The Art Institute of Phoenix (TAIP) is now offering a new bachelor's degree program in Visual & Game Programming designed to prepare upcoming technical artists for the videogame and animation industries.

Students receive intensive training in the foundations of art and design before entering into the more technical areas of programming for 3D animation. Students learn the essential skills to effectively solve technical problems and effectively bridge between the technical programmer and the creative artist.

Gnomon School of Visual Effects now has open registration for the summer term (June 28-Sept. 12). Meanwhile, the curriculum for digital courses (including image-based techniques and character skinning) will now reflect new tools and techniques. Erick Miller, lead technical director of Digital Domain, will be the new character skinning instructor, while Kyle Jefferson of DreamWorks will again teach previsualization and animatics.

Professor Ron Morse, as part of the Asian studies program, will start a new course on anime and manga at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, reports THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL.

"Most people stop reading comic books when they're six years old," said Morse. "It's more than childish stuff. It's a serious sociological critique."

The class was spurred by the growing influx of anime in the U.S. Morse comments that serious issues such as drug addiction, prostitution and murder make anime worth studying at a university level.

Bobby "Boom" Beck and Carlos Baena of Pixar Animation Studios and Shawn Kelly of Industrial Light & Magic have launched the new online animation school, AnimationMentor.com. The interactive school is a place where students will learn from guest professionals in the feature film industry. AnimationMentor.com hopes to become an international education hub that is more affordable than traditional art schools. Classes are scheduled to begin in fall 2004, and students can join at any time until seats are full. Enrollment will begin in September 2004.

Computer Master Institute of Technology (CMIT) has announced that, along with its e-Business and New Media Studies Diploma graduates, CMIT's first all female class of Advanced Digital Animation students have completed their studies.

The new Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA) at Boston University is enrolling students of all ages and experience levels for a variety of certificate programs and workshops in digital filmmaking, photography, 3D animation, game design and visual effects.

Students may sign up for intensive training through a nine-month certificate program or basic skills through a foundation certificate or workshop series. Courses range from Beginning Photography for the Digital Age to Digital Film Boot Camp and all levels of Photoshop, editing, lighting and real-world assignments.

An intrepid group of students from Minneapolis will be trekking to Northern California to attend VES 2004, the Visual Effects Society's sixth annual Festival of vfx, June 18-20 in San Rafael. This will be the third year in a row that the aspiring visual effects artists and animators from The Art Institutes International Minnesota (AIM) will attend the festival, accompanied by faculty member Michael Heagle, an instructor of Visual Effects and Motion Graphics.

Ex’pression College for Digital Arts of Emeryville, California, announced that its digital visual media students were chosen to design and produce the graphic openings for the Visual Effects Society’s (VES) sixth annual VES Festival on June 18-20 in San Rafael, California. A team of Ex’pression students under the direction of instructor Stephen Kopels is also responsible for videotaping all of the presentations for the VES archives.

Kaydara announced its first Certified Courseware DVD for MOTIONBUILDER, the company's award-winning character animation solution. INTRODUCTION TO MOTIONBUILDER 5.5 is an interactive training guide that teaches users the fundamentals of using MOTIONBUILDER more effectively to create character animation. From interface and general concepts to exporting to other 3D applications, users will learn step-by-step how use MOTIONBUILDER for their own projects.

The Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has distributed $400,000 in financial grants to 43 college and community film programs across the United States.

The Academy Foundation's Grants Committee, chaired by actors branch member Janet MacLachlan, selected the following programs for the 2004-2005 allocation:

The allocations include:

INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS

$12,500 to:

California Institute of the Arts, Valenica, California.