Animation and VFX

In this course, you will learn to:

• Classify the basic tools and techniques used in animation and VFX production
• Define the roles of animation and VFX in various industries
• Identify the selection, drawing, and scaling tools in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
• Organize workflows for working with layers, blend modes, and masks
• Reorganize different tools and techniques for creating and modifying digital art
• Summarize the steps involved in photo restoration projects
• Compare the features and applications of raster and vector graphics
• Report on the ethical considerations in character design and copyright protection
• Categorize different types of animation and VFX styles used in creative industries
• Diagnose issues in digital compositions and suggest solutions for improvement
• Operate advanced tools like the Perspective Grid Tool and the Mesh Tool
• Find innovative ways to create compelling characters and visual storytelling elements
• Predict future trends in animation, VFX, and digital compositing techniques
• Enable students to internalize and apply the twelve classical principles—such as squash & stretch, anticipation, timing, arcs, and appeal—to create believable 2-D motion.
• Guide learners through the full pre-production pipeline—scriptwriting, storyboarding, character and background design, and animatics—so they can turn narrative ideas into clear visual plans.
• Train students to set up, manage, and optimize projects in Toon Boom Harmony, Animate CC, and related 2-D tools, including layers, symbols, keyframes, cameras, and export settings.
• Equip learners to rig bipeds, quadrupeds, and mechanical objects with deformers and IK, and to animate nuanced body mechanics, facial lip-sync, and secondary actions.
• Develop skills in particle and fluid systems to add smoke, fire, rain, magic trails, and other environmental effects that enrich storytelling.
• Lead students in producing a polished short animation—managing assets, sound, and deadlines—and in critiquing work against artistic and industry standards for continuous improvement.
• Grasp the complete 3-D production pipeline—from modelling and UV mapping through rigging, animation, lighting, rendering, and real-time deployment—so students see how every phase connects.
• Achieve tool proficiency in industry software (Autodesk Maya, Blender, and Unity), enabling learners to switch comfortably between DCC packages and game engines while following best-practice workflows.
• Create clean, efficient 3-D geometry by mastering primitive types, editing tools (extrude, bevel, loop-cut, sculpt, etc.), and topology rules for both hard-surface props and organic characters.
• Unwrap, texture, and shade assets convincingly, applying UV-mapping strategies, texture-map types (albedo, normal, roughness, etc.), and physically based shading to reach targeted visual styles or realism.
• Light, render, and composite scenes for mood and readability, selecting appropriate light types, HDRIs, and render-engine settings (Cycles, Eevee, Arnold) to achieve cinematic or real-time quality outputs.
• Rig characters and mechanical models for animation, building joint hierarchies, skin weights, deformers, and IK/FK systems that support expressive facial/body motion and technical accuracy.
• Animate believable motion and performances, employing pose-to-pose and straight-ahead techniques, graph-editor refinement, timing/spacing principles, and asset-management discipline.
• Integrate and script assets in Unity, using prefabs, particle systems, lighting, and C# scripts to create interactive scenes, optimize performance, and prepare multi-platform builds.
• Collaborate effectively on 3-D projects, applying version control, asset-naming conventions, milestones, and peer review to keep a production on schedule.
• Deliver a polished capstone project that demonstrates concept development, technical execution, debugging, and final presentation skills equivalent to entry-level studio or indie-game standards.
• Trace the historical evolution of visual-effects techniques and articulate the function of each stage in a contemporary VFX pipeline (pre-production, on-set supervision, and post-production).
• Use colour theory and grading workflows to shape mood, continuity, and narrative impact across live-action and CG-augmented shots.
• Capture motion-capture sessions, clean and retarget the data, and combine tracked performances with CG assets or live plates.
• Execute professional rotoscoping and advanced chroma-keying—handling hair, motion blur, and stereo pairs—to generate clean, production-ready mattes.
• Perform 2-D, planar, and 3-D camera tracking (including lens-distortion workflows) to anchor CG or matte-painted elements seamlessly into moving footage.
• Produce kinetic typography, logo animations, and particle-based effects (fire, smoke, rain, explosions) that integrate convincingly within composite shots.
• Combine multi-pass renders, HDR imagery, lighting, and camera moves to create digital set extensions, sky replacements, depth-of-field, and parallax effects.
• Estimate costs, schedule resources, automate workflows with scripts/expressions, iterate through client feedback, and output a polished, production-ready sequence that meets technical and storytelling goals.
• Describe the evolution of VFX, major historical milestones, and the roles of pre-production, production, and post-production stages in a modern VFX pipeline.
• Analyse the psychological impact of colour and perform primary/secondary colour-grading to reinforce mood and continuity across multi-shot sequences.
• Differentiate optical, inertial, and marker-less MoCap systems, record a basic performance, clean the data, and retarget it to a digital character.
• Generate articulate mattes—including hair and stereo pairs—using shape, point-track, and planar-track workflows; export renders for downstream compositing.
• Remove chroma backdrops with advanced keyers (Keylight, IBK) and refine edges with spill suppression, light-wrap, grain-matching, and garbage mattes.
• Create and animate text, logos, and infographic elements using masks, mattes, graph-editor curves, and plug-ins to communicate information visually.
• Perform 2-D point, planar, and 3-D camera tracking; solve lens distortion; and insert CG or matte-painted elements that lock seamlessly to live-action plates.
• Integrate multi-pass renders, HDR footage, lights, and cameras in After Effects/Nuke to create depth-of-field, parallax, sky-replacement, and digital set-extension shots.
• Employ Trapcode, Optical Flares, Particular CC, or equivalent tools to simulate rain, smoke, fire, explosions, and abstract particle trails within composited scenes.
• Estimate resources and costs, organise assets, automate repetitive tasks with scripts/expressions, iterate through client feedback, and output a polished, production-ready sequence that meets technical and storytelling goals.

At the end of this course, learners will be able to:

• Estimate the time and resources required for animation and VFX projects
• Appraise the quality of animations and digital art based on industry standards
• Combine multiple images and elements to create advanced compositions and artworks
• Solve challenges in photo restoration and digital compositing
• Predict industry trends in animation, VFX, and digital design
• Survey diverse illustration styles and their relevance to various creative industries
• Compare different animation and VFX techniques for their effectiveness in storytelling
• Examine the ethical implications of character design and copyright in the creative process
• Assess the functionality and efficiency of tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for specific tasks
• Arrange design elements, layers, and tools to optimize workflows in digital art projects
• Create engaging characters and visual stories using innovative tools and techniques
• Design effective workflows for animation and VFX production pipelines
• Develop unique digital art projects by combining techniques like matte painting, surreal compositing, and digital painting
• Explain and demonstrate the 12 fundamental principles of animation and critique their use in professional work.
• Write and analyze scripts, story ideas, and storyboards that translate narrative concepts into clear visual plans.
• Design and iterate original characters, props, and backgrounds using research, mood-boards, and solid drawing fundamentals.
• Construct efficient digital production pipelines in Toon Boom Harmony/Animate CC, managing layers, keyframes, symbols, and camera moves.
• Rig biped, quadruped, and mechanical characters with deformers and inverse kinematics for believable motion and secondary actions.
• Animate convincing body mechanics and nuanced performance—walks, runs, jumps, facial lip-sync, hand and cloth secondary motion—applying ease-in/out, overlap, and follow-through.
• Create and integrate particle and fluid effects (smoke, fire, rain, magic, speed-lines) that enhance scene atmosphere.
• Produce a short polished animated sequence that demonstrates cohesive storytelling, sound integration, atmospheric effects, and professional export settings.
• Evaluate personal and peer work against aesthetic, technical, and production criteria, providing constructive feedback and iterating accordingly.
• Document and manage the complete production workflow—naming conventions, exposure/model sheets, version control, and asset delivery—to meet deadlines and industry standards.
• Create clean, production-ready hard-surface and organic models in Maya / Blender, selecting appropriate primitives, edit tools (extrude, bevel, loop-cut, sculpt, etc.) and maintaining correct topology and scale.
• Unwrap complex assets, generate and apply PBR texture maps (albedo, normal, roughness, metallic, emission) and build physically-based materials in both offline (Arnold / Cycles) and real-time (Eevee / Unity) workflows.
• Configure key, fill, rim and HDRI setups; choose render engines and settings; and output stills or sequences that communicate mood, depth and readability for interior, exterior and product scenes.
• Construct joint hierarchies, skin weights, deformers, constraints and IK / FK switches to deliver animation-ready rigs for bipeds, quadrupeds and mechanical props, including basic facial controls.
• Animate convincing body mechanics, facial performance and camera moves using pose-to-pose, straight-ahead and graph-editor refinement, applying weight shift, timing / spacing and follow-through principles.
• Import optimised assets, set up prefab hierarchies, materials, lighting and particle systems; write C# scripts for interaction; and build playable scenes for desktop or mobile deployment.
• Diagnose and improve performance through polygon budgeting, LODs, light-baking, texture packing and profiling tools to keep projects within target platform budgets.
• Apply asset-naming conventions, version control, milestones and task tracking to collaborate effectively in multi-disciplinary teams from pre-production through final delivery.
• Evaluate personal and peer work against aesthetic, technical and user-experience criteria, delivering constructive critiques and iterating to improve quality.
• Plan, build, test and present a polished short film or interactive level that integrates modelling, texturing, rigging, animation, lighting and scripting, demonstrating readiness for entry-level studio or indie-game roles.

The Academic Approach of the course focuses on the “work centric” education i.e. begin with work (and not from a book !), derive knowledge from work and apply that knowledge to make the work more wholesome, useful and delightful. The ultimate objective is to empower the Learner to engage in socially useful and productive work. It aims at leading the learner to his/her rewarding career as well as development of the society.

Learning methodology

• Learners are given an overview of the course and its connection to life and work.
• Learners are then exposed to the specific tool(s) used in the course through the various real-life applications of the tool(s).
• Learners are then acquainted with the careers and the hierarchy of roles they can perform at workplaces after attaining increasing levels of mastery over the tool(s).
• Learners are then acquainted with the architecture of the tool or Tool Map so as to appreciate various parts of the tool, their functions and their inter-relations.
• Learners are then exposed to simple application development methodology by using the tool at the beginner’s level
• Learners then perform the differential skills related to the use of the tool to improve the given ready-made outputs.
• Learners are then engaged in appreciation of real-life case studies developed by the experts.
• Learners are then encouraged to proceed from appreciation to imitation of the experts.
• After imitation experience, they are required to improve the expert’s outputs so that they proceed from mere imitation to emulation.
• Finally, they develop the integral skills involving optimal methods and best practices to produce useful outputs right from scratch, publish them in their ePortfolio and thereby proceed from emulation to self-expression.

Evaluation Pattern of KLiC Courses consists of 4 Sections as per below table:

MKCL’s KLiC Certificate will be provided to the learner who will satisfy the below criteria:

1. Learners who have successfully completed above mentioned 3 Sections i.e. Section 1, Section 2 and Section 3
2. Additionally, learner should have completed Section 4 (i.e. Section 4 will comprise of SUPWs i.e. Socially Useful and Productive Work in form of Assignments)
   • Learner has to complete and upload minimum 2 out of 5 Assignments