A four-week online programme with practical masterclasses, weekly tasks, and online community covering some of Aardman's approaches to CG character animation with Aardman talent, Dan Gerhardt and Eva Bennett. This course will enable you to build upon your previous experience & knowledge of CG principles – to practice some of our techniques that gives Aardman it's comedic animation 'flair'.
Requires experience.
Course Outline
A four-week online programme with practical masterclasses, weekly tasks, and online community covering some of Aardman's approaches to CG character animation with Aardman talent, Dan Gerhardt and Eva Bennett. This course will enable you to build upon your previous experience & knowledge of CG principles – to practice some of our techniques that gives Aardman it's comedic animation 'flair'.
Requires experience.
Meet Your Tutors
Dan Gerhardt is a 3D Animator with a technical skill set across Animation, Maya and VFX. Dan has worked on Aardman productions for over six years and his experience ranges from animated feature films, VFX, TV series, Games and Commercials.
Check out all of Dan's credits here on IMDb.
Eva Bennett is a 3D Animator who has a decade of experience at Aardman Animations and who really understands what makes an Aardman CG animation unique. Eva brings the Aardman flair to everything she does and shares some top tips from her vast experience in this industry.
Check out all of Eva's credits here on IMDb.
Who is this course for?
This course is ideal for those who have some basic knowledge of CG and are looking for insider knowledge and lessons from industry-leading CG character animators from Aardman. Maya software is not included as part of the course, so students must have their own copy to take part.
Course Map & Structure
A breakdown of all topics, masterclasses and tasks each week on the course.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU ENROL?
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Your first 2 masterclasses and weekly task will appear 4 days after the date you join the course at 9am GMT.
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Use this time to source any little bit of kit you might need, and try experimenting with some CG techniques before you get going.
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The remaining weeks will be delivered every 7 days until the end of the course.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMPLETE THE COURSE?
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You have access to the entire course for an extra 7 months.
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Watch and re-watch everything as many times as you'd like.
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You will have access to the community pages of the course for 7 months.
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You are invited to a live-streamed Q&A (within 6 months of graduating) with a senior CG animator.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?
We have used Maya to animate in this CG Foundation series and expect you are familiar with the tool.
Required tools:
- Maya software
If you do not have a copy of Maya, Maya offer a "free" 30 day trial. PLEASE NOTE, this free trial is set to auto-renew - you will be charged the full software amount if you do not cancel the subscription/auto-renew. Students purchasing this trial do so at their own risk: https://www.autodesk.com/uk/products/maya/overview?term=1-YEAR&tab=subscription&plc=MAYA
Optional tools to support your animations:
- Dreamwall Maya plugin. - This is a free tool to create buttons for quick selections of the characters controls, without scrolling round the viewport to find each one. https://github.com/DreamWall-Animation/dwpicker. Or if you're feeling creative, there are plenty of videos on Youtube if you want to learn how to make your own pickers.
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Animbot. It is not essential, but has a lot of tools to make the animation process easier. It is a subscription service. https://animbot.ca/home/
- Your smart phone! To capture Live Action Videos and reference videos.
If you have any further questions, then please sign up for our next Aardman Academy Open Day
or get in touch at [email protected]
