3D Animation Course

Lesson 1 • Object Transforms and Hierarchy

Explains translate, rotate, and scale operations plus parent-child relationships. Hierarchy understanding is prerequisite for rigging and scene organisation.

Lesson 2 • Navigating the 3D Viewport

Teaches orbit, pan, zoom, and perspective vs. orthographic views. Efficient navigation directly accelerates every hands-on workflow in the course.

Lesson 3 • Software Interface and Workflow

Maps the core UI panels, menus, and hotkeys of the chosen DCC tool. Learners customise their workspace for an efficient production pipeline.

Lesson 4 • Understanding 3D Coordinate Systems

Covers X, Y, Z axes, world vs. local space, and pivot points. Builds the spatial reasoning required for every subsequent modelling and animation task.

Lesson 1 • Box Modelling Workflow

Demonstrates building complex forms from primitive shapes through iterative refinement. Box modelling is the fastest path to blockout and concept validation.

Lesson 2 • Polygon Mesh Basics

Covers vertices, edges, faces, and normals as the building blocks of all 3D geometry. Understanding mesh topology is essential before any deformation or animation.

Lesson 3 • Core Modelling Tools and Operations

Teaches extrude, loop cut, bevel, merge, and bridge operations. These tools form the primary vocabulary for building any 3D asset.

Lesson 4 • Subdivision and Smooth Modelling

Introduces subdivision surface modifiers and edge flow for smooth organic forms. Proper edge loops prevent pinching during subdivision and deformation.

Lesson 1 • Procedural Texturing with Nodes

Builds non-destructive textures using noise, gradient, and maths nodes. Procedural textures scale infinitely and require no UV seam management.

Lesson 2 • UV Unwrapping Techniques

Teaches seam placement, unwrap methods, and UV island packing. Proper UVs are the foundation for all texture painting and baking workflows.

Lesson 3 • Introduction to Materials and Shaders

Explains shader nodes, PBR workflow, and material slots. PBR materials ensure consistent appearance across different lighting environments.

Lesson 4 • Texture Painting and Image Maps

Covers diffuse, normal, roughness, and AO map creation. Each map type controls a distinct visual property of the surface material.

Lesson 1 • Armature and Bone Fundamentals

Covers bone creation, naming, roll, and hierarchy in an armature object. Correct bone orientation prevents gimbal and deformation issues downstream.

Lesson 2 • Skinning and Weight Painting

Teaches mesh-to-armature binding and weight painting for smooth deformation. Accurate weights are the difference between natural and robotic character movement.

Lesson 3 • Control Rig and Custom Shapes

Builds animator-friendly control bones with custom display shapes and bone groups. Clean controls reduce animator error and speed up production.

Lesson 4 • Forward and Inverse Kinematics

Explains FK chains vs. IK solvers and when to use each. IK simplifies limb posing while FK provides arc control for expressive animation.

Lesson 1 • Acting and Performance Animation

Applies weight, emotion, and intention to full-body character performance shots. Performance animation integrates all prior principles into storytelling motion.

Lesson 2 • Walk Cycle and Locomotion

Builds a complete biped walk cycle using contact, down, passing, and up poses. Walk cycles are the benchmark exercise for timing, weight, and rhythm.

Lesson 3 • The 12 Principles of Animation

Introduces squash/stretch, anticipation, follow-through, arcs, and timing. These principles are the universal language of believable motion across all animation styles.

Lesson 4 • Keyframing and the Timeline

Covers setting, editing, and deleting keyframes across the timeline and dope sheet. Precise keyframe placement is the primary tool for controlling timing.

Lesson 1 • Rendering Animations and Output

Covers frame range setup, output formats, and batch rendering workflows. Efficient output pipelines prevent data loss and ensure consistent animation delivery.

Lesson 2 • Three-Point and Cinematic Lighting

Builds key, fill, and rim light setups adapted from cinematography. Cinematic lighting guides viewer attention and establishes scene mood.

Lesson 3 • Render Passes and Compositing

Outputs diffuse, specular, shadow, and depth passes for compositing control. Multi-pass rendering enables non-destructive colour and effect adjustments post-render.

Lesson 4 • Fundamentals of 3D Lighting

Covers light types, intensity, colour temperature, and shadow settings. Understanding light behaviour is prerequisite for any intentional scene mood.

Lesson 1 • Particle Systems and Emitters

Builds emitter and hair particle systems with velocity, gravity, and lifetime controls. Particles generate fire, smoke, sparks, and crowd-level instancing.

Lesson 2 • Integrating VFX into Animation

Combines simulations with character animation, timing sims to keyframed action. Proper integration ensures VFX feel physically connected to animated characters.

Lesson 3 • Fluid and Smoke Simulation

Sets up domain, flow, and effector objects for liquid and volumetric smoke effects. Fluid sims require baking and caching strategies to manage large data volumes.

Lesson 4 • Rigid Body Dynamics

Simulates active and passive rigid bodies with collision, mass, and friction. Rigid body sims handle destruction, falling objects, and mechanical interactions.

Lesson 1 • Shot Animation and Blocking

Blocks all shots in pose-to-pose style before refining timing and curves. Blocking approval before polish prevents wasted effort on rejected animation.

Lesson 2 • Lighting, Rendering, and Compositing

Finalises lighting per shot, renders all passes, and composites the sequence. Consistent lighting across shots maintains visual cohesion in the final cut.

Lesson 3 • Asset Production and Scene Assembly

Builds and textures all assets, then assembles them into a lit, camera-ready scene. Organised asset production ensures consistent quality across all shots.

Lesson 4 • Pre-Production Planning

Covers storyboarding, animatics, asset lists, and shot breakdowns. Pre-production decisions prevent costly rework during modelling and animation phases.