3D Animation - The Basics

Getting into 3D Animation (or really any form of animation) can seem daunting. In fact, to many, it is!

There are so many tools out there. So many different careers and approaches. Sometimes, it might feel like everyone in the business is trying to take you down their own custom "golden road to success."

To an extent? None of them are wrong.

There's an insane amount of knowledge out there, and so many ways to learn it all.
Which means there's no single "correct" path, and everyone is going to get to their end-goal a different way.

The biggest thing is to not get discouraged! You probably won't be able to learn enough to get a job in 6 months. You're not going to get your dream career overnight. But as long as you're aware of what's out there, and have an idea of where you want to go, you can tailor your own journey and keep learning.

You'll get there!

By starting here, we'll do our best to avoid the common trap of "I'll watch just one more tutorial, I don't feel ready yet."

We'll try break concepts down, to avoid the dreaded "information overload" monster that might make this journey seem too intimidating to continue.

And we'll start by giving a map of the lands, so you know where is a good starting place for you.

We'll try to cover the shape of the known world (existing careers, state of the industry, and what might be in your future). We'll note any major landmarks and cities (the tools we'll be using, and why those tools over others). And finally, we'll try to serve as a roadmap of how all these concepts connect and intertwine, so that you understand how each of these fit in the overall animation pipeline.

Note that this site is NOT meant to be an end-all-be all. This should not be an end-point in your journey, but rather a springboard to help you find your footing in the early stages.

For almost all these concepts, what is documented here is only the surface, to get you started.
When applicable, we'll try to share additional resources (both free and not-so-free), so that you can make your own decisions about what matters to you, and where you want to continue.

With all that said, we have tried to organize this site to naturally guide you along.

If you're completely new, we recommend starting with "Animation Topics", rather than "Animation Software". As the "topic" sections tend to be more general purpose, with knowledge that applies toward multiple programs. While the "software" sections are more specific, generally focused on accomplishing specific tasks within the software.

At the top and bottom of most pages, there will be "Next" and "Back" buttons, to help you keep track of what concepts link together, in our suggested ordering.

On the left-hand side of each page, there should also be a toggle-able sidebar, that lists all major headers on the page. You should be able to click any header to jump to that location on the page.