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overview
This program is part of the Digital Arts Department.
The students in the Digital Animation Program will acquire both creative and technical skills that will prepare them for working in the Film, TV or Gaming Industry.
The program is broken down into individual courses that focus on skills which blend traditional art with high-end technology.
Application software used in the program includes, Autodesk Maya, XSI, Combustion, Adobe Photoshop, and more. In addition to software skills, students will learn traditional skills in design and animation fundamentals to help them in the creation of living characters which will later be realized in 3D.
Upon successful completion, students will have completed a professional demo reel that can lead them toward jobs in the entertainment industry locally or abroad.
program entry
Entrance requirements
High school graduation or equivalent
Communication 12 (C+) or English 12 (P) or English-language proficiency
Interview with Digital Arts department (students must bring their portfolio's to this interview)
Portfolio to consist of 6 - 10 pieces of which the sketchbook would be considered one piece (the portfolio for this program must include a sketchbook which should include some Life Drawing and can also consist of other artwork such as painting, modeling, sculpting, photography and others.
For programs beginning in August 2007 or later which require Grade 12 Math and Science courses, BCIT will not require the applicant to write the provincial exam. Provincial exam marks will still be required for English 12, Communications 12, and Technical and Professional Communications 12.
Apply to program
Applicants are encouraged to attend an information session before applying to this program.
April intake: June of the previous year until the program fills.
October intake: October of the previous year until the program fills.
Applications are considered for a specific intake.
costs & supplies
Tuition fees
Please see the Fees, Payments and Refunds section of the website for more information on full-time tuition fees.
Books and supplies
$261
(General estimated cost, and subject to change)
courses
Digital Animation is a three-term, intensive
program. After lectures, your time will be spent creating projects that
will help you understand the tools of the industry. Time will be spent
researching subjects that will be recreated in digital software to add
realism and believability to your work. Students have access to the
computer labs 24/7.
Class hours
Courses will be scheduled either during the day, in the evenings or during the day on weekends for a maximum of 25.0 hours per week.
Program matrix
Term 1
Credits
MDIA 1181
Texturing 1
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of Photoshop. Topics covered will include understanding the tools of Photoshop, modifying images, exploring color techniques, as well as studying and recreating various textures through different painting techniques. Students will learn how to use layers, layer via copy, layer opacity, layer styles, layer mask, and layer blending modes to create depth and transparency. Students will understand image size, pixel depth and resolution. Focus on selection techniques including Lasso, Color range, Quick mask mode, Magic wand, Mask logic and the Pen tool.
This course will be an introduction to digital compositing principles and presentation skills using compositing software. Previous student demo-reels will be reviewed as a tool for understanding the sequence of compositing and editing steps required for creating a successful demo-reel. Using combustion students will explore the program interface and understand main compositing tools in the application. Concepts such as creating a composite branch, layering images and animation will be introduced and practiced. Presentation skills such as importing different images to combustion and creating a simple digital storyboard, creating and animating titles, understanding QuickTime compression and rendering the final result as a QuickTime movie will also be covered and practiced. Students will create a digital storyboard for a fictional demo-reel in addition to creating titles and credits for a fictional demo-reel.
In Project/Portfolio students will improve their traditional drawing and design skills in the first half of the term. Students will work with traditional mediums and learn how to develop concepts and Ideas and create drawings with composition and linear perspective. In the second half of the term students will be collecting artworks from their digital and traditional classes and create a digital portfolio for critique and assessment.
Modeling clean animate-able meshes is an essential skill in the 3D Industry. 3D Design 1 will focus on instilling proper modeling workflow including concept development and reference gathering. Through lectures, in class demonstrations and assignments, students will learn tools and techniques to model non organic objects and environments. Design 1 begins with a thorough introduction to Maya?s interface. Students will then continue to learn about NURBS mesh types and the tools needed to create clean well layed out NURBS surfaces. Polygon modeling will be introduced and all tools will be covered in depth. Focus will then shift to modeling non organic environments (closed and open) with the final few weeks dedicated to creating a larger environment for the main term assignment. In modeling, repetition and practice is essential, therefore Design 1 contains a heavy workload of assignments.
This course explores the fundamentals of animation using cutting edge 3D software. Students will cover a mixture of topics such as posing, timing, key-framing, interpolation, transformations and rendering. Through assignments and exercises, the students will build experience, setting the stage for more advanced topics and exercises in the second semester.
In the first term of production students will explore the roles, responsibilities and tasks in the creation of 3D graphics. Students will work with production tools and focus on the skills and positions to create finished works. The first half of the term will focus on digital concepts, story and design, There will also be a focus on UV unwrapping, 2D imaging and texturing, Students will spend time weighting and rigging models for animation. The last half of the semester students will focus on camera work and editing, lighting and rendering.
This course will cover fundamental concepts involved in traditional 2D animation. Students will be developing their animation skills in timing and acting while learning the principles of animation. During the course students will learn the studio procedures for the creation of a professional piece of animation. Each assignment will focus on the core skills needed to be successful in the traditional and digital animation industry. In the second half of the term students will learn basic storyboarding and character design techniques necessary to create a short film.
In this course students will continue to build upon the principles of texturing from level 1, using specific techniques to create skin and clothing. Realistic texturing scenes will be explored in more depth with an emphasis placed on details. Students will use photographic reference images to enhance the believability of their work. Prerequisites: MDIA 1181
Compositing 2 will continue to build on what was covered in compositing 1 with a focus on more advanced visual effects and motion graphics. Students will mask and rotoscope several video clip selections in combustion. During the term, time will be spent animating selections, adding effect operators and animating effect operators. Using the tracking and stabilizing tools students will work with 1 and 4 points tracking and 1 and 2 points stabilizing. Students will key in Combustion and capture live video recorded on video. CG elements will be composited with other CG elements and composited against a life background. Time will be spent working with the colour corrector to blend these CG and live elements correctly. Prerequisites: MDIA 1182
In this course students will produce materials and employ techniques to enhance their effectiveness in the work place. Emphasis will be placed on resume/portfolio preparation, interview/networking techniques, public speaking and presentation skills. Students will hone their skills to industry standards in a workshop setting that encourages self-evaluation, constructive feedback and teamwork.
In Project/Portfolio for Animation 2, students will improve their traditional drawing and design skills in the first half of the term. Students will work on a series of projects, designed to showcase how a story idea (Script), can be carried through the design process and into storyboarding and finally translated into previs. In the second half of the term students will be collecting artworks from their digital and traditional classes and create a create a digital portfolio for critique and assessment. This course emphasizes the importance of team work. Students will be able to organize their work efficiently to get their assets assembled before making their portfolio presentations. Students will be encouraged to problem solve while receiving and taking critique of their work. Based on feedback given by classmates students will revise their portfolio. Students will be working in a team, and will be encouraged to give and receive constructive feedback for improving presentations and portfolios.
Building on the foundations of Design 1, we will focus on modeling the human head using a variety of techniques. Students will come to understand the typology of the human head, its underlying structure and how these play a role in modeling the head. Modeling the body will also be taught with focus on the hands and feet. The creation of hair will be discussed and a variety of methods for different hair styles will be demonstrated. The ZBUSH software package will be introduced and how it interacts with Maya. Students will be taught what is known as the ?ZBRUSH Pass?, importing their models into ZBRUSH and adding a displacement map. Higher Poly smoothing methods will be discussed, allowing the students to move to a more polished finished product. Another major theme in this term is the ability to present one?s ideas in a clear format. Throughout the term, student will learn to focus their ideas and present them on paper through a well designed, well referenced character concept. This term will culminate in the modeling of that character, the end result of which will be placed on the students demo reel. Prerequisites: MDIA 1630
This course continues to build on the core principles of animation the student has taken in MDIA 1640. Animation exercises covering weight lifts, dialogue, full body acting, and 2 character interactions allow the student to develop further acting skills. The course delves deeper into the creative and technical world of character setup. Methods and techniques for creating highly interactive spines, simulation of a forearm?s ulna and radius skin deformation will be explored. Students will create control splines to manage deformations in a highly intuitive manner. Foot Roll effects, breathing controls and tails will all be covered in the character setup component. By the end of the term students will submit 3 possible final animation proposals. Prerequisites: MDIA 1640
In the second term of production students will work with lighting and surfacing in greater depth. Students will practice lighting scenes with final gathering, global illumination, and ambient occlusion. Time will be spent on how to split up scenes into separately rendered passes, and then composite renders into final footage. Students will work on their final demo reel concepts and there will be a peer review of student work. There will be an emphasis on efficiency and the creation of a reasonable workload for the student to create a demo reel. In the last half of the semester we will study particle, rigid-body and soft-body simulations. The semester will conclude with a peer review class of the work done throughout the semester. Prerequisites: MDIA 1660
In this advanced course students will continue to build upon their skills in texturing their models and environments. Time will be spent refining Scenes, objects and characters in preparation for their final demo reels. Prerequisites: MDIA 2181
Compositing 3 will have a focus on editing and technical aspects of outputting for a final demo reel. Students will be introduced to expression in combustion for looping animation or creating camera shakes. Time will be spent creating and manipulating particles in combustion and working with advanced distortion techniques using particles and displacements. Using the edit operator students will create workflow for editing a demo reel, output technical aspects, creating Gamma and output tests for authoring a simple DVD. Students will build a DVD interface and colour correct their final demo reel. The final weeks of the term students will have editing workshops, and prepare work for the final output process. Prerequisites: MDIA 2182
The focus of Audio for animation lies in working with ProTools LE. Time will be spent importing, editing and producing basic audio pieces for projects. The work created in this course can be used in multimedia, media projects and demo reels. Students will also be exposed to basic audio connections and cables and learn basic concepts about digital audio. By using practical projects the students will experience the process of audio production and post-production.
This course emphasizes the importance of team work. Students will be taught to organize their work and get their assets together before making their portfolio presentations to the class. Students will be encouraged to problem solve while receiving and taking critique of their work. Based on feedback given by classmates students will revise their portfolio. Students will present their projects to faculty and industry for critique and feedback. In the final 4 weeks of Project/Portfolio the students will discuss their final presentation for their industry night
Vehicle modeling will be the main theme at the start of Term 3. The students will learn all the essential tools and methods needed to create low and high-resolution vehicles. Focus will then shift to the creation of models for inclusion in the student's demo reel. The students will create a shot list and production schedule which will resemble a real life work environment where the slippage of delivery dates will mean that some content will have to be cut from the final product (demo reel.)This is the final term so students will be expected to use all the knowledge and experience they have gained throughout the program to assemble very high quality demo reel material. The last segment of the term will be made up of mostly LAB time designed to maximize the student/ instructor interaction. As this time is the most valuable and essential in the outcome of the demo reel, students are encouraged to make an extra effort to attend all classes during this time. Coincidentally, attendance is worth 20% of the term mark. Prerequisites: MDIA 2630
Third Term is primarily a demo reel term where the instructor takes on the role of a technical and creative director and helps each student with his or her final demo reel. The first four weeks of the third semester comprise a group project dealing with animation FX. Students will work together to create a storm using particle effects, cloth, rigid body simulations, practical animated effects, volumetric effects. Each group will create one master scene file incorporating all elements of the storm. Each student in each group will then be responsible for animating a character of their choosing through this environment. At the end of week 13, each student will be responsible for handing to the instructor a DivX AVI at 720 * 540 comprising their work on their demo reel. Prerequisites: MDIA 2640
The focus of the third term production class is the creation of a demo reel. Students will assemble an animatic and use it as the framework for their final demo. The animatic will be reviewed through the term. The final term will give the students an opportunity to practice everything learned over the first two production terms. The goal of the final production term is a 1-2 minute demo reel showcasing their specific talents. Students should focus on their strengths and interests such as modelling and texturing or animation. Students will also create an animated logo for the beginning of their demo reel. Prerequisites: MDIA 2660
Do you have credits from another BC/Yukon post-secondary school? Do you want to know if
they transfer to courses here at BCIT? Check out BCIT's
Transfer Equivalency Database to find out.
program details
The Digital Animation program is an intensive one-year program that focuses on the skills of character and environment modeling as well as animation, while learning industry-specific software skills using high-end 3D software tools, techniques and equipment.
The program goal is to prepare artistic and creative individuals with a solid foundation of education and technical training to lead the Animation industry in Canada into the future.
Classes are designed to encourage a friendly, collaborative and creative environment where students can grow and develop together.
Program length
52 weeks
graduating & jobs
Job Opportunities
The demand for 3D animation professionals has increased with the growing popularity of the Internet and satellite television. The rapid advancement of technology has made digital animation available to the masses and animation is one of the fastest growing industries.
The digital animation program opens the door to a wide variety of career options in the animation industry. A certification from BCIT demonstrates that you are serious and focused about your chosen career path. Graduates will be able to maximize employability using a broad range of digital animation and production skills, including character animation, 3D modeling, environmental animation, compositing artistry, and visual effects and texture artistry.
Graduate employment outcomes
The following link takes you to graduate outcome survey results containing mostly labour market results from the 2005-2007 BCIT Outcomes Surveys of 2004-2006 Graduates. Note: The survey results will be displayed in a separate browser window. To view these results, you need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in your Web browser.
Students who successfully complete all courses are eligible to attend convocation.
faculty, advisors & staff
Our instructors are active animation professionals, who are able to give you current and first-hand knowledge of your career because they live it. The business and technical knowledge you gain in the classroom, mixed with hands-on training in field, prepares you with the foundation for a successful career.
An advisory industry team and some of BC’s top gaming companies helps to keep the digital animation program up to date with the latest software and industry trends.
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As BCIT strives to keep our programs current, programs and courses are subject to change without notice.