Computer Animator Careers: Find Your Talent in Animation

Choose a path for your computer animation career.

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Computer Animator Career Paths for Graduates

In highly technical computer animator careers, education gives you the skills you need to pursue a variety of jobs, which means your time in school will be time well spent. Computer animation schools give you the chance to experiment with many different phases of the animation process. You'll be able to get a feel for different computer animation careers and decide which one interests you most.

Computer animation often involves a small army of people—especially when done on a large scale, as in a feature-length animated production. Listed below are some types of computer animation jobs you might want to consider as you start your career. While the actual job titles may change from company to company, this list gives you an idea of the kinds of jobs out there and where each one fits into the computer animation process.

Computer Animation Careers: Pre-Production Phase

In the pre-production phase, the designs for everything from the characters to the backgrounds to the effects must be completed and readied for production. Team members with computer animation careers in pre-production complete the following kinds of tasks:

Design
Layout
Storyboarding
Tool development

Computer Animation Careers: Production Phase

Once the design for each element is complete, the production team can work their magic. They'll produce animated sequences and add effects and textures. In the production phase, the team focuses on the following kinds of tasks:

Animation
Character rigging
Lighting
Modeling
Rendering
Texturing
Visual Effects

Computer Animation Careers: Post-Production Phase

The post-production team puts the finishing touches on the project. Workers who specialize in the post-production end of animation complete the following kinds of tasks:

Compositing
Editing
Scanning

Getting Started in Computer Animation Careers

Getting the education you need is the first step to succeeding in your future job. Find computer animation schools in your area, and prepare for a new career.