The purpose of the 4 week PORTFOLIO course is to take a novice, give them essential Maya or Modo training, then prepare a 30 second 3D animation for your portfolio. The course will appeal to those who are starting out in 3D animation and to those who have prior knowledge of another 3D animation package, such as XSI or 3D Studio Max. The structure of the course will vary from the description below if you will be taking the Modo option.

We will be discussing a scripted storyboard, planning shots, discussing techniques and solving problems using advanced animation functions.

You will model, texture and animate a fully rigged character in an architectural environment. The face of this character will be connected to a series of deformers to give expression and life. The body of the character will be connected to a skeleton rig and the skin of the character properly weighted.

All aspects or character animation, lighting, texturing, clothing, hair, props and sound design will be covered.

The secret of 3D animation is not so much in knowing all the tools and their functions but  in combining them in creative and practical ways. Knowing what to do with what- and why and when- is the real key to understanding 3D animation.

You will be given the choice of Mental Ray, RenderMan or Modo as your rendering engine and you will be working on a highly specified multi-processor Apple Mac.

The first 10 days of the PORTFOLIO course will cover the following topics:-

Day 1. Polygons. Every aspect of creating, cutting, shaping and extruding, using all the methods of shape creation (loft, extrude etc.)

Day 2. NURBs and advanced polygons. All aspects of this type of geometry and why it is so useful to animators. In the afternoon we will do sub-division of surfaces for organic life forms.

Day 3. Deformers. Typically those used for shape creation and animation. They include lattices, non-linear, wires, blend shapes and bones. Animating with keyframes.

Day 4. Lighting and texturing. There are many different methods for texturing polygons. You will need to know how to attach a texture to a surface and position it precisely.

Day 5. Hierarchical animation. (Using either Modo or Maya). Basic hierarchical animation using a simple table lamp (and inspired by PIXAR's 'Luxo Junior'.)

Day 6. Physics using soft and rigid bodies and how to animate with them. (Using Maya). This subject is always interesting but be prepared for long waits while simulations are taking place. We will also discuss and implement the caching of data which is necessary when using Mental Ray or Pixar's RenderMan.

Day 7. 2D and 3D Paint Effects. (Using Maya). Not so important but useful to know. We will also discuss creating textures in PhotoShop. All aspects of lighting will covered in depth. More complex layered shaders.

Day 8. Creating a figure in smoothed polygons (sub-division), creating and skeleton 'rig' and animating it. Modo users will be able to export/import to Maya for greater creative potential

Day 9. Using advanced deformers for facial expression and lip-synch. (A continuation of the previous day.)

Day 10. Alpha channels and Z buffers and compositing layers.

Days 11 to 20 of the PORTFOLIO course will cover storyboarding, character building and animation, set design, timing and choreography as well as the study of animation in both 2 and 3 dimensions. During this period you will be principally focused on a 30 second production for your portfolio.

Although this course focuses primarily on character animation you may wish to cover other specialised 3D animation areas such as architecture or industrial design. Please feel free to discuss this with us.

Training starts at 10 in the morning and finishes at 5 in the evening. There is a one hour break for lunch.