Game Art and Animation (BA)
GAME ART AND ANIMATION DEGREE
CREATING 2D AND 3D ART FOR VIDEO GAME PLATFORMS
Bring to life your vision of how games should look, move and feel with a degree in Game Art and Animation from University of Advancing Technology (UAT). It’s a new world of game creation propelling an exciting new realm of interaction and creativity that elevates the player experience. UAT’s computer animation degree is essential to advancing it into new dimensions of game play.
Make your mark in the game industry with the power of art and technology combined. Students apply their passion for art to create and animate environments, characters, textures, props and collision objects utilizing 2D and 3D platforms. They also develop the complex technical skills that make games not only move but also interact with the player to achieve a heightened sense of reality not to mention a more enjoyable – and educational – experience.
Students in UAT’s computer animation degree program master all levels of game development to create 3D art assets for multiple video game platforms. They learn to incorporate the artistic principles used in 3D video games art asset creation such as color theory, lighting, shading, anatomy, life drawing, perspective, scene staging, modeling low polygon and high polygon, 3D mesh topology, texturing, rigging, hand key character and prop animations, as well as motion capture and facial animation.
With a respected degree in animation from UAT, students are prepared to enter the game industry as a character artist modeler, texture artist, character artist animator, environment artist modeler, environment artist animator, mechanical mesh modeler, mechanical mesh animator or rigger.
The increased demand for animation and visual effects in games makes this respected animation degree more powerful. A degree in animation from UAT prepares graduates with the creative, technical, time management and collaboration skills employers are looking for. In fact, UAT’s Synchronic Learning Model promotes cross-collaboration across all other UAT game studies degrees, including Game Design, Game Programming, Virtual Reality, and Game Production and Management to provide a well-rounded and immersive learning experience. Students work with professors and industry leaders on innovative, complex projects that integrate the principles of art and design. The result is impressive portfolios compiled by prepared graduates.
Combining art and technology in this animation degree is not new at UAT. While UAT has been recognized since the dawn of the computer age as one of the few 100 percent STEM-based universities in the nation, the private technology University has always included the arts and humanities in curricula. This distinctive blend prepares graduates to join the rapidly growing STEAM industry.
Follow
UAT Ranked Top 20 Nationally for Game Design
The Animation Career Review has been researching and ranking the nation's top schools for aspiring animators and game designers since 2012. UAT's Bachelor of Arts in Game Design is ranked in the ...
UAT Ranked Top #3 In Game Design Degree Programs for 2019
According to the Bachelor’s Degree Center Organization, a free guide to traditional and online bachelor’s degree programs in all disciplines, recently announced four rankings of the best Game Design bachelor’s degree programs in the US.
PRNewswire reported that the four ranking categories are:
...
Watch Your Language!
Watch Your Language is a new tool to monitor curse words on a gaming chat platform. This Student Innovation Project (SIP) monitors what players are saying and flags words deemed inappropriate. The intent is to warn the player to watch their language. Rocky Vargas (Game Programming) explains, “Our innovation claim is that gameplay is intensified by turning the foul language gamers use...
GAME ART AND ANIMATION DEGREE DESCRIPTION
Students in the Game Art and Animation program will gain an insight into what is involved at all levels of game development to create 2D and 3D art and animation assets for multiple video game platforms such as PC, consoles, mobile, online and VR. Students will master the artistic principles used in video game art asset creation such as color theory, lighting, shading, anatomy, perspective, scene staging, modeling low polygon and high polygon, 3D modeling texturing, rigging and key frame and motion capture animations. Students in this program will be prepared for jobs such as character artist modeler and texture artist, character artist animator and rigger, environment artist modeler and texture artist, environment artist animator, mechanical mesh modeler and texture artist, and mechanical mesh animator and rigger.GAME ART AND ANIMATION DEGREE OBJECTIVES
- Demonstrate and communicate aesthetic skills and choices based on traditional art theories and current game development practiced and next generation research.
- Conceptualize and generate pre-production art assets through pre-visualization and prototypes usable for multiple game platforms.
- Create 2D and 3D art assets such as characters, props, textures, environment elements (terrain, ecosystems, architecture, and skybox), and collision objects for future prototyping (fully optimized) utilizing industry standard software tools and platform guidelines.
- Create 2D and 3D keyframed and motion capture character, environmental and FX animation assets appropriate for use in game projects utilizing industry standard software tools, pipelines and platform guidelines.
- Within a production pipeline; adapt, export, integrate, and optimize game art and animation assets (including shaders and lighting) into 2D and 3D game projects within the confines of a project’s game engines, tools and other constraints.
- Establish collaboration, mentorship, and professional leadership skills by working with other disciplines to deliver highly polished and completed projects.
GAME ART AND ANIMATION PROGRAM INFORMATION
| Program Credits: | 120 |
| Major Credits: | 36 |
| Semesters to completion: | 8 |
Requirements to graduate include a 2.0 CGPA, completed required coursework, Portfolio, Internship, and a Student Innovation Project.
For a more detailed breakout of completion time frames and rates, please see the UAT Fast Facts page.
Game Art and Animation Disclosure
At University of Advancing Technology, we believe that students and families should be prepared financially for college and understand employment opportunities prior to starting any program. In an effort to ensure you have the information you need to make informed choices on program cost, medial loan debt incurred by students who completed the program, on-time completion rates, and the occupations this program prepares you to enter, the Department of Education has instituted the following disclosure template.* For more information, click on the respective academic level.
UAT Accreditation and Recognition
Ranked as a Top Undergraduate Game Design Program in 2012 by the Princeton Review
Approved by the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems (SEVIS) for training of foreign students
Network Security curriculum certified by the US National Security Agency's Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation program