For our first year undergraduate students, our core animation module - Animation 1 - starts in the New Year, with our first group beginning on Monday 8 January.  AN4001 is a 15 Credit module that teaches all our first year students the fundamentals of character and creature animation. AN4001 lasts four weeks, and covers all the basic principles of animation. To see some of the best work done by our first year undergraduate animators, watch the short video above, cut together by Escape Studios' animation tutor Marc Stevenson.

Introduction to Maya

Yr 1 Animation

AN4001 is where our students first tackle Maya, and the basics of character animation. 

The class starts with this he basics - the classic "bouncing ball", and builds up to complex locomotion and character actions. 

This year the lead tutor is Alex Williams, Dean of Animation and VFX at Escape studios and veteran of many animated films. 

AN4001 - Animation Basics

"Foxy Tail animation by Maria Robertson

AN4001 is a 4 week "introduction to animation" module, where our first year undergraduate students explore the basics of animation, from a bouncing ball through to sophisticated motion.  Assignments include walks, runs, jumps and the use of live action reference to animate complex action.

Industry Brief
The module builds up to a final industry-related brief. You can see an example of project work below by undergraduate animator Maria Robertson, then in her first year of studies.

 

Studio Assistants
We have a number of Studio Assistants helping out with AN4001, including Stevie Stedman and also Austin Hill. 

Software - Autodesk Maya

Maya - still the leading 3D Software Package

The software we teach is principally Autodesk Maya, still the global leader and industry standard for animation and visual effects. 

Our students on the new "2D Animation Pathway" may use Toonboom Harmony, Adobe Animate or Photoshop. 

Vimeo Channel

We have 100s of tutorial videos at Vimeo

We have hundreds of videos available at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel. They are all password protected, so make sure to ask us for the password.

Escape Method
These videos form part of what we call "The Escape Method", intensive classroom teaching combined with online support and industry engagement to mimic as closely as possible the experience of working in a real animation studio.

To find the Vimeo Tutorial Channel, follow this link. If you have never animated before, start with the Bouncing Ball tutorial, and then move on to the lamp hop, and later the "Monty" walk cycle. This way you will build your skills incrementally and gain in confidence.

AN4001 Calendar
Classes run from the start of January 2024 until the end of May 2024. See Schedule below:

Students will create a short animation between 10 to 15 seconds long. The animation must feature a biped doing a cyclical action (running, walking, sneaking, etc) and another action, which may or may not be cyclical (a jump, fall, punch, etc). 

The actions should be combined in such a way in order to tell a simple story. Basic props can be made or downloaded from Turbosquid.com if necessary.  You can find useful rigs at UG Shares. 

First year at Escape Studios - and 2nd, 3rd & 4th years

Escapees at the 2022 Oscars

To see more detail about how undergraduate animation and VFX works at Escape Studios, follow these links:
First year of animation study at Escape Studios Second year at Escape Studios  Third year at Escape Studios.   Fourth and final year (integrated MArt)  

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.