Frequently asked questions

An online school specialising in character animation, founded by Simone Brundisini, Silvia Capitta and Alessandro Mattei. We teach character animation and nothing else, in 3D with Autodesk Maya: no modelling, no texturing, no rendering. Vivo is an Autodesk Authorized Training Center.

For people who want to become character animators in feature animation, animated series, VFX and advertising, and for animators who want to raise the level of their work. The first course asks for no experience; to come in at a later course, the teaching board looks at your showreel and tells you which level fits.

More than twenty character animators working in the industry today, in studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Industrial Light & Magic, DNEG, Framestore, Cinesite, Illumination and Netflix Animation Studios, on films such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Lion King, Avengers: Infinity War, Minions and Transformers One. Who teaches changes from term to term, depending on the productions each of them is on.

Eight courses in Autodesk Maya. Six are the main courses, taken in order: Principles of Animation, Body Locomotion, Body Action, Pantomime, Facial Acting and Advanced Acting. Then come the two Pro courses, Action Pro and Acting Pro, which can be taken in either order.

Each course runs for 11 weeks and includes 22 live classes.

Each course runs 11 weeks, with two live classes a week. New classes start four times a year, in January, April, July and October. Taking the six main courses one after the other fills about eighteen months, but the breaks between courses are yours to choose.

Next term: Winter — classes from January to March, enrolment closes on 20 December.

Yes: they have no theory lessons. The whole term goes into a single showreel shot, developed with a production flow — planning, blocking, splining, polishing. The weekly review by the instructor happens on every course, the way a lead or an animation supervisor reviews in production; on the Pro courses it is the entire course. Action Pro is built around an action shot, Acting Pro around an acting shot: the programme is the same, what changes is the kind of shot, not the stages. To take them you need to have finished Advanced Acting, or to show with your showreel that you are already working as an animator.

Yes. You enrol one course at a time and decide at the end of the term whether to carry on. Alternatively there are packages of three, five or six courses, which cost less than the same courses bought separately: they are on the Pricing page.

Yes. Send us your showreel: the teaching board looks at it and tells you which course to start from. It is not an audition, it is how we avoid making you repeat things you already do well. For the first course no showreel is needed.

Yes, the breaks between terms are free. If you come back later you join a class in a following term, and you keep access to the materials of the courses you have already taken.

Two live sessions a week on Vivo Meet, the video platform the school built. The first introduces the new subject with theory, reference breakdowns and demos; the second is the review, where the instructor goes through each student's work individually for about twenty to thirty minutes and, when it helps, opens the scene itself.

Assignments arrive on Vivo Frame Studio, where the instructor annotates and draws over the frames. During reviews you also watch your classmates' work: different problems and different solutions become material for the whole class.

Between three and six live hours a week, depending on how many students are in the class: the time given to each person does not change, the length of the session does.

Between two and five. If a course fills up we open another class, always keeping the maximum of five students each.

It depends on the class. Our instructors work in different time zones, so the days and times of a class are set around the instructor who teaches it and the students in it — there is no fixed slot. We tell you the exact days and times before you enrol, so you can check they work with your own commitments and time zone, and if you have particular constraints, tell us: we look for a way to make it work.

In the international section, in English. The Italian section runs the same courses in Italian.

Beyond the live classes, a realistic minimum is around twenty hours a week of practice on your own. Above that the arithmetic is yours: the more time you give the exercises, the more the work improves, and people who reach thirty or forty hours a week can see it in the results.

How you organise that time is up to you, and some students do the course while working part-time: it is possible, but it is an intense term, and it is worth knowing that before you enrol.

The recordings of every session and your own assignments on Vivo Frame Studio with the instructor's notes drawn over them; plus slides, demo videos and tutorials. On Discord there is a server for the whole school — instructors, students and alumni — as well as your own class chat. For software problems there is a dedicated technical support chat.

On the school's own rigs, designed and built in-house and following the progression of the courses: you start on simple setups and work up to full characters with advanced facial rigs. They all include workflow tools such as a picker, IK/FK switch and match, space switch, reset and mirror pose. You can see them on the Characters page.

You can still hand in your work: the instructor reviews it even if you were not live, and the recording of the session stays available along with the notes on your assignment. If you cannot hand in at all, you catch up on the next assignment. The course is still built on the live exchange with your instructor, so we recommend being there regularly, above all for the reviews.

The shots you made, the certificate of attendance issued by Autodesk, and permanent access to materials, rigs and recordings. Alumni stay in the community and are always invited to the school's events.

Autodesk Maya, with the licence provided by the school for the whole course, together with a licence for animBot, the professional animation toolset. You do not need to know Maya before you start: the first course introduces the parts of it an animator needs.

A computer that meets Maya's system requirements, a stable connection, a webcam and a microphone, plus a three-button mouse, which is essential for working in Maya. A second screen is recommended, not required: it makes following the class while you work more comfortable.

Yes: on completing each course you receive a certificate of attendance issued by Autodesk.

A school that Autodesk has vetted and authorised to train on its software, against requirements Autodesk itself sets for programmes, instructors and tools. Vivo is an Autodesk Authorized Training Center: that is why students officially receive the Maya licence and the certificate at the end of the course.

You start by getting in touch. Before enrolling we set up a free one-to-one call online with one of the founders: it lets us understand where you are starting from and what you are aiming at, work out which course fits, and answer whatever is still open.

If you want to come in at a later course, send your showreel as well: the teaching board looks at it before the call. At the end of the call, if the path suits your level and your goals, you get everything you need to complete the enrolment.

Enrolment is open all year and closes for each term on these dates: 20 December for the winter term, 24 March for spring, 24 June for summer and 24 September for autumn. It is worth moving early: classes hold between two and five students, and places run out.

A single course costs €900 + VAT; Action Pro and Acting Pro cost €950 + VAT. Any single course can be paid in three monthly instalments with no added interest.

Alternatively there are packages of three, five or six courses, which cost less than the same courses taken one by one and cannot be split into instalments. Current amounts and all the conditions are on the Pricing page. Whether VAT is charged, and at what rate, depends on where you are and on your tax status; we confirm the exact amount before you enrol.

The path prepares you for the role of character animator in feature animation, series, VFX and advertising. What counts when you apply to a studio is the showreel: that is why every course ends on a finished shot, and why the two Pro courses are given over entirely to producing one shot at a professional level.

Course after course. Each one ends with an exercise of your own — usually in the last month, and across the whole term on Pantomime and Advanced Acting — which starts at planning and ends at polish: it is a finished shot, and it goes into the reel as one. By the end of the six main courses you have a shot in each area: locomotion, action, pantomime, facial acting and dialogue.

The shots that really carry weight when you apply to a studio, though, are the ones from the two Pro courses: there the whole term goes into a single shot, followed by the instructor with continuous reviews, as in production, and taken to the level a production expects.

Yes, through the Review service: an individual review of your work with one of the school's instructors, at a rate reserved for people who study with us. You can ask for one during the course if you want extra support, in the breaks between terms, or after you finish — on personal shots too — and you can go to an instructor other than your own. It runs on the same tools as the courses, Vivo Meet and Vivo Frame Studio.

Yes. The Review service is open to people who are not enrolled: you upload your work and go through it live, online, with one of the instructors. Formats, lengths and current prices are on the Review page.

Every term we run two events for the community. Showtime belongs to the students, who present the term's work; Vivo Talk hosts someone from the industry. There is also an open day, streamed on YouTube and Instagram. Alumni stay in the community and are always invited.