First, I must say that I graduated from VanArts in 2007, so the review I’m giving is related to that period of time and may be a little outdated. The program may have changed since then (for example, I know that at least two teachers have been replaced since I graduated).
So, let’s get to the point. I was pretty disappointed about the school and the 3D Animation program was far from flawless. It didn’t live up to my expectations, but I do not regret going there, as it served it’s purpose to make me proficient in computer animation and I really enjoyed the overall experience. I’m from Brazil, and over here there are not any schools that specialize in this sort of thing. So just being able to go to a place like Vancouver to immerse myself in animation for an entire year is something to be happy about.
Choosing VanArts
The things that initially attracted me to the school were the tuition fees and the class sizes. Compared to other CG schools in Vancouver, VanArts was not too expensive (half the price of the 3D program at VFS). Class sizes would also be small, ranging from 8 to 12 people. It’s a great advantage, as it gives students a closer relationship with their instructors. With more students, it’s harder for the instructor to give proper attention to an individual student’s problems and doubts. The school also had a nice, cozy, small-studio “vibe”. Once a week, there would be a special screening of classic movies and animations, presented by an instructor. There were also some extra classes that anyone could attend without having to pay extra fees, like Concept Art and CG Lighting.
The 3D Animation Program
You will be doing a lot of animation exercises, starting with a simple bouncing ball up to a full dialogue scene with two interacting characters. It’s a very exercise-oriented course. For exemple, we would spend one week working on a basic walk or we would have a couple of weeks entirely dedicated to animating a dialogue scene. The fundamental skillset the program focuses on is the ANIMATION process. For the entire first half of the course, students work with pre-made characters, and concentrate only on moving them around. Basically, students won’t create any characters, but give life to them. As soon as you know just a little about the software, you begin animating right way. This is kind of awkward. Generally, you expect to learn the fundamentals of the software and at least some basic modeling and texturing first.
This is to say that the intention of the program is not to develop well-rounded, generalized professionals. Instead the course is specifically designed for someone that wants to specialize in character animation. At the end of the program, you probably won’t be able to create amazing 3D models or beautifully rendered scenarios. What you will be able to do is move characters convincingly – that is if you study and practice enough.
So modeling, texturing, rigging, lighting, and rendering are all squashed into a couple of months, which is completely insufficient and only scratches the surface of each of these processes.
So modeling, texturing, rigging, lighting, and rendering are all squashed into a couple of months, which is completely insufficient and only scratches the surface of each of these processes. I would say that at least 50% of the program duration is dedicated to animation exercises. 25% goes into the 3D production pipeline (modeling, rigging, storyboard, editing). And the remaining 25% is spent working on your personal final project. There were also some Photohsop, Life Drawing classes. We even had some extra-curricular acting classes a few hours per week, but to be frank, they were pretty useless… fun, but ultimately useless.
The final project is an animation that each student must produce in the last 3 months, ranging from 30 to 60 seconds (though most of the class surpasses this mark, including mine). It’s the most interesting part of the course, as you can work on a project of your own and apply everything you learned thus far. The problem however is that your knowledge of modeling, rigging, and rendering is so weak, that if you haven’t spent the time to study these areas on your own, you’ll have a hard time realizing the full potential of your final project. I found the secret is to keep your story simple, with only a few characters (3 maximum) and something not too complicated animation wise. You could even use pre-made characters and animate them, but what’s the fun in that right?
At the end of the program, there’s an event called “Industry Night”, where studio owners, directors, animators and recruiters come to the school to check out the student’s finished projects and demo reels. It’s a great chance to show your work to someone that might be a potential employer, and also to network with people inside the industry.
In my opinion, what VanArts most lacked in the 3D Animation Program was the most important thing: the teaching.
The Verdict
In my opinion, what VanArts most lacked in the 3D Animation Program was the most important thing: the teaching. Speaking with my classmates and other students from previous classes, I realized I wasn’t the only one frustrated and unsatisfied with the quality of teaching. Some instructors were actually very good, but the main ones that taught animation – the focus of the program and the ones we spent the most time with lacked the necessary teaching skills to pass on the information to the students that starved for it.
For the students that were learning animation while trying to figure out the technicalities of the 3D software, crucial information was somehow missed in those first few months. The teachers would basically explain the exercise and sometimes read a paper with some “tips” printed from the internet. While we were doing exercises, the tutors would take a look and give feedback, which was usually very shallow. There were also some special guest mentors that would also take a look at our animations, like some who were from Pixar. That wasn’t very helpful as some might think, as the comments were mostly superficial. There was however a particular mentor who came to the school a couple of months before the end of the program. Looking at our final projects, he was very observational, was critical and noticed all the little details. It’s a real pity he wasn’t with us since the beginning of the course…
I went to the school with some knowledge of animation beforehand…I had even done some 2D work professionally. So, I had an idea of what I was doing at least. This prior experience helped me get the most out of the program as I could. But those who knew nothing about animation and 3D had a good dose of frustration. I heard of lot of complaints form my peers. Overall, I can say my experience was positive and I don’t regret going to VanArts. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can say the same for some of my collegues. The VanArt’s 3d Animation Program can be enjoyable, but I feel it’s not for everyone. I would recommend the program to those who seriously want to become specialized in 3D animation, and have at least some experience with the art (traditional or not), and/or is willing to do a lot of self-studying.
After graduating, I came back to my home country, Brazil. I had to study alone for nearly another year before getting a job. Companies here are more interested in generalist 3D artists rather than those who specialize only in one thing.
You can see my graduating demo reel from VanArts on youtube.
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Nice blog. Thanks.