What to expect in the first month of the New York Film Academy one-year 3D Animation program and how to plan for it.
The first month of our one-year animation program here at the NYFA will be one of the most intensive learning experiences of your life. During this time you will write a short story, create a storyboard, act out some of the scenes and create videos for reference.
The whole purpose of creating this animation is to familiarize you with the animation pipeline and some of the major components that are required in the production of any animated movie. It’s essential that from the beginning of the course you have a practical understanding of these processes, and with that in mind we learn how to create an organic character, usually a bipedal one made from polygons (polygonal modeling is a major modeling technique used in games and movies), and we will also create some basic props to support the story.
Then we learn how to apply textures to the models, how to rig them (put bones in the character to move it), how to animate it and how to output the final animation in into a movie format such as Quicktime or AVI.
During this first month you will receive allot of support from faculty and teaching assistants in getting you through this extreme learning curve. In order for you to succeed you will need to put in a significant effort and extra hours to achieve the results we expect of you during your course. Please check out earlier blogs for more important information about coming to the NYFA one year animation intensive.
As far as required reading goes a major source of information and inspiration will be found in “The animator’s Survival Kit” by Richard Williams. Williams was the animation director for “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, and almost every animator has at some point used this book as a reference and animation bible.
Please refer to my earlier blog posts for more important information on attending the school.
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Robert Appleton, New York Film Academy 3D Animation Instructor
