1Phase
Planning: layout and golden poses
You choose the shot with your instructor and plan it as you would in production: reference, layout, staging and golden poses. This is where you decide what the shot is saying, before animating a single frame.
← All courses3D track · Course 7 · Live course in English · Autodesk Maya
Action Pro
One action shot, built the way a production would build it.
As in a studio, you work on a single action shot with an instructor who follows you the way an animation supervisor would. The course has no theory classes: it is given entirely to your shot, with continuous reviews that raise its quality step by step. You go deeper into the dynamics of movement and into how the parts of the body work with each other, and you finish with material ready for your showreel.
Prerequisite · Advanced Acting, or a showreel at a level suited to a Pro course
Maximum 5 students per classIndividual review, 20–30 minNo theory: only your shot
- Length
- 11 weeks22 live classes
- Classes
- 2 a week3–6 live hours a week
- Software
- Autodesk Mayalicence included
- Class size
- 2–5 studentsindividual review, 20–30 min
- Practice on your own
- 20–40 hoursa week, on top of the classes
- Certificate
- Autodeskof attendance, on completion
Before you enrol
Is this the right course for you?
It is, if…
- you have finished Advanced Acting and want a professional-level action shot in your showreel;
- you already work as an animator and want a weekly discussion with your instructor on an ambitious shot, at the review pace of a studio;
- you want to master the dynamics of movement and be fully aware of how the parts of the body work with each other;
- you do not need more theory, but a weekly discussion of real work that raises its quality step by step.
What you should already be able to do
- If you come from course 6, finishing Advanced Acting is the natural way into the Pro courses.
- If you come from outside Vivo, send us your showreel: the teaching board looks at it and tells you whether your technical and artistic level is right for a Pro course.
- You need to be able to run the workflow of a shot on your own: planning, blocking, splining, polishing.
- There are no theory classes: the whole course goes into your shot and its reviews.
The programme
Eleven weeks, one shot, four phases
Action Pro and Acting Pro follow the same production workflow: there is no set theory programme, and the work goes into developing a single shot through planning, blocking, splining and polishing. The kind of shot changes, the phases do not.
2Phase
Blocking
The key poses and the breakdowns build the structure of the shot. Every hand-in is reviewed individually: readability, rhythm and the choices behind them are corrected before you move on.
3Phase
Splining
From blocking to curves: the movement becomes continuous without losing the poses. You work on arcs, timing and overlap with continuous reviews.
4Phase
Polishing
Contacts, the detail of the hands and the face, refinement frame by frame: the shot is brought up to showreel quality, right through to the final hand-in.
What you take away
A studio-level action shot in your showreel.
What comes out of Action Pro is not an exercise but a showreel shot, taken to the level of quality a production expects, along with an understanding of the method behind it.
The dynamics of movementHow the parts of the body work togetherPlanning an action shotReviews as in productionContinuous reviewsBlocking, splining, polishingShowreel quality
How you study
A typical week
Two live sessions a week: the supervision session, where you go through reference, choices and technical solutions for your shot with the instructor, and the review, where the instructor spends twenty to thirty minutes on each student's shot. Classes hold between two and five students.
Outside the sessions you need around twenty hours a week for your shot, reference and practice of your own. Recordings, annotations and materials stay available after the course ends. The days and times of your class are told to you before you enrol.
How Vivo worksCharacters and tools
Rigs made for action
An action shot needs characters that are both flexible and sturdy. Manuela and Davide are the rigs built for action shots: they have shaper controls that let you work on the silhouette during dynamic poses and movement. You can use any Vivo rig that suits your shot.
Vivo's characters are made specifically for the courses and stay available to you after the course ends.
ManuelaDavide
Along with Maya you also get a licence for animBot, the professional animation toolset, for the whole length of the course.
See all of Vivo's rigs and characters
Maya included for the whole length of the course. On completion you receive a certificate of attendance from Autodesk.
When it starts
Next term: Winter — classes from January to March, enrolment closes on 20 December. Classes of two to five students.
The exact days and times depend on the class and are told to you before you enrol, so you can check them before confirming your place. Our instructors work in different time zones, so a class is scheduled around the instructor teaching it and the students in it. All the dates of the year are in the enrolment calendar. If you did not take course 6 with Vivo, allow time for the showreel assessment before enrolling.
Questions
About Action Pro, specifically
Are there any theory classes?
No. The Pro courses have no theory programme: the eleven weeks go entirely into building one shot for your showreel. The programme — planning, blocking, splining, polishing — is the one a production follows.
Can I enrol on Action Pro without having done the six main courses?
Yes, if your showreel shows a technical and artistic level suited to a Pro course. The teaching board looks at it, and the call is where we work out whether a Pro course is the right level for you.
What is the difference between Action Pro and Acting Pro?
The programme is the same, because neither has theory classes: what changes is the kind of shot. In Action Pro you make an action shot, in Acting Pro an acting shot. You can take both, in either order.
Are the Pro courses part of the packages?
No. The packages of 3, 5 and 6 courses cover the six main courses. Action Pro and Acting Pro are bought on their own and can be paid in three monthly instalments with no interest, like any single course. The fees are on the Fees page.
Do I choose the shot?
Yes, together with your instructor, during planning: you settle on a shot that will do your showreel good and that can be made well in eleven weeks.
Where you come in
Already an animator? Have your showreel reviewed.
For the Pro courses what counts is your level and your goals. Send us your showreel: the teaching board looks at it, and the call with one of the founders is where we choose the shot and the right course together.