved, animated, and layered independently.

6. How does vector art fundamentally differ from raster (pixel) art?

   Vector art defines images mathematically using points, lines, curves and shapes (paths), so it scales to any resolution without quality loss, whereas raster art is a fixed grid of pixels that loses quality when enlarged.

7. What mathematical curves are most commonly used to define smooth paths in vector art?

   Bézier curves. A cubic Bézier is defined by $\mathbf{B}(t) = (1-t)^{3}\mathbf{P}_0 + 3(1-t)^{2}t\,\mathbf{P}_1 + 3(1-t)t^{2}\mathbf{P}_2 + t^{3}\mathbf{P}_3,\quad t\in[0,1]$.

8. State the general formula for a Bézier curve of degree $n$ using Bernstein polynomials.

   $$\mathbf{B}(t) = \sum_{i=0}^{n} \binom{n}{i}(1-t)^{n-i}t^{i}\,\mathbf{P}_i,\quad t\in[0,1]$$ where $\mathbf{P}_i$ are the control points.

9. Give one key advantage and one disadvantage of vector art versus raster art for game assets.

   Advantage: resolution-independent scaling (crisp at any size) and small file sizes for simple shapes. Disadvantage: it struggles to represent highly detailed, photorealistic or organic textures that raster images handle well.

10. What is texture mapping in 3D graphics?

    The process of applying a 2D image (texture) onto the surface of a 3D model to add color and detail, by assigning each surface point a coordinate into the texture image.

11. What are UV coordinates in texture mapping?

    UV coordinates are 2D coordinates $(u,v)$, normally in the range $[0,1]$, that map each vertex of a 3D mesh to a location on the 2D texture image; 'U' and 'V' denote the texture axes to distinguish them from the model's $x,y,z$.

12. What is 'UV unwrapping'?

    The process of flattening a 3D model's surface into a 2D layout (the UV map) so that a 2D texture can be painted onto it without excessive stretching or seams.

13. What is a normal map and what does it simulate?

    A normal map is a texture that stores per-pixel surface normal directions (encoded in RGB), used to fake fine surface detail and lighting response (bumps, grooves) on a low-polygon model without adding geometry.

14. How is a surface normal vector typically encoded in an RGB tangent-space normal map?

    Each channel stores a normal component remapped from $[-1,1]$ to $[0,1]$: $R = \frac{n_x+1}{2}$, $G = \frac{n_y+1}{2}$, $B = \frac{n_z+1}{2}$, giving the characteristic blue-dominant appearance since $n_z$ is usually near $+1$.

15. Compare a bump map, a normal map, and a displacement map.

    A bump map stores grayscale height to perturb normals (fakes detail, no silhouette change). A normal map stores full normal vectors (richer fake detail, still no silhouette change). A displacement map actually moves geometry along the surface, changing the real silhouette.

16. What is mipmapping and why is it used in texture mapping?

    Mipmapping precomputes a chain of progressively lower-resolution versions of a texture; the GPU selects the appropriate level for distant/small surfaces to reduce aliasing (shimmering) and improve rendering performance.

17. For a base texture of size $N \times N$, what is the total memory of a full mipmap chain relative to the base?

    The chain adds about one-third more memory: $\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{4^{k}} = \frac{4}{3}$, so total $\approx \frac{4}{3}N^{2}$ texels.

18. What is texture wrapping/tiling, and name two common wrap modes.

    Wrapping defines how UV coordinates outside $[0,1]$ are sampled. Common modes: 'repeat/tile' (coordinates wrap around, seamlessly tiling the texture) and 'clamp to edge' (coordinates are clamped so edge pixels stretch).

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