Biography
Cheryl Briggs is Professor of Animation and Motion Capture Engineer, Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media. She is also core faculty in the Emerging Media MFA Animation and Visual Effects Track and the Emerging Media BFA Character Animation Track. Cheryl came to UCF in Fall of 2009 as founding faculty of Character Animation and served as Area Coordinator from 2014-2022. She was founding faculty of the Animation and Visual Effects program and served as Program Director from 2016-2022. Prior to UCF, she taught as Professor of Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design from 2001 to 2009 where she was Mocap Engineer for the Department since 2005. There, she developed and taught a graduate level animation course focusing on the use of motion capture in film and games. Cheryl is a published author and is also an Autodesk Certified Professional and an Autodesk Certified Instructor in Maya since 2005. As an award-winning animation producer and director, her students have been featured in animation festivals worldwide, and many have gone on to work within the film, television, and video game industries. You can find her portfolio of professional work and student work here www.cherylcreates.com
Cheryl is currently on the Board of Directors for the Animation Hall of Fame and is a active member of SIGGRAPH, ASIFA-Hollywood, Women in Animation, and the Society for Animation Studies.
Education
MFA, Computer Art – 3D Animation, SCAD, Savannah, GA USA, 2001
M Ed, Higher Education – Georgia Southern University, GA, USA 2009
BA, Art Education – University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA, USA 1995
Personal Interests
Favorite Game: Classic Arcade games like Pac Man, Galaga, and Centipede
Favorite Movies: Animated films, of course!
Hobbies: Working, writing, walking, and watching old sitcoms
I’m a Geek Because: My life revolves around animation
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Animation
- Rigging for animation
- Character animation
- Animation production
- Animation filmmaking
- Motion capture
- Animation history
- Narrative storytelling
- Visual storytelling
- Digital storytelling
- Virtual reality
PUBLICATIONS
Books
- Briggs, C. (2021). Essential Introduction to Maya Character Rigging (2nd ed.). Boca Raton and Oxford.: CRC Press.
- Briggs, C. (2019). Animating Short Stories: Narrative techniques and visual design. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 978-1350103924
- Cabrera, C. (2013). Reel Success: Creating Demo Reels and Animation Portfolios. Burlington: Focal Press. 224 pgs. ISBN: 978-024082102
- Cabrera, C. (2008). An Essential introduction to Maya Character Rigging. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd. 408 pgs. ISBN: 978-0240520827
AWARDS
2021 CAH Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award
2020 UCF Women of Distinction
2020 UCF Mid Career Refresh Award
2020 UCF Scroll & Quill Society
2020 CAH Research Incentive Award
2018 CAH Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award
2017 Teaching Incentive Program Award