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Lisa Tan spent the summer at Universal Creative, the team that designs the rides and attractions at Universal theme parks. The Animation major supported the attraction designers by providing 3-D assets and animations to help them visualize how the sites will look and function.

“I applied to Universal with an interest in their involvement with films and the types of media they produce. I honestly had no idea how much of an asset 3-D animation work could be for theme park design, but it has been an absolute pleasure to discover,” Tan says. “I have always been a big fan of theme parks and the experiences they create, but the process behind designing an attraction was definitely beyond my imagination.”

She took a full toolkit of skills she learned at CIA, but the internship has helped her work in new thinking. “I am learning how to consider the engineering aspect of design and the physical restrictions of things that would normally be without limits in CGI,” she says. “I’m very familiar with creating artwork to tell stories, but when these stories need to become tangible objects around you, that changes a lot about how you approach the art.”

The most valuable part of this internship was working in a studio environment, she says. “I have always wanted to work for a bigger company, because I want to be part of a large team effort to create something meaningful and significant,” Tan says.

“This was an amazing opportunity to discover what it’s really like and how much I enjoy it. I’ve found that I’m really passionate about the work, and that has definitely opened up for me a new area of the entertainment industry where my skill set is valuable.”