I've written this hub and it's brother/sister hubs for those interested in what's involved in being an animator in 2-D and 3-D or stop-motion (or stopmo). This article covers specific tools you can expect to use as a student animator or professional in the CGI industry. I hope this article answers many questions, if you have any feel free to comment and I will update it further and expand. Keep an eye out for continued Hubs in this series.

The CGI Animator

Yes, it does get very specific and technical.

Rule #1: NEVER BE INTIMIDATED BY THE SOFTWARE -you don't have to use every nuance and aspect. Learn only 1 thing at a time. For example, you load up Maya and think "My god, I have departed from the safe waters of user-friendly Mac and Microsoft products." Don't worry. Go to Youtube and search for 'Maya for Beginners' or 'How to, Tutorial, Maya Polygon Modeling'. In five minutes, you'll be modelling death stars. Way cool. Just focus on one thing at a time!

Rule #2: Never say you can't do something because it looks difficult. You'll find the explanation on a tutorial super-simplifies it and you become enlightened. You can do it. Who'd have thought? This applies to software and programming languages alike. It's not really difficult just because it doesn't make sense without an explanation. Give it 5 minutes of tutorial time and you'll be "ahh"-ing yourself into Shangri-La surrounded by the illumination of a thousand light bulbs.

Rule #3: Spoken languages are a tool? Actually, yes. Sony Pictures Imageworks has a branch in India, ILM has a branch in Singapore, etc. Learn something like Japanese and you could be speaking/writing Nihongo in Tokyo for Square Enix Pictures. The more languages you speak, the more likelihood you have of landing that job between contracts. Expect your work to be global, you will have to travel, but the pay should make up for that.

Do you have to be a programmer? No, but it helps. When I refer to the industry, I mean the animation world of film, television and video games. This is not the hub for website animation, though some of these tools might be used for that purpose. There are some things you should look up on Google and buy for yourself if you want an edge against the other hopefuls in your would-be career:

A word to the wise: BEWARE PUBLISHING DATES. Some books might still be relevant to today's animator, but if it involves software, you can forget about it should it be older than 2 years. Software is re-released each year with improvements and changes which could make your studies only half-useful. It is best to check developer websites like Autodesk.com or cgi software news sites RSS feeds to be aware of the changes in the software, because you don't want to be the one with the confused look on your face when in interview you are told they don't use Shake anymore, it's been repackaged with Final Cut Studio or something to that effect.

Python for Dummies and MEL Script (look for a book on Python that's been published as close to the current year as possible). This is filled with bits of string code and easy to understand explanations of why they look so mystifying. These little code snippets can be directly typed into most CGI software used today and many jobs require you to understand this script language. It is not advanced programming, don't let it intimidate you. It doesn't even require a class, just browse web tutorials. Try Googling 'Python'. These code strings make programs like Maya do specific things with your animation, improving it. It will also help you to understand the fundamentals of how industry software tends to work. MEL is specifically used for Autodesk Maya, but is like Python and is easy to use. A simple function not normally available in Maya can be performed using MEL script; however, Python can also be used.

C++ Yep, you heard me. People might tell you they don't program and are in the industry. Well, good luck getting that job at Dreamworks, because you thought animators wouldn't benefit from knowing how programs are made. A word to the uninitiated: C++ is very easy (no, that is not subjective) and not at all like learning to play music from a book of music or trying to be a great painter when you aren't. It's for everyone. In fact, it was designed for ease of use and tutorials and help support are all over the internet for free. Chances are, your book store has a book for beginners in C++. I have C++ For Dummies, but it's so outdated I can't recommend it.

Autodesk software: Autodesk has 30-day trials of some of their most used products. They have watermarks on their renders, so you can't really use it for your portfolio or show reel. What is great about Autodesk is they make most of the software used in the industry. Every year their library of cgi programs grows and now it's massive. The most used piece of software in the industry is Maya. Maya allows you to model and animate characters in modeled environments. It's cross-platform and output renders are usable in other Autodesk programs as well as certain other software. You can import Photoshop documents into it and even use Photoshop and Illustrator in conjunction with it, but it can be tedious editing the still renders. Maya contains Mental Ray, which used to be a stand-alone product.

If you like animating for video games, you would likely use Autodesk 3D Studio Max instead of Maya due to architectural differences in consoles and PC's, though Maya can and is still used for some flashy cut sequences. It would be used very similarly to Maya and you would still use renderers.

Mental Ray is a renderer like Pixar's Renderman. This simulates true depth by ray tracing your animation and adding "physically correct light simulation" to the modeled artefacts. Depending on how fast your machine is, it can take a long time. Most production studios use a render farm to get it done faster. These tend to be special made for them bespoke by computer manufacturing companies. They use a special server software made specifically for studio render farms to manage a gigantic pipeline of scenes and shots. When you model something and then animate it, the final stage is rendering.

Pixologic's zBrush is a sculpting program best used with a graphics tablet. You can model and paint impressively realistic creations in zBrush. It comes with a plethora of textures and free lessons on Pixologic.com on how to create your own, called alphas. Also, they teach how to make a texture map of your own. It's easy to understand, good instruction and I've used it myself recently. Just download the trial, load it up, and play the tutorials provided free from Pixologic.com, pausing to follow along every now and again. Just do as they do in the tutorial and explore to make sure your screen looks like the tutor's. If you have never modeled anything before, you will be delighted and the cool, weird stuff you can make on this. It renders your work and outputs it for just about any program including Maya, Max and Photoshop. It has the facility to created an animated 360 degree turntable of your work, too. The colors are vivid and you can work in 2-D, 2.5-D and 3-D. This is used in industry, it's not just something I recommend to you.

Graphics Tablet (I got my Trust tablet with mouse cheap at Argos and it's the best one I have seen in the animation lab amidst many an expensive one). Wacom make tablets, yes, but they tend to be expensive and I've read user reviews on Amazon that were not promising for particular models. Rather than wait for each consecutive model to have a good or bad review before I fork out hundreds, may I suggest a less mainstream brand for your graphics tablet. If it's not a Wacom tablet, give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Portable Hard Drive, the more storage capacity, the better. Don't make the mistake I made of getting a 1 TB external hard drive. They have lots of cords and need to be plugged in. The portable hard drive won't require all that and is smaller and lighter weight. You need to use these to transport project data between computers.

Software found in the industry is provided for you at work, by the license. This means that the software is allowed to be used so long as a subscription license is paid for to the manufacturer. A couple hundred workstation licenses at retail cost is very expensive so studios like you to work on multiple projects at once. Therefore, it is vital that you develop your time management and organizational skills. This maximizes the overhead costs of running the studio and you have dedicated employment. Large studios can have you working around the clock, but not all studios are large and in a small studio, you can work pretty much 9-5.

There are a number of other programs used for the CGI animator. Say, if you animate the explosions, dust, fluids or fire in a show or film then you might use Autodesk Combustion. If you do character animation, you may use Autodesk Motionbuilder. If you sculpt the models to animate (possibly as well as being the very animator), you might use Softimage. You could always be the environment animator, handling little environmental animations or perhaps animating the lighting. Here is a list of some standard software in addition to what I have already provided above: Newtek's Lightwave 3-D for modeling/rendering/animation/visfx, Autodesk Mudbox for modeling, Houdini for 3-D animation and stunning visfx, Autodesk Inferno for visfx & compositing, Massive Prime for crowd simulation (yes, that crowd simulator), eyeon's Fusion 6 for rendering/texturing/shading, Messiah Studio 4 for animation and rendering, etc. ad nauseum.

Some advice was given to me by a student graduate last year: Choose a main program such as Maya or Max and focus on that one program more than any other. Specialize in it, don't be a general user. Learn everything you can about using its many features, do it over the summer and on your "down time". You may just find yourself having fun as well, the water in Maya is particularly nice to look at even when you're just fooling around without much of a clue as to what you're doing. Do yourself a favor, go to Autodesk.com and download the PLE version of Maya, which is a student version. Watch Maya beginners tutorials on Youtube or elsewhere and teach yourself how it all works.

Studios get these programs customized for themselves if needs be. Don't be surprised if Maya is a little different in the pro studio lab. Autodesk also gets paid a little to provide modification rights to a particular studio and just the once, they can develop a modified version of Maya together with their own private software creations as one packaged unit. Much of the time, studios design their own specific software no other studio can use. One such bit of studiocentric software is Shatter, developed by the R&D guys at Double Negative aka DNeg. This is unavailable to the public, students and other studios. A studio trains you on their own specialist programs upon hire, but being skilled in Maya shows them you know how to use this sort of software. That's why in film and television in particular, it is an essential requirement.

If you can get a student license, Maya is very cheap and can be ordered at several places online. You can use it for a year, don't settle for less. Also, you can always use the free PLE version. Go to DigitalTutors.com or somewhere similar and for a reasonable price in a reasonable period of time, even the poorest student might be able to afford a tutor in Maya. They have streaming videos you can access by the class that teach you the most up-to-date versions of Maya. I'm not affiliated with them and I have not been asked to promote them; they're just a good example of what's out there. You can always check Youtube!

One last thing: Your Showreel. No longer than 15 seconds, they decide by then if they want you. Only put what you want the job for on there. For example, visfx animation? Just 15 seconds of different scenes demonstrating explosions/water/fire, etc. Render everything top notch. Edit each sequence with Final Cut or Adobe Premiere to have brief transitions, and stick to only cross-fade transitions (no Episode 1 wipes, this ain't LucasArts). You are an animation samurai and your showreel is your sword. Without this, all the other tools are for naught.

 Learn what websites to check out for job listings and check big production studios' websites regularly to see what jobs they post and what is required for the role. This will give you an idea of how to shape and plan your learning structure!