Schools are becoming more focused on turning out animators and not robots. © iStockPhoto.

As part of the Education & Training theme of June, VFXWorld queried a wide range of education and training institutions around the world about their individual programs and approaches in preparing students for careers in the rapidly changing 3D animation and visual effects industries. Here is the second collection of their informative responses to the following topics/questions:

Please describe your core philosophy of balancing education and training and what distinguishes your program.

The School of Communication Arts has roots in digital animation with more than 10 years of placing graduates at the leading studios. The program is based on immersion in foundation training followed by content-based developmental studies in both digital 2D and digital 3D animation. A separate and special component of the program is the fact that the School has just constructed a Higher Digital Education campus totally unique to animation and media studies.

A feature set of the new campus is the Monolithic domes of Digital Circus... the name for the white-topped domes at the campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. The campus is the setting for high definition production studies in animation, filmmaking and audio. HD is on display in the one of a kind “Stars” HD 200-seat theater occupying one dome. The theater features not only HD projection, but it is a test site for the just emerging JBL Cinema Array B-Chain sound concept…the theater also acts as a mix down facility for animation and film productions.
School of Communication Arts
Raleigh, North Carolina

The phrase "entertainment technology" refers to a very real world of entertainment experiences made possible by the advent of primarily computer-mediated digital technologies. The term requires an elastic and fluid definition, required in large part by advances in technology that are making ever-new entertainment experiences and venues possible…In general, though, the term “entertainment technology” refers to:
* Networked and free-standing interactive computer games
* Avatar creation and utilization
* Massive multi-player online games
* Digital entertainment
* Specialty venues such theme parks, themed retail, specialty restaurants and other location-based entertainment venues
* Motion-base rides
* Console and PC interactive game design
* The creation of unique input devices
* Virtual reality utilizing head-mounted displays or other technologies such as CAVES
* Wearable computing for entertainment purposes
* Massive immersive display environments such as planetaria and Omnimax
* Interactive robot animatronics
* Synthetic interview technology
* Speech recognition
* Augmented reality
* Telepresence for entertainment and education purposes
* Digital production and post-production
* Sound synthesis, surround sound, 3D sound and streaming audio
* The development of haptic devices (i.e. force feedback)
* Entertainment robotics