Computer Animation MA

When not attending timetabled sessions you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for exams. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the online virtual learning platform. 

As a student at Kingston University, we will make sure you have access to appropriate advice regarding your academic development. You will also be able to use the University's support services. 

Type of teaching and learning

16% of your time is spent in timetabled teaching and learning activity. Contact hours may vary depending on your modules.

Type of assessment

Development of a portfolio of computer animation work samples (including fully-textured and rendered 3D models, VFX compositions, and character animations), presentations, essays, production blogs.

We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.

You will be part of an intimate cohort of students which provides dedicated academic guidance and advice as well as the opportunity to build a life-long network of colleagues. Some modules are common across other postgraduate programmes therefore you may be taught alongside students who are on these courses within the School.

The games development suite contains a number of Sony PlayStation Portable developer kits (PSP). Students will be able to develop for this platform under an academic development agreement with Sony. In addition students have access to Xboxes and Microsoft XNA Game Studio developer software. A number of other consoles are also available including Wiis and Sony Playstation 3. The lab is equipped with 3D graphics software such as Maya. You also have access to a body modelling suit.

We recently purchased three sets of Rokoko's Smartsuit Pro units with Smartgloves, and facial capture bundles. The hardware is accompanied by their proprietary 3D software, Rokoko Studio Plus, as well as real-time integration plugins for Maya, Unreal, Blender, and Unity.

The Rokoko motion capture suit, Smartsuit Pro, has a wireless range of up to 100 meters and requires no external parts. The suit can even create its own hotspot that you can log your device onto if you are on location. Operating the suit and software requires minimal prior training and is intuitive to those without technical expertise.

The suits have 19 x 9-DoF IMU motion trackers embedded in the design. 3D orientation accuracy ± 1 deg.

The gloves have 7 x 6-DoF motion trackers embedded in the design, for hand and finger tracking, and run 400 Hz. The motion trackers do not include magnetometers, so they are immune to magnetic distortion.

We recently purchased four of these 24inch state-of-the-art machines. They feature 4K resolution, virtually no parallax, 14 ms response rate, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 1.07 billion colours, multi-touch controls and ergonomic controls. Sculpt and texture your projects in comfort and style!

The IGS-190-M mobile capture suit is one of the most mature gyroscopic inertial motion systems and features nineteen matchbox-sized gyros attached to individual straps on a flexible lycra suit. The gyros are the fastest in the market (at 1,200 deg/sec). Eight suits can be used simultaneously with a wireless range of over 100 metres radius and sensor resolution is 0.1 degree. Set-up time is approximately 15 minutes; the suite requires a small amount of calibration and time for the gyros to settle. The suite was purchased from Animazoo, a specialist in the area of motion capture with an IGS-190-M being used to animate the cartoon character 'The Crazy Frog' amongst many other cartoons and computer games.

A multimedia and graphics studio that houses 39 Pentium 4 PCs all with DVD writers and our full graphics software which includes Maya Suite, ZBrush, Mari, Nuke, Adobe Production Studio, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Encore, Audition, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Combustion.

The digital media workshops provide a wide range of software and specialist technical support in the key areas of CAD, 2D and 3D design, digital imaging and processing, high-quality photographic printing, audio and video production, mono and colour printing (up to A3+), and large format plotting (up to B0+). All 132 computers in the digital media workshop are set up as dual boot workstations. This means that both the Windows XP and Macintosh OS X platforms are available on each machine. You are therefore able to choose the platform (PC or Mac) that you want to work with at any given time.

The professional photography suite includes two digital imaging areas providing 26 Mac Pro computers running Photoshop software for digital image development and high-quality digital scanning. Professional quality digital printing, from A4 to A2 is also available. The photography suite is supported by a team of techical and academic staff.

This area comprises a studio of 100 square metres and has all you need to record broadcast quality programming. The space has a 14-metre infinity cove painted white, heavy black curtains and an eight-metre professional film blue screen. The studio space has been built with flexibility in mind and any combination of setups can be accommodated within the area with regard to filming. The studio is equipped with three Panasonic HVX200 high definition cameras in a studio specification with matte boxes, dolly tripods and P2 16GB cards.

The lighting array consists of a Kino Flow system combining Image, Zip and Para Beam light fixtures with Dedo modelling spots. The whole array is controlled by a 64-channel DMX desk.

The post-production suite comprises 10 top-of-the-range Macintosh computers, the majority of which are running the Intel CPU. They are all based on the Black Magic uncompressed broadcast system and are controlled by a central video server running the Apple XSan network. There is a massive 20 Terrabytes of storage and can stream up to 10 full HD streams across the network in real-time. At SD we can stream approximately 40 streams of video at once.

This suite consists of networked G5 Macintosh Power PCs with Dual 2.3 GHz processors, 2 Gigabytes RAM and a GeForce 6600 Graphics Card or a Radeon 9600XT graphics card running the industry-standard version of Maya. The Apple Xsan Server and Intel MAc Pro FailOver server have an Infortrend 15 TB disk array, QLogic 15 port Fibre switch, Fibre Optic Channel duplex AV data transfer with Netgear 24 port ethernet switch, Ethernet Meta data transfer and 48 port patch bay with 16 port fibre distribution interface.

We have Morae usability testing software, a Tobii eye tracker and can accommodate one-on-one usability tests, focus groups and observational studies of collaborative work in a variety of settings. A range of computing devices are also available – mobile phones, touch screens, very large monitors etc.
Research vehicle website: we also operate a website for studying live web traffic (real online behaviour in context).

This area comprises a control room and an audio booth with talkback and video monitoring facilities. There is an extensive sound FX library and high-quality transducers suitable for high-quality voice and/or sound track recording. The studio is able to cater for both post- and pre-production sound to image work and runs with Final Cut Pro/Soundtrack Pro as its central engine.

Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. You may prefer to buy your own copy of key textbooks, this can cost between £50 and £250 per year.

There are open-access networked computers available across the University, plus laptops available to loan. You may find it useful to have your own PC, laptop or tablet which you can use around campus and in halls of residences. Free WiFi is available on each of the campuses. You may wish to purchase your own computer, which can cost between £100 and £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

In the majority of cases written coursework can be submitted online. There may be instances when you will be required to submit work in a printed format. Printing, binding and photocopying costs are not included in your tuition fees, this may cost up to £100 per year.

All field trips that are compulsory to attend to complete your course are paid for by the University. There may be small fees incurred for optional field trips such as travel costs and refreshments.

Travel costs are not included in your tuition fees but we do have a free intersite bus service which links the campuses, Surbiton train station, Kingston upon Thames train station, Norbiton train station and halls of residence.

Placements

If the placement year option is chosen, during this year travel costs will vary according to the location of the placement, and could be from £0 to £2,000.

Why Kingston?

Having already decided that computer animation would be the discipline I desired to pursue in my career, I wanted to find a master's course that would support and develop my ability to industry standards. It was difficult finding a university that catered to my expectations from the course whilst being close enough for me to travel from my home in London. When I visited KU's open day it became apparent that I found a course that I could learn a lot from. The campus is very impressive, the facilities are brilliant, and the staff are always friendly and professional. The tremendous teaching and support I received during my time at Kingston was exceptional. My skills in animation flourished at Kingston, preparing me for my professional endeavours in my career.

What inspires you?

I have always been fascinated by animation. Growing up playing video games, watching films, TV shows and animations. These media platforms had a massive influence on my childhood and naturally, I was a very imaginative child. My creative talent in art assured me that I always wanted to find a career in the creative industry. Whilst my love of films and television grasped my interest in pursuing a career in media. Since I've started animating my passion for it has exceeded my expectations, I believe this to be because animation is the perfect mixture of art and media. Achieving a paid job that I would happily work on as a hobby was always my main focal point of motivation. The staff at Kingston University were amazing at keeping my passion for the subject thriving with engaging one to one mentoring, interesting discussions and helpful tips that would regularly keep me wanting to learn more about the trade.

What next?

The masters course at Kingston University did a fantastic job of preparing me for a career as a professional animator. I had wanted to improve my animations skills on a visual stance but also develop my technical capabilities. Each module on the course refined my ability to animate appealing visuals and technical ability. I was very proud of the journey I made as an animator during my time at Kingston and wanted to display my progression to future employers. After a discussion with my tutor, I decided to base my final project on animating a portfolio from scratch displaying my ability at that current time. All the animations in my showreel were animated during the peak of my ability at Kingston University and I believe it contributed to me finding a job in the industry so quickly after finishing the course. I am very grateful to the encouragement and guidance that I received at Kingston because it helped ignite the start of my career in animation.

Why Kingston?

The Computer Animation course at Kingston Uni helped me develop my skills and expand my knowledge in the 3D space. The modules had focus, whether that was an onus on modelling, look-development or compositing. Yet were broad enough to conduct your research and delve into the particular matter of your interest. My goal was to explore 3D character art, so this was a deciding aspect for me when I enrolled on the course – and I was able to do just that.

The course is continually generating a vast library of learning materials such as video workshops, tutorials, and recorded critique sessions. Self-study is paramount in an industry like this; these resources ease that transition and help you navigate the somewhat convoluted 3D pipeline. Richard aspires to further the scope of the course and has procured some snazzy new motion-capture tech to expose students to mocap data acquisition and animation clean-up. He's also willing to bring other professionals in to deliver workshops and talks (I was one of them!), bridging that link between academia and industry, which is invaluable for prospective 3D artists.

The portfolio I present to potential employers still contains three character projects I worked on while studying on the course. These artworks helped ignite my career in the industry. I am very grateful that I not only graduated with a masters degree but left with a portfolio that I was proud of, along with the readiness and confidence to transition into professional work.

Why Kingston?

Studying animation at Kingston gave me a broad understanding of the subject as well as insight into the industry and the different roles that are available after graduation. The course taught me strong foundations in compositing, modelling, texturing and animation; all of which I call upon constantly while working professionally. For a self-motivated student the MA offers an abundance of tutor support as well as exclusive online resources and tutorials to take advantage of. I'm very grateful to Richard and Kingston for giving me the confidence to begin a career in animation.

Why Kingston?

Regarding the computer animation course, I would like to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to learn among the best professionals and gain a variety of computer skills and academic knowledge.

The coursework is well organised, with interesting presentations, technical equipment and covers a variety of industry software that strengthen candidate's potential.

Students can easily develop their skills with project-based assessments, constructive feedback, and individual support.

The lecturers are inspiring, they really care for their students, and cover at full extent the academic material. They encourage students to develop professionally and help gain all the technical and personal skills needed for a career progression.

I highly recommend Richard both as a lecturer as well as a professional. He is truly interested at providing his students with all the necessary skills needed for a career progression and his delivery methods are outstanding. He is gifted with the ability to communicate and bond with his students, offering individual support and constructive feedback.

He devotes himself to rise to his students' expectations and continuously grows professionally at his free time. I always admired his will to further grow as a professional and practice his skills outside university even though he is already an expert at his field.

He is familiar with a variety of computer software and can equip students both with animation skills as well as modelling and compositing skills.

He helped me to develop fast as a student and achieve my goals as a professional, and he is still helping me improve my skills as a full-grown employee at one of the top-rated movie production studios in Greece.

The computer animation course personally helped me develop skills quickly and evolve from a moderate student to a strong one, leading me to achieve my goals and obtain a position as a 3D character animator at one of the top-rated movie production studios back home.

To anyone who is thinking whether it's worth it, I advise it definitely is!

I studied MA Computer Animation. When I started the course, I was unsure which route I wanted to take professionally but the MA allowed me to explore the numerous routes the postgrad could lead to in terms of employment. This was done through a combination of lectures and project-based assignments which allowed me to flex my creative muscles in different areas of Computer Animation.

During the course I discovered which area I wanted to grow my skills and seek employment and was given the opportunity to work with a tutor that had the knowledge to help me pursue this. They helped guide me in learning the various industry-standard software and skills needed to help me achieve a job down that route. Now focusing on developing skills both creatively and technically in one particular area of Computer Animation.

During my time studying I found it very helpful to use the online material available prepared by the tutor, the video tutorials particularly came in handy! Along with support both in class and outside via email and other online resources. Getting feedback in and out of class was extremely important in helping me understand the software and theory behind that I was learning. The project-based assignments gave me plenty of opportunity to show my project to the tutor before the hand-in and get that valuable feedback, especially since there is time for one-on-one support. We had the chance to work on various personal and group projects, which I have found extremely useful in preparing me for the world of work where I am often in a team of other creatives.

Composition of the course

The experience of delivering courses in 2020/21 under the various Covid-19 restrictions has enabled us to better prepare and plan the delivery of our courses in 2021/22. We are confident the course can be delivered as planned and, therefore, we do not anticipate having to make any further changes to the course, i.e. number of modules or credits in a year, in response to issues arising from the pandemic. However, if this becomes necessary, the changes will be highlighted to students via email before enrolment.

Unless government advice instructs otherwise, Study Abroad programmes will take place in 2021/22. The safety of all our students is paramount, therefore, as per normal practice, all Study Abroad activities must also be approved by the University's insurers to ensure that students are adequately protected during their period abroad. We will provide updates as the pandemic situation stabilises and/or further government advice is released.

Changes can be made to courses as part of normal enhancement processes in order to keep our courses up to date with current developments in that subject area and in response to feedback from students and other key stakeholders. Any such changes made to the composition of the course will be highlighted to students by email before enrolment.

Modules

The experience of delivering courses in 2020/21 under the various Covid-19 restrictions has enabled us to better prepare and plan the delivery of our courses in 2021/22. We are confident the course can be delivered as planned and, therefore, we do not anticipate having to make any further changes to module titles and summaries or to the availability of modules in response to issues arising from the pandemic.

Changes can be made to modules as part of normal enhancement processes in order to keep our courses up to date with current developments in that subject area and to provide a high quality student experience. Any such changes made to module titles, module summaries and/or availability of modules will be highlighted to students by email before enrolment.

Length of course

We expect to deliver the course within the planned timescales to enable successful students to progress through and graduate from the course without delay.

In exceptional circumstances the sequence of learning and teaching activities may be changed in 2021/22, e.g. moving those modules which can be delivered more effectively to the first teaching block and moving back those – such as practical modules and placements – which may be more difficult to deliver due to some ongoing restrictions.

In some cases, it may be necessary to delay placement modules which may then impact the length of the course. In these circumstances the University will guide students through the appropriate options available to ensure students are able to make informed choices.

We have not changed entry requirements as a direct result of the pandemic.

Entry requirements for international students

We have not changed entry requirements for international students as a direct result of the pandemic.

Changes to the way the course will be delivered

As we transition from the pandemic restrictions, we expect to steadily increase the proportion of on-campus teaching. We will continue to provide a proportion of online learning, as experience has shown that this enriches and supports the student learning experience.

If the pandemic affects teaching and learning activities in 2021/22 more than we currently anticipate, the proportion of online learning will increase. However, unless a lockdown is enforced, we will ensure that all courses provide a reasonable percentage of their teaching and learning activities on campus.

Should your circumstances prevent your attendance at on-campus sessions, you should still be able to engage with your course remotely in a way that allows you to progress. Where this is not possible, for example on courses with high practical content, your course team will be able to advise you on the options available to you.

Changes to teaching in the event of a further lockdown or adjustments in government advice

The University will continue to closely monitor government announcements and advice in relation to the pandemic and, where required, will take any necessary action in order to comply with such advice.

In the event that a further lockdown is enforced in 2021/22 the University will aim to deliver the course fully online once more. The majority of our courses are prepared to be delivered fully online if the situation requires it. Where the quality of the student experience may be compromised, or the course is unable to be delivered fully online, the University may need to suspend the delivery of that course until a time that it can be delivered. Students will be supported in these situations to ensure they are able to make the right choices for their particular circumstances.

Changes to the overall breakdown of scheduled teaching hours, placements and guided independent study hours for Year 1

Changes to the overall breakdown of scheduled learning and teaching hours, placements and guided independent study hours were not and will not be made as a direct result of the pandemic.

‘Scheduled learning and teaching' includes teaching delivered online, either live or recorded/on demand.

Timetable

Your individualised timetable for teaching block 1 (i.e. up to December 2021) should be available by the end of August. Timetables for teaching block 2 (i.e. from January 2022) will not be available until the autumn. We make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible.

In 2020/21 it was agreed that scheduled learning and teaching could take place on any day of the week between 9am and 9pm, to maximise the time available for teaching in order to accommodate smaller group sizes and social distancing. This meant we sometimes had to use Wednesday afternoons and enrichment week for additional teaching slots. If we need to accommodate smaller group sizes and social distancing in 2021/22 we expect to adopt a similar approach. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

The experience of delivering courses in 2020/21 under the various Covid-19 restrictions has enabled us to better prepare and plan the delivery of our courses in 2021/22. We are confident the course can be delivered as planned and, therefore, do not anticipate having to make any further changes to the course, i.e. to the overall methods of assessments, in response to issues arising from the pandemic. However, if this becomes necessary, the changes will be highlighted to students via email before enrolment.

Changes are made to modules, including how they are assessed, as part of normal enhancement processes to keep our modules up to date with current developments in that subject area and in response to feedback received from students and other key stakeholders. Any changes to the overall methods of assessment for Year 1 of the course will be highlighted to students by email before enrolment.

If social distancing or lockdown restrictions are in place in 2021/22, online alternative options to formal on-campus examinations, including practical examinations, will be made available to students where possible.

No changes are expected to the general level of experience or status of staff involved in delivering the course.

Staff are engaged in Continuous Professional Development activities to develop their teaching expertise, as part of the normal enhancement processes, to ensure that course teams have the required breadth of expertise.

Tuition fees

There will be no changes to published tuition fees for 2021/22.

Additional costs (e.g. field trips, materials, equipment, etc.)

As we transition from the pandemic restrictions, we expect to be able to increase student access to on-campus facilities. Students will therefore have access to University computers and library facilities.

If, due to an increase in social distancing requirements or the enforcing of a lockdown, it becomes necessary to significantly increase the proportion of teaching delivered online, students will need a personal laptop or computer and access to the internet to participate in online teaching and learning activities. Students who are able to travel will have access to computers on campus, however, it should be noted that access to on-campus facilities might be restricted if social distancing requirements are enforced.

The University is committed to supporting students who are unable to access suitable technology to ensure equity of access in a blended delivery mode.

Funding

There will be no changes to any existing University funding arrangements for 2021/22. Currently there are no indications from the UK government that there will be any changes to government funding arrangements.

Fees and funding for international students

There will be no changes to published tuition fees or funding arrangements specifically relating to international students for 2021/22.

We are anticipating that placements (including work and clinical placements) and field trips included as part of the course will go ahead in 2021/22. However, to ensure students gain maximum value from placement activities, it may be necessary to reschedule them to later in the year, when any impacts from the pandemic restrictions are minimised.

Any proposed changes to placements or field trips would go through the University's agreed processes where the impact of the change will be carefully considered.

In the interests of the health and wellbeing of our students, all placement arrangements must be approved by the University's insurers and the appropriate risk assessments made before students are sent on a placement.

Courses which require placements or field trips to be completed in order to pass relevant modules will have contingency plans in place in the event that a placement or field trip cannot be completed due to another lockdown or more stringent social distancing measures.

Qualification

No changes will be made to the qualification awarded, e.g. BSc (Hons), MSc, etc., as a direct result of the pandemic.

Changes can be made to courses, including the qualification awarded (although very rare), as part of normal enhancement processes in order to keep our courses up to date with current developments in that subject area. Any changes made to the qualification awarded for the course will be highlighted to students by email before enrolment.

Accreditation

The experience of delivering courses in 2020/21 under the various Covid-19 restrictions has enabled us to better prepare and plan the delivery of our courses in 2021/22. We are confident the course can be delivered as planned and in accordance with any professional body requirements. We do not anticipate making any further changes to courses in response to any issues arising from the pandemic and which would put at risk any professional body accreditation status.

International students should maintain awareness of the UK government's and their home country's government's advice on possible travel restrictions. The University will closely monitor advice and guidance published by the UK government and assess its impact on our international students. Appropriate advice and guidance will be provided as and when required.