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The differences between character animators and interactive designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a character animator, becoming an interactive designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an interactive designer has an average salary of $97,929, which is higher than the $72,126 average annual salary of a character animator.
The top three skills for a character animator include animation, maya and character animation. The most important skills for an interactive designer are sketch, user experience, and UI.
| Character Animator | Interactive Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $72,126 | $97,929 |
| Hourly rate | $34.68 | $47.08 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 416 | 48,136 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
A character animator specializes in developing life-like character designs for film, television, advertisements, and video games using special animation software. Their job usually entails understanding project requirements, conducting research, developing drafts and models, adding different effects to enhance designs, presenting designs to lead animators, and performing revisions when necessary. They are also responsible for adhering to deadlines and budgets, producing reports, and solving issues and concerns. Moreover, a character animator usually works in a team setting, which requires an open and transparent line of communication for a successful workflow.
An Interactive Designer takes the business product and transforms it into a product that the user interacts with perfectly. They support engineering efforts to develop designs and get the details right.
Character animators and interactive designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Character Animator | Interactive Designer | |
| Average salary | $72,126 | $97,929 |
| Salary range | Between $46,000 And $111,000 | Between $67,000 And $141,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | California |
| Best paying company | The Walt Disney Company | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a character animator and an interactive designer in terms of educational background:
| Character Animator | Interactive Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Animation | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between character animators' and interactive designers' demographics:
| Character Animator | Interactive Designer | |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 74.4% Female, 25.6% | Male, 66.8% Female, 33.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 5.8% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 7.5% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 13% |