What is R083
R083 is an optional coursework component of the Creative iMedia course and is worth 25% of your overall grade. Your teacher will choose which of the optional coursework modules you need to complete. Please ask your teacher if you are unsure which of the optional modules you will be doing.
What is covered in R083?
R083 is all about creating 2D and 3D digital characters.
OCR give out a few set projects that all involve creating a 2D or 3D digital character for a different scenario and your teacher will generally choose which scenario your class (or you) will complete.
The project will involve you using appropriate 2D editing (such as Adobe Photoshop, Krita, G.I.M.P or Serif Draw Plus) or 3D modelling software (such as Blender, Sketchup, Autodesk 3ds Max) to create a digital character.
How is R083 split up?
R083 is split into 4 main Learning Objectives (or LO for short):
- LO1
- LO2
- LO3
- LO4
LO1
Understand the properties and uses of 2D and 3D digital characters
LO2
Plan an original 2D and 3D digital characters
LO3
Create a 2D or 3D digital character
LO4
Evaluate and review the 2D or 3D character that you created
R083 advice
If you have already done one of the other coursework modules then you will notice that the structure of this module is nearly exactly the same. Use your knowledge from whichever coursework module you have already done when completing this one.
LO1 is all about researching the properties of 2D and 3D characters. Make sure that you download some example images for what you are discussing in LO1 and ensure that you talk about the technical aspects and the differences between creating 2D and 3D characters.
LO2 is where you will be given the client brief and you will have to analyse it. Print off the client brief and highlight all of the important information that you can see on it. This will help you as you are writing as you can literally go through and tick off what you have discussed.
LO3 is where you will actually create the character that you planned in LO2. Make sure that you save the character in the correct format that has been asked for in the specification. Some of the 3D packages that are used can be complicated to use so ensure that you get enough time to familiarise yourself with how it works and ask your teacher for help if you are not sure how to do something.
LO4 is where you will evaluate what you have done. Talk about how you have met the client brief by going back to your highlighted version and discussing how you have done or met all of the parts that you have highlighted. You will also need to discuss the parts that you have done well and the parts that you would spend more time on or improve if you had more time on the project.
R093 software
Blender
Blender is an open source program which means that if you have a PC at home, you can download and use it free of charge. Blender is very powerful but has a steep learning curve for beginners. If you are finding it difficult, try to invest some time by watching a tutorial on YouTube and try to ensure that you are using the program outside of your lesson.
Blender has a great tutorial section on its website and there are also plenty of tutorials (and some excellent examples) on how to use it on YouTube. https://www.blender.org/support/tutorials/
Krita
Krita is an excellent piece of open source digital graphics software that you can download and run on your computer at home. It is great for creating 2D art, and should be more than capable of creating a 2D digital character. While Krita can be rather daunting at first, there is lots of help available on the internet for getting to know it and it’s powerful features.