UTS Animal Logic Academy
The Animal Logic Academy (UTS ALA) is an award winning educational vfx studio offering a Master of Animation and Visualisation (MAV) - and PhD research opportunities. Find out moreUTS Animal Logic Academy
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About Animal Logic Academy
Established in 2017, the Academy is a custom built VFX studio and teaching facility at the UTS campus in Sydney Australia. Mentored by industry experts, masters students are immersed in a full time studio environment, using a combination of established film VFX processes as well as pioneering use of new tools from the real-time industry.
The Academy also offers practice-based PhD research opportunities, current research projects have already won awards at industry festivals, covering areas as diverse as hybrid CG/motion-control film-making, digital archiving techniques, and real-time music visualisation.
Graduates have gone on to work for Method Studios, Flying Bark, Animal Logic, and in 2018 their work has already been recognised with awards from The Rookies, Autodesk Shotgun and the AEAF.
Meet the Team

Chris Ebeling
Creative Lead at the Academy, Chris Ebeling is an award winning Animator, Creative Director, digital artist and writer having worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as The Lego Movie, The Great Gatsby, Gods of Egypt and Happy Feet 2. Supplementing his extensive film and visual effects background, Chris has successfully directed projects in Virtual and Augmented reality, as well as games for PC, mobile and more.

Daniel Flood
CG Supervisor at the Academy, with nearly 10 years experience in pipeline, lighting and look development at Method, Dr.D and Animal Logic, and has worked on films such as The Great Gatsby, Deepwater Horizon, Gods of Egypt, Ghostbusters, and Happy Feet Two. Dan was also key in designing the award winning ‘Turret’ Shotgun+USD pipeline used at the Academy, and in steering our real-time technologies

Matt Estela
VFX lead at the Academy, Matt Estela has over 17 years of experience in 3D animation, most recently as VR supervisor and FX lead at Animal Logic Sydney. He has worked on Peter Rabbit, The Lego Batman Movie VR experience, and many commercials in the UK.

Zoe Diamond
Head of the Academy, Zoe brings with her almost two decades of experience in the VFX and animation industry. Prior to the Academy, Zoe worked at Animal Logic as Head of Human Resources and was a member of the Executive Team. In these roles, Zoe developed and implemented strategies that supported the growth of the company and oversaw over 600 artists and staff during peak production. Some of Zoe’s credits include Peter Rabbit, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie and the Academy Award® winning film Happy Feet.

Andrew Johnston
Andrew Johnston is Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, where he works as the Research Director of the UTS Animal Logic Academy, an education and research studio focusing on creative practice and digital technologies. He also co-directs the Creativity and Cognition Studios, an interdisciplinary research group working at the intersection of performance, art and technology.
Graduate Success Stories
How to Apply
To be considered for this program, applicants need to be able to demonstrate proficiency or prior industry experience in digital image creation/computer graphics or coding for design, animation and/or visualisation.
Examples include:
- animation, visual FX
- coding, games design/development
- tool building (software development, engineering)
- asset creation (modeling, rigging, surfacing)
- story, concept art
- production design, cinematography, editing
- motion graphics or similar
In addition to the standard admission requirements, applicants will be required to submit material to support their relevant skills (e.g. portfolio, coding examples, animation etc.) and will also be required to participate in a panel interview.
Domestic students: Apply now direct to UTS
International students: Applications for international students must be lodged with UTS International.