Which Country Has The Most Animation Studios?

UK Animation is thriving

Which Country has the most animation studios? The answer, of course, is the USA, with over 6,000 animation studios, of which around 1,100 have employees (ie not just a sole freelancer working alone).  

But who is number two? You might be surprised to learn that the number two spot is taken - not by India, Japan or China - but by...

COM7024 Animals & Creatures Starts 17 June 24

For our MA students studying for their Online MA in Animation, Module COM704 (Animals and Creatures) started on 17 June 2024. This is the fourth module tackled by our students on our Online MA in Animation.

COM7024 focuses on animal and creature animation, with an emphasis on the kind of photo-realistic animation in which London VFX houses specialise.  COM7024 PR1 is due on Friday 13th September 2024 at 2pm.

Bio Motion Walker - How to Animate a Walk

Bio Motion Walker

All student animators must learn how to animate a walk cycle, creating a successful biped walk and then giving it character and personality.

One very useful resource is the Bio Motion Walker from the Bio Motion Lab, located at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

The Bio Motion Walker allows animators to move a range of sliders showing how to make a walk cycle feel masculine or feminine, heavy or light, anxious or calm, happy or sad.  

Animators study live action, and then incorporate - and exaggerate - real life in their work . The Bio Motion Walker is a useful tool for analysing how people walk and move in different ways.  

You can find the Bio Motion Walker here.

Why Animators Should Record Audio First

Voice actors come first - then animation

One of the rules of animation film-making is that the audio comes first, plus sound effects (and music) - then you do the animation. 

The voice recording for the actors is done first, cut into the edit, and then the animators create their performance to match the dialogue.

Sometimes film-makers will try doing it the other way around, animating the characters first and then adding the voice-over, but this is almost always a mistake. The reason for this is that it is very hard to post-sync the dialogue.

The rule of animation film-making is always this: record your dialogue first, then do the animation.

OBS - A Free Tool for Online Delivery of Classes

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) offers a useful option for our lecturers and tutors at Bucks, who are switching to online delivery of our courses. OBS is easy to install and completely free to use, for Windows and Mac devices.

What Kind of Laptop Should Our Students Buy?

"What kind of laptop should I buy?" is a question that we are often asked at Bucks New University, both by our undergraduate students who want the flexibility to be able to work from home and - of course - by our online students, who will need a laptop of their own to complete the course.

It's a tricky question to answer, because computer specifications change all the time and - of course - it all depends on exactly what you want to use your laptop for.

But, let's say you want to buy a decent laptop capable of running Autodesk Maya, for computer animation and to render out your shots.  What sort of laptop should you buy, and how much do you need to spend? MA Animation student Amedeo Beretta offers some advice to other students at Bucks.

Animation Library at Bucks

Gateway Building at Bucks - home to the Animation Library

The animation shelves of the library in the Gateway Building here at Bucks are an important resource for our students. In recent years the University has bought our department more books, and more copies of the key books, so there are more to go around.

And we have many journals too, such as Animation Magazine - materials that help students learn from the best sources and keep in touch with the latest news from the industry. Below is some general information about to library for our new animation students.

What is The Animator's Resource Kit?

We're recommending this very useful animation blog - The Animator's Resource Kit, a useful one-stop-shop for lots of animation materials, including reviews of some of the best and most useful animation rigs.

It has plenty of information on subjects like links to animation forums, communities, animation competitions, Maya rigs, tools - and places to submit work.

Bucks New University Welcomes Our New Students To The Online MA in Animation!

The world's first online MA in animation

We're excited to welcome all our new students who have just started the journey with us on our brand-new online MA in animation, launched this week here at Bucks in partnership with Animation Apprentice.

This is a unique degree - the first of its kind - which can be undertaken by students anywhere in the world, leading to a formal qualification in the field. You will not only learn how to animate, but you will engage at Masters' level with the underpinning theory and structure behind the art form. So, what is this degree all about, and what can our new students expect?

Big Hardware Upgrade for Bucks Animation Resources

The New Lenovo Animation Workstation at Bucks!

As the Animation Courses at Bucks continue to grow, the University is keen to nurture our talented students and make sure they have the best kit to work on.

Working with out new IT partner, Lenovo, we are re-equipping our Animation Studios with high end ThinkStations.  These will be specified to meet the Autodesk requirements and will include dual screens to allow our students to experience a professional environment. We will now be able to set up poses on one screen and adjust curves on the other.  We can have a model on one screen and set up materials or edit UV's on the other screen. Any aspiring 3D Artist should consider a dual screen set up as it makes many processes far more efficient and enjoyable.

We are also setting up a dedicated Render Farm on a new local network specifically for the Animation courses!