Before officially beginning your journey into UTD’s animation courses, you must take the prerequisite Animation & Games Fundamentals (ANGM 2310). This course is typically taken in your sophomore year and provides overarching information on both the animation and games pipeline. The course is structured into two parts each week with one lecture and one lab. The lectures are given by AHT professors who explain certain parts of the pipeline, and give insight to the industry. Whether that be technology, studios, and other resources that promote your success. Coinciding are the labs where you are responsible for completing one each week. Videos and TA assistance is provided in order for you to complete these weekly assignments. For the first six weeks, the animation pipeline is covered; from Maya basics, modeling, surfacing, rigging, animation, and lighting/rendering. Afterwards, the remaining weeks dives into the game pipeline through exploring a bit of coding, sound design, and game engine capabilities. You must score a B or higher in this prerequisite course in order to move onto higher level animation and games courses. However, if taking this course made you realize the animation and games route isn’t for you, it would be a good time to reach out to your advisor about taking other introductory courses at AHT to see what best suits you.
Here is a visual timeline to give a better overview of the course structure. The syllabus have more in depth information regarding the course and its exact due dates. Such syllabuses are subject to change per semester but they stay fairly the same.
