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Academy of Art University Online

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Academy of Art University Online

Greetings all

Anyone have any information on AAU Online? Their Animation/VFX program looks pretty good. Thanks

I can assure you it is a great school. I lived there in San Francisco and studied fine art at AAU back in the early & mid 90's when it didn't have a very big CG arts program. Another member of my studio is currently taking the online courses they offer. She likes how in depth the online class is, however she says there it is no substitute for actually being there in the classroom. Seeing how I actually did attend there, I have to agree with her.

Like I said, it is an excellent school with a great reputation. It's a great school to have on your resume.

C. Palmer Stinson, Studio Director
TimeFissure Studios
http://www.timefissure.com
Image, Sound, Time... Unified!

For an alternate view, and not to start any fights about schools, but I had several art teachers who had previously taught at the San Fran campus and despised it. Now consider that this may be disgruntled former employees, so weigh it all against any glowing reviews accordingly, but I found their arguments convincing. I had specifically asked each of them for their thoughts when I was considering starting the AAU animation program in SF. They all warned me to stay far away from the place. Their major complaints (this was common to each of them when independently asked) were that the AAU schools were more concerned about collecting tuition, maintaining their accredation in order to have tuition insured by the government, and its real-estate deals, than with finding qualified teachers for any given course. Apparently it was not uncommon at all for a class to be assigned a teacher just days before commencing. They also all shared the feeling that core fine-art skills were sorely lacking in the curriculum. As rancor built up in a group of staff members over these kinds of issues, that group would be replaced every few years or so with a new bunch, who would go through the same process of frustration, only to be repalced in turn. Again, take it for what it's worth but these were people I found to be otherwise level-headed and trustworthy.

For every opinion for something, there will always be an opinion against. That is the way it should be. That is what makes opinions so appealing.

I am not going to dispute that these things Inv8r wrote about didn't happen at the school. Heck... they probably did happen. I am basing my nice opinion of AAU on my experience there. When I said "great reputation" before, I was speaking from that experience, as well as feedback that I got from others who attended there, or someone who knew someone else who had attended there and had "glowing" things to say about it. I never personally had any problem with last minute instructors or school politics. If my previous post was too positive, then I apologize for inadvertently painting a rosy picture.

Even though it is a school... it is also still a business. When I was finishing there, the school was going through a large growth stage. So I can see why the school might have been worried about collecting tuition, tuition insurance, funding, real estate... etc. They probably didn't want to go out of business just as it was really starting to grow the business. Because of this I am sure they let some things fall through the cracks. It is unfortunate that it affected the students. The best that my memory serves me, I didn't get hit with any of it directly.

Thanks again Inv8r for sharing your opinion of AAU.

C. Palmer Stinson, Studio Director
TimeFissure Studios
http://www.timefissure.com
Image, Sound, Time... Unified!

Actually Inv8r... after I wrote that last post I started to wonder if I might have known or had a class that was instructed by one of the teachers you talked with. I would be interested to know if they were instructors there in the early to mid 90's.

C. Palmer Stinson, Studio Director
TimeFissure Studios
http://www.timefissure.com
Image, Sound, Time... Unified!

I graduated from AAU back in 1999 from with a major in Illustration/Animation. It was a good school but there were some things that sucked too.

First off, most of the teachers have to be working professionals, so they aren't trained teachers. That can be good and bad. You get some teachers who are great and can comunicate their experiences on to the students, and others who can't. There were some teacher screw-up while I was there, one class went through 3 different teachers in a single semester.

Also when I started there wasn't much of a traditional animation department, but by my senior year, they had quite a few, but I couldn't fit any into my schedual. So I never did bouncing balls, or flour sack drops. I went straight from flipbooks in one class, to making a human character turn completely around while standing up as the first assignment.

It is a good school, with a lot going for it. If you do decide to go there, talk to plenty of the upper classmen and get their take on who the best teachers are and move your schedual around so you can take their classes.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

It's possible; I believe it would have been early 90's they were there. These guys are still teaching fine art at a school in the Bay area, so I'd rather not name names - a little bit too close to involving them in a discussion about their former bosses and jobs without actually asking them to weigh in...In any event, like I said, this isn't personal experience with the schools, but information and opinions I got from former employees which I thought might be relevant and worth considering along with anyone else's opinions about the school. And to be fair, the online courses are probably an entirely separate entity from the on-campus classes, who knows what's happened over 10-15 years?

And to be fair, the online courses are probably an entirely separate entity from the on-campus classes, who knows what's happened over 10-15 years?

Oh right. I forgot this is about the online AAU. So I guess you can't really talk to upper classmen then huh? :p

Oh and their 3D animation department was really picking up steam around 98, 99 with teachers from PIXAR and PDI there. Of course several of them broke away and started AnimationMentor.com but I'm sure they're 3D program is still very good.

A good way to see if a school is good, look at several of their comercials, or student demo reels if they have. Figure thats the best that the school the school put out a year or two ago. If you want your work to look like that, then go to the school. If you don't like they caliber of student work, keep looking at schools till you find the caliber you seek.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."