Portfolio

Please provide a digital portfolio of work demonstrating aptitude in your nominated specialisation of 3D animation and/or visualisation production as a PDF file (maximum 10 pages) AND/OR a link to your showreel (maximum video duration 2mins) on Vimeo, YouTube or a QuickTime file with clear captions of what your role was in each sequence presented.

Art Department

• Traditional art
• Character art
• Environment art
• Prop and vehicle concepts
• Life drawing
• Storyboarding

Some extra tips:

- Show us everything! We are looking for variety, so we want to see it all; your scribbles, your paintings, your designs. 

- We want people who love art, but who also have a basic understanding of the fundamentals - anatomy, perspective, form and structure, lighting and shadow, color, and composition.

- We ideally want to see a variety of subject matter. If you love drawing dragons, that's great! But also show us environments, characters, vehicles, props. It doesn't matter what the medium is, what matters is the output. 

- Note about characters - please avoid heavily manga styled work. We would prefer to see life drawing instead.

- If you have any storyboards we'd love to see them too. 

Modelling

• Always show topology! 
• Hard surface model
• Organic model
• ZBrush character work 
• Turntables showing topology
• Environment model
• Asset/Prop model

Rigging

• Body rig
• Facial rig
• Control rig/system
• Hand or a foot/leg

Animation

• Should be in Maya - industry standard
• Biped walk cycle
• Quadruped walk cycle
• Bouncing ball
• Performance animation

Previs & Layout

• Should be in Maya - industry standard
• Basic animation skills
• Basic modelling skills
• Copy a storyboard to 3D
• Copy a scene from a movie in 3D

Surfacing

• Good to show a variety of objects and styles:
  • Hard surface and organic
  • Realistic and stylised
  • A mix of characters, environments and props
• Present assets in a turntable format with lighting that shows off the qualities of the shaders 

Effects

• Show a variety of effects, for example: procedural modelling/animation, particle simulations, Rigid Body simulations, fluid simulations (pyro and/or liquid), character FX (fur, clothes, etc.)
• These can be fully rendered shots or playblasts
• If replicating a tutorial, make it your own: use the knowledge creatively, demonstrate that you can adapt what you learn for your own practice
• Houdini is ALA’s preferred software for the FX discipline
• Add references as a picture-in-picture insert when relevant

Lighting

• Show a variety of lighting scenarios, for example day, night, natural, practical, characters, environments 
• These could be presented in:
  • Full CG shots 
  • Shots showing CG elements you’ve lit and integrated into live action comps 
• Lighting can be from real-time or pre-rendered software
• Good to have used a node based lighting software, e.g. Katana, Houdini, but not necessary.

Compositing

• Full CG composited shots
• Live action composited shots demonstrating CG element integration 
• Matte painting setups 
• Motion graphics and design 

Please provide documented experience in coding/programming for digital production or visualisation, and include links to coding projects on sites such as GitHub (PDF file, maximum 10 pages).

• Documented experience in coding/programming with visual examples
  • Great if any of these examples are within a digital production or visualisation context
  • Emphasis on projects written with the Python language
  • Links to coding projects on sites such as GitHub 
• Examples of group projects in which the applicant was a programmer
• Interest in collaboration and helping others
• Good problem solving and time management skills
• Good communication and note-taking skills

Some extra tips:

- Technical Directors are responsible for writing software to help artists make projects - from writing plugins for the applications artists use such as Maya, Katana, and Houdini, to maintaining the pipeline that allows for information to flow between departments. So as part of your application we want you to include any information or examples of work that showcase your aptitude in these areas.

- As Technical Directors require strong programming skills, specifically in Python, please make sure to include examples any programming work you've done before (e.g. games development, utilities, freelance work, Maya/Blender scripts).

- Technical Directors also need to be strong problem solvers, so we also recommend including any information or examples of work history that demonstrates your skillset in this area. 

Please provide documented project coordination and/or event management experience (PDF file, maximum 10 pages).

• Teamwork and collaboration is the most important! 
• Attitude - need to be a people person
• Project Management case studies
• Time management case studies
• Creative team management case studies
• Interest and/or experience working with animation or visual effects
• Interest in helping others

Some extra tips:

- We get it. How do you show you're a people person in a portfolio? Don't worry, for this role its more about the chat than the work. Being in production isn't about being the boss or telling people what to do. It's about helping artists deliver the best work they can on time. Production gets to be a part of ALL the departments, to help with deliveries and schedules, to find out where things are going wrong and to help everyone work more efficiently. If you are a people person, who enjoys helping others, and is also an Excel nerd, then Production is for you! 

- But that being said, its always good to see what else you can do. So if you have any digital work, we would love to see that too.

• We understand that showing your work is scary and intimidating. What should you put in? Is it good enough? Should I only show a few pieces or everything? The first thing to do is to relax and know that we don't expect industry level work for your application. What we are looking for is potential. And - almost more importantly - passion. We are looking for people who know what they want to do. Our course is focused on helping people get into the industry in their chosen specialty. So as long as you know what you want to do, and you love doing it, then you're most of the way there. 

• For your portfolio, it's important that we see examples of the specialisation you are applying for. For example, if you want to be an animator, then show us your animation. If you want to be a modeller, then show us your models. If you want to show us all the other things you can do as well, that's ok too. But we will be focused on assessing your primary specialisation. 

  As a reminder, we are looking for applicants who want to specialise in the following areas: Art Department (concept art, environment art, storyboarding, character development), Pre-visualisation/Layout, Modelling, Surfacing/Texturing, Rigging, Animation, Effects (FX), Lighting, Compositing, Production Management and Technical Direction.

• Don't worry if you don't think your work is good enough yet to apply. Here's a secret - all the work we post online is from our student work at the end of the year. So don't worry about making your portfolio or reel pretty. The dressing doesn't matter, only the content. A simple folder, PDF or edit is more than enough. Just make sure you clearly state what your chosen specialisation is in your application.
• Keep in mind, as our postgraduate degrees primarily focus’ on 3D and real-time, there is an expected base level of knowledge in the fundamentals of these areas (with nearly all our students already having some undergraduate skills). So, where possible in your portfolio, please make sure to include examples of your best work that is directly related to 3D, as we would like to get a sense of what you are capable of in that area.
• If you're not sure when to submit your application, we would always recommend to do so as early as possible. Don't wait until the last minute to apply! We would much rather you apply early so that there is the time for us to advise you if we have feedback on improvements that can be made or request additional work to help assess your application.