Where Can I Find Free Online Graphic Arts Courses?
Schools like Bowling Green State University and the Middle East Technical University provide interested individuals with the opportunity to learn about graphic arts courses online for free. Study these resources at your convenience. Schools offering Graphic Design degrees can also be found in these popular choices.
What You Need to Know
Knowing how to design informative and eye-catching graphics for print and online materials can be a valuable job skill. Begin your studies with the free online graphic arts courses. These noncredit courses typically require Adobe Reader, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and you might need Stuffit Expander and Adobe Illustrator CC'14 to take full advantage of the presented materials.
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University provides a PDF tutorial that will teach you to use Adobe Illustrator CC'14 software to design graphics for the Web, multimedia and print. You can access this document using a PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader, and you can print it out to use for quick reference.
How is the Tutorial Presented?
This 19-page document uses images of Adobe Illustrator's tabs and tools in addition to text instructions in order to walk you through the basic features and functions of the program. You'll need access to Adobe Illustrator CC'14 to use this tutorial.
What Does the Tutorial Cover?
The Adobe Illustrator CC'14 tutorial teaches you to set up documents using options such as page size, orientation and color mode. Lessons cover other basic tools you will need to design shapes, place images and text in graphics, and work with symbols, layers and objects.
Middle East Technical University
Based in Ankara, Turkey, Middle East Technical University (METU) provides a free course titled Computer Graphics through OpenCourseWare (OCW). These courses were originally offered to on-campus students. This computer graphics course requires knowledge of fundamental linear algebra, C++ programming and analytic geometry, and you will also need Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office to view some of the files.
What Will I Learn?
You will learn the basic concepts, software and programming skills needed to create computer graphics. The course covers 2D and 3D shape transformations, surface rendering and illumination models, among other topics.
What Assignments Are Included?
One assignment involves creating an animation tool for managing a train using 2D and 3D design software. A warm-up exercise - which requires implementing a software program used to create simple geometric objects - is also included. A midterm review is provided in PowerPoint that includes problems and solutions.
What Materials Are Included?
The course provides lecture notes in PowerPoint format. A tutorial, toolkit and programming guide for learning and using OPENGL (Open Graphics Library) - a program for creating 2D and 3D computer graphics - is also included. You can find links to downloads for computer graphics software, OPENGL sample programs and a linear algebra tutorial.
To continue researching, browse degree options below for course curriculum, prerequisites and financial aid information. Or, learn more about the subject by reading the related articles below:
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