This course presents an overview on manipulating and synthesizing sound, video, and control signals. Signals are the raw materials used in many forms of electronic art and design - electronic music, interactive art, video art, kinetic sculpture, and more. In these fields, signals are used to represent information about sound, images, sensors, and movement. By transforming and manipulating these types of signals, we are able to create powerful new tools for digital art, multimedia applications, music, responsive environments, video and sound installation, smart products, and beyond. In this course we will study Signal Processing from a practical point-of-view, developing tools that can be easily integrated into art-making using the graphical programming environment Max (a.k.a. Max/MSP/Jitter). We will present a survey of Signal Processing techniques used in the sonic and visual arts, and will discuss the mathematical theories underlying these techniques. Students will be encouraged to combine, modify, and extend working examples of software to create original digital artworks.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Sonic Arts.

It was formely coded 18-090 from 2014-2024 and taught by former CMU Professor Jesse Stiles.

This class will explore computer animation as it pertains to a professional animation production pipeline. The course is designed to give students exposure to key job descriptions that align to the animation industry. Topics covered include: character design, world building, storyboarding, digital sculpture, look development, rigging, layout, animation, cinematography, lighting, and rendering. These topics are taught in 2-4 week sprints that allow a student to learn the fundamentals of each craft. In a mixture of class lectures, critiques, and training workshops, students will become acquainted with the necessary skills needed to create their own characters and animations. By completion of the course, students will be familiar with industry-standard best practices and ready to take advanced courses related to animation, vfx, and video game related pipelines. This course specifically offers insight on how the craft of animation is always evolving at top studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, and Industrial Light and Magic.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Animation and Special Effects.

This practical project-based course covers the basic technical skills (including electronics, programming, and hardware) needed to build simple interactive objects with embedded behavior using the Arduino microcontroller. A sequence of projects challenge students to apply their technical skills in creative ways. For the final project, the class works with a local group of people living with disabilities who serve as design clients; students conjure and build them functioning custom interactive assistive devices of a practical or whimsical nature. Sensor inputs covered include an ultrasonic ranger, thermometer, light sensor, and human inputs like buttons and knobs; outputs to affect the world include actuators such as motors, LED lights, speakers, and haptic feedback devices.

This introductory portal course has no technical prerequisites. Readings and guest speakers address topics including design, disability, and e-waste. See courses.ideate.cmu.edu/60-223/f2021/work for examples of prior student projects.

Students are encouraged to co-register for a fabrication course such as the micro course 99-353 IDeATe CAD and Laser Cutting or the course 62-478 digiTOOL. Contact rzachari@andrew.cmu.edu with any questions about the course.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Physical Computing.

This section of Media Synthesis focuses on textile media and presents students with technical, historical and conceptual grounding in this medium. Students learn the basics of textile processes, including weaving, sewing, digital printing on fabric, surface manipulation, embellishment, piece-work, quilting, and patterns. Technical explorations, complimented by the study of historic precedent and contemporary practice, supports students in exploring textiles as an expressive medium. Students' course work will include projects, sampling and prototyping, critique, and presentations.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Soft Technologies.

This section of Media Synthesis focuses on Mediascapes with respect to 2D to 3D Spatial Environments. Students will be asked to actively participate as they discuss, analyze, define, and apply theory to their projects. They will also be asked to investigate precedent and existing experiences to remix and make new. Imagination, speculation, and 360-degree awareness are key components of this class. Over the course, students will work on projects that build upon their knowledge to showcase their intentions and creativity within and reacting to a variety of contexts. Students with a diverse range of skills and interests are encouraged to apply. This is a project-based class with a focus on experimentations, hands-on learning, reflection, and documentation.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Intelligent Environments or Media Design.

In this section of Media Synthesis—part geographical research, part technological exploration, and part design studio—students explore a range of visualization tools and work in small teams to tell engaging, spatially rich stories for a multimedia atlas about life in an era of ubiquitous computing.

Our everyday lives are infused with computational infrastructures like cloud-based apps and software, environmental sensors, digital dashboards, urban platforms, and an ever-expanding array of smart objects and services. From the deeply personal scale of an online dating profile to the planetary scale of transnational financial flows, these systems impact how we communicate, how we consume, how and where we work, how distant places are connected, how we relate to ourselves and one another, and how people and things move through space.

Students in this class will learn new skills and experiment with creative combinations of tools for digital map-making/GIS, data visualization, augmented reality, and video-editing software to tell immersive space-and-place-based stories that defamiliarize, decode, or recode aspects of the social, environmental, and political worlds made through these computational landscapes.

This course is newer IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an alternate entry into Immersive Technologies in Arts and Culture.

As Immersive and spatial media increasingly feature in our cultural life, innovators are needed who can blend technological skills with creative imagination and critical humanistic practice. This introductory course aims to enable hybrid technologists, media-makers, and storytellers who can create mediated experiences that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the creation of augmented, immersive, and spatial media. You will construct, but also deconstruct immersive and augmented experiences with respect to the cultural, socio-emotional, and embodied aspects of human experience through a process of play, exploration, and experimentation. You will author original narratives and prototype spatially mediated experiences while attending to the aesthetic considerations, humanistic concerns, and design conventions defining this emerging mode of cultural production.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Immersive Technologies in Arts & Culture.

Learning about Learning will provide an introduction to the science of learning. Students will learn about the different ways that people learn, the factors that influence learning, and how to apply this knowledge to their own learning and in designing learning experiences. The course will cover a variety of topics, including memory, motivation, creativity, and cognition. Students will also have the opportunity to apply what they learn. In small groups, students will complete a series of small projects focused on identifying learning experiences and developing technology-mediated interventions, designs, or prototypes.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Design for Learning.

This hands-on, project-based course seeks to introduce students to the issues and challenges of creating workable, affordable, and adaptable intelligent environments. Intelligent environments use modern technology (information systems, electronic sensing, physical computing, etc.) to enhance the human-space interactive experience, be it in home, office, industry, entertainment, agriculture, etc. This course will highlight the motivation and requirements for intelligent environments and components that could be used to add functionality to existing environments. You will apply relevant technologies (Arduino, automated manufacturing, 3D modeling, etc.) to the built environment through the design and fabrication of working prototypes. The course will further enhance team management, documentation, and presentation skills through practical exercises and assignments.

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry into Intelligent Environments.

This studio course covers the process of design, patterning, and construction of garments or other wearable items – to support creating experimental pieces for the body. The course offers a foundation in the fundamentals of flat patterning, common sewing construction, alterations, and fitting methods. Students produce multiple samples that stress the importance of proper fit and craftsmanship. Using pattern drafting methods, students develop a basic muslin pattern – a “sloper” – that they learn to manipulate to create multiple designs. The class utilizes a variety of materials to build concept and execution, such as paper, muslin, second hand clothing, and fabric off the bolt. 

This course is an IDeATe Portal Course open to students from all colleges. For students choosing to follow an IDeATe program it is an entry option into Soft Technologies.