3D Animation with Integrated Foundation Year

Three-dimensional animation is the craft and technology behind the digital characters, environments, and visual effects that have transformed film, television, games, and interactive media over the past three decades. It combines artistic skill with sophisticated technical knowledge, requiring animators to understand how movement, weight, timing, and character expression work in three-dimensional space, and to realise these qualities using complex software and rendering pipelines. The discipline sits at the intersection of visual storytelling and computer graphics, and the best 3D animation work is distinguished by a deep understanding of both the artistic principles and the technical systems that bring digital worlds to life.

At Ravensbourne University London, this four-year full-time programme begins with an integrated foundation year that introduces you to the core principles and tools of 3D animation before you move into the main degree. This means you have time to build both your artistic foundation and your technical fluency at a pace that supports genuine mastery. Over the full four years you will develop skills in modelling, rigging, texturing, lighting, rendering, and character animation, working with industry-standard software and learning the workflows used in professional production environments.

You will complete projects that develop your portfolio, which is the primary currency of entry into the animation industry.

Ravensbourne's London location and its connections to the creative industries mean the programme is shaped by awareness of what the industry actually needs. You will have opportunities to engage with professional contexts and to learn from practitioners working in film, games, visual effects, and advertising.

Graduates pursue careers as character animators, environment artists, visual effects artists, motion graphics designers, and technical directors in studios working across film, television, games, and digital advertising. Some move into virtual production, architecture visualisation, or interactive media. Others use the programme as preparation for postgraduate study in animation, visual effects, or related creative disciplines.