Teaching methodology for 3D animation

The field of 3D animation has addressed design processes and work practices in the design disciplines. There are good reasons for considering the development of systematic design processes for the development of 3D animation and it´s teaching. Design methodology understood as a general field has developed through cross-disciplinary efforts, primarily involving architecture, engineering design and industrial design. This body of knowledge is not very well known in the development of 3 dimensional animation or computer graphics discipline, but appears to be highly relevant. In this paper, I introduce a number of systematic design methods for teaching and development of 3D animation. I hope that they will prove useful for teachers and professionals in computer graphics. Several methods that I present here are all mainly oriented towards early phases of the design process, where concepts and ideas are the main currencies. The later phases, including implementation and evaluation, are perhaps less problematic. My choice of methods is not meant to be comprehensive, perhaps not even the best possible. Instead I present examples of methods that can be tried out in very simple ways without putting too much effort into the learning process. It is every academic´s dream that students can hold their place in the job market or in higher education. Furthermore, schools try their best to acquire equipment and human resources to help students excel. But there are many hurdles and constraints that have to be faced in an academic environment as compared to a production house.