Course overview

This is a full-time, three-year course specialising in creative animations, which combines artistry and technology. It is designed for creative technical artists specialising in 2D or 3D animation.

Computer animation encompasses art, humanities, psychology and narrative with the technical aspects of modelling, animation, special effects and 3D graphics. It covers both the practical and theoretical aspects of modern and traditional animation and the real-time game animation industry. Strong artistic and technological abilities are essential, as well as an ability to listen and think independently and take direction.

The philosophy at the heart of this course is to produce ‘T-shaped people’, such that they maintain the depth and focus of the animation discipline, but have the ‘cross bar’ of art and technical issues that drive the understanding necessary for solving real-world problems. This interdisciplinary approach is not just a joining of these two commitments, but also makes these ideas work in real-life organisations.

It helps to have some experience of computing. Any experience in art and design, media or communication studies, music or music technology will also be a great help. However, what really counts is motivation, creativity and a sense of excitement. Mature students are encouraged to seek an interview to discuss experience and qualifications. You will also need to be capable of learning the technical aspects of animation and animation software, as well as concept design and visual research.

A year in industry

We have an active placement scheme within the department to support your experience and a dedicated team, Purple Door Careers and Recruitment, who can support you in finding a placement. We actively encourage placement abroad; for example we have had exciting placements in Lion Head Games, China in previous years.

Course content

This course focuses on mirroring many industrial processes and creative practices that we have discussed with our industrial partners both in film and games industries through personal contacts, academic summits and collaborations. We constantly update the course to keep it current and relevant.

Assessment is varied and reflects the nature of the material. We look for a balance between producing practical work and understanding the process of design, development and implementation.

Year one

In your first year you will study the following units:

Foundation in Graphics (Software Skills for Media): you will learn the essentials of media software tools such as Photoshop for creating 2D images and textures, as well as an editing package so you can edit your animations. You will also learn the foundations of post-production.

E-Portfolio (Representation of Information, Project Management for Creative Technologies and Building a Portfolio): you will examine issues such as copyright, piracy, hacking, social engineering and codes of conduct. In addition, you will develop your research and writing skills, as well as gain an appreciation of the complexity of issues in the wider world. This gives you the opportunity to build a portfolio and explore information architecture and interface design, and will help you develop project management skills by working on an individual project.

Visual Communication (Drawing for Creative Technologies, Visual Resolution and Development): this unit is as much about learning to see as it is about drawing. Artistic students are taught basic skills they can build on. Technically minded students are given the opportunity to fully appreciate the skills of the artists, enabling better communication and understanding between artists and technical issues. These skills are then integrated into digital media in 2D and 3D, building on the skills acquired in the Foundation in Graphics unit.

Scripting: this unit is as much about learning as it is about scripting. Technical students are taught basic skills that they can build on, and artistic students are given the opportunity to fully appreciate technical skills, enabling better communication and understanding between artist and programmer.These skills are then integrated through practical examples so that you can develop unique artefacts.

Skills for Animation: covering a hands-on approach to the principles of animation in 2D and 3D, this unit adopts a traditional approach to animation to inform current trends in this area. It also covers the history of animation and will help you develop skills that you can build on in subsequent units. It will also involve working with people from other disciplines such as scriptwriters.

Year two

In your second year you will study the following units:

Commercial Asset Production for Real-time: you will build up your animation skills including  rigging, environment modelling, character modelling and animating characters for games or film. You will also build your skills in motion capture in our advanced motion capture suite.

Texture and Lighting Models: you will learn more advanced lighting, texturing and creation of shaders for 3D models for games and film. You will also investigate high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) and other related areas of computer graphics. This unit covers some basic mathematics (there are no difficult concepts) that are generally useful and specifically relevant in other units.

Ancillary Modelling and Preparatory Project: you will initiate a self-directed project in an area of computer animation that you are keen to pursue. You will also have the opportunity to further develop your skills in digital sculpturing and post-production.

You have a choice of two units from the following options:

Linear/Non-linear Animation (artistic choice): this unit covers the general principles of 2D image generation and the process of producing effective linear and non-linear animations for the web and other multimedia.

Design for Animation (artistic choice): this unit provides an opportunity for you to extend your skills and understanding of visual expression in the context of computer animation. A series of analytical, interpretive and conceptual studies will encourage the further development of visual expression and promote the development of personal expressive style.

Design and Visual Research for Cinema and Games (artistic choice): this unit provides opportunities for you to develop skills and knowledge in visual research and design methodologies associated with the film and game industries.

Mathematical Elements for Games and Animation (technical choice): this unit covers a range of core mathematical elements underpinning the production of computer games and animation artefacts.

Animation Programming and Scripting (technical choice): this unit covers the application of fundamental programming and scripting techniques to areas of computer animation such as programmed interaction with 3D rendering, animation, interpolation, hierarchical structures and modelling within the context of a computer animation package.

Designing Interactive Content (technical choice): this unit examines content management from a number of perspectives, including visual composition, narrative, use of avatars, user behaviour and interactivity.

Student Enterprise Project (industry-related options): this unit is a problem-based learning unit which introduces you to the reality of setting up and running a small business. You will form small groups (typically 6/7) and experience all aspects of starting and running your own business (designing, producing, marketing and selling your chosen product/s). The knowledge and skills provided by this unit are of use for those onsidering running their own businesses, but are also very desirable by all employers.

Professional Experience (industry-related options): this unit provides you with the opportunity to gain credit from paid/unpaid work, volunteering, research placements, internships and other work-related learning. You will need to arrange your own programme of learning activities (of at least 80 hours in total), but you will be supported through workshops and tutorials to set appropriate learning goals and  provide appropriate evidence of how your employability skills have been enhanced.

Year three

In your final year you will study the following units:

Creative Technology Project: this is a year-long project that will help you develop an excellent portfolio. You will need to specialise in an area that you would like to develop. Past students have chosen to create an animation for entertainment in game or cinema. These have included digital sculpting, visual effects (VFX), post-production, stereoscopic sequences, texturing, advertising, scientific visualisations and architectural visualisations.

Creative Media: using the knowledge and skills gained in the creative group project, you will push your skills to a new level.

You have a choice of 2 units from the following options:

Real-time Group Project/s: in this year-long unit you will be put together in teams comprising students with a range of different skills (design, management, programming and art) and you will create an artefact featuring real-time animated graphics according to a brief set by the lecturer. For example, a previous task was set to create an artefact featuring Portsmouth's landmark Spinnaker Tower, but acting in a similar way to Channel 4's distinctive idents.

Rendering Pipeline: this unit deals with the technical side of rendering and the rendering pipeline for cinema and games.

Design for Computer Animation: this unit develops skills in understanding computer animation, mentoring and leading change.

Animation and Modelling for Facial Animation: facial animation is an area of excellence that we have developed and have collaborated with games companies such as Lion Head Games and the facial animation industries for cinema. We have also published work in this area at SIGGRAPH, one of the world's premier computer animation conferences and festivals.

Teaching and assessment

The University of Portsmouth has a long and distinguished record of running successful degree courses in both IT and business management. The south east is the entertainment and IT centre in England.

Our emphasis is on creativity, understanding and professional practice. In a creative, collaborative media group, it is rarely possible to solve increasingly complex problems individually. It needs a thinking capability that encompasses the entire process from art to project management and good communication. As a result we encourage a varied and interdisciplinary approach throughout the degree course (for example, we invite scriptwriters to work with you from year one).

Additionally, you will have the opportunity to be trained in our state-of-the-art motion capture suite and run this as a closely supervised student resource. Practical experience is emphasised throughout the course and you will be encouraged to put your ideas into practice.

You will be taught through a mixture of traditional lectures, practicals and seminars. Assessment is geared towards the subject matter in a way that encourages understanding, allowing you to develop excellence in your chosen field as well as practical experience.

Career prospects

We have been fortunate to receive high praise from our graduate employers and have graduates working in diverse areas, from games and animation to post-production.

We have a range of industrial sponsors who have offered final-year student prizes. These include Autodesk (one of the biggest suppliers of 3D software), Avid, and Sony (SCEE) UK. We are active members of academic and industrial conferences and have become a preferred university with several large media multinational organisations because of the quality of our graduates.

This course provides a complete package for those wishing to obtain well-rounded skills for use in the media industry, but with an emphasis on graphics and animation for use in areas such as business, commerce and education. You will have the option to work in the following fields:

• animation design
• 3D and 2D graphics
• traditional animation
• creating tools for animation
• real-time animation
• motion capture
• virtual reality
• project planning

Facilities and features

We teach on state-of-the-art hardware and software for animation. This includes our motion capture suite, stereo 3D cinema and computer software, all supported by a team of dedicated technical staff. We also have a virtual learning environment to augment our face-to-face teaching sessions and hold a range of support videos that are produced commercially and in-house.

Our live web TV channel is run by students and academic staff to enable live feed of student work over the internet. We also nurture student enterprise and businesses through our Centre for Enterprise and the support of Purple Door Careers and Recruitment; this formula has helped develop some very successful businesses for our students. However, our main asset is the excellence of our staff, many of whom have been employed directly from the games and film industry.

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BSc (Hons) Computer Animation for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).