Adelaide University
Graduate Certificate in Creature Effects
- Delivery: Face to Face
- Study Level: Postgraduate
- Duration: 6 months
- Course Type: Graduate Certificate
Master the tools and techniques needed to work as a creature technical director (CFX TD) in the visual effects industry.
Course overview
Adelaide University’s Graduate Certificate in Creature Effects will prepare you to work as a CFX TD in the visual effects industry. Designed in partnership with award-winning VFX company Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) and delivered on-site in their Adelaide studio, you’ll develop advanced skills in industry-standard software like Maya and be taught by experienced CFX artists and supervisors.
In this immersive qualification, you’ll learn the specialised techniques and knowledge essential to crafting creature effects, alongside the career management skills and professional practice standards needed to work in a VFX studio. While learning the process of creating realistic creatures and asset effects, you’ll get the opportunity to plan, iterate and deliver a project to meet a production brief and deadline to industry standards.
You’ll graduate career-ready with expertise in current trends, technologies and professional practices, along with local, national and international industry contacts, with first-hand experience of how a world-class VFX studio operates.
Key features
- Gain invaluable experience and learn in a simulated studio environment.
- Build industry-standard expertise in creature effects.
- Be mentored by experienced visual effects artists and supervisors.
- Work with the Rising Sun Pictures recruitment team to professionalise your resume and showreel.
- Establish valuable networks with local and national industry professionals.
- Graduated with an industry-standard showreel.
Key facts
What you will study
Students must complete 24 units comprising four core courses. Each course is worth six units.
Core courses
Complete 24 units for all of the following:
- Visual Effects Professional Practice
- Creature Effects Project
- Cloth Simulation
- Hair Simulation
Entry requirements
Admission criteria
To be eligible, an applicant must have achieved at least one of the following minimum entry requirements and demonstrate they fulfil any prerequisite and essential criteria for admission. In cases where there are more eligible applicants than available places, admission will be competitive with ranks based on the entry criteria.
- A completed bachelor's degree (AQF level 7) or higher from a recognised higher education institution; OR
- A completed Advanced Diploma (AQF level 6) from a registered training organisation (RTO); OR
- Three years of experience in the visual effects industry or the creative industries with a relevant showreel of visual effects work.
- All applicants must submit a CV and a 60-second visual effects showreel.
Outcomes
Career outcomes
The specialist skills you’ll develop in this program will provide a direct pathway into a career as a creature technical director, while the knowledge and understanding you gain of the broader VFX industry could lead to a variety of other roles. Maybe you’ll work for Rising Sun Pictures ,bringing digital creatures to life for the latest Hollywood blockbuster or perhaps you’ll move interstate to work at Framestore or Industrial Light and Magic in a production role and lead a team, ensuring projects run on time and to budget.
You could work in the following roles:
- Creature technical director: building, developing and programming the software for artists to create believable fur, feathers and skin on creatures
- Production coordinator: ensuring all aspects of a production run on time and to budget
- VFX producer: responsible for running VFX projects
- VFX supervisor: ensuring VFX shots are ready for post-production
- Technical services operator: responsible for monitoring and controlling the rendering process within the production of VFX shots.
Fees and FEE-HELP
Indicative annual fee in 2026: $14,600 (domestic full-fee paying place)
Fee-paying programs require the full tuition fees for your study, which can be deferred partly or in full to a FEE-HELP loan. Where the duration of the program is less than one year, the total cost of the program is displayed.
A student’s fee may vary depending on:
- The number of courses studied per term.
- The choice of major or specialisation.
- Choice of courses.
- Credit from previous study or work experience.
- Eligibility for government-funded loans.
You may also need to pay the student services and amenities fee.
Student fees shown are subject to change. Contact the university directly to confirm.
FEE-HELP loans are available to assist eligible full-fee paying domestic students.