Online Animation & Visual Effects Degree

Academy of Art University’s online animation school is designed to help you set up a professional career in the industry wherever you may be.

The School of Animation & Visual Effects provides a comprehensive online curriculum, supplemented by tools and technology to help students achieve their goals. As an online animation student, you will work with the same expert instructors as your on-site counterparts, ensuring that you will have the same quality of education and hands-on training. You will also be provided the same access to facilities and resources available in our classrooms and studios.

One of the technologies you can look forward to in our online animation school is the Virtual Remote Lab (rLab). In this setup, you can use your computer at home to tap into our remote lab on campus and access our robust computer, software, and other tools you may need for your homework and projects. In the R-Lab, what would normally take twelve hours to render in a basic computer set-up would only take one to two, via remote access.

Be part of our vibrant, creative community. Earn your animation degree online at your own pace, in your own time.

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How Online Courses Work at the Academy

The Academy provides the coursework—including beautifully produced videos, narrated slideshows, digital documents, interviews with experts, livestreams and more. As you complete assignments, you simply upload your work to the Academy’s Learning Management System (LMS) where it’s shared with your class, and your instructor can leave visual markups, video, written and recorded feedback.

Your Information Hub

Visual, interactive and dynamic. You will find all your classes, profiles, news, assignments, grades, English speaking & writing support, academic support, and more in the Online Hub. All tailored to make your online education rich and engaging.

Your Collaborative Space

Freely exchange thoughts, post work, and provide or receive constructive feedback—just like you would in a campus environment. You and your peers support and push each other, creating long-lasting connections that live beyond the course. You may not be on campus, but you’re not alone.

Your Studio & Gallery

Submit your artwork for evaluation, and if you’d like, include audio, video, and/or written descriptions of the work, and instructors can provide detailed feedback in the same way.

Enrollment is Now Open

Next semester is just around the corner

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Learn Online

Our revolutionary online courses provide the same rigorous education that we offer on campus with greater flexibility. Our online programs are purpose-built to deliver art and design courses. Study on your own time, at your own pace. Combine online and on-site classes.

3 Reasons Our Online Platform is Best

Custom Content

Created in-house by industry experts and exclusive to the Academy, the classes are a mix of lecture content, video, written content, recorded audio, interactive slideshows, and hands-on work. We built this from the ground-up and geared specifically towards art and design. We’re constantly innovating our curriculum created by instructional designers and industry professionals, as well as building new courses, reworking old ones, and adding features to our LMS based on student feedback.

Dedicated Support

Over 100 Academy of Art employees create and support online programs, dedicating more resources into production than any other. They work 24 hours a day to offer 900+ online courses spanning 35 online majors, using 1,500 instructional videos per semester to teach students from 50+ countries.

Community Support

AAUHOO, a student-run Facebook group, has more than 6,000 members and welcomes you to join this thriving online community. Other channels and venues for student socialization and interaction include online social media & blogs; online library, music library, learning tutorials; career advice, support & mentor chats, one-on-one sessions with your director, on-demand demonstration videos, town hall meetings, VIP guest speaker series and archives, director Q&A, VIP guest speakers, live-streamed events & presentations, workshops, support, digital portfolio showcase, and much more.

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“Online Education at Academy of Art University was a perfect fit for my lifestyle for several reasons. Working toward a graduate degree in visual effects, I knew I wanted to go to one of the top schools in the field. With their online program, I can complete courses from anywhere on the planet, and continue learning industry-proven techniques that will help me advance my career to the next level.”

Arthur Bullock Jr MFA School of Animation & Visual Effects

Introduction to Animation Concepts

Learn the basics of facial impressions with 2D and 3D characters