Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/19812
Education n n n n Schools are working hard to make sure their graduates are production-ready. program. “About a month before I started at VFS, I downloaded a Maya trial from Autodesk’s Web site. I had been using 3ds Max for years, but I didn’t know Maya. Having a chance to get to learn the inter face and shortcuts beforehand was really useful,” he says. During the six-month pr ogram, Martins conceiv ed, cr eated, pro- duced, and finalized the smile-inducing animated short “Saloon.” He’s currently working at Sao Paulo-based VFX studio Magma in Brazil. Vancouver Film School also taps into A utodesk’s Subscription Ser- vice, which offers no-cost DVDs, books, podcasts, and other material for professional development. “A lot of that information seeps into my lessons,” notes Berridge. “It’s a great resource.” Over at Vancouver Institute of Media Arts, Larry Bafia, vice presi- dent of faculty and business development, gives his perspectiv e: “We prepare students to be industry-ready in their areas of passion. We treat classrooms like they’re studios. It’s all about practice time and focus.” Instructors at VanArts have years of industr y cred. Many of them have held recruiting positions, where they were responsible for hiring and developing animators. “Tat gives us a great feel for what the industry needs,” says Bafia. In terms of industr y changes impacting 3D education, B a- fia notes, “Technology has allowed a broader range of anima - tion—anything from chipmunks to transformers to G ollum. Tere’s nothing that can’t be approached. Tat calls for different animation skills. We’re focused on making artists more market- able by training their eyes and teaching them to focus on solving problems in animation.” Bafia adds: “Te tool sets available now empower artists to attack any look they want. Tools are also more accessible—not just in terms of cost, but in the av ailability of good tutorials. Te time it takes for students to get over the learning curve has gone down. Tat allows us to focus on getting them seasoned.” To aid in pr ofessional development, Bafia taps into the knowledge base Autodesk provides. “I have a real back-and-forth relationship with David [Della-Rocca] and his team. H e sends me materials and ideas to vet, and I get his opinion when w e’re considering dev elopment in courses,” he says. “It says a lot when someone like David, at a software company, comes forward and takes a personal inter est in what’s going on in education.” Coming full cir cle, VFS graduate M artins gives his perspectiv e on what it takes to come out of a 3D education pr ogram “production- ready.” “I think you can go to any program, any course, any university. At the end of the day, it’s your decision as a student to take advantage of the time, tools, and teachers,” he explains. “You need to take it seriously. It’s all up to you.” n Windows-32 /Windows-64 / OSX-32 /OS X-64 32-bitonly $399 High Performance CameraTracking Use SynthEyes for animated critter insertion, fixing shaky shots, virtual set extensions, making 3Dmovies, architectural previews, accident reconstruction,virtual product placement, face and body capture, andmore. Includes Stereoscopic features used in AVATAR November 2010 February 2010 37