What Is Stem A computer animator creates a 3-D character for a feature film A motion capture technician tracks an actor’s movement via a computer program A web developer creates an online portal where fans can watch movie trailers and learn the latest scoop about a movie studio’s upcoming releases What do all these people have in common It’s not just movies All their jobs require a STEM education STEM is a shortcut for talking about science technology engineering and mathematics 4
Some of the most exciting careers are in STEM fields A strong STEM education will allow you to research test and build new things The problem-solving skills learned through STEM can take you to the next level in just about any career field Find out more about the great STEM jobs that are waiting for you W hat does STEM stand for Science Technology Engineering Mathematics 5
Computer Animation Computer animation creates moving images and characters with the help of computers Computer animation can be used to create a short commercial a television show a video game or a full-length movie Sometimes an entire film is animated Other times movies combine computer animation with real-life actors Computer animators are needed to bring images to life on screen A computer animator uses special software to design a three-dimensional character 6
To create a scene computer animators begin with one picture called a frame They change the next picture slightly The following pictures are also changed slightly one at a time When flashed on a screen rapidly one after another the frames create a moving image An average computer-animated movie uses 25 frames per second The animator studies and adjusts each frame in a project 7