The Computer Animation & Visual Effects course, delivered by the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), will assist you to become skilled in the technical aspects of computer animation and to graduate with the range and depth of technical knowledge necessary to become future Technical Directors, Artists or Research and Development Engineers within the computer animation and games sectors.

Through a combination of theory and practical projects, both individual and collaborative, you’ll gain the experience and skills to work alongside computer animators to resolve technical problems either by configuring existing software tools or designing new tools.

• Develop a creative and innovative approach to the analysis and solution of problems
• Apply technical, mathematical and algorithmic skills to develop tools to aid in the production of animation and games artefacts
• Apply software to develop techniques in C++ to test new algorithms, write shaders to support rendering and develop scripts and tools to create new effects
• Attend visiting speaker talks from industry specialists, including some of our successful alumni. Graduates have worked on many award-winning films such as Jojo Rabbit, Avengers: Endgame, The Irishman, The Lion King, Star Wars Rise of Skywalker, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Dunkirk
• Collaborate with students across the NCCA Master’s courses in Digital Effects and 3D Computer Animation during the Group Project providing a realistic setting to discover what it’s like working with other creative people and working to a strict timescale
• Undertake a Masters project in preparation for the degree show in London attended by top industry recruiters
• Access industry standard facilities including animation laboratories, equipped with industry-standard software including Maya and Houdini
• Attend BU's BFX Festival, the UK's largest visual effects, computer games & animation festival featuring a fantastic line-up of speakers, masterclasses, exhibitions, screenings and networking events
• BU is ranked 4th in the top 25 animation schools and colleges in the world, 3rd in Europe and 1st in the UK (Animation Career Review 2020).

Our computer animation courses are well regarded within the industry and based on previous years, the employment prospects for postgraduates are excellent.

A number of our courses have the Screen Skills Tick, which indicates the quality of our computer animation degrees and shows that we offer training that prepares you for a career in the sector. The Screen Skills Tick is awarded by Screen Skills, the sector skills council for the creative industries. We’ve worked very closely with Screen Skills to develop a range of ground-breaking short courses aimed at media professionals.

All of our accredited courses have undergone a rigorous assessment process conducted by experts working in the creative media industries and our strong industry links have played an important role in gaining us this accreditation.