BIP coordinators:
Hugo Miguel Machado Silva
Teresa de Jesus Baptista Vieira
Target audience: students from Erasmus+ partner institutions
Virtual mobility period: starting 20 April 2026
Physical mobility period: 4-8 May 2026
Description and Objectives
The digital age has revolutionised the way we create, share, consume, and work with media. The digitisation of media allows for sharing, mixing, and consuming content with minimal quality loss. With advances in hardware and software, we can now produce near-photorealistic models of human beings with remarkable resemblance and use them in diverse ways. Games become much more personal if we are controlling our own avatar instead of an unknown character.
The growing accessibility of 3D scanning technology has transformed the way digital artists bring their creations to life. However, the process involves far more than simply pressing a button and obtaining results. This course is designed to equip aspiring creators with the essential skills needed to scan, optimise, and prepare 3D characters specifically for environments such as games and animation. Students will learn how to scan a detailed, lifelike representation of themselves, refine the topology, rig, and animate the model using existing or self-captured motion data.
Combining artistic creativity with technical knowledge, the course emphasises a clear technical pipeline and best practices for creating 3D models that are both visually compelling and technically functional. Whether for collectibles, figurines, prototypes, real-time rendering, or animation, mastering 3D character creation opens exciting opportunities in industries such as product design, entertainment, and customised manufacturing.
By the end of the course, each student will be able to take home a digital version of themselves, ready to use in a game or animate to create stunning videos or 3D scenes. Along the way, they will acquire the skills needed to work effectively with digital models of humanoid characters.
Participants will:
- Understand the fundamentals of 3D model scanning, rigging, and animation;
- Be able to digitise a human face and create high-quality 3D digital clones suitable for different purposes;
- Optimise models by addressing key factors such as topology and materials;
- Prepare models for animation and posing;
- Apply poses and pre-recorded animations.
This BIP offers a variety of benefits beyond the formal course workload, including:- A diverse learning experience for students, both in terms of methods and content;
- Exposure of students and lecturers to different cultures;
- An enriching experience for participating lecturers and coaches;
- Strengthening of formal ties between the participating institutions;
- Networking opportunities for students and lecturers, fostering future exchanges and collaboration.
ECTS: 3
Programme Structure
Physical Component of the BIP (4–8 May 2026)
Day 1 – Face Capture- Morning: Opening session and presentations. Technical session on operating the scanner. Face scanning of participants in pairs.
- Afternoon: Model wrapping and topology.
Day 2 – Body and Skin Materials- Morning: Material editing and map transfer.
- Afternoon: Off-campus cultural experience.
Day 3 – Rigging- Morning: Rigging of the mesh using Mixamo or AccuRig; skinning; animation testing with Mixamo animations.
- Afternoon: Off-campus team-building experience.
Day 4 – Motion Capture and Animation- Morning: Motion capture of animations using the Perception Neuron system. Technical session.
- Afternoon: Animation integration in Blender and rendering for showcase.
Day 5 – Conclusion of the On-site Week- Morning: Preliminary presentations.
- Afternoon: Off-campus closing experience.
- Evening: Farewell dinner.
Virtual component of the BIP
Before the physical component
Session 1: 3D Character Modelling and Topology for Animation (2 hours)- Topics:
- Topology; mesh data – vertices, edges, and faces; tris, quads, and N-gons; normals; topology flow (edge loops and edge rings) following the character’s anatomy; polygon count; digitised mesh vs. modelled mesh.
- Practical:
- Introduction to Blender – navigation (G[rab], R[otate], S[cale]); object mode vs. edit mode; proportional editing.
Session 2: UV Mapping and Materials (2 hours)- Topics:
- What is UV mapping? Character UV mapping and materials. Texture maps: albedo, roughness, metallic, and normal maps. Concept of subsurface scattering.
Session 3: Rigging and Motion Capture (2 hours)- Topics:
- Concept of rigging and armature. Automatic processes for character rigging.
Session 4: Animation and Rendering (2 hours)- Topics:
- Export and integration into a turntable scene (provided) in Blender. Material setup, camera animation and keyframes, Cycles rendering engine, and rendering settings.
After the physical component
Final presentations: Video sharing and individual reports assessment (2h) Programme workload
- Total Workload: 75 hours
- Contact Hours: 38h (in-person: 28h; online: 10h)
- Autonomous Work: 37h