Greetings all. I am a bit new to these forums, so any help from knowledable folks would be appreciated.
My daughter will be graduating from University of Cincinnati in about a year in the digital arts in the top 10-15% of her class. Her program is a broad swath of digital training including all the adobe programs, some Video work with Cinema 4, a lot of flash and a lot of web design with some animation.
My daughter likes animation and wants to get training in 3D animation specfically. As I see it she has three options:
1. Grad school: however, not sure that this would be the best option for skills training.
2. A second undergradatute degree: Normally, I don't like this option since it seems to be going backwards for her professionally plus she would ordinarily have to retake some gen eds. In addition, although we probably have the money to fund this, it is the most expensive option. However, Ringling waives Gen eds for those with previous bachelors degrees,which might be a good optioin. Same can be said for Digital Art College in Florida. We even considered Sheriden College that has several one year programs.
3.Take the couses in a tecnical, vocational school such as Gnomon ( high end graphics program, which is 21 months) or animation Mentor's online program ( which is 17 months)or Boston University one year intensive digital imaging program which is 12 months every day and is located where we live, Sheridan College in Canada etc.
Each has their pros and cons. For example, Animation Mentor looks great but is strictly character animation. I would think that she should be exposed to various areas of animation such as modeling, rigging, etc.Gnomon looks great,but I haven't met anyone who has been there. Thus, I am very confused.
MY first question is:What option do you recommend as best for skills training?
What do you know about Gnomon? What do you know about Sheridan? What do you know about Digital Arts College and Academy of Art University in San Francisco?
Let me note that a goal of my daughter is to eventually get an MFA from somewhere in the future,but she wants strong animation skills now. Thanks for any help
If you want to PM me, send me an email at sandytaxman@comcast.net
FYI-
Ringling would still be a three year commitment because of the track the courses take. But a student coming in with all their Liberal Arts credits would have an slight advantage due to the lighter load but it would still be a lot of work.
Also unless she has already been accepted to Ringling she would need to wait until next year as application due date has passed and the enrollment is already full.
ed
Department of Computer Animation
Ringling College of Art and Design
Sarasota Florida
Ed thanks for your responese,but the question is which would be best for skill developemnt, a place like ringling or Gnomon et al?
Also, wouldn't it be less than three years since she will have a similar foundation program as Ringling from an accredited university? Some of those foundation courses and maybe others should transfer? She did take, as part of her foundation program: color, 3d, a year of drawing etc.
Also, she won't be graduating for about 1+ years so she has a lot of time to worry about applying.
My biased opinion is that a school like Ringling is going to give you the repetition that is needed to hone a skill where you may not get that with shorter program.
A program like Animation Mentor is going to school you well in one aspect of the computer animation pipeline where a school like Ringling will give you all of the pipeline but greatly weighted to the art of animation.
Both are valid approaches, it's a matter of what a person wants and/or needs.
Due to the way the courses are set up at Ringling you cannot go through the Computer Animation program in less than three years. You take consecutive courses in 3D starting in sophomore year. A person coming in with a Bachelors could skipthe freshman year foundation classes but that is about it. A CA major would need to make up the History and Traditional Animation credit requirements that are a part of the freshman year. Admissions could explain all of that to you.
ed
Department of Computer Animation
Ringling College of Art and Design
Sarasota Florida
Thanks you Ed for your response. Do you know anything about Gnomon? Can you get classical animation there too?