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AET Courses

All Courses Digital Visualization Music and Sound Game Design PLAI

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About AET Guide

Whether you're an incoming freshman or a graduating senior majoring in AET, at some point you felt uncertain if you are enrolling in the right courses. You've spent countless hours researching about each course while still not finding the right information. With AET being a fairly new program at UT, it can be difficult for students to have a full understanding of which emphasis to choose and what courses specifically lead to the right path. AET Guide helps students access the information they need in a few simple clicks, eliminating the headache of searching for hours. AET Guide will sort out all AET courses in specific categories so that users can choose the right emphasis as well as the right courses matching their specialization.

What is Arts and Entertainment Technology (AET)?

Arts and Entertainment Technologies (AET) is the first Bachelor of Science degree offered by the College of Fine Arts in the School of Design and Creative Technologies at The University of Texas at Austin. In this interdisciplinary major, creative expression merges with technological innovation. AET foundational courses deliver creative coding fundamentals, an introduction to a wide range of creative production software and a colloquium series of guest speakers. Students advance to projects-based coursework drawn from four emphasis areas: Game Design; Digital Visualization; Performance, Lighting and Interactivity (PLAI); and Music and Sound. In addition to completing the university’s core curriculum, students will also complete a secondary field of study in a complementary area, such as Business Foundations, Elements of Computing, Integrated Design or Studio Art. Graduates of AET will be prepared to create digital content, lead production teams and develop new applications of technology in the evolving entertainment industry.

Digital Visualization courses provide a pathway for students pursuing careers as visual content providers and artists for a wide range of activities including: motion graphics and digital video editing, 3D modeling, character animation, concept art and many other areas of commercial and conceptual art pursuits. Through foundational courses in imaging and visualization, digital drawing and 3D modeling, students are introduced to industry standard software like Adobe Creative Cloud, Autodesk Maya and Unity.

The Music and Sound emphasis explores the hardware, software and creative practices of contemporary music and sound design. Courses in audio processing, synthesis and sampling prepare students to utilize current music and audio systems to create their own tracks and sound for games, screen, branding and interactive performance and live events.

The Game Development and Design program offered through the Arts and Entertainment Technologies degree extends the core mission of the University and prepares students for entry-level opportunities in the game industry and related fields by combining design-driven, hands-on experience with industry standard methods and practices. Students create presentation-ready work at all levels of study in design, art, technology, and production.

The Projection, Lighting and Interactivity (PLAI) area within the Arts and Entertainment Technologies major converges lighting, projection, digital media, gaming technology and interactive systems to enable new performances and allow students to develop and design digital live experiences. PLAI equips students to utilize digital imagery, lighting, projection and creative coding to create engaging, immersive, and interactive live environments.