Bringing Life Through Animation

By Author: MIT AOE
Total Articles: 8
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Our lives are bombarded with examples of computer animation, and sometimes, we don’t even realize it. It might be as evident as a video game or cartoon or maybe more subtle like an action, adventure film. However, computer animators impact the lives of many, and as such, it is considered to be a highly coveted job especially in the near future meaning the next 5-10 years.

Considering your education, talents, skills, career options, dreams and so on, you must decide what sort of computer animator you will want to become. Would you prefer to be a more traditional animator? Or are you drawn to digital animation? Do you want to work in 2D, 3D or another type of animation?

Whether you choose to pursue a more formal education as a computer animator or go the route of being self-taught, there are various tools that will come in handy. You may choose to start out more manually by using blue-line pencils, paper and light tables. Then you may graduate onto using some of the more basic computer animation software. As time goes on and your confidence and skill grows, there comes a time when the sophistication of ...
... the software grows as well, and you begin to using more advanced software for animation. It is all up to you!

As a computer animator, it is critical to be able to tell a story through animation but not to go overboard. There is a delicate balance between keeping an audience’s attention without using too many animation techniques that the audience gets lost.

Further to the storytelling, computer animators learn how to get the most impact by effectively using the timing of animation. This is a skill that can be learned and relearned and will certainly depend on the intended audience.

While telling a correctly timed story, a computer animator must properly convey the emotions of each character. Keeping in mind that that an individual character is unlikely to react in the same way if the emotion to be portrayed is different. This is definitely one of the strengths of someone in this profession.

No matter what it is, you want to be dedicated and demonstrate your discipline by continuously practicing. They say practice makes perfect, and you will want to practice and master new skills as soon as you can. This is all the more important as this is an ever changing field with newer and newer technologies that can make your life easier as a computer animator, but they are surely aimed at keeping the audience’s attention.

Computer animation can even begin as a hobby. However, there are some tools and tips that are beneficial to all computer animators, and this only scratched the surface.