ACTING & FILM SCHOOL

Prepairing For NYFA 3D Animation Courses

If you have registered for the NYFA 3D Animation School one-year intensive course, or even the one month course, advanced preparation is helpful or even essential to get the most out of the program. Because attending the animation courses entails full speed ahead from day one and warp speed thereafter, having a familiarity with computers (mac or pc) is essential.

Knowing the basics of Photoshop will greatly aid your progress as we use it for texture creation, and although we do teach Photoshop classes it will ease your emersion in to what is a very demanding year of study to be acquainted with it before we start.

Of less importance but a definite advantage is a familiarity with After Effects, which basically is Photoshop in motion. After Effects is a very important program, is used extensively in the film and broadcast industries for motion graphics, visual effects and compositing, and thus can be a help in getting you into a job.

The main 3D program we use at the Academy is Maya. Maya is a vast and difficult program to master and thus having even a little experience with it will be of great help to you when entering the program.

You can download a free 30 day trail of Maya from here. If you are a student you may get a copy of Maya with a substantial discount from educational software distributors such as journeyed.com or the academicsuperstore.com

There are many beginners books and DVDs on Maya and you may want to visit your local bookstore to find a book that you like. I will be sending out a reading list along with other important information to those of you that have registered for the one year course before classes start in September, so be on the lookout for that.

Happy learning!

Robert Appleton, New York Film Academy 3D Animation School Instructor