Our First Online MA Animation Graduates! Yay!

Graduation Day at Buckinghamshire New University

Our very first online MA students will be graduating in September.  Graduation Day at Buckinghamshire New University (our degree-awarding partner) takes place in early September, and we are especially proud to welcome our new MAs in Animation.

Of course, the event is something of a formality - no-one actually has to turn up, but we hope that many students will come and celebrate their achievement - graduating as Masters of Arts on the world's first online MA in Animation. There might even be a celebratory lunch!

And, in a small way, everyone there will be making a little piece of animation history.

Why Does Maya Batch Render Too Dark?

Utah Teapot

Lighting your scene using Autodesk Maya can be a tricky process. You get your lights to look just the way you want them to, and when you render out a single frame, everything looks fine.

But then, when you come to do a Batch Render of your final frames, Maya gives you a very different result - the images look much darker. Which is not what you wanted at all.

So why does Maya do this - and what is the solution?

Stuart Penn Talks Aliens in London on 3 August

Stuart Penn

Framestore VFX Supervisor Stuart Penn will be talking about his work at a free event in London in two weeks, on Thursday 3rd August at 6.30pm.

Events like this are a great way for animators to get a better understanding of the overall VFX pipeline, and how animation fits in to the big picture.

Stuart will be talking about his recent work as VFX supervisor on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. We encourage all our students to attend - and ask questions. This is a chance to meet a successful industry professional and ask him - how does a student artist break into this field?

Bring Your Own Animation Tonight!

Lukin pub, Fitzrovia

This one is for our animators in the London area: the monthly event "Bring Your Own Animation" is taking place tonight, Monday July 17th.

BYOA is an animation event that takes place every month at a pub in London.  This month the event is taking place at The Lukin pub in Fitzrovia.

If you are a student who is working on a shot or an updated reel (aren't we all?), bring your work on a USB or hard drive and get feedback from professional animators. You'll also hear the local gossip and find out the word on the street. Who is hiring, and what skills are in demand?

11 Second Club Entry by Victoria Bailey

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our students to enter the monthly animation competition known as the 11 Second Club. There are all sorts of reasons to enter, not the least of which is the chance for students' to showcase their skills and get their work noticed. The excellent animation above was done by one of our online MA students, Victoria Bailey, who has created an excellent piece of character animation.  Animators should always think of themselves as actors giving a performance, finding the right mannerisms and gestures to make the shot feel believable.  It's not enough to learn the mechanics of animation - we also have to make our work entertaining and convincing. Many congratulations to Victoria on her excellent work.

VR UK - Today and Tomorrow

VR UK is at Ravensbourne today and tomorrow

The UK Virtual Reality Festival is taking place today and tomorrow, 6th and 7th July, at Ravensbourne in London. Sponsored by the Arts Council and the Lottery Fund, this event looks to be a great opportunity to break into the fastest-growing part of our industry - Virtual Reality.

Want to be an expert in a field that no-one really understands yet? Any of our students in the London area - get yourself to Ravensbourne. For details, follow this link.

What's Inside our Online MA in 3D Animation?

What's inside our Online MA in 3D Animation? It's a question we get asked a lot; after all, anyone signing up for 18 months of study wants to know what they're actually committing themselves to.

Weight Lift Animation by Joris Van Laar

Check out this excellent piece of work by Animation Apprentice student Joris Van Laar, who has taken the familiar theme of a character lifting a heavy weight and turned it into an excellent and entertaining piece of character animation. As ever, here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our students to think of themselves as actors giving a performance. It's not enough to learn the mechanics of animation - we also have to make our work entertaining and fun to watch. Many congratulations to Joris on some excellent pantomime animation.