Becoming a professional 3D animator, unlike many other professions, can usually be learned in a matter of weeks, months or years. It's a path that can't be reached without a lot of love and dedication like the creative arts. But if you love animation then it will totally give you worthy output which will brighten your future career and life. So learning animation can make a great career even in Bangladesh.
When you start learning animation thinking it's something you'll learn quickly and make a career in animation, you'll find yourself in a frustrating, confusing, and above all difficult situation at times. But if you can make the concepts and characters come true and others enjoy your characters it can be the most rewarding career for you. If you can work with passion and learn that way then nothing can hold you back.
This article will give you a complete idea of how to become an animator, how kite learning can help you turn your passion into a successful career.
What is animation ?
Animation is the technique of bringing virtual life to an inanimate, illustrated or 3D object. It inserts sequential images one after the other to create the life illusion.
It's just a technical insert and the great animation characters we see in Disney or Pixar.
In a word, bringing life to inanimate images through animation is the important part and essence of this work. And there are many ways to do it.
It can be by drawing.This can be done by inserting the objects into a 3D software.It may also represent a character from The Puppet Show.
3D Animator Jobs
A 3D animator's job is to bring objects to life through movement. It's up to you as the animator to make this object feel alive and breathing. The great work of 3D animators is now widely used in a variety of media, including video games, animated movies, television, and advertising. If you see 3D elements in an image, there are 3D animators working to bring them to life.
Great examples of 3D animation can be found in every 3D animated movie from Toy Story or Up. Those objects are just computer data, but you won't believe it when you see it? Anyone watching perceives the characters as alive and thoughtful. Thus the animator's job is to make the audience forget that these 3D objects are not actually real You can think of 3D animators as puppeteers pulling strings on puppets.
What are the qualities required to be a 3D animator ?
The most important thing when learning animation is patience. As mentioned earlier, animation is not an overnight thing; It takes a year or more to learn before you really want to get output. So be committed to yourself before starting and learn to work patiently in the overall animation process. Remember, animation takes time to learn and it takes time to do well. You can work on a ten-second long animation for weeks, but it often takes longer to create great animations. Animation work should never be rushed.
Animators should always enjoy studying and use keen observation skills while creating animations. After all, animators must bring 3D objects to life, including adding unique or interesting features to characters.
The best way for animators to get inspiration is to study real life people. Animators always see the world differently than normal people. They observe various expressions and body movements of people, from posture to speech. A person unfamiliar with animation does not waste time paying attention to these details.
Although animation is quite hard work, it is extremely fun and enjoyable. Often animators have to rediscover your inner childhood. If you've ever found yourself pretending to have a sword fight with your little nephew or child and realized you're enjoying it more than he is, then you probably still have what it takes to be an animator!
What are the technical skills required of a 3D animator ?
When it comes to 3D animation, it is important to have advanced technical skills. Remember, computers don't automatically create great animations; It's the job of the animators. You need to know how to work in animation software like Maya, which is why you need to spend time learning the software. Although a 3D application is just a tool for you to animate, you still need to learn how to use that tool, because software like Maya is more complex than a pencil and paper.
A great place to start is with Kite Learning 's animation tutorials , such as Intro to Animation in Maya or Intro to Animation in 3ds Max, which have great courses here. With these tutorials you will be comfortable with the software and able to create small elements. Which will encourage you to spend more time on Animate.
Let's see what other things should be known at the beginning.
1 . Know what your path will be
Knowing the path you need to take when learning animation is very important. Do you want to work on Pixar and DreamWorks type animated movies? Do you want to work on movies like Transformers and Avengers? Or want to build a career in the games or ad industry? Whatever the case may be, you have to keep moving forward with the end goal in mind.
Each industry usually proceeds with a different technique of animation. So first, you need to learn the basics of animation, then work hard to take your skills to the level you want.
2 . Know where to start
Whether you want to work on movies or games, starting with the basics is the most important step. There are several books on animation such as The Illusion of Life, Timing for Animation, and The Animator's Survival Kit. All of these books were developed for 2D animation, but they are still applicable to 3D animation. Each book teaches the basics of animation from the pioneers Study these again and again and most importantly learn the principles of animation mentioned here, which will make it easier to create great animations and build your career.
3 . Find out where to learn
If you want to become a 3D animator then the next step is to start learning. And kite learning course will help you to stay on the right track. So you can start with this course. You first need to understand the software well and for this Kite Learning's animation course will get you up to speed.
Another great way to improve your skills is to find a community to share your work with, where animators like you help others. One of the best ways to learn is to get feedback on your work. It can be hard to get constructive criticism at first, but the more you keep getting it, the further you'll go. The online community will be very useful to help you move forward quickly.
And for this Facebook or LinkedIn animation groups are very helpful. You can share your animations or problems and other animators like you will critique and solve your shots directly. You can also give feedback on other people's animations. It can also identify problem areas in others' work and help you in your work.
4 . learn to act
Animators are basically actors. Acting helps to develop character. So learning acting is very helpful. This doesn't mean you have to join acting classes. Of course it will be useful, but you master acting techniques through books and movies.
As an animator, you are usually given a dialogue script and you must flesh out the character as per the script. You have to show your emotions through the character in acting. So if you don't have acting skills, it can have a bad effect on animation career.
5 . Observe body language
Another important thing you need to master is body language. To create believable animation, you need to understand how the human body moves, as well as how animals interact. The best way to do this is to go out and shoot video footage. How does a person swing their arms while walking? When does weight change occur in running? Understanding this real-life experience will make your animations more believable.
6 . Learn communication skills
As an animator you have to work with different departments. And for that you need good communication skills. Communication skills play a huge role in creating a film, advertisement or game. Communicate your concerns and ideas clearly to your staff. For example, you may be working with a team of animators who are tasked with animating several sequences at once. An entire sequence animated by a single person then has to be converted into one shot which becomes difficult without good communication skills. Although creating animation is the work of an animator, the entire process is a team effort.
7 . Practice , practice and practice
To become a successful animator, practice is the only hope. As mentioned earlier, animation is not something you can learn overnight. This is one of the most difficult tasks. It takes a lot of trial and error to move forward which can sometimes frustrate you. You may have heard before that it takes thousands of bad drawings to get one good drawing. Likewise, you can only do the best animations with practice. So practice the animation tools again and again and always look for ways to push yourself further.
8 . Always learn
As an animator you must have a desire to learn and be eager for more knowledge. Animation isn't something that can truly be mastered—you're always learning new things. Find new ways to improve your skills, mentally animating different animals that you may have never tried before or taking more subtle acting shots that you haven't taken before.
9 . Gain experience
Your dream job or goal may be to work at a studio like Pixar or Infinity Ward, but that doesn't mean you have to wait until you get there. Any experience you can get is valuable and necessary to further enhance your skills and build an impressive portfolio. The more work experience you get, the more job opportunities you will get at big studios.
10 . Always surpass yourself
Remember, you may not get the best first job opportunity. That is why you must always strive to surpass yourself. Don't look at your first assignments as boring or assume they're given by experienced animators to new guys so they don't have to do them. As the supervisors see your interest and skill for each shot, more complex and exciting shots will be offered to you.
You also have to remember that when you start animating professionally you are no longer animating for yourself. When you were learning, you animated your own ideas with your own shots. When you start working at one studio, you're animating for another. So this time you have to prepare mentally accordingly.
How much money can an animator earn ?
The amount you earn as an animator will depend on what kind of animation work you do, how much experience you have gained. Salary limits work similarly in many other jobs.
Animation work can include both individual and team-based projects. Also can do freelance work with a corporation. You can also work in advertising companies, software design firms, or movie studios. And therefore your job will affect the salary.
As mentioned earlier, an animator earns more or less at different points in a career. 30 thousand to 50 thousand rupees in entry-level animation. A little more in medium level jobs, reaching around 70 thousand. Animators earn around 1.5 lakhs or even more if they have a lot of experience or special skills.
Continuing education will help you earn more. So it's always wise to keep learning, hands-on and improve your skills. Remember animation is a very fun and challenging profession.
Process of Animation
Now that you understand the basic concepts of what animation is, let's go through the entire process of creating animation.
What are the steps of creating animation ?
1 . Story and Script
The first and most important part of creating any animation is a good story.
If you don't get your story right from the start, no matter how good your animation is, people won't enjoy watching it. So the story comes first and make sure it is compelling enough.
Once the story is ready, the next step is to write the script.
2 . Concept and storyboard creation
Once the script is ready, the concept for the visual style is created.
This is followed by the creation of a storyboard which is probably one of the most important steps in fleshing out the animation.
3 . Create animations
We are finally ready for animation! This is where you finally bring the animation to life. The characters begin to move, and you will see the spirit of animation come alive before you.
Bad animation is like bad acting—even if the writing and story are solid, people won't like it if the delivery is wrong.
4 . Texturing , lighting and rendering
This step mostly applies to 3D animation, although 2D animation goes through a similar post-production step, and stop-motion animation spends a long time compositing and various effects over their shots.
In 3D, models need to be textured, which means creating different materials assigned to different parts of the models.
Then you light the shots with virtual lights, the closer you can get to how lighting works in real life, the better.
Then when your shot is textured and lit, you start the rendering process, which is where the computer calculates all the data in our scene and creates a still image from it.
5 . Editing and color correction and sound design
Once your images are ready, bring them back into your editing program You will need to do some color correction and grading in the editing timeline.
Color correction is the process of manipulating the color of each shot to match the one that comes before/after it. You'll also make sure each shot doesn't have areas that are too white or too black, essentially working so that you get a consistent and accurate color throughout the animation.
Then you have to grade the animation, which is the more fun and creative part, where you try to create a visual style for the entire film and give it a unique look.
Music is usually not something we only use at the end, you have to carry it with you throughout the production so that it becomes an integral part of the story.
The sound designer then finalizes all of the animation's sound effects, such as environment and voice, as well as mastering and mixing the animation's final audio.
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Skills Development