<p>Hi, I am currently attending BYU as a freshman planning on majoring in Computer Science because I enjoy programming, solving logic problems, etc. I have also always been interested in drawing/painting/visual arts. As of late, I have been increasingly interested in trying out some animation... and here at BYU they have a Computer Science: Animation Emphasis BS. Apparently, it's a pretty good program - Pixar actively recruits from BYU, and many student films have won awards, etc. </p>
<p>Anyway, I am torn between the straight Computer Science major and the Animation Emphasis. I think I would enjoy the animation emphasis more while in school, but I think it might limit me career-wise, as it requires fewer credits in actual CS classes to allow for animation classes.</p>
<p>I don't want a ton of money or anything, I just want to be able to get a decent job that I'm going to be happy at.</p>
<p>So I guess my main questions are:</p>
<p>Is it realistic to hope for a decent job at Pixar, Dreamworks, or another stable and successful company?</p>
<p>How does the technical side of animation compare with the artistic side of animation in terms of job availability, competition, and salary?</p>
<p>Would doing the Animation Emphasis limit me too much?</p>
<p>What does it really take to make it in this field?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>That’s pretty cool that your school offers you that. I’m also a computer science major and also want to work at pixar one day. I guess i can kind of answer your question. The animation emphasis is within computer science which is great because many schools its usually in the art department and they only look at the artistic side of animation. Animation can be looked at from an art and computer science point of view.But I don’t think you would loose if you did the animation emphasis track. If anything it would help you more. You would understand the language of both the artists side and technology side of animation and be more marketable when you go into these animation firms. And because the animation track is within the computer science department it wouldn’t take away from the computer science aspect of animation and just forces on the drawing aspects. </p>
<p>But recently I discovered that by having the technical side your job options can go anywhere from being an animator to a technical director. Technical directors usually have some kind of computer science background. </p>
<p>I hoped that helped a little bit. I know exactly where your coming from. Like I said I am a computer science major like you and want to do animation. I only wish there was an animation track at my school. I’m going to have to transfer soon because of that. But I never knew BYU had an animation track. Good to know. If you have any other questions u can always PM me too. But I hope I made sense and didn’t repeat myself too much. It like 2:00 in the morning over here so I’m kind of tired. haha</p>
<p>Yeah, it is pretty cool that BYU offers it. If you want to check it out more you can check out animation.byu.edu. But yeah, that’s a good point. I think what I’m most worried about is that I’ll fail to find a decent job in the animation field, and I won’t be able to fall back on a plain old computer programming/software engineering job when there are other kids out there who took more technical CS electives instead of the animation stuff.</p>