Character Animation

No. You are only guaranteed admission to UCF. You are not guaranteed admission into the Emerging Media Character Animation track.

No BUT you must have completed, or be enrolled in, all prerequisites when applying in February or your portfolio will not be reviewed. Upon completing prerequisites, students apply for Character Animation Portfolio in the Spring semester prior to the Fall semester in which they would like to start.

Character Animation is a highly competitive, limited access program. Acceptance is limited to 30 students each cohort. Students are encouraged to simultaneously apply for Studio Art Portfolio and/or Graphic Design Portfolio for additional options.

No.

Just as in any type of application, whether it be for entry into a program, exhibition, film festival, job, etc. there will always be competitors.  Unfortunately, we have only space for 30. A committee of 4 faculty evaluate all of the applications.

If a student is not selected it means that their application did not rank with the top 30 of that year’s applicants.  This means that 30 other applicants submitted a stronger combination of their academics, writing skills, and portfolios. This does not necessarily mean that the application or your portfolio did not suit the program. However, we have only space for 30.

Due to the large number of applicants, this is not possible. It is possible, however, for a student to meet with one or more of the character animation faculty during their office hours, which can be found by contacting the faculty member directly:

Faculty staff

This track is a cohort that begins in Fall semester only.

This is a cohort program, meaning you take specific courses with your accepted cohort (class of students) throughout every Fall and Spring semester following a specific course sequencing. There is only one cohort per year. All of the students will have the same schedule.

This track is part of a four-year BFA degree. The first two years of the degree are spent as an Emerging Media Pending major, taking Gen Ed and Prereq courses. Students must be accepted to UCF before applying. Students then apply apply after getting accepted to UCF and once you completing, or enrolling in, all prerequisites.

character animation portfolio

Once accepted, the Character Animation track in the Emerging Media BFA program is a full-time two-year program (four full-time semesters excluding summers in most instances) and students must progress through the program by taking required classes in particular semesters.

​More information about prereqs and course sequencing can be found in the catalog here:

Catalog

Other program information can be found here:

Animation

1. APPLY and be accepted to UCF.

2. COMPLETE prerequisite courses. (Interested students are recommended to contact a academic advisor ([email protected]) as early as possible to ensure that they are progressing through the prerequisite courses in a timely manner and to keep documented and detailed records of all information received.)

3. PASS mandatory portfolio review. (Character Animation is a highly competitive, limited access program and students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 in all program coursework. Students are encouraged to simultaneously apply for studio art and/or graphic design portfolio. Students intending to pursue Character Animation (as well as Experimental Animation or Graphic Design) will be enrolled in the Emerging Media Pending BFA program until they have successfully completed the portfolio review.)

A listing of all available scholarships are here:

scholarships

Please note that anything related to Digital Media also applies to Emerging Media.

We suggest you submit your very best work. If that is something from a painting you did in 2016, then yes, by all means please submit that piece. Realize that whenever your portfolio is reviewed you are judged by the worse piece submitted. Keep that in mind when choosing your submissions.

​

The portfolio pieces can come from both classwork and from personal work.

The application is evaluated with 30% of the total score going to writing skills, 20% towards academics and 50% towards the Portfolio: Student portfolios are submitted and evaluated as part of the review to enter the Character Animation track in the Emerging Media BFA. The review committee looks for professionalism, artistic skills, creativity, and presentation. We are especially interested in seeing life drawings, perspective drawings of environments, and observational drawings. A strong portfolio includes foundation and graphic skills, effective use of 2-D & 3-D form and composition, and additive and subtractive color theory. In addition, portfolios should demonstrate an aesthetic awareness and effective use of chosen mediums and tools.

All courses are located on Main Campus and Research park, so you will need to attend orientation on Main Campus.

Junior Computer Lab (VAB 221): 30 2017 iMac computers, OS X Yosemite and 13" Cintiqs, 70" Television monitor with blu-ray player

Junior 2D Animation Lab  (VAB 221-A): 4 traditional animation lighted disc desks and a down shooter donated from Disney Feature Animation after the Florida studio closed in Orlando.

Senior Computer Lab (OTC 500 134): 30 PC workstations with nVidia GTX1070 cards, dual monitor/22" Cintiq, dual 70" 4K Television monitors with blu-ray player, Renderfarm

Software: Adobe CC, Maya, Nuke, Houdini, Substance, Mari, Modo, ZBrush, Toon Boom Harmony, TVPaint, Stop Motion Pro

Our MFA program is very new. 1st Cohort began Fall of 2017 and graduated Spring 2020, so we do not have much data on graduates as of yet.

Below is the information for our undergraduate Character Animation students. This program began the 16th year of graduates in Fall 2020:

Job placement rate:
There is no data available for 10% of our graduates. The below numbers are for the remaining 90% of our character animation program alumni.
30% are employed in the animation industry within 6 months from graduation
85% are employed in the animation industry within 3 years from graduation
15% pursued a graduate degree after graduation

Current Alumni work at these companies

We have ongoing relationships with all Disney studios (Feature, PIXAR) and Dreamworks, as well as any studio where our alumni work.  This track is for students specifically interested in a fast-paced and competitive career in Computer Animation. Specifically, they must be willing to work as a member of a team in an intense production-oriented environment and be able to communicate their ideas and thoughts clearly. They must be willing to work nights and weekends outside of class. They must be problem solvers who are self-motivated and love to learn. Please note that coursework is never enough for a reel and portfolio. They must always work on additional projects in order to fully flesh out their reel and portfolio. Many class pieces are exercises and assignments. Studios want to see how they apply that work to their own work. We recommend weekends, summers, and breaks to keep working towards those pieces.

1. APPLY to UCF here:

   Apply

2. Apply to the Character Animation Portfolio review after completing, or enrolling in, all prerequisites here:

   prerequisites

There is a dropdown menu under : Start an Application.

You will see: Character Animation Track (Current Students)

​The information for applying to the Character Animation track can be found at:

character animation portfolio

Our alumni, students. and faculty form the Character Animation family here at UCF. It is a true gem of a program in the largest University in the country. We are ranked #2 in the US for Public Universities all because of the hard work of our faculty, students, and alumni.
Our standards are set high, and the students raise the bar every year.

Top 40 Public Animation Schools in the U.S.

There is no data available for 10% of our graduates. The below numbers are for the remaining 90% of our program alumni:

30% are employed in the animation industry within 6 months from graduation.
85% are employed in the animation industry within 3 years from graduation.
15% pursue a graduate degree after graduation

The Animation and Visual Effects track in the Emerging Media MFA program is a full-time three-year program (six full-time semesters excluding summers in most instances) and students must progress through the program by taking required classes in particular semesters. The program requires a minimum of 60 credit hours including a thesis project. All courses must be approved by the Graduate Program Director. The thesis consists of producing a short film and thesis document.

No.

We do not like to disrupt our courses during the day, so we have created a video information session and tour. Please take some time to watch this and let me know if you have any further questions:

Info Session and Tour Video

While there are no formal internship programs or requirements, Character Animation has a full senior year of coursework that is experiential learning. The students come to class as if it were at a job or internship. They are working on the final cohort film on teams of 12-15 students under the direct supervision of the faculty, and ends in April with a premiere screening of student films. Animation students have received internship credit at companies such as DreamWorks Animation, Universal Creative, Lockheed Martin, Limitless Solutions, and Rockwell Collins to name a few.