Which are the best universities for 3D Animation & Modelling Courses? Watch

Hello everyone,
as I wrote in the title I'm looking for a good quality course in 3D Animation and Modelling specifically for Games. I'm really passionate about a future in that field, and I want to be sure to choose a good university where to spend 3/4 years of my life.

This is my first message on this forum, I was almost disparate researching by myself, that's why I need your help.

Thank you, any answer will be extremely appreciated!

Hi there RaveJe,

First off, this our first post too my name is Alex, one of the lecturers at a Modelling and Animation course in Bournemouth - and yes ... it's a crazy time of year and I certainly don't envy your task, trying to filter through all the information must be impossible!

The course that I'm writing from is a Bournemouth University degree run at Bournemouth and Poole College down in the sunny south (well almost snowy south at the moment). We run Foundation degree courses and BSc degree courses in both Modelling and Animation and Architectural Visualisation. The students that join us apply through UCAS and then have a quick induction in September, before getting straight on with the fun stuff We use 3DS Max, the Adobe suite, and whatever else you guys typically find you need as the years progress, so After Effects/ Fusion/ Mudbox/ Maya/ MotionBuilder for Mo-Cap and even Xbox Kinects/ Laser Scanning and VR w/ drones (although we may not have a complete clue about the Kinect yet - darned thing is pretty cool though for £30). Its pretty open in the later years with still a good amount of taught content, although we quite often get students with no experience of the software in year 1, so we tend to make sure that we start from how to open the program (don't worry, by Christmas everyone is pretty much at the same pace, even experienced modellers included in this). Most of our second years are confident enough to do whatever they are after in the software. The course is generally good fun (work and play and all that), and the students produce some amazing work, we're really proud of our cohorts (I've stuck some cool links underneath). We also have good employment links, with the option to even leave with a FdSc degree in 3d modelling and Animation, and undertake your BSc elsewhere (although its normally the other way around, with local universities sending their FdSc students here to get a full BSc degree.

Anyway, I've rambled loads whatever course you choose, the main bit of advice with whatever gets put here is to check the job prospects, i.e - how many students typically find relevant work afterwards, or how many disappear into the ether .... Luckily at this years Graduate Expo, we had 9 firm jobs offered by the end of the show - but this should typically be a big consideration when you're looking around, especially if you want to do this after you finish university. If you want flexibility, rather than enrol straight onto a 4 year BSc, instead, consider a sandwhich course, these give you way more flexiblity. You might study 3d modelling for 2 years on a BSc, then realise that actually you love VFX more than anything, and you are stuck for the final year, whereas with a FdSc you have the option to complete a FdSc in 3d modelling and Animation and then potentially switch to a BSc in VFX. Wherever you look, my personal advice would be to consider a Foundation degree rather than a straight BSc, and this is what I did before I worked here, along with most of my colleagues. There is just more flex.

Hope some of this helps, and best of luck in your hunting! if you do have any questions pop a message over. Hopefully you'll get some really info here

Good luck!

Alex

im going to uni for 3d modelling in 2018 but i might be able to help.
I applied for:
Bournemouth uni - game design course ( it has a bit of everything but mainly focusing on art.
de montfort - game art ( alot of people use this as the go to art uni from what ive heard)
teeside - game art ( dont know much about this one. i heard its pretty good tho)
solent - game design ( general game course. has a little bit of everything.)
solent - game art ( probably my main choice. focuses on every step of 3d modeling.)

most of those courses needed around 120 ucas points i think. DMU, solent art and teeside also wanted portfolios. my portfolio is entirely 3d models and ive recieved offers from all if them, so aslong as your work is good you wont need to have specific types of drawings.

i know quite a bit about the solent art course in particular, so if you have any questions regarding that one feel free to ask. ill try and answer questions about the other ones, but i might not know.

p.s
most of the courses i know off are seperate for creating 3d models and animating them. bournmouth and solent have separate courses for it i know. you may need to pick one and then sit in lessons or go to societies for the other.

Hey guys,

sorry if I reply so late, I was a little bit busy. However thanks for the answers I will have a look at the Bournemouth University, and if I will ever find a good one I'll let you know!

Herts also have an excellent 3d animation course that might be worth looking into (and the De Montfort course is one of the few that combines art and code well).

Best of luck, if you need anything just pop me a message, and have a great festive break

Alex

Thanks very much, very kind of you to say so

You might want to look into our 3D Games Art and Design degree; it is currently rated as the best in the UK and fourth best worldwide by the CG Rookies Awards

http://www.therookies.co/schools/bes...ls-world-2017/

Our graduates work in over 200 game developers worldwide including Epic Games USA, Nintendo and Bandai (Japan) and Sony, Microsoft, Frontier etc in the UK. All the staff have years of games industry experience and so teach from their personal knowledge of the games they've worked on. If you're serious about making a career in the industry you should be considering our course. There are other games art courses in the UK of course - Keira D made a good list, I would add Staffordshire to that list as well, I've seen strong work from them recently, and depending on where you're based, you might want to consider Abertay as well. Have a good look at all the courses, see the work of the students, find out where they work, make sure you make your choice of degree based on facts and not just hopes and dreams! It's one of the most expensive decisions you'll ever have to make, so do as much research as you can.

Let me know if you want any more information. And get drawing!

Hi, my names Dom and I'm currently studying at Bournemouth University and have lots of friends doing the games design, animation and different types of modelling courses here.

As a student I personally know what you mean when you say you want to make the right decision especially regarding the amount of time the course takes. One tip that I have picked up on is also making sure you factor in the location and what social aspects the university or college can provide you with alongside the course.

As you've expressed an interest particularly in BU, just to make you aware we provide a wide variety of courses that all meet your interests. Can I ask what is of more interest to you, animation or games design?

Here is a link to all the courses we have in that creative field:
https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/study...visual-effects

Can I recommend that you have a read of the different courses and the breakdown of what they cover over the few years of study and if you want to find out even more attend one of our open days. I found this a great chance to speak to lecturers and students studying the course and really helped me in my decisions process.

Let me know if you have any other questions or are feeling stuck on what course to decide.

-Dom K

Congratulations on your offers, it sounds like you're in a great position and it's good to hear that Solent is probably your main choice. I had a friend on this course and the work they produce is incredible!

If you (or anyone else) want to know more about the course I can get a current student to post their experiences.

Thanks and good luck with everyone's offers!

Mike
Graduate Intern

hiya sorry about the late reply. i rarely come on here. I've already accepted the solent offer for art. it would be great to hear some more experiences from other students though, just to get a bit more of an idea of what to expect.