Discover the World of Animation with Sony
Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks have launched This Is Animation, a free online course that anyone can start with just an email. 🎬 Guided by the voice of Kris Pearn, director of The Willoughbys and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, this course promises to showcase the art and industry that shapes every frame. The goal is to demonstrate that animation is not just for illustrators, but also for screenwriters, managers, programmers, and 3D artists.
Five Modules to Master Animation
The course is divided into five carefully designed blocks. First, The Pipeline offers a panoramic view of pre-production, production, and post-production, as if they were layers of a Blender project. Then, The Idea explains how a concept becomes a plot, with Pearn insisting that a good script is a good script, regardless of the tool. The third module, The Hero, focuses on creating memorable characters, whether drawn in Storyboard Pro or sculpted in ZBrush. Next, The World teaches how to design immersive environments, with PBR texturing tricks in Substance Painter and rendering with Arnold. Finally, Everything Fits Together illuminates less-known career paths, such as production, marketing, and finance. 🎨
Learning by Doing
It's not just about watching videos. The course invites you to model a simple character, rig it, and animate a basic cycle. Those who already master tools like 3ds Max can go further, while beginners in Blender will follow the step-by-step without getting lost. The final project can be rendered in Eevee or Cycles, exported to MP4, and, of course, shown off on foro3d.com. 🖥️
A Certificate That Adds Value
Upon completing the modules, the system sends a certificate of completion that adds weight to your resume and confidence to your portfolio. Sony and Yellowbrick explain that many scholarships and junior positions value both a proactive attitude and official diplomas. So, saving that PDF alongside your renders is never a bad idea. 📜
An Invitation Without Barriers
Sony's representatives emphasize that good stories can be born anywhere. With this course, they aim to diversify voices and demolish the myth of the solitary genius; animation is a team sport. Those who dare to produce, coordinate, or even negotiate licenses will find here the basic notions to start speaking the same language as layout, shading, and post-production.
It's curious that an initiative that unveils the secrets of the trade arrives wrapped in a teaser with motion blur and composition worthy of any blockbuster... secrets that, if all goes well, will cease to be secrets right after lesson one. Because there's nothing like learning to do magic by watching the magician say the typical line this is how I hide the trick, while handing you the wand so you can try it yourself. 😂