Autonomous Animator
Whats the best animation job for you? By Martin Grebing
Its a well-known fact that CG animation has taken over the film industry. From blockbuster superhero movies to fully animated features,
CG animation is fueling the entertainment industry like never before which, in turn, is attracting more people to work in the field.
While there are a wide range of job titles and responsibilities within CG animation, here are some of the most common titles and a basic introduction to what they entail and how you can start training for them now:
Animators
Animators are the backbone of any 3D animation studio hence the term, Animation Studio. Without motion, that cute and fuzzy bunny would be pretty boring.
There are a few designations under the Animator nomenclature, but for the sake of this article and since characters are often at the forefront of many 3D animation productions, well focus on character animators specifically.
A character animator breathes life into people, animals, aliens, and even inanimate objects that need to convey emotion and attitude. A character animator must have elite level understanding of body language, timing, and acting. A character animator acts through their characters and must often get out of their seat to act out the shots of their characters many times before nailing the perfect pose or getting the timing just right.
Whether animating a nine-headed hydra or a fluffy pillow, character animators must be masters of the 12 principles of animation and have a strong foundation in figure drawing and traditional animation.
Modelers
A 3D modeler builds things in virtual space. Modelers can be subcategorized into hard surface, environment, character, and others. Whatever the specialty, a modeler is essentially a sculptor and should take as many traditional sculpting and life drawing courses as possible throughout their academic and professional career. With the exception of certain effects and particle systems, just about everything in a 3D animation pipeline revolves around and/or includes a 3D model.
Rigger
A rigger is responsible for setting up models for animators to use. This can range from creating bone chains by which a character is able to move to skinning a character so the surface adheres to the skeleton and bends and stretches like skin. To summarize, a rigger is responsible for setting up and adding any functionality needed for any object, character, or shot.
Being that riggers often focus on characters, they need to possess a solid understanding of human and animal anatomy and physiology. Rigging is very technical in nature so a strong background in programming or scripting is hugely beneficial.
Lighter
Oftentimes, lighting stands out as the most dramatic element in a shot. Entire scenes can be made or broken by lighting, so rest assured your role as a lighter will involve lots of trial, error, and patience while waiting for complicated lighting setups to render. However, if youre able to find the magic formula, you could single-handedly elevate any decent shot in a film to spectacular.
Lighting functionality in 3D animation can be very similar if not almost identical to lighting in the real world. Therefore, lighters could greatly benefit from a solid background in photography, theatre, and traditional film. A lighters portfolio should include solid illustrations and paintings that exhibit you guessed it a strong sense of lighting.
Texture Artist
A texture artists job is to create surface imagery of characters, inanimate objects, foliage, backgrounds, and more. These textures can be created from scratch or based on real-world photos. Essentially, everything seen in a shot has some type of texture applied to it, be it simple or complex.
A scrupulous eye for detail, color, tone, and style is essential to becoming an accomplished texture artist. Training in traditional painting, photography, and even graphic design can help hone your texture-making skills. Mastery of the industry standard raster graphics editor is a must.
Effects Artist
Often very technical in nature, an effects artist is responsible for creating a wide array of visual effects ranging from water to fire to particles to energy beams to abstract content which behaves in strange and unusual ways. An effects artist benefits from a strong programming background but also must possess the uncanny ability to visualize and develop dazzling, never-before-seen things of wonder.
There are many roles in a CG animation studio, each with their own unique requirements and challenges. You have to find your passion, pursue as much training as possible in your chosen discipline, and saturate your demo reel with the very best stuff you can produce. With perseverance and a strong enough portfolio, you just might land a dream job in your chosen discipline. ◆
Martin Grebing is president of Funnybone Animation and can be reached at www.funnyboneanimation.com
Whether animating a nine-headed hydra or a fluffy pillow, character animators must be masters of the 12 principles of animation and have a strong foundation in figure drawing and traditional animation.