EDGE by Pearl Academy has partnered with one of the world’s leading animation schools, TRAZOS based in Spain, to launch international certification courses in animation, game design and development, visual effects, and virtual production at its state-of-the-art campus in Bengaluru.
Commenting about the partnership with TRAZOS, industry veteran and EDGE academic director C B Arun Kumar told Animation Xpress, “When we were launching Pearl EDGE we were very keen about having international quality certifications on our table rather than just having our own courses. We talked to TRAZOS, which is ranked No.1 in Spain, amongst the top three in Europe and top seven globally. They are very much interested to partner with us and keen to enter India because we are a big market. TRAZOS and Pearl have 30 plus years of experience, Pearl is more based on fashion and designs but EDGE will focus on the AVGC sector. We are starting with a short part-time course and will be expanding it in the future.”
EDGE-TRAZOS offers nine-month duration international certificate courses. These programs include a master certificate in animation with Autodesk Maya, master certificate in compositing with NukeX, a master certificate in VFX with Houdini, and master certificate in video game production. Explaining the advantages of the courses and how they will help the students or talents to acquire their skill sets, the director added, “If students are already doing some course in colleges and want to get cutting edge tool skills then these courses are for them. Today courses at college are very theorised, so one can do these courses alongside which will help them to get industry-ready. The courses are designed in a way that will fill the skill gap in the industry. Our alignment with TRAZOS will help them to enter the industry with the right skill sets.”
On asking what makes Pearl EDGE stand out from the competition, highlighting the course design Kumar explained, “Our competitors are also offering same month duration courses and they promise to teach 14 different software. The fact and truth are that it is not possible to master any software in a short period of time. Of course, they teach them and the students learn but nobody masters the software. It is not knowing about many tools, it is all about knowing one tool in-depth and that’s what EDGE-TRAZOS brings here. This entire course is focused to make the student master one particular tool/software. Which is the most unique and best thing about our courses.”
To support and encourage skillful candidates, EDGE has launched a national talent hunt competition for 20 scholarships of up to 100 per cent for its first batch. EDGE is also the first institute in India to offer a master certificate course in virtual production, delivered by Unreal-Engine authorised instructors.
Pear Academy state-of-art campus Bengaluru campus is laid around 70000 sq. ft and out of which Pearl is lending us some space to set up EDGE. The space allotted for EDGE will consist of labs and virtual production studios. “Our virtual production courses will be instructed by authorised Unreal-Engine instructors which are first of its kind in the country. We are starting virtual production with a green screen now. Later we will switch to different backdrops. This will help candidates get hands-on training in virtual production and also they will make their own short movies. Our courses are designed in a way that the candidates will be upgraded with the newer technology and tools rather than learning the same old tools. These courses will help the students to go easy with the fast-growing technology.”
EDGE also offers three-month Bootcamp courses in computer graphics, Unreal Engine, and motion graphics. Bootcamp courses are like introductory courses which will help gain basic cutting-edge tools knowledge of the particular software in a short period of time.
Virtual production is the future of AVGC, the ability to adjust the content during filming rather than post-production and it has become easier than ever to produce smooth and realistic animation almost in real-time. “ EDGE courses offer students the new cutting-edge skills of tomorrow. Our courses will help the students to adapt to the fastest-growing technology and to fill the skill gap of the industry,” concluded Kumar.