Its not up to FIRST to reachout, its up to us. Art is only part of the skills needed to do this stuff. To be successful you need to understand many technologies - Video Production/Post-Porduction, Internet and web, CDRom and Multimedia. Unless you want to specialize in the field. Then you need to be ready for the ups and downs of being laidoff and hired as you are needed. Check out the making of Episode II. When they talk about Scaling up and scalling down they mean people. Every project is like that. Unless you are well rounded. And that means technical skills as well as design and art skills. If anyone is serious about followinr this as a career- please contact me if you want some advise and course of study tips. All too often I work with recent college grads and more often than not they aren't even close to being prepared for a real work environment. My goal with the students I work with is to help them get that experience.

Well, If you go to college to be a computer engineer then you ahve no problems. You can always change your major later and you never know. maybe you are looking hard enough...... Just because FIRST doesn't have a scholarship for comp. animation doesn't mean that you can't apply for an engineering scholarship. as i said before do comp. engineering and swich majors later. you never know you might like comp. engineering more. that is what i am going to do if i don't like mechanical........(well and i will be double majoring with bio. too.)



sorry if i wasted your time.

It's interesting that you mention computer engineering. I got my degree in computer engineering in 1994. I went off to college coming from a background of programming on my Commodore 64 in high school. I was into video games and sci-fi and all that stuff and tried to program my own games in the days of converting a bitmap image from hand-drawn on graph paper into binary (or hexadecimal) then back to decimal to input to my BASIC program.

I thought in college that's what I'd be doing - learning to write video games with graphics and sound and everything. Granted, if you go with computer science and specialize in computer graphics, that's pretty close if you want to be the programmer instead of the artist. But I chose computer engineering and found myself swamped with designing amplifiers, analyzing circuits, etc. which was not my "thing". If you like electrical stuff, then go for it, but it wasn't for me at the time.

I did get a job as a programmer (which is what I do now) and I like it. But there's always been this nagging at me as if I'd forgotten something along the way. It's this: before I got a computer in 7th grade, I used to like to draw.

The past few years I've been trying to explore that again through learning more about art and how it relates to computer animation and how to share that with interested high school students through the FIRST program.

In 1999, I took my first formal art course and have now taken classes in drawing, design, sculpture, traditional animation, color theory, etc.

It has allowed me to think more creatively. And creativity can sometimes help with the design process as much as problem-solving.

Computer animation provides a unique blend of creative and problem-solving abilities. Because of that, many larger animation production companies have a technical team and an artistic team. (Almost like being seated at a wedding - Right Brain or Left Brain?) :)

Pursuing computer science (or possibly engineering) will give you a good chance at the technical team. Pursuing art (and specifically animation) will give you a good chance at the art team. But if you're interested in computer animation because you're an artist, you may not be able to switch out of engineering unless you switch schools as well (to pursue animation specifically I mean.) So if your dream is to animate a character for Toy Story 4, engineering may not get you where you want to be.

Students have to decide for themselves and I like the FIRST program and I think it's great that AutoDesk provides the opportunity for high school students to help themselves decide about their interests.

I agree with the above post. There are many required areas with certain courses of study. If you randomly pick a major because it sounds close to wjat you want- you may not be happy. You need to check out the full cours load that is offered for each major and also see what electives are available and when and how many you can take.

I am a Professional designer/animator and I work with 2D and 3D graphics and animation with Aftereffects, Lightwave, flash and various other programs. I produce graphics for Videos, CDs, and Web as well as Programming CDs and Web content itself. I did all this with a degree in Architecture from a Design/Art oriented school. My ellectives were spent in Illustration, animation, painting, drawing, sculpture and assited many film majors on video/film shoots. All this time I still planned on being an architect. When given an opportuinity to do animation and graphics work, I was obviously very comfortable jumping into it. I had to learn the program, but the design/art skills carried through in everything I chose to do. In Architecture- There are structural and engineering classes so it is very ballanced right/left brain. That training has helled me tremendously in the technical aspects of what I do- which includes computer networkign and building and maintaining systems as well as the programming of CDs and Web Sites which involves writing code with several languages (I did some basic in High schook and Junior High but that was the only programming courses I ever took)

Dont pick a major because of a scholarship- unless its a tossup between several things you like and you need a reason to go oneway or another. You need to like what you do. Tooo many people complain about their job and their life. As Dean says, if you can get paid for waht you like to do- it doesnt feel like work. I am chalenged everyday and learning new things still after 8 years in the field and owning my own buisiness. Thats an exciting thing to say in a world of layoffs and job insecurity.

Plan ahead and dont be afraid to folow your dreams. Contact me if you have any questions. or want advice- I am working on putting some stuff togerther for a couple people already.