Animation or Visual Effects

[x_xinsomnia]

Right now I'm currently enrolled at SCAD, and finished my first semester too as a transfer student. I'm enrolled in the animation degree but I am also considering visual effects major. When I leave school I plan to do cinematics for video games. I want to take this Christmas break to think about either switching or staying in animation. I wont start animating until mid March. So I will have plenty of time to hear everyone's opinions. There is interactive game design but I think I would rather minor in that.

[WickedEdges]

That's exactly what I want to go into. I'd like to also make cinematics for video games. If that's your initial passion, then you should go with that. You can learn visual effects later (in fact, there should be at least one class included in your animation program). You can always do something like Gno*ahem*mon or another online program for visual effects.

Just my two cents. :) I'd check out http://forums.cgsociety.org/ if you're into both animation and visual effects. There's some great people there too.

[almaghest]

I'm also attending SCAD and was initially enrolled in Animation. After some thought, I switched to Visual Effects. However, I didn't (and still don't) know exactly what I want to do. You won't learn any animation in VSFX, but you can always use your two electives to take animation courses. Clearly more than one person works on a game cinematic so if you don't want to actually do the animation aspect of cinematics specifically, but are more interested in modeling, texturing, lighting, or something else not specifically animation, then you might be better off in VSFX.

I decided to switch because I felt like VSFX was a more versatile major and I had no interest in learning the principles of animation along with the fact that every person I ran into was doing Animation. With motion capture becoming more and more widely used for film and video games, someone with only the ability to animate might find work scarce as motion capture technology becomes available to more and more studios. On the flip side, I feel like animation (and by animation I mean the timing, squash/stretch, etc) is something that would be difficult to teach yourself whereas you can find Digital Tutors videos online that will teach you 90% of the things you'll learn in VSFX classes at SCAD. It's just worth noting that SCAD's Animation degree does not focus heavily on anything BUT animation so you will probably not be able to land a job as a texture artist or lighter in the event that you have a difficult time finding animation work (you probably won't even qualify for a job as a 3D modeler unless you use your electives on advanced modeling classes.) Take a look at some of the job openings at major studios and see how many openings there are for animation vs how many there are for VSFX jobs (texturing, lighting, fur TDs, etc)

Anyway, like I said, much more goes into a game cinematic (or any CG work) than just animation. I could probably make a more helpful recommendation if you knew what exactly you wanted to do in cinematics (a character modeler would probably be better off in animation whereas a texture artist should be in VSFX). You will get modeling experience in both degrees (I actually took ANIM250 for Maya because I heard it's better than the VSFX modeling class.) You'll only get in depth information on texturing, lighting and anything involving dynamics in VSFX and you'll only get a good grasp of the principles of animation in Animation. In the end it really comes down to whether you want to ACTUALLY animate or do something else.

I don't think that a minor in Game Design will really help you since much of ITGM focuses on design for games, like how to make them fun but still challenging and since you don't need to INTERACT with a game cinematic it will probably turn out fairly useless. You might be better off majoring in VSFX and minoring in Animation or vice versa.

EDIT: I just took a look at all 3 minors. VSFX as a minor is probably going to be fairly useless to you since it will not necessarily net you anything of use for game cinematics (besides modeling which you will learn in Animation anyway). ITGM will have 3 classes focusing on how to develop games, which will not be helpful for game cinematis, modeling, and some coding which will not be helpful unless you're doing VSFX work too. Animation as a minor, however, will allow you to take Motion Studies and Animation I & II which will all cover principles of animation and the rest of the classes overlap with VSFX requirements. I think that majoring in VSFX and minoring in Animation will allow you to be the most well rounded (so you can work on any aspect of a cinematic) while still getting you the principles of Animation. Of course, if you just want to animate, just do Animation.

Hope this was helpful, it turned out a little longer than I intended.

[x_xinsomnia]

Anyway, like I said, much more goes into a game cinematic (or any CG work) than just animation. I could probably make a more helpful recommendation if you knew what exactly you wanted to do in cinematics (a character modeler would probably be better off in animation whereas a texture artist should be in VSFX). You will get modeling experience in both degrees (I actually took ANIM250 for Maya because I heard it's better than the VSFX modeling class.) You'll only get in depth information on texturing, lighting and anything involving dynamics in VSFX and you'll only get a good grasp of the principles of animation in Animation. In the end it really comes down to whether you want to ACTUALLY animate or do something else.


I guess my main interest would be to animate the characters. I also wouldn't mind learning how to model, texture and lighting. I feel like its good to be well rounded in many skills.
I thought maybe major in animation, possibly minor in VSFX and maybe take some classes in games design. The only classes I'm really interested in is Animation for games and Real time cinematics for games. The prerequisite for animation for games is no problem (ANIM 250), but the real time cinematics would take some time getting too if I wanted that class.
I might stay in animation. I think it would be good for me, but when I get back in January I'm going to talk to a few professors if I can.
Thank-you for your post.

[almaghest]

Yeah, then I'd stick in Animation. Honestly, in the industry it really doesn't matter what degrees you have (especially if it's just a minor) because in the end it's skills that get you a job, not a degree. Instead of taking 8 classes in one minor, you may want to consider using those 8 classes you would devote to a minor to take classes that REALLY interest you (like if you did a VSFX minor you would have to take VSFX Cinematography, which is making short films using a digital video camera and VSFX Programming which is basically how to use LINUX, both of which probably won't benefit you). You'll spend the same amount of money either way, but actually getting a minor in one area will force you to take classes you probably won't like or want to take. Like I said before, the Digital Tutors videos are great for learning about texturing, render passes, dynamics, etc. that kind of stuff you'd learn in VSFX but won't get in Animation. And keep in mind when speaking to professors that they are all very biased and will attempt to recruit you to their major (especially those of us in VSFX, if you hadn't noticed haha) Oh and it's really easy most of the time to get prereqs waived if you want to take electives without doing their prereqs and the ITGM chair is really nice so it shouldn't be a problem getting into those electives that interest you without wasting time doing their prereqs that don't interest you.

[x_xinsomnia]

Honestly, in the industry it really doesn't matter what degrees you have (especially if it's just a minor) because in the end it's skills that get you a job, not a degree.

And keep in mind when speaking to professors that they are all very biased and will attempt to recruit you to their major (especially those of us in VSFX, if you hadn't noticed haha) Oh and it's really easy most of the time to get prereqs waived if you want to take electives without doing their prereqs and the ITGM chair is really nice so it shouldn't be a problem getting into those electives that interest you without wasting time doing their prereqs that don't interest you.

Thank-you for your reply again. Yeah so many of m friends are like if you get a minor it will look good on your transcript or profile, but I know there are a lot of people on this website who say its all about your portfolio and not the degree.
Thank-you for telling me I can get classes waived. I would hate to take unnecessary that I don't need.

Also I went to the major fair in fall, and yes I did notice that the professors were acting like recruiters, which is a bit of a shame.

[gbenard]

Hi x_xinsomnia,

If you're interested in the visual effects industry, check out www.vfxtalk.com. I find it has a wealth of information and some really good threads in the forums as well.

We used to do game cinematics at our studio (www.lostboys-studios.com) although we specialized in live action visual effects. Companies that do visual effects quite often get hired to make cinematics because of their knowledge of photo-realistic scene set up, modeling and rendering, which you might not learn at an animation school.

Check out Pendulum Studios in San Diego - one of the best game cinematic companies. 3 of our grads have gone there for character work, animation and compositing. www.studiopendulum.com

Good luck with your studies!

Gillian

[x_xinsomnia]

Thank-you for the links.