BSc (Hons) Computer Animation and Visual Effects

This is a subject that rewards dedication and just as our academic staff strive to maintain pace with the speed of change in industry, as a student, you will be tasked with doing the same. Based in the heart of Manchester, we encourage all of our students to engage fully within our course community, as well as enjoying what our vibrant city has to offer.

Throughout the early stages of the degree, our focus is on building the skills required for entry level roles in industry, in our community-driven environment of other students and academic staff. As you progress through the degree you may find that you gravitate more towards particular disciplines, and you will be encouraged to pursue mastery in these specialist areas.

We split our focus broadly between three overlapping disciplines:

3D

While almost all of our work is focussed on 3D, our 3D thread refers to modelling hard-surface objects as well as organic sculpting, texturing and rendering and the rigging of objects and characters to effectively enable animation, as well as the animation of these rigged assets to understand what makes an effective rig.

FX

Our FX thread focusses on working procedurally, creating simulated effects such as fire, smoke, liquid, clothing, hair, fur, and destruction, as well as how to use these same procedural and simulation concepts to work efficiently, and develop skills in other closely related areas such as motion graphics.

Compositing

Our Compositing thread focusses on the skills required to create and finalise a shot. This includes on-set data capture, integrating digital work within live action footage, manipulating footage to modify the original shot, and developing a keen understanding of the overall VFX pipeline to render and composite effectively.