3D Animation and Visual Effects Course

Lesson 1 • Core Principles of Animation

Covers the 12 principles of animation with 3D examples. Provides the artistic framework applied throughout every animation chapter.

Lesson 2 • Understanding 3D Space and Coordinates

Introduces X, Y, Z axes, world vs. local space, and viewport navigation. Grounds all subsequent modelling and animation work in spatial reasoning.

Lesson 3 • Keyframing and the Timeline

Teaches setting keyframes, editing the timeline, and reading animation curves. Directly enables students to produce their first animated motion.

Lesson 4 • Basic Scene Assembly and Rendering

Covers placing objects, adding lights, and producing a first render. Connects foundational skills into a complete, deliverable output.

Lesson 1 • Subdivision Surface Modelling

Introduces subdivision workflows for smooth, organic shapes. Enables students to model characters and curved props with clean topology.

Lesson 2 • Polygon Modelling Essentials

Teaches vertices, edges, faces, and core edit-mesh operations. Forms the geometric vocabulary used in every subsequent modelling task.

Lesson 3 • UV Unwrapping and Layout

Teaches UV seam placement, unwrapping methods, and texel density. Directly enables proper texture application in shading and rendering chapters.

Lesson 4 • Hard Surface and Mechanical Modelling

Covers boolean operations, bevels, and panel-line techniques for mechanical assets. Prepares students for vehicle, weapon, and prop modelling pipelines.

Lesson 1 • Specialised Shaders and Effects

Introduces subsurface scattering, glass, emission, and hair shaders. Expands material range to cover organic and stylised asset requirements.

Lesson 2 • Physically Based Rendering Materials

Explains PBR theory: albedo, roughness, metalness, and normal maps. Establishes the material framework used in all rendering and VFX chapters.

Lesson 3 • Procedural Texturing with Nodes

Teaches node-based material editors to create tileable, parametric textures. Enables non-destructive, scalable material creation for complex scenes.

Lesson 4 • Texture Painting and Projection

Covers hand-painting textures in 3D and projection-based painting. Builds artistic control over surface detail beyond procedural methods.

Lesson 1 • Inverse and Forward Kinematics

Teaches FK and IK solvers, IK handles, and pole vectors for limb control. Enables animators to pose characters naturally and efficiently.

Lesson 2 • Skeleton and Joint Hierarchy

Covers joint placement, naming conventions, and parent-child hierarchy. Establishes the structural foundation every rig and skin chapter builds upon.

Lesson 3 • Facial Rigging and Blend Shapes

Introduces blend shape targets, corrective shapes, and facial bone rigs. Enables expressive character performance in dialogue and emotional scenes.

Lesson 4 • Control Rig and Animator Interface

Builds custom controls, constraints, and picker interfaces for animators. Transforms a technical rig into an intuitive animation tool.

Lesson 1 • Blocking and Pose-to-Pose Method

Teaches stepped-key blocking, key pose selection, and silhouette reading. Establishes the planning stage that underpins all professional animation workflows.

Lesson 2 • Polish, Arcs, and Secondary Motion

Refines spline curves, arc paths, and adds secondary overlapping motion. Transforms blocked animation into broadcast-quality finished performance.

Lesson 3 • Walk Cycles and Locomotion

Covers contact, down, passing, and up positions for bipedal locomotion. Builds the most fundamental repeatable animation asset in character pipelines.

Lesson 4 • Weight, Force, and Physical Acting

Applies physics-based principles to convey mass, momentum, and effort. Elevates animation from mechanical motion to convincing physical performance.

Lesson 1 • Rigid Body and Destruction Dynamics

Covers rigid body solvers, collision shapes, and procedural fracture systems. Enables students to create destruction and physics-driven object interactions.

Lesson 2 • Particle Systems and Fields

Covers emitter-based particles, force fields, and instanced geometry on particles. Enables rain, sparks, crowds, and environmental effect creation.

Lesson 3 • Cloth and Soft Body Simulation

Teaches cloth solver properties, pinning, and collision with characters. Enables realistic fabric, flags, and deformable object simulations.

Lesson 4 • Fluid and Liquid Simulation

Covers FLIP fluid solvers, domain setup, and surface meshing. Enables water, splashes, and liquid pour simulations for VFX shots.

Lesson 1 • Volumetric and Atmospheric Effects

Covers volume scatter, fog, god rays, and atmospheric depth. Adds environmental realism and cinematic depth to rendered scenes.

Lesson 2 • Render Farm and Output Management

Introduces distributed rendering, frame sequence management, and output formats. Prepares students for studio-scale production rendering pipelines.

Lesson 3 • Global Illumination and Ray Tracing

Explains GI, path tracing, caustics, and indirect light bounces. Enables students to produce physically accurate light simulation in renders.

Lesson 4 • Render Engine Configuration

Teaches render settings, AOV/render pass setup, and noise reduction. Connects technical configuration to efficient, compositing-ready output.

Lesson 1 • VFX Integration and Keying

Teaches green screen keying, edge refinement, and integrating CG into live footage. Enables students to blend 3D elements seamlessly with real-world plates.

Lesson 2 • Final Delivery and Export Formats

Covers codec selection, frame rate standards, and delivery specifications. Ensures students can deliver finished work to any professional pipeline.

Lesson 3 • Multi-Pass Render Integration

Teaches combining diffuse, specular, shadow, and AO passes for full control. Enables non-destructive colour and lighting adjustments in compositing.

Lesson 4 • Colour Grading and Look Development

Covers LUTs, curves, colour wheels, and cinematic look creation. Transforms technically correct renders into emotionally resonant final images.