Twelve Top Tips for Animating in Maya

Part of the secret of having a successful career as an animator is learning how to be good and fast at the same time.

Directors want quality, Producers want speed. To survive in the industry for long, you must please both.  Animation producers like animators who do the job well, finish on time, and are nice to work with. If you have all three of these qualities then you will have a long and successful career in the industry.

Below are our Twelve Top Tips for animating in Maya, to help you be both good, fast and reliable. Most of the principles below are things that I learned from the lead animators on "Robots"; the film where I first learned 3D animation in Maya.

BAFTA Scholarships Now Open

Want to take our online MA in 3D animation - but short on cash? If you're a British national, you can apply for a a BAFTA scholarship which will more than cover the fees.

BAFTA has opened applications for its scholarship programmes, worth up to £12,000. Since our MA costs just over £7,000, the scholarship will more than cover the cost of study.

Architectural Visualisation Event on Monday

Escape Studios in London is hosting an "Evening With..." event on Monday 11th March, at their Central London campus at 190 High Holborn, WC1.

3D artists Olga Banaszyk and Daniel Cherry will talk about their work at Hayes Davidson - a studio that specialises in architectural visualisation.

Blue Zoo Recruitment Stand Tips

Blue Zoo's Bader Badruddin at an industry event

Blue Zoo, one of London's animation powerhouses, has offered their Top Ten "Recruitment Stand Tips" for students hoping to impress at a recruitment stand.

Some of the tips are pretty obvious (number 1 is "turn up"), but overall this is a useful and informative read on how to approach potential recruiters at an industry event. 

Knowing how to approach recruiters matters, especially for landing that all-important first job in the industry.

Foxy Tail Rig - Great for Learning Animation

"Ultimate" Tail

Here at Bucks we're recommending this free "Ultimate Tail" Rig for all our students, available for download from CGMeetUp.

The "Ultimate" series are all well-tested rigs, which are specifically designed for learning animation.

We especially like the foxy "ultimate tail" rig, great for learning overlapping action. The rig has relatively few controls, and it's an excellent platform on which to learn the basics of animation locomotion.

DreamWorks' Simon Otto Interviewed

We're enjoying this excellent video interview with DreamWorks Head of Animation Simon Otto on animating dragons - and on animation in general. It's pretty long; runs about an hour, but if you've got some time, get yourself a cup of tea and some decent headphones and settle in for an hour of animation instruction from one of the masters.  If you want to be a great animator, following in Simon Otto's footsteps is a great place to start.