Study Animation Online

It used to be that animators were a rare breed. But nowadays they are springing up like mushrooms, and animation companies receive thousands of applications from highly qualified individuals every year. They're able to pick and choose from the best talents.

As somebody in the position to hire such animators, before I pop the DVD reel in, I will usually scan through the resume to see where the graduate is from. If it's a reputable academy, I am usually more icentified to look at the reel. Because we receive so many applications, sometimes it is just impossible to go through every single reel, though we try our best.

However, not everybody can afford the time or money to attend a major animation school. A good alternative to consider might be an online animation course. There are currently some online courses that have garnered a good reputation and they do add some credibility when you submit your resume. it may be worthwhile to explore these options. However, you do have to excercise caution when choosing such online courses.

The first thing you have to look at is the course outline. You have to assess your own needs versus what the course is offering. You might be competent in certain areas already and do not want to spend time going through those subject matters. In which case, you might want a curriculum which is flexible and can be molded to fit your needs. You also want a curriculum that is up to date because the animation business is fast moving, and the techniques and tools that are state of the art today will be archaic two years later.

You will also need to choose a course that will allow you to complete a show reel. A show reel is essential when you are applying for a job as it is a testimony of what you can do. Make sure the online course covers guiding you through the production of your show reel and not just leave you to do your own thing.

You might also want to see if the online animation school can arrange for internship in animation companies. Remember, you go there not just to intern and gain some experience, you are actually there to network. If you can impress the animator during your internship, it may be the ticket to getting your first job in animation.

Be very wary of schools who do not have portfolios of students to show or only showcases their teachers' works. It either means they are very new or not great at teaching. Teachers with good portfolios mean nothing if they have not exhibited the ability to impart their knowledge. There are also schools who 'borrow' portfolios from animation companies from parts of the world who seldom surf English sites. Avoid these schools like the plague! If possible, try to get details for past graduates of the course and see how they are doing now.

Last but not least, you should make sure that you are comfortable with the schedule of the course. If you can't fit into the time-table or vice versa, either work your way around it or look for another school. Nothing will break down your resolution to be an animator faster than not being able to keep up with the course.

By observing the points I have listed above, I believe that you will be able to gauge which online animation course is the right choice for you.

I prefer not to make any recommendations to online courses as I personally have not taken any of them, and therefore cannot make any. However I have heard good things being said about Animation Mentor whom I heard is run by a bunch of experienced CG professionals. I have also compiled a list of online animation courses in my resource section. You can check them out in the Resource section found in the sidelink.

I hope that this article has been helpful to you and I wish you success in finding the right online 3D education.


Study Animation Online by ALDRIC CHANG
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So You Want to be an Animator?

I have heard many people describe the animation industry as 'cool', 'interesting', 'glamorous' and many such similar terms. Well, no wonder 3D animation jobs are so highly sought after these days.

Depending on which part of the world you are in, there is either a shortage of job vacancies for animators or an even bigger shortage of job vacancies for animators. In short, there are more people applying to become animators than studios offering positions.

In such a competitive environment, this is where a CG artist has to excel in packaging and promoting himself. You will have to learn the art of networking first of all. In many instances where the bigger studios are concerned, submitting showreels might not be sufficient to warrant the HR's attention, because big studios means lots of work and that means BUSY.

If you participate in trade events like software launches or trade exhibitions, chances are you can get to know a lot of studio executives. By getting to know somebody directly and having a name to contact, you might get your demo reel viewed much faster as 'you know somebody'. And if your reel is any good, chances are you will get hired, especially if the studio is in a hiring mode.

Now sometimes even after you've done the above and your demo reel is really good, you still may not get a job, and that's because the studio just isn't hiring at that point in time. However, your portfolio will be kept for future references when they do have a vacancy.

Also, there are times when studios just don't want to hire fresh CG artists. They may prefer to hire 'experienced staff'. But who's going to give you experience if you don't get hired by them, you ask.

OK, to answer your question, first you must realize that there are a number of industries where 3D animation is used, and you may be able to get started in an industry other than the one you initially had your heart set on. If you can't find a job with an animation studio, then consider working with a web design company, a game design company, an architectural firm, a media company, an advertising company or even a product design company. Many of such companies require a 3D artist, and you can build up a portfolio and the much coveted 'experience' there.

Getting an internship during your education is also a good method of paving your way to getting your first animation job. If during the internship you exhibit yourself to be a conscientious worker with good habits and skills, you might just get a job offer upon graduation. Many 3D artists got their jobs this way, so this is a very valid method of getting your first job. Another spin off from this method is by offering to work for free. Look upon it as an opportunity to learn from working professionals and to gain experience with the latest softwares and real-world projects. If you show yourself to be sincere and dedicated enough you will eventually be offered a position.

Whatever the case, remember to get a demo reel produced. The reel should exhibit your best work and your skills to the fullest. Take out the crappy work and if there's nothing good to put in, then work on getting some good stuff to put in instead of putting in crap. Crap is not going to get you any job offers! A demo reel is going to make or break you, so make sure you put in 1000% effort into making the best reel you can produce. Know that the person reviewing your demo reel (if he ever picks it up) is going to spend less than 30 seconds looking for something he likes. The moment he feels bored or unimpressed he loses the incentive to continue watching your reel and you have just lost your job offer. Make your reel as interesting and as impressive as possible. Leave what happens next to providence.

Do your best and you can tell yourself at least you have tried. I wish you success in your job hunting!

So You Want to be an Animator? - by ALDRIC CHANG

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3d Model of Snail - 3Ds Max Modeling

Age Of 3d Animation

The art of creating and moving images with the use of computer is generally termed as 3D Animation. The era of 3D animation
can be dated back to the early nineties when the first 3D animation film “Toy Story”

was created. With the passage of time there was tremendous transformation in 3D animation and many more movies were created.

The power and effectiveness of 3D animation became apparent when “Jurassic Park” hit the cinema screen in 1993. It really was

wonder created with the help of 3D Animation. The most powerful animal, “the dinosaur” was brought to life. The movie stands

as testimony to the powers of 3D Animation.

The Age of 3D animation has certainly brought about a revolution. There is hardly any area where 3D Animation is not playing

a pivotal role. The popularity of computer animation has skyrocketed in this age of 3D Animation. The superiority of 3D

Animation has several reasons. A few important ones are spelled out in the para to a follow.

In the age of 3D Animation crystal clear images can be revealed in a very short period of time and the impact created is just

unimaginable. It is true to say that concepts and ideas which are not easy to be expressed in words or even through

illustrations can not only be created easily but also analyzed from different perspectives. The dimensional feature of 3D

Animation is where its true power lies and its ability to portray movement is exceptional. A huge amount of scientific data

of movements is combined and presented in a simplistic manner. An advantaged tagged to this attribute of 3D animation is that

it creates a long lasting impact on the memory and the viewer tends to retain the image for a much longer time and that too

with accuracy.

Age of 3D animation brings to light limitless possibilities. It is a fine

communicating tool which offers more information at a faster rate, presents complex concepts in a simplified manner and also

helps turn an idea or even a hint into reality. Recreation of any event, expensive or dangerous to reproduce, is possible in

this age of 3D Animation. Fine examples of this would be an air crash, demolition of buildings and /or creation of colonies.

In the age of 3D Animation photo-realistic effects are possible by using virtual light sources from different angles with a

fine blend of reflection, transparency and shadowing. One big area where 3D Animation is brining about a huge and fast

transformation is Architecture. The 3-dimensional models are more accurate and make it easier to see and study the possible

relationship of the buildings with the environment.

In the age of 3D animation there is no limit in so far as the software packages are concerned. You can find several packages

in the market but the main and only problem that there are far too many and there re endless companies who have created their

own 3D animation packages on the pretext that the ones available don’t suit their purpose. However, there are still a few

standardized ones. The first and the most familiar one that comes to mind is ‘Alias Maya’. It is a software which allows you

to create models, texture and animate, tight them and lots more. Another package which stands a rival to ‘Alias Maya’ is ‘3DS

max’, it is a package with almost the same facilities that one would find in ‘Alias Maya’ its advantage is that it allows you

to from ‘Maya’ to ‘3DS max’ and vice-versa. A few other software packages are Cinema 4D, Bodyshop, Light ware 3D and many

more.

The future of 3D Animation is far reaching there are going to be more and more, different areas where 3D Animation is going

to bring about a radical change. However, one area of challenge for 3D Animation is a photorealistic animation of humans. As

of now animal characters, fantasy characters, robots or cartoon like humans are shown but time is not far off when you will

http://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/313637?articleid=313637-Age Of 3d Animation by DEEP RAJ

History of Motion Capture for Computer Character Animation

The use of motion capture for computer character animation is relatively new, having begun in the late 1970's, and only now beginning to become widespread. Motion capture is the recording of human body movement (or other movement) for immediate or delayed analysis and playback. Motion capture for computer character animation involves the mapping of human motion onto the motion of a computer character. To get convincing motion for the human characters, Disney studios traced animation over film footage of live actors playing out the scenes.

This method, called rotoscoping, has been successfully used for human characters ever since.The rotoscoping was invented by max fleischer in 1915.The first cartoon character has to be rotoscope was "koko the clown".He want to use koko to convinced the big studio in the new process for the project.Walt Disney use the rotoscoping technique in 1937 to create motion of human characteristic in snow white.The decision of using rotoscoping technique is realistic human motion. In 1970's it began to be feasible to animate characters by computer, animators adapted traditional techniques,includingrotoscoping.There is several name in the motion capture history;

Pioneers of Motion Capture Eadweard Muybridge (1830 - 1904) - pioneer photographer of the moving image Étienne-Jules Marey - First person to analyze human and animal motion with video Harold E. "Doc" Edgerton (1903-1990) -High Speed stroboscopic photography Max Fleischer (1915) - Rotoscoping Lee Harrison III (1960's) - Scanimation Walt Disney - Multiplane Camera

The motion capture problems The goal of motion capture is to record the movement of a performer (typically,but not always,human) in a compact and usable manner.Computer graphics and computer vision usually abstract the body into a small number of rigid segments that rotate relative to one another.The motion capture problem we consider therefore must have the following form: given a single stream of video observations of a performer, compute a 3D skeletal representation of the motion of sufficient quality to be useful for animation. The specific challenges of animation make the problem even tougher.

- Unlike applications such as recognition and surveillance, animation does care about small details.

- Jitter and wobbles often come from uncertainty in computations,

- The importance of high frequencies means that filtering is not a viable tool for noise removal at video sampling rates.

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Animation Business In China - An Uncertain Outlook

The future for China's animation industry is uncertain.

Since the late 80s, China has been a choice location for outsourcing 2D cartoon series to due to its low cost. But since a couple of years back, the number of outsourced projects to China has decreased, and the future for China's animation industry is uncertain as homegrown animation products are also not bringing in the cash.

At of this moment, the China economy is rising at a meteoric rate and wages are also increasing due to higher standards of living. The higher wages and increasing costs are discouraging some companies from outsourcing their work to China. In the wake of countries like India, Thailand and the Philippines competing for a piece of the outsourcing pie, China struggles even more as it loses some ground due to the language barrier. Most outsourcing companies hail from English speaking territories and the Chinese are more lacking in English than their Indian and Filipino competitors.

Due to this, China animation companies figured that they had to stop depending on outsourced work and start creating their own intellectual property. If the foreigners could make their billions through animation, why couldn't they?

After all, they have the expertise and experience garnered through years of outsourcing work right?

Well, not quite right. The problem is - they are technically sound but creatively weak! 90 that are accepted as the 'cream of the crop', only some are good enough to sell to the rest of the world. And by rest of the world, I mean just a handful of territories.

Enter the Chinese government, who came up with policies to grant monetary incentives to Chinese companies who produce their own original content in an effort to encourage better production quality. But creativity is something cultivated by decades of media exposure and cultural freedom - both of which China is lacking in. It did not help that the Chinese government restricted the broadcast of foreign content on local TV stations, effectively restricting the dissemination of creativity that these foreign content bring. The monetary incentives did encourage more companies to create their own original content, but did little to increase the quality of the content. They could at best sell to China provincial TV stations (which paid very little or nothing at all) and some low-paying countries around the world, hardly recouping their investments.

The animation companies then looked at licensing opportunities for the characters that appear in their cartoon content as a secondary source of income. However, piracy is rampant in China and many manufacturers and consumers do not respect intellectual property rights. With a population of 1.4 billion people, the merchandising potential is enormous if this situation can be improved! Strangely though, they seem to respect foreign intellectual properties much better. Walt Disney, Looney Tunes and some Korean brands are apparently enjoying healthy sales over there.

At this moment, China animation companies are fighting a tough battle for their survival. Many have collapsed amidst failed venture funds and mounting debts. The ones that are surviving are doing just that - surviving. A small handful appear to be doing fine due to a healthy inflow of outsourced work. But how long can the outsourced work keep coming in? And when the tap finally stops flowing, will the China homegrown animation products finally mature enough to make it to the world market and grow secondary income through licensing and merchandising?

Only time will tell.

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Chico and Ricco 3D animation Thesis