The world of electronic games has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that covers a wide range of applications including arcade games, redemption games, hand-held game consoles, interactive Web-based games and simulated action and environments used as competitive arenas. Games with their diverse content appeal to all segments of society and are used by individuals, groups and institutions for entertainment, training, social networking and educational purposes. Games as a global phenomenon have extensive social, cultural and economic significance.

The electronic game design art program within the digital media department at KCAI provides a curriculum that teaches students how to create the art and graphics for the surface appearance, objects and environments in electronic games. The program includes an introduction to game engines and goes on to focus on traditional and digital imaging, video and other digital technology, audio and visual software, problem-solving creativity and content development, format requirements for screen access and output requirements. Students also will learn 3-D projection, which allows images to appear as if they are popping out of the screen when the viewer wears 3-D glasses.

Motion graphics

Motion graphics involves computer-generated images such as characters, objects and even typography that appear to move or be transformed. You’ve seen motion graphics on TV and Web site advertising, with cereal bursting from a box, animated butterflies dancing through the air, sneakers bopping down the street or words exploding into fragments of color. Much — perhaps most — of the content for the five major media screens includes at least some motion graphic elements. Those ubiquitous screens (small-scale embedded, mounted or hand-held devices; computer monitors; TV screens; motion-picture theater screens; and large-format public display screens) function as portals for the vast array of contemporary visual culture.

The motion graphics program within the digital media department provides a curriculum that teaches students how to generate these amazing visual creations. Students learn how to create animated images, photography, typography and sound and then bring them together into professional video pieces. Students also will learn 3-D projection, which allows images to appear as they are popping out of the screen when the viewer wears 3-D glasses.

Visual effects

Visual effects involve the manipulation of film and video images. This is one of the most creative and important areas of professional practice in the applied arts today. Along with the related area of sound effects, visual effects have become pervasive in television, film and Web-based video production. The Roman coliseum you saw in that gladiator movie was a computer-generated image. So were the alien mothership, the gigantic tidal wave crashing down on New York City and the Egyptian mummy that woke up in a really bad mood. Every film or video produced for every conceivable purpose with any type of content can be enriched and enlivened through visual effects.

The visual effects program within the digital media department provides a curriculum that teaches students how to create beginning through advanced-level visual effects including camera movement, lenses and filters, lighting and background effects, 3-D effects, morphing, layering and compositing techniques, green-blue screen compositing and special makeup. Students learn to work in teams to develop advanced compositing techniques that incorporate people, physical objects or animated 3-D characters into real or computer-generated backgrounds. Students will also learn 3-D projection, which allows images to appear as if they are popping out of the screen when the viewer wears 3-D glasses.

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