<p>Ok, so ever since I was a little kid I always dreamed of making animated computer movies. I am very good with computers and love working with them. I want to major in Film (Animation) and work from there. I have some slight issues:</p>
<ul>
<li>I am not a great drawer.</li>
<li>I have not worked with animations on the computer yet.
~ Such as programs like MAYA, 3DS Max.</li>
<li>I have always thought you just get accepted to the college and start from there.</li>
<li>I have no idea how to start on the portfolio.</li>
</ul>
<p>High School:
- I attend a top 2 Private School in New Jersey in Academics.
- I also am a hockey player and we are the 2nd best high school team in the state.
- My GPA is a 3.3.
- My SAT Math score was a 600.
- Verbal: Not so great to what I could have done.
- I will be taking the October SAT to boost my verbal.</p>
<p>College:
- I want to attend a college that has good athletics and also a good film program.
- I was looking at Emerson College / SUNY(s) / Boston University</p>
<p>If someone can help me get on the right track with drawing / portfolio / and colleges it would be a huge help!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Another path to consider: Post-production/Visual Effects. Gives you a chance to use all of the modeling tools and is a good path towards a career. That can range from the mundane (greenscreen and compositing/tracking) to the spectacular (blowing up things - on the computer, that is).</p>
<p>Yeah that sounds fun but I was thinking of programming? Major in Computer Science and learn programming and maybe land a job with a Video game company?</p>
<p>Sorry, did not mean for it to sound like you couldn’t do it without a portfolio. A portfolio just consists of art you have done, either in a class or on your own. If you are looking at animation, I would think they would want to see some animation you have done, whether or not you have done the original drawings. For example, my D takes her drawings and uses a computer program to create an animation from them. Some are better than others - “smoother” is maybe the word I want. She uses them as avatars all the time and will sometimes make some for her friends. These little glips of animation could be burned onto a CD and the CD sent as your portfolio along with other things you have done.</p>
<p>If you want to get started in the world of animation, the BEST way to start is Animation Master. It’s an incredible program at prices much MUCH lower than Maya or 3DS. Used to be $200, but I went to the website and saw that the current price was $299. BUT, they have a one-year subscription to the program for only $80. Well worth the cost and it will introduce you to the concepts you need. Think of it as a stepping stone to other packages. The actual software comes and goes, and if you later work for a company doing animation, they’ll probably have their own software. If I remember correctly, they had tutorials that showed you how to build your models and object and animate them.</p>
<p>Try Animation Master (google it) and develop your own portfolio of animations. [Not a commercial for the project - just a recommendation]</p>
<p>see my other posting about VCU and OSU… In terms of software, my son uses blender (free on the internet with a wonderful community of supportive users) to do a lot of his animations as well as flash at school…free ware is definitely king. He only just took his first computer science class but actually had learned a lot from LEGO Movie maker (I am not joking) and Mindstorms which taught him some simple programming techniques and use of loops for animation. Still, the computer science class gave him a lot of self confidence and he is using some of the java, python and C++ for his animation. that being said, a lot of his animations have been done traditionally with hand drawn or with claymation and photography. Having a good understanding of all these different techniques but mastery of the computer and technology side allows you to try out lots of things and find what you want to do.</p>
<p>Before you commit to a college with a focus on computer animation, I would strongly recommend that you try out some of the software being recommended here and that you try to find yourself a summer program – even a course at a local community college – to learn more about it. Computer animation is very compelling and I can see dreaming of being involved in making computer animated movies as a wonderful profession, but at this point, you’re not sure if you actually enjoy the very painstaking work of animation. It might turn out that you love it and you’re making absolutely the right choice for yourself, but I think you’d be in a better position to make that determination if you were more familiar with the kinds of things that you’d be doing on a day to day, minute by minute basis. </p>
<p>(This is not meant to be discouraging; it is meant to say, if you think you love this, try to find a way to do something related to your goal sooner rather than later.)</p>
<p>Well I used to make graphics on the computer and always dreamed of animation. Most of all computer programs to do with animation or graphics like MAYA, 3DS MAX, Photoshop, I will like. I have a huge passion for computers and I like a difficult task because I like to set my things to things and accomplish them. Summer courses around by me are very expensive so I was thinking of downloading some trials and such of the programs like Maya to get a sense for it. Maybe after 15 days of following tutorials and such I can have 15 days to put together a decent portfolio for myself. I think I have the determination to get this done its just a matter of if I can get into a decent program. My high school does not have a course for this stuff and Princeton is close by but they charge around $1,000 for a week.</p>
<p>If you would like to see some of my graphics take a look here:</p>
<p>I’m in an area where we’re spoiled with relatively inexpensive community college and rec. department courses – so sorry that you don’t have this available to you. I believe that there’s a student film festival through the public library in Princeton, though. I wonder if the person who coordinates that would be able to direct you toward people in the area who might be able to offer you advice and support. Also, my sense is that film schools are very much aware that not all students have the same resources available to them, and make allowances.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this will work for you, but Mercer County Community College had a certificate program in 3-D animation as of last summer, with lots of different courses that sound as if they would interest you. If it is possible for high school students in New Jersey to enroll in community college arts classes, I wonder if this might be a way for you to gain access to the resources you need. I looked for youth programs, too, but the only thing vaguely related to your interests for the fall is a screenwriting class at Mercer for hs students that meets once a week and costs $300.</p>
<p>OK, not sure about the quality of this program, but a place called Industry Film School in New Jersey (Industryfilmschool.com) has both an August and a school year stop motion and 3-d animation course for $275. Again, you’d need to check out the quality of the class, but it might be a way to get some hands on experience for you, and at least it’s less costly than the thousand dollars for a week thing!</p>