Courses
Animation-2025/2026
| Level 1 | ||||
| Gen Ed - Take a 3 credit General Education elective course. | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| WRIT-1037 | Reason & Writing 1-Contemporary Media | 3 | ||
| This course will introduce contemporary media students to essential principles of reading, writing, and reasoning at the postsecondary level. Students will identify, summarize, analyze, and evaluate multiple short readings and write persuasive response essays to develop their vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and critical thinking. | ||||
| MMED-1067 | Pre-Production 1 | 4 | ||
| Students will learn the fundamental skills of cinematic storytelling including shot selection, staging and storyboarding. Students will draw simple characters and environments in perspective to depict different camera angles. Basic film editing techniques will also be taught allowing students to create their own animatics. | ||||
| MMED-1068 | Motion Capture & Pipeline | 3 | ||
| This introductory course will teach the basics of Motion Capture. Students will have an opportunity to 'suit up' and record character performances as well as prop and environment interactions in a real-time production environment. | ||||
| MMED-1069 | 3D Animation 1 | 3 | ||
| The 12 principles of animation are the focus of this course. Working on simple tasks with basic rigs, students will learn core skills for 3D animation. Students will work with industry standard 3D software, learning to manipulate graph curves to create movement that follow the 12 principles. | ||||
| MMED-1070 | Digital 2D Animation 1 | 3 | ||
| Get ready to draw quickly. Using digital drawing tools and software, students will animate simple 2D characters moving and performing. Students will shoot and interpret reference, learn to read timing charts and develop the core skills needed for digital 2D animation. | ||||
| MMED-1071 | 3D Software 1 | 3 | ||
| This course will introduce basic concepts needed for creating simple characters, props and environments in digital 3D sculpting software. Students will also learn environmental layout and design for use in a real-time production environment. | ||||
| Level 2 | ||||
| Gen Ed - Take a 3 credit General Education elective course. | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| COMM-3075 | Communications for Media | 3 | ||
| This course, designed for students who plan to work in the field of media, focuses on professional written and verbal communication skills. Students learn to prepare a variety of work-related documents. In addition, students learn about research methods and documentation formats. The principles of effective writing - organization, grammar, style, clarity, and tone - are reinforced throughout the course. The goal of the course is to prepare students for the communication tasks and considerations they will encounter in the media workplace in order to meet the needs of employers and/or the communities they will serve. | ||||
| MMED-3050 | Pre-Production 2 | 4 | ||
| Building upon the lessons from Pre-Production 1, this class will introduce more complex concepts of cinematic storytelling. Students will be digitally drawing storyboards, editing and timing them to create 2D animatics. Detailed character and environmental concept art will also be created in this class. The final project will be an animatic proposal for a finished animated short film. | ||||
| MMED-3051 | Motion Capture 1 | 3 | ||
| More detailed workflows and techniques for motion capture will be covered in this class. Merging and blending clips, working with groups of performers, complex interactions and facial capture are all possible. | ||||
| MMED-3052 | 3D Animation 2 | 3 | ||
| Moving beyond basic animation principles, students will now focus on creating 3D animation that follows rules of physics: balance, weight shift and preservation of mass. Complex actions will be animated using industry standard 3D software. | ||||
| MMED-3053 | Rigging & Pipeline 1 | 3 | ||
| Learn to create animation controls for characters and props. Topics covered will deliver the problem solving skills and techniques required to set up high-end assets for animation and motion capture. | ||||
| MMED-3054 | 3D Software 2 | 3 | ||
| Building upon lessons learned in the intro class, students will build more complex characters, props and environmental objects for use in the real-time production environment. Advanced digital set-dressing and 3D layout techniques will be taught. | ||||
| Level 3 | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| MMED-5018 | Visual Effects & Simulation | 4 | ||
| Augmenting skills learned in their Animation and Motion Capture classes, students will now apply simple cloth and hair simulation techniques to their characters to add a new level of detail and realism. Students will also learn to utilize some of the tools within the real-time rendering engine to add particle and environmental effects. | ||||
| MMED-5019 | Motion Capture 2 | 6 | ||
| Students continue to build upon techniques from previous Motion Capture classes to capture more detailed and complex interactions. The addition of camera capture techniques will create a complete real-time production workflow. | ||||
| MMED-5020 | 3D Animation 3 | 6 | ||
| In this class, students will develop character acting and performance skills with 3D animation software. Proper planning and reference will be used to create simple acting scenes. Students will learn to animate with sound clip and create lip sync. The student final assignment will include creating a plan for their capstone project at level 4. | ||||
| MMED-5021 | Virtual Production | 6 | ||
| Learn to create animation controls for characters and props. Topics covered will deliver the problem solving skills and techniques required to set up high-end assets for animation and motion capture. | ||||
| INDS-1033 | Video Game Theory | 3 | ||
| This course will analyze the cultural and artistic significance of video games, and also the ways gaming reflects our larger relationships with technology. This course aims to discuss the relationship between video games and other media; gamers and the gaming community; and the important sociological, cultural, industrial, and economic issues that surround gaming. | ||||
| Level 4 | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
Group 1 | ||||
| MMED-5023 | 3D Animation 4 | 3 | ||
| Students will be called upon to utilize their 3D animation skills to contribute to innovation village projects. Advanced techniques will be taught based on the needs of the projects being developed. | ||||
| DEVL-5007 | Career Development | 3 | ||
| Students will use this class to gather portfolio material and create an online presence for the purpose of marketing themselves as professional artists. Outside speakers and presentations will add to the educational opportunities as well as mock-interviews to help with job search preparedness. | ||||
| MMED-5025 | Animation Client Studio | 13 | ||
| Being truly job ready means having experience working in a professional production environment. In Client Studio, students are assigned tasks with creative direction and real deadlines. Student work is logged in real time with industry standard production tracking tools. Shot turnovers, team meetings and client feedback are all part of this 'on the job' experience within the classroom. | ||||
Group 2 | ||||
| Students will be enrolled in one of the following courses: MMED-5022 or INNV-1001 | ||||
| MMED-5022 | VR & Mixed Reality | 3 | ||
| Augmented & Virtual Reality is the new frontier for true 3D digital content. This class represents the culmination of the real-time production environment. Students will interact with the latest AR/VR hardware and software and learn how to get their digital content into a VR platform. | ||||
| INNV-1001 | Innovation Applications | 3 | ||
| Organizations and individuals need to be innovative to succeed in the complex and rapidly-changing global marketplace. In this course you will learn the fundamentals of innovation and how innovation applies to your discipline or field.Using this foundational knowledge, you will apply the novel and adaptive thinking processes and tools presented in the course to complete an innovative learning project in collaboration with other students.The project will be based on a real-world scenario with a defined scope as chosen by your professor. The project may involve external live clients and a multi-disciplinary approach.Throughout the course, novel and adaptive thinking skills as well as collaboration skills will be evaluated through self assessment.This course is designed to give students in certificate and diploma programs a foundation in innovative thinking. | ||||
| Gen Ed - Electives | ||||
| Take 6 General Education Credits - Normally taken in Levels 1 and 2 | ||||
| Program Residency | ||||
| Students Must Complete a Minimum of 23 credits in this program at Fanshawe College to meet the Program Residency requirement and graduate from this program | ||||