Interview with Richard Arroyo
Here we will talk to the Richard Arroyo, instructor in iAnimate.net about the latest game workshop.
Hello Richard, could you tell us a bit about yourself and iAnimate.net?
I started my gaming career over 10 years ago at Ubisoft Montreal and been lead animator for almost 7 of those years. In addition, I recently joined the iAnimate team of instructors for the new game workshops. iAnimate is an online animation training school, where you learn from top animators. The goal is to teach the students that are motivated and driven to enhanced and maximize their animations skills.
Why do you feel it’s important to announce a Game Workshop starting in May 2012?
First, animating games and films is very different in many ways. Although both are animations, the needs, the demands and the development of the two industries have many nuances. We introduced game workshops because there is a huge gap in understanding the process of making games. The story telling of games has evolved and is becoming better and getting closer to what film is doing but the game animation has extra needs and major studios have more pipelines compared to film or television. The Game industry is huge and growing, enough to say that we have a few studio’s waiting to see what our student will be showcasing. With some of the unannounced titles coming from the next generation (Xbox 3, Play Station 4), it’s without doubt that the industry will only keep growing at a swift rate.
 Please tell us what’s new in this Game workshop and what will it offers that others don’t?
The game workshop is completely new in the 3D industry and it’s extremely focused for an animator to be able to develop and thrive in the ever evolving game industry. It offers a very detailed method of making games and what animators encounter and need to know to be successful in the industry. We also teach the animators the technical approach that we use on certain types of games. The students reproduce animations that are shown to them by their instructor, consequently they gain knowledge and confidence in their skills by repeating the process to creating the animation in question. These are valuable lessons which major studios are looking for and smaller studios often do not have the time or luxury to teach.
What’s the duration of this workshop and what’s the fee of the same?
There are 3 workshops representing 3 different levels, they each last 14 weeks and cost around $2000 per workshop.
How anyone can enroll for this workshop, what are the requirements and will you also help the student in getting a job after completion of the workshop?
In order to enroll, students need to go to the iAnimate website. Requirements are an approval process where students submit their animation reel and it is then reviewed by our management team. If there are any requirements needed, they will be informed of them, if not, students will be able to enroll immediately. In order for our students to find jobs, we provide venues such as forums and links.
Which software’s are covered in your courses?
The iAnimate students get an educational license of Maya and Digicel. Besides the software, we also have a large library of webinars that is constantly being updated. ( review iAnimate website)
What’s the most common problem you see in the demo reels/portfolio of the students applying for the gaming job?
I would like to point out two things that students have a hard time show casing. The first would be body mechanics and weight, which are a major aspect for any studio. The second would be, understanding how to create game animations and giving the character it’s own personality within the short amount of frames. I often get animations made specifically for film which wouldn’t work for games because of the way we develop and process the animation for the game engine.
Which is more difficult, a high paying job in gaming or a job in vfx/movies?
They are both challenging but I believe creating games have more obstacles. Depending if you’re working on a pre-render cinematic, you are required to do the same or similar task as vfx animator. But if you’re an animator that does cinematic and games, you would also need to overcome the challenges of game development. There are many things to add when you are working with a game-engine. Your animations are not only made to be visually interesting, but also reply to the needs of gameplay. It really depends on what part of game animation you are working on. It’s a very different kind of hard.
Read this article, explaining little more.
How do you see the growth of the gaming industry in the years to come?
The gaming industry is still very young and has already surpassed the movie industry in terms of dollars. It has constantly grown in the past and is now anticipated to grow rapidly with the impact that smart phones and tablets have on the market.
Anything you would like to add? It is your chance now to state your opinion about anything.
I think now is a great time to get in the game industry because games are evolving quickly. Visually, the game technology is standing out and we are creating compelling stories where our audience is excited, captivated and attached to a whole new genre of characters.
It’s a young, fun and rewarding industry where there are a lot of games to be made!
Thanks a lot Richard for taking out sometime for us from your busy schedule.
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