Become a 3D Character Animator

Channel your creativity and technical savvy to breathe life into simple characters as a 3D character animator. Learn to apply the basic principles of animation and the processes used by professionals to model, rig, and animate characters in digital environments.

• Apply storytelling principles through animation.
• Design, rig, and animate characters in Maya.
• Discover best practices from experts in 3D animation.

• Course 1: Learning Character Animation
• Learn all the skills you need to know to bring your first characters to life, including posing to the camera, animating from pose to pose, walking basics, and dialogue.
• Course 2: Maya 2019 Essential Training
• Get the essential training you need to create high-quality 3D models and animations in Maya 2019. Learn core Maya skills such as modeling, texturing, rendering, and animation.
• Course 3: Character Animation: Locomotion
• Learn how to create walk, run, and skip animations that give your character style and subtly move the story along.
• Course 4: Character Animation: Dialogue
• Learn how to convey emotion through facial expression, and animate dialogue, with these fundamental animation principles.
• Course 5: Modeling a Cartoon Character in Maya
• Learn how to use Maya to model a simple cartoon character that can be later rigged and animated in the program of your choice.
• Course 6: Rigging a Cartoon Character in Maya
• Add squash and stretch to a rig in Maya, using techniques specific to cartoon characters: stretchy joints, IK/FK switching, and facial rigging.
• Course 7: Animating Cartoon Characters in Maya
• Teaches simple steps to creating exaggerated cartoon animation in Maya, using principles such as squash and stretch, exaggeration, follow-through, and overlapping action.
• Course 8: Chris Landreth: Oscar-Winning Animation Director
• An interview with Chris Landreth, a pioneering animator and director of the Oscar-winning animated short Ryan.
• Course 9: Maya: nHair
• Learn to create, style, animate, and render realistic hair with Maya nHair.