This course begins with the basics of animating individual 3D objects. Students will explore the different methods of keyframe animating. Keying pose to pose, straight ahead, using paths, and how to edit the animation using f-curves and the dopesheet. Students will create animations that blend different techniques as needed and apply these to provided high end models.

This course provides students with hands-on training in building 3D objects: props, buildings, and other objects essential to creating a fully realized scene. Students learn the basics of working with polygonal objects, working in consistent scale, and understanding how to manipulate faces, points, and edges. Students then create more complicated objects including vehicles, organic shapes and characters. 

Students develop drawing skills while learning the principles of squash and stretch, follow-through and overlapping action, anticipation, timing, key frames, and in-betweening. Lessons in character animation and storyboarding explore the elements necessary to bring an animation to life. This course builds a foundation for 3D classes to follow.

This module provides an in-depth exploration of Adobe Photoshop, the industry standard for digital imaging. Students work on the basics of image editing, color correction, color management, preparing files for print and exporting images. Topics include working with layers, alpha channels, paths, selections and filters. Exercises prepare students for a real-world production environment.

In this course the students are introduced to everything 3D.  The course is taught in Autodesk Softimage, but focuses on 3D principles and workflow.  Everything from Materials, to UV's, to Overrides and passes are covered in detail.  This course prepares students for other classes and brings many different ideas together.  

Students will draw from live models and examine the anatomy, proportion, surface planes and movements of the human form. Beginning with basic gesture drawings, the student will progress to sketching detailed figure representations. The student will explore the relationship of muscle structure, skeletal structure, light and shadow, movement and form in the tangible representation of a three-dimensional object on a two-dimensional plane.

Production 100 will allow students and instructors to compile and track progress as projects evolve. Students will learn video editing techniques using Adobe Premier and how to create an animatic that will aid in timing and organizing an animation project. Production 100 will also support other courses as a means to develop project support materials.

In this advanced animation class students will learn two different approaches to animating a shot in TV or film.  In the first half of the course we concentrate on building strong ACTION shots emphasizing weight, momentum, rhythm, and energy.  The second half of the course focuses on how to build a strong ACTING shot layer-by-layer using video reference, solid storytelling poses, and advanced lip-sync techniques to create "life" and give personality to a computer generated character.  Students will learn how to take on a complex and potentially overwhelming shot and break it down into small easily accomplished tasks.

 In this second, more advanced modeling module students will build upon their skills founded in modeling 100. Attention to detail will be key as students learn to build an "animation proficient" character with proper topology. Additional techniques will be introduced to add realistic detail to models and speed up modeling times. Efficient yet impressive sets and props will be incorporated with other production pipeline classes for achieving a realistic look.

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of Acting for animation. The exercises will teach students how to perform actions differently for various characters and personalities. How to properly do anticipations and reactions for each action; How to do verbal and non-verbal acting, acting between two characters, increasing our imagination and creativity and how to act with body language first and facial acting second.

In this course students are introduced to the world of the digital visual effects artist and the skills and techniques used in the field. How effects are created and their integration into live and CG plates will give the students a good understanding of how movie magic is achieved. Particles, mattes, color keying, tracking and stabilization, and using simple effects such as glows, flares, depth of field, and color correction to achieve a "real" look will be covered. Understanding the various methods of compositing the final result into an esthetically believable result is the goal of this course.

In this course, students are introduced to the world of the visual effects artist and the skills and techniques that are used in the field. We discuss how effects are created and how they are integrated into live-action and CG plates. Our goal is to give the students a good understanding of how movie magic is achieved. Particles, mattes, color keying, camera tracking, stabilization, and using simple (but effective) effects such as glows, flares, depth of field, and color correction to achieve a “photo-real” look will be covered. This course is essential to understanding of various methods of compositing in order to achieve esthetically beautiful, and believable imagery.

This course introduces students to the new techniques and possibilities that Mudbox and Zbrush provide. Techniques include modeling ultra high resolution meshes and then Normal mapping and/or displacing that high detail information onto lower resolution and "game ready" meshes. Zbrush's texturing tools will also be explored to provide a powerful tool for seamless textures. Students will learn how to work between these and other major 3D applications for superior results.

Throughout this course students learn how to work with art assets in the unity game engine and apply what they learn to a class project. While working on the project students get to focus on and learn what they want to pursue as a career. Topics covered include normal map generation and painting, advanced UV techniques, importing geometry, collision meshes, animation systems, and more.

If you watch Science Fiction on TV, you've seen the work of LightWave3D.  Renowned for it's work in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Firefly, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space nine, Star Trek:Enterprise and scores of others all the way back to Babylon 5, LightWave3D has been the mainstay of TV Visual Effects for nearly two decades.  While this course is taught using the latest release of Emmy Award winning LightWave 3D, it focuses on lighting and shading in a way that will enable artists to better understand how to use any rendering application.  Students will have their minds blown when they learn how limited their perception of materials, light and shadow has been all their lives.  When they apply this new understanding to lighting and shading in CG, they will find themselves ahead of the pack in any software.  This course will also give students a general LightWave 3D primer in preparation for a job with a company that uses the software.

In this course, you will learn the basics of modeling, lighting, texturing and animating a scene using Maya. Students gain an understanding of the interface and workflow of Maya. The emphasis is placed on the technical aspects of Maya with rigging being a major focus.

Production 200 allows students the time needed to develop and deploy their final demo reel concepts. The class will also focus on developing the relationship the student will need to get started in the industry after graduation. Outings to mainstream studios in Vancouver and visits from top industry professionals will serve to inspire and guide students to create viable demo reels that will get them hired with the employer of their choice.

Our Sculpture class is a chance for our students to get their hands dirty.  Taught by Gideon Hay, a house hold name for sculpts, maquettes, and props in vancouver, this class helps students to understand proportions, posing, and anatomy.  It's also a chance for students to change gears and enjoy making cool art without a computer.

 Once a student leaves the nest and lands that first job they are faced with a myriad of financial decisions. This course is designed to take the mystery out of topics like:

- Getting your foot in the door of the company of your choice.
- Giving a great interview or how to sell yourself.
- Managing your student loan.
- RRSPs and how they are a benefit.
- Mortgages and why they are easier than you think.
- How to invest in stocks, GICs and mutual funds and why they make good sense.
- Starting your own company.( 15 hours )

This course is the last step to getting your demo reel in a format that showcases your work. Outputting to DVD as well as putting together your own online portfolio will be covered. Understanding Interface design, compression, formats, editing and sound engineering will enable students to make a knockout original presentation that sells. Packaging and overall presentation will also be a focus of this course.

Production 300 is designed to monitor the progress of students through their mentorship semester. Students are interviewed every two weeks to insure mentors are effective, time is managed well, and resources are accessed and utilized well. This is a good forum for students to discuss new concepts and technical hurdles.

Think Tank believes that some subjects while being very important, don't need a whole semester to teach. To include critical informative content we have suplemented our regular curriculum with a series of specialized workshops.

1. Character Design with Zoe Evamy.
2. Unreal UDK with Adam Cooper
3. 3D Equalizer tracking with Talon Toth
4. Motion Builder with Darren Rudy
5. Storyboarding with Zoe Evamy.
6 Texturing for NextGen games with Adam Cooper.
7. Intro to the Maya interface.
8. Drop-in workshops with such reknowned artists as Kolby Jukes and Kaare Andrews.