Animation is one of the most exciting and popular careers around. But how do you get started? Our list will help you find the right animation courses to kickstart your career. And make sure to check out The Animator’s Survival Kit: Dialogue, Directing, Acting and Animal Action.
1. Animation Course by Banaras Hindu University
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 5.0/5.0 – 20,887 students – ANIMATIONs Course
These online animation courses are offered by Banaras Hindu University (BHU) through long-distance education. The animation coursework includes: Introduction to Digital Media, 3D Modeling, Maya Basics, Motion Graphics & Compositing, Visual Effects & Editing, Storyboarding & Layout Planning.
The benefits of this course include gaining knowledge about digital media and becoming an expert in animation. You’ll learn how to use different tools like Maya for creating animations with excellent graphics, enabling you to create visual effects for games, movies, and TV shows! You will also learn about creating motion graphics for animated content such as intro sequences and trailers. Plus you’ll gain an understanding of different aspects related to storyboarding like layout planning, character design, etc.
2. Learn Professional Pixel Art & Animation for Games
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.7/5.0 – 2,456 ratings – 70,141 students – Learn Professional Pixel Art & Animation for Games
The second course on this list is a bit of an oddball. It’s not an art school, nor is it a game design school. Instead, it’s offered through Udemy, which is more like the iTunes of online educational resources. The course offers as its goal “to teach you how to create pixel art and animation for games”.
At first glance, it may seem like there isn’t much material in this course since the instructor himself admits that he only covers “the bare essentials”–but what makes this course stand out is the sheer amount of practice-based learning activities that it contains! In fact, if one were to take all 30+ hours’ worth of lectures alone (not counting other supplemental content), then they would still come away with something useful: a lot of fun ideas for projects they can work on outside of class time!
3. Virtual Reality Specialization by the University of London
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.7/5.0 – 948 ratings – 32,869 students – Virtual Reality Specialization
If you’re looking for a more specialized course that focuses on the future of virtual reality, check out the Virtual Reality Specialization offered by the University of London. This specialization is designed to give you an in-depth understanding of VR and its applications in the real world.
The first course in this specialization is called “Virtual Reality: Trends, Applications and Games,” which teaches students how to create an app with Unity 3D. In this course, you’ll learn about technical aspects like game development, workflow management, and advanced art techniques.
The second course teaches you how to create interactive stories using Unreal Engine 4 (UE4). The final project has students create a short film using UE4 by developing characters with realistic animations and props that can be interacted with by viewers!
4. Basic 3D Animation using Blender by IITBombayX
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.7/5.0 – Basic 3D Animation using Blender
Blender.org is a FREE and open-source 3D computer graphics animation software. With Blender, you can create animated films, art, FX, texturing, 3D models, video games, and more! It also provides a large number of rendering modes.
Here are some additional free tutorials offered by Blender: https://www.blender.org/support/tutorials
5. 3D Maya Animation by Animation Career Pro
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.6/5.0
Maya is one of the most powerful 3D animation tools! It’s used by studios like Pixar, Dreamworks, and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Although Maya can be daunting to work with, it’s also a great choice for artists who want to learn 3D modeling and create their own short films or games.
Maya has many different types of tools for creating characters, props, environments, and rigging them with controls so you can make them move as you want them to.
In this course, you’ll see some simple examples that show how you can use motion capture files from real actors to bring an animated character to life in your scene. You’ll learn how to set up cameras in Maya for cinematic shots such as insert close-ups or wide-angle shots using camera projection techniques like keyframing over time using curves in order to create dynamics between two objects; this skill will give you more freedom when animating objects independently without having any restrictions such as adjusting pivot points.
6. Blender Animation Course by 3D Animation Hub
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.5/5.0
The Blender Animation Course by 3D Animation Hub is a free resource that teaches you how to create 2D animations using Blender. It’s made up of over 50 videos, so it’s ideal if you want to learn more about the program before committing yourself to a paid course. The host of the course has an engaging and easy-to-follow teaching style, which makes learning fun and easy.
7. How to Animate in After Effects
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.5/5.0
If you’re looking to learn more about animation in After Effects and want to become a professional animator, this course is a great starting point. It covers the basics of motion graphics and how they can be used in film production, along with what skills you need to have before starting out. Do note that this course is mostly geared toward people who already know how to use Adobe After Effects but want to learn more about animation.
You’ll learn how animations are created by combining layers together in different ways—for example, making one layer move while another stays still. You’ll also be shown how important it is for an animator to have good timing when creating their work so that everything flows together smoothly without any breaks or jumps between frames (known as “tweening”).
BONUS: How to Make an Animated Short
Wondering how to make an animated short? This video course will show you how. The course starts off with a detailed description of what kind of equipment you need for your production. You’ll learn about the importance of storyboarding your animation before getting started on creating assets or keyframes.
The second section focuses on modeling characters and objects in Blender while also learning some basic rigging techniques that can be used in other programs such as Maya and 3DS Max. When it comes time to animate characters, the instructor explains how he uses Adobe After Effects to create realistic lighting effects as well as lip-syncing motions using facial expressions that match up with dialogue spoken by voice actors playing their parts in front of green screens (such as himself).
The Best Animation Courses
We hope that our list of the 7 best animation courses has helped you to find the perfect course for your needs. If you’re looking for more information, don’t hesitate to contact us! We are here 24/7 and ready to answer any questions you may have about the courses listed above or how they can help improve your career.
ClassReviewed.com is constantly researching the best online courses. While the topic of animated courses is limited to a few animation software providers, we will continue to seek out the best animated courses to update this blog post (so make sure to bookmark this page)!
