Name: MA Advanced 3D Animation (Online)
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MA Advanced 3D Animation (Online)

If you have an undergraduate degree, some industry experience or a genuine love for Animation, you could take your career to the next level, with this advanced course. Upon graduating you’ll be able to showcase an industry-standard animated short or showreel, which could help you join this ever-growing industry.

Experience of 3D software such as Maya is highly recommended.

Why Study Advanced 3D Animation at BNU?

Flexible Learning Options

Our course is designed to fit around your busy lifestyle. Whether you’re a working professional or a creative enthusiast, BNU’s flexible study options allow you to balance your career and personal commitments while advancing your skills in advanced 3D animation either on Campus or from home.

Industry Focused Curriculum

At BNU, our advanced 3D animation course is designed with industry demands in mind. Covering high-level 3D modelling, visual effects, and digital techniques, this curriculum ensures you gain the practical skills needed to excel in the competitive world of digital animation and film production.

Real-World Project Experience

You’ll engage in practical projects that mirror real industry challenges, helping you to build a portfolio that showcases your digital animation skills. This hands-on approach offers invaluable experience, ensuring you graduate job-ready and able to tackle complex projects in the digital animation and film sectors.

Career support and mentoring

You’ll be taught by seasoned industry professionals, who provide personalised mentoring alongside tailored career guidance. From one-to-one sessions and hands-on workshops to networking events that connect you with key industry players, you will receive the insights and tools you need to help refine your creative vision and confidently enter the digital animation industry. This comprehensive approach not only hones your technical skills but also builds professional connections and practical know-how, ensuring you’re well-prepared for a career in 3D animation.

Innovative Research & Development

You’ll explore emerging trends and cutting-edge tech in digital animation. The course encourages innovative research, allowing you to experiment with new ideas and techniques that push creative boundaries and contribute fresh perspectives to the evolving field of 3D animation.

Animation and visual effects student work plane in sky

Animation and visual effects student work eye

What facilities can I use?

Although this course is online, you’ll still be able to access a range of specialist software and hardware, including:

Maya
ZBrush
Nuke
Mari
Substance Suite
Marvellous Designer
Adobe Creative Suite
Cinema 4D
Redshift Renderer
Shotgun
Houdini
Houdini Engine
Unreal Engine
Megascans Asset library
Advanced Skeleton
Ziva
And more!

This can all be accessed online through our virtualised computer system which will provide you with all the necessary hardware power to complete the course no matter where you are based. Our licences can also be accessed and used on your own machines by using our Bucks Anywhere service.

This video was our first experiment with our new Xsens motion capture suits. With the help of dancers from BNU’s BA Dance and Performance course, we motion captured a routine on the concourse running though the university and replaced one of the dancers with a version of the Lonely Robot and comped this back into the footage. We also have state of the art Faceware kits for face motion capture.

What will I study?

On this degree you will cover abroad range of topics, from researching into the field of animation, looking at both historical and contemporary practice, to drafting a short sequence of your own derived from your research findings. This will help you to establish and personalise the overall direction of your studies and practice.

You will also look at the wider production pipeline needed for an animation, covering areas such as:

modelling
rigging
texturing
lighting
rendering

You’ll also look at how to convey effective storytelling and emotion in a visual narrative as achieving this is one of the hardest challenges which animators face.

Lastly, you’ll enter the preproduction phase before moving on to the production phase for your main project. This may be a continuation of your short sequence or something new and may be done individually or in a group.

How will I be taught and assessed?

We understand that to succeed on a creative course, you must be hands-on with learning. That’s why this degree is 70% practical work and 30% will involve reflective learning journals, presentations and academic reports.

You’ll be given access to synchronous sessions each week with a lecturer who will be online throughout the session except for the final production project. During these synchronous sessions, you will have the opportunity to ask questions to the lecturers and get real time responses and feedback. Normally these will begin with a group seminar and then break into 1:1 sessions where you will have the opportunity to discuss your individual progress. Sometimes these seminars will be used for presentations and review, in a manner that mimics the dailies process in industry. In addition to this there will be some lecture content that will be focused on the clarification and expansion of key concepts and techniques, made available by video to help guide you through the unit. This learning will be facilitated via an online learning platform, where you work through a set of recorded lectures which will be an average of 10 minutes long. These will be delivered as appropriate to each individual module.

You will be able to submit your work for asynchronous formative review which will be delivered as a video commentary on your work.

Each week you will be set a task related to the weekly content or be working towards your own project objective as agreed with the lecturers. You will be able to complete your work using software accessed via the Bucks Anywhere service, which provides remote access, from any location, to a catalogue of University software applications for learners using personal or BNU devices. You will also be able to remotely access our VDI, which is a powerful computer that will give you access to all the software relevant to the course. This will enable you to work as and when suits you outside of the scheduled hours.

You will create detailed and complex projects which you will then present for assessment. During the presentation you will be expected to discuss and critically evaluate your output and production processes. You will be expected to make interim presentations for formative feedback and to ensure work is proceeding on track. You will be expected to keep a formal learning journal of your progress as a source of notes for the final presentation. This will contain not only your progress but also your research and concept work.

You will also be expected to join a closed online group where you will be able to discuss the work and ask questions throughout the week. It is expected that both lecturers and learners will contribute and answer questions. This will also be a place for learners to post work for peer discussion and review.

We encourage you to enter competitions, which will challenge you to produce your best work, and access feedback on your works in progress. We also run a monthly art challenge and provide additional life drawing classes, including online.

MA Advanced 3D Animation (Online) Programme Specification

What are the course entry requirements?

Graduate entrants to the programme will normally hold an Honours degree or equivalent in a relevant subject.

BNU also welcomes applicants who have significant industry experience and no formal qualifications. Applicants with a suitable portfolio can be offered places based on artistic ability and experience.

This degree is aimed at learners who have already mastered animation tools to a good extent and are looking to focus their efforts on creating professional standard work that is highly creative and expressive.

Modules

This provides a guide of the modules that make up your course. You can find more information about how your course is structured on our Academic Advice section.

Year 1

Core Modules

Credits

Research

20

Credits: 20

You'll research your chosen specialism looking at past & contemporary practice. You'll evaluate the work of leading practitioners & explore the influential moments of the discipline then produce a report on your findings which will contextualise your planned practical work. Finally you'll create some preproduction for the Experimentation module.

Experimentation

20

Credits: 20

You'll create an experimental animated piece based on the preproduction work done in the Research module.

Production Pipeline 1

20

Credits: 20

You'll study aspects of the production pipeline, from concept to postproduction techniques, including modelling, rigging, texturing, FX, lighting, rendering, compositing and grading. As pipelines vary for different projects you'll learn to select the relevant aspects. You'll create a showreel and write an academic report on your production process.

Production Pipeline 2

20

Credits: 20

You'll continue to study the production pipeline from concept through to postproduction techniques, and how to complete a project for your chosen output, such as a game, animation or visual effect. You'll submit a showreel of work demonstrating the skills you have learned and an evaluative academic report outlining your production process.

Storytelling in Animation: Production

20

Credits: 20

This module follows on from Storytelling and Emotion Preproduction. You'll look at complex storytelling moments and how these can be told through cinematographic techniques. You'll also continue to examine camera theory and advanced camera animation techniques. You'll produce a 45 second previsualisation (previs), alone or in a group.

Storytelling in Animation: Preproduction

20

Credits: 20

You'll study storytelling moments & how they can be told through cinematographic techniques, plan your own short story & make storyboards. You can create character or creature animation performance to help drive the story. You'll study camera theory & advanced camera animation techniques, & produce a preproduction & planning for a previs sequence.

Production Project

60

Credits: 60

You'll pre-produce and produce a refined piece of digital art, such as an animated sequence, game project, visual effect sequence, pre-visualization sequence or other appropriate artefact made using digital media. You'll implement your planned pipeline, adapting to changing circumstances and may collaborate with MA learners on other degrees.

What are the tuition fees

Home

Home, Academic Year 2025 - 2026: £8,810 per year *

International

Overseas/International, Academic Year 2025 - 2026: £8,810 per year *

Following the Government’s announcement of 4 November 2024, we will be increasing our full-time undergraduate tuition fees for UK students to £9,535 per year from the start of the 2025/26 academic year. Our part-time fees for UK undergraduate students will increase to £7,145 per annum. Please visit , on the Government’s website, for more information about the changes.

Tuition fees for Home undergraduate students (including with foundation year) may increase in subsequent years for both new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by the Government.  

Tuition fees for both new and continuing international students may be subject to an inflationary increase based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the 12-month period to 31 January each year.  

Tuition fees for postgraduate courses and CPD may be subject to an inflationary increase based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the 12-month period to 31 January each year. This increase will apply to both new and continuing students.  

We understand, and really appreciate, the significant financial commitment our students make when they choose to study at BNU. We take our responsibilities to our students very seriously, and are ambitious for each to reach their full potential and succeed in their chosen career. Our fees help us to continue providing our students with a high-quality education, and to invest in the services and facilities which create an excellent student experience at BNU.

The following factors will be considered by the University when we set the annual fees: measures of inflation such as the retail price indices; projected increases in University costs; and any changes in the level of funding for teaching received from the Government.

Additional course costs and financial support

Most courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees.
You could benefit from financial support through a bursary or scholarship during your time as a student. For more details visit our financial support, bursaries and scholarships section.

What are my career prospects?

This course helps you grow and develop your skillset and create an industry-standard showreel. Get to know where your interests and talent lies, ready for the career you desire.

Employers are looking for animators and digital artists to fill their ever-growing art teams. Your MA shows that you are not just an excellent practitioner, but also that you can engage in critical thinking at an advanced level and understand the theory behind the craft. The skills you learn on this MA Advanced 3D Animation course are transferable to any kind of animation.

Graduates from BNU’s animation courses have gone on to work in all six of the major VFX houses in the UK, as well as a number of major games houses and smaller companies. We have had winners and runners up in the Grads In Games Competition, which have then led to jobs. Our learners have worked on major films, games and TV productions, including Avengers Endgame.