Amid a swirl of construction to prepare a postgraduate finishing school for digital artists, undergraduate students in nearby classrooms are already immersed in learning the techniques of character animation and geometric modeling.
The site is the city of Orlando’s former Expo Centre, which is in the midst of a refurbishing program that will transform it into the University of Central Florida’s urban venue for cranking out interactive-software and video-game makers.
Much of the construction work will be completed in time for the fall launch of the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, part of the UCF School of Film and Digital Media.
The academy, funded by a $4.2 million grant from the state Legislature, will teach students who already have a college degree the more advanced skills of video-game production, making it a “finishing school for digital artists,” said Mike Moshell, division head of the School of Film and Digital Media.
Even as the renovations proceed at a busy pace, undergraduate students from the film school are completing their first month of classes in a portion of the Expo Centre where reconstruction work was completed in early January. With four classrooms now in use for undergraduates, another six to be used by the academy are expected to be completed by mid-May, followed by the purchase and installation of computers and other high-tech gear, said Chris Murray, the program’s associate director.
For this fall’s launch, between 20 and 50 students are expected to enroll in a 16-month-long postgraduate program.
Ensuing classes, called “cohorts,” will start up every four months and number 50 to 75 students, Moshell said. The first class is scheduled to graduate in late 2006.
The fledgling UCF program is designed to produce workers with the skills to find high-paying jobs at video-game companies like Electronic Arts’ Tiburon studio near Maitland, which makes the popular Madden NFL Football series.

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