Imageworks President Tim Sarnoff congratulates recent IPAX scholarship winners Alena Bejenaroli of Gnomon School of Visual Effects (l) and Vidal Perez of USC's School of Cinematic Arts. All IPAX images courtesy of Sony Imageworks.

An animator is likely to work for many different employers on different projects during his career. Some educational facilities are adapting their programs and curricula to prepare their students to compete in a job market where most jobs are project-based and animators are like migrant workers. Some are starting brand new programs to meet the needs of the students and alumni and industry, preparing their students in unique ways, often soliciting the advice and help of industry. Industry is responding by getting more involved in the training and education of artists and animators. Studios have had in-house training programs before, but now they are going to educational facilities and telling them, "Here's what we need and here's how we can help you so the people you train are people we can use."

On Course with Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks is home to one of the visual-effects industry's most respected in-house training and artist-development programs, designed to maintain a well-educated and competitive workforce capable of creating world-class imagery and animation. The facility has a dedicated training center integrated with production where instructors train new hires, conduct continuing education for crew members, teach third-party and proprietary software and techniques, provide career development and career path opportunities, and offer special events and screenings. Under the leadership of Sande Scoredos, Executive Director of Training & Artist Development, the program at Imageworks offers over 50 courses, including life drawing, sculpting and acting, as well as specialized task-oriented classes for performance animation, character setup, dynamic simulations and particle effects, color and lighting, compositing, and various production toolsets and methods.

Under the leadership of Sande Scoredos, Executive Director of Training & Artist Development, IPAX offers over 50 courses.

Sony Imageworks has enjoyed a close collaborative relationship with the academic community for 15 years. In 2004 it became even closer, when Imageworks established a faculty-development program designed to help academic institutions respond to the industry's ever-changing needs and keep up to date on the tools and techniques used in real-world production environments.

The Imageworks Professional Academic Excellence program (IPAX) was created to build stronger relationships with established academic programs and to nurture and grow future generations of digital talent. Faculty from participating schools take part in a fellowship program where they have the opportunity to attend in-house training programs and experience a visual-effects and animation production environment; they can then pass on valuable production knowledge and skills to their students. IPAX is the first program of its kind, exposing participating faculty to real-time production issues and advising member schools on course content and curricula.

"The top animation, visual-effects and computer-science programs are successful because they are taught by dedicated and passionate educators who attract exceptional students," observes Scoredos. "These devoted teachers provide the inspiration, guidance, expertise and rigor to their committed students who in turn produce exceptional work. Imageworks has always maintained a strong outreach program to the students, providing student tours, presentations at schools and industry events, internships, recruiting and portfolio reviews. We wanted to develop our outreach to provide the faculty with industry resources that were inaccessible.

"The core component of the IPAX program includes a two-to-four-week fellowship program for IPAX teaching faculty, who complete our rigorous in-house training program and participate on one of our live-action, performance-capture or feature animation productions. The faculty works hard while they are here and they really enjoy the entire experience. And they also have an opportunity to teach their favorite subject matter to Imageworks artists and animators, to get a perspective on the skill levels of our employees. Serving a fellowship and working with production teams helps teaching faculty know what skills are needed to work in this industry."