Introducing The 12 Principles of Animation

Starting with us in September, on either our BA in animation or our MA in animation? For our new starters, we are recommending this introductory video outlining the 12 Principles of Animation.  If you're studying animation for the first time, and starting to learn the basics, then this video is a very helpful introduction to the medium.  Unlock the secrets of Squash and stretch, Anticipation, Staging, Straight ahead action & pose to pose, Follow through & overlapping action, Slow in and slow out, Arcs & Paths of Action, Secondary action, Timing, Exaggeration, Solid drawing and Appeal.  Sounds like a long list? You don't have to memorise them all. Just be aware of the principles, and then gradually start to apply them in your animation.

How to Get Started With 3D Animation

Free Blender Tutorial at YouTube

How do you find out if 3D animation is for you? One way of finding out is to do a couple of tutorials online.

A great place to start is with the 3D software Blender - it's completely free, and there are many free tutorials out there to get you started.

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?

Bucks Student Pippa Stark Takes the Harry Potter Tour - By Broomstick

Bucks Student Pippa Stark takes the Harry Potter Tour by Broomstick.

To read more about our recent visit to the excellent Harry Potter studio tour in Leavesden, read this post.

And to see some of Pippa's excellent and inventive animation, see this post.

Sydney Padua - Our New Animation Lecturer!

Bucks New University is proud to announce our new lecturer in Animation - industry veteran Sydney Padua, whose animation career not only includes a roster of Hollywood hits but also encompasses countless visual effects blockbusters.

If that's not enough for you, she has even published highly successful graphic novels.  So, some very good news then for animation and VFX students at Bucks.

Moving On

Like Dick Whittington, I'm off to London

Working at Bucks and launching the new course in Animation and Visual Effects has been one of the highlights of my professional career.  After all, Bucks is a university with excellent facilities in new media and a strong focus on the creative arts.

Sad to say, today is my last day at Bucks, and I am moving to a new job in London with Escape Studios. However, the excellent work done at Bucks by our talented students will continue, and I wish the very best to whoever takes on the running of Animation and VFX course.

Book Recommendation - Animation Methods by David Rodriguez

Animation Methods by David Rodriguez is a very, very good book on learning animation in Maya.  It's a book that focuses primarily on 3D Character Animation, a step-by-step guide for learning Maya, and the Maya animation tools. It also has useful sections on how to get into the industry, how to make a great demo reel, and how to get a job in animation. We think this is a very useful companion book to the animation and VFX course at Bucks.

It is also an unusual book in that it makes extensive use of QR codes - meaning you can use your smartphone to scan the codes and then view a 3D animated clip of the lesson. So, not only can you read the lesson, but you can also see and understand it through a video demonstration. 

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!

Wednesday 17 June - Our Next Open Day at Bucks!

Wednesday 17 June is our next Open Day at Bucks, and the last one for the current academic year. Open Days are a great way for prospective students to get a feeling for what it is like studying at Bucks. Come and see our campus, take the tour and see the state-of-the-art facilities that we offer. Meet the Animation & VFX course team, and find out what we can do to start your career in this most exciting, challenging, and rapidly-expanding industry. We'll even give you free coffee and muffins.

Bucks Students Take The Harry Potter Studio Tour

Harry Potter Tour

Bucks animation & VFX students took the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden on May 13th, visiting the 80-hectare studio complex which was used for filming the Harry Potter series of films. The trip was free for all our students, paid for by the Bucks Big Deal, and was as good an introduction to the art, craft and science of visual effects film-making as almost any amount of classroom instruction - and far more fun.

Reminder - Creature Animation Masterclass on Friday 29 May

Framestore did the character animation for Paddington

Don't forget! This coming Friday 29 May we welcome an expert in character and creature animation from Framestore, one of London (and the world's) leading visual effects houses.  Marion Strunck, a graduate of the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark and a rising talent at Framestore, will be coming to Bucks to give our students a masterclass in creature work. So, what can our students at Bucks expect?

Finding a Summer Internship in Animation & VFX - Twelve Rules for Success

Interview, a short animated film by Mikkel Okholm and Mikkel Brons-Frandsen

How do animation students find summer internships and placements in the industry? Jobs in the entertainment industry have always been highly competitive, and even unpaid internships can be hard to find, So how do you track them down? There are many ways - official jobs postings, word of mouth, rumours in the pub, personal contacts, even cold-calling - all of these can be effective ways to find a summer placement in the business. Below are the twelve key rules we think are vital for success.

How to Apply For Our New Online MA in Animation

The world's first online MA in animation

Our new online MA in Animation is now taking applications and, if you hurry, you can still get a 10% discount on the fee. We're excited to be launching the world's first degree of this kind, and we're getting applications from all over the world, including the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. So how does the application process work, and what can applicants expect?

How to Animate Lipsync

Above is an excellent video on how to animate lipsync, showing how to break the process down into easy sections. The idea is to make sure that your work starts off simple and gradually grows in complexity as you layer in the detail.  At its simplest, good lipsync is just about opening the character's mouth on the vowels, and closing it on the consonants. But, developing a system to keep it simple and at the same time get a sophisticated result, is all part of mastering the art and craft of animation.

Free Compositing Software!

Nuke is the Industry Standard Compositing software used in UK Film and VFX studios.  At Bucks we know how important it is to train students on the correct software.  For that reason, we help all our second year students by buying them a one year license of Nuke as part of the 'Big Deal'.

However, what if you are an aspiring VFX student and want to get started but don't have the funds.

Well, we might have the answer!

Free VFX Tutorials at Our Next Open Day at Bucks - Saturday 21 February

Model your own Gul Dukat at Bucks for free! Image: Wikipedia

Saturday 21 February is not just any old Open Day at Bucks. As well as the usual tour of our state-of-the-art facilities, Bucks tutors Dave Creighton and Nick Brown are offering free tutorials in specialist VFX software Mudbox and RealFlow, giving our prospective students a unique insight into the digital pipeline of the growing animation and visual effects industry.  So, if you come along on Saturday, what exactly can you expect to learn?

Sarah Perry Brings "Acting for Animators" Masterclass to Bucks in S0.01

Acting and Movement for animators

We're excited to be welcoming Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion to teach our students a workshop in "acting for animators" here at Bucks on Monday 2nd March.  Everyone knows that animators are actors - but what does that really mean in practice? Sarah's workshop will help our animation students unlock the secrets of acting methodology, and help them to become better actors themselves.  So, what can our animation students at Bucks expect?

Need Financial Assistance? Bucks Offers Scholarships to Our Students

Scholarships! Photo: Wikipedia

Higher education is getting more and more expensive, but the good news for our students is that Bucks is a participant in the Government's National Scholarship Programme (NSP). The University is making available 100 individual scholarships worth up to £3,000 for students starting in year 1 of their course, from September 2015.

What Our Students Have to Say

I am the social rep for the animation and VFX course here at bucks and recently; got the chance to collaborate with the other social media reps to record some interviews with existing students on the 3 media courses, Animation & VFX, Film & Television Production and Audio and Music Production. The purpose of the videos is to help prospective students to get an insight into what it’s like to study her at Bucks. 

How Can You Tell Where is the Best Place to Study Animation?

Gateway Building at Bucks - modern media hub

One of the most important decisions that anyone makes is what to study at University, and where. How do you choose? Even if you know you want to study animation and the digital arts (good choice!), there are at least 80 courses in the UK to select from.  There are a number of ways of making the right decision, but we think these are the most important questions to ask: