Animation joins the BPO boom

Animation and gaming are seen as the next wave in Indias successful outsourcing story. However, there is a major change, this is a sector which has moved up from outsourcing to co production, a move up the value chain from low end, less creative work to higher creativity and advanced technologies, says Krayon Pictures director Namrata Sharma. She said that for India to catch the animation bus, it needed to quickly provide the required manpower since Nasscom had projected that both animation and gaming were multi billion dollar opportunities for India. The usual block, however, is the lack of trained manpower.

And those who do go to training schools offering such courses are not studio ready, industry veterans claim Industry is now trying to bridge the gap through an industry training institute co operation. MCCIAs Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, animation and gaming committee, comprising a three member group of industry professionals, has devised a curriculum for a six month foundation course, which will provide the industry with studio ready professionals.

Additionally, the committee has proposed the formation of a loose alliance of all training institutes so that some facilities might be shared. This association will ensure that basic standards are maintained in the quality of training imparted at these institutes.

MCCIA committee co ordinator Cmde Anand Khandekar said the sector was more than just software. Being a multi disciplinary area, its manpower must be skilled at acting and the other performing arts. Lalit Kala Kendra of the University of Pune has, therefore, devised a course for applied theatre, where theatre can be used as a therapy by the industry.

Source : http://www.offshoringtimes.com/

Home Business Web Designers Announced New Services – 3D web Design & 3D Animation

On its way of celebrating years of success in integrated web solutions, India-designers aims at entering and capturing the market of 3D animations as well.

India Designers, one of the leading website design and Development Company in India has recently announced its new services for its offshore customers. India Designers has recently added 3D graphics and animation design.

Getting employed expert 3-D Animators having expertise in offering unique identity to your corporate business, this leading web design company is ready to set a mark in providing complete unique web design services in combination with its other custom web designing, logo designing, corporate identity designs, flash animations, software development and seo services.

In the present online web business scenario the Entrepreneurs wants to give an attractive look to their online website for their online customers, so that they can make the viewers involved with their business for long. In this aspect 3D Graphics web & animation plays an important role in luring the online customers towards the site. 3D graphics and animation gives unique looks to any websites.

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Magic Of Disney Animation

I'VE always been a huge Disney fan so when I was offered the chance to become one of their animators for the day I was hopping around the office Tigger-style.

I was invited to an exclusive animation tour of the Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles - home of classics such as Cinderella, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and The Lion King - to celebrate the re-release of 1961 Disney classic 101 Dalmations.

Animation experts have restored the Bafta Award-winning movie brilliantly with enhanced picture and sound.

And I went along to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the magic happens.

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Dreams to invest Rs 36 crore in 3 animation films

Hyderabad based animation film production company, Deepak Raj Entertainment and Multimedia Solutions (Dreams), is set to invest around Rs 36 crore to make three animation films.

Dreams is in talks with HSBC to part fund these projects. The investment in each film will be around Rs 12 crore. The company's first 2D&3D film 'Kutti Chetan and Friends' will be in six languages and is expected to be released by this year-end according to DREAMS Managing director and CEO Deepak Jadav.

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Indian animation film Manpasand awarded in NY

Mumbai: It's a first for Indian animation with Mumbai based Dhvani Desai's Manpasand based on a dying folk art winning at the New York Film and Video Awards this year.

Its been Dhvani's patient effort for over two years to bring to life traditional sketches of Sanjhi. She finally used this dying art form from Uttar Pradesh as a medium to animate the Panchatantra story Manpasand.

Now, after 10 nominations worldwide and an award in New York, Dhvani's efforts have paid off. Surprisingly, her desire to revive this folk art has a lot to do with a relationship that her film's story and the art form share.

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Animation company pulls in the grads

Twenty-three-year-old Adrian Blackwell grew up in Australia and went to art school in San Francisco, so he wasn't sure what to expect from his first Michigan winter.

"I'd never really experienced snow. Some hail maybe, but not snow," he said last week. However, Blackwell said he is making the adjustment and likes his new job with RTT USA Inc., which is succeeding in attracting young, highly skilled employees from around the U.S. In its own small way, RTT is reversing the movement of young college graduates from Michigan by offering creative, high-tech jobs experts say are critical to the state's future.

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More than just Disney: 3-D animation class trains students for lucrative and lively business

Do you think all animators do is Disney movies? If you do, then think again.

Since fall semester of 1999, Santa Barbara City College has offered 3-D animation classes as part of the School of Media Arts.

Mihir Mahapatra is the instructor for the 3-D character animation class, where the students create character design, facial animation, muscle and skeletal systems, and modeling for hands, feet, bodies, and heads using the business standard software Maya.

"Students learn the complexity of the software," Mahapatra said. "Many artists try to go fast when creating, but the best thing you can do is to slow down and take it one step at the time."

Mahapatra said that the resources at SBCC are really good, and that it's a big advantage that they use the same software as the people in the business.

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Animation & gaming companies want STPI-like tax break for exports

The animation and gaming industry in India wants income-tax breaks on a par with software companies to produce cheaper films and compete in the Asian market.

Software companies housed in software technology parks enjoy tax breaks on their export profits. Though the benefit ends in March 2009, it might be extended for 10 years, considering that the surge in the rupee has impacted their bottom lines.

The animation and gaming industry is lobbying for similar tax benefits. “We have given a formal proposal to the information and broadcasting ministry seeking a tax holiday on export profits under Section 10 A of the Income-Tax Act. The finance ministry has also been kept in the loop,” said Ficci animation and gaming forum chairman and DQ Entertainment CEO Tapas Chakravarti.
The industry also wants government-sponsored animation institutions, with IIT stature. “We have also asked the I&B ministry to amend the TV Broadcast Bill to promote local content on Indian television channels.

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Original Video Animation: From Japan with Love

Original video animation, or OVA for short, is a Japanese import art technique that features mind-blowing visual sequences and deep plot lines. In fact, OVA will beat most movie animation titles in several critical artistic categories, hands-down.

Original video animation came onto the scene in the late 1970s as the experiment of a group of Japanese animators. As the anime craze grew over the course of the next decade, thousands of OVA titles were released to meet demand. The video animation in these artistic works rivals that of mainstream movie production companies, which are bound by formatting guidelines and other creative restrictions.

Features of Original Video Animation

Here’s an overview of OVA:

• Release Date. Original video animation works are released straight to video, often not even appearing on television or the big screen.
• Format. OVAs are typically released on DVD or laser disc to account for the enhanced visual and audio effects that give this genre its pizzazz.
• Characteristics. These video animation shorts are usually between 20 minutes to two hours in length and span several episodes to create the story.
  

Artistic Control

Perhaps the most attractive feature of an original video presentation is its edginess and underground feel. And that’s all due to the immense artistic control that OVA producers employ. OVA animators have full control of their video animation productions. They are able to tell the story in their own timeframe; thus plot lines and characters are complex and engaging.

If you haven’t yet experienced an original video animation, you’re missing out on one of the pure forms of the art. The Internet and especially eBay are the perfect resources for finding this popular Japanese animation art form.
About the Author

Kelly Richardson covers the local education and technology scenes in major cities across the country. His articles appear in educational journals, periodicals, and e-zines.

Source : http://www.animationschoolreview.com/

North set to have its share in growing animation sector

Increase in the use of special effects on screen and success of animated movies like Hanuman has given birth to animation industry in India. According to a recent survey by Nasscom, animation industry is expected to grow by 25% annually. Talking to FE about this, Naveen Gupta, director, Frameboxx animation studio said, "There is growing demand for animated movies. These movies not only attract children but also lure older people. Also, animation has other various applications like in architecture, advertising and product design."

Commenting on the job prospects in the city he added, "Springing up of large television channels in the region has given boost to the demand for animation. Also it has become more easy to set up studios now, as the price of hardware has reduced significantly."

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'CSM' Putting More Emphasis on Animation in Its Cartoonist Search

NEW YORK Animation is becoming a bigger part of editorial cartooning. It's also becoming a bigger part of the editorial cartoonist search being conducted by The Christian Science Monitor.

The paper is now actively seeking an editorial cartoonist to do animations -- "perhaps even interactive ones" -- for CSMonitor.com, said Clayton Jones, the Monitor chief editorial writer and editor of the commentary pages, when contacted today by E&P.

"Animations keep the attention of younger people, who are more visually oriented," added Jones.

The Monitor is seeking a successor to Clay Bennett, who left the paper last fall and started with the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press last month.

The person picked could do animations solo or with the help of a Web person already working for the Monitor, and the person could also do print cartoons for the paper.

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RP animators producing more original content

MANILA, Philippines -- Animation houses in the country are now producing more original content, an official of the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc., (ACPI), said.

Last year, ACPI president Grace Dimaranan said in a statement that the local animation industry has seen more activities leading to the production of original content. ACPI is currently the biggest organization that represents animation firms in the country.

The group held its first animation festival and contest, dubbed "Animahenasyon" to highlight original content last year. The event underscored the increase in original content being produced by local animation houses, Dimaranan said.

ACPI also noted that the first Filipino full-length digital animation film is scheduled to be released this year.

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Drawing Their Own Map: The Latino Animation Industry

Mary Castillo takes a close look at the groundbreaking creators of Latino animated series now appearing on your TV screen.

Once upon a time, nine years to be exact, an adventurous little girl named Dora appeared on Nickelodeon. But her bobbed hair, brown skin, and bilingual patter made her a hard sell up against animated princesses.

"Dora was so unlike what little girls were supposed to be like," recalls Ligiah Villalobos, head writer of Go Diego Go! "She wasn't a princess, she never sits still and she's a chubby little girl in shorts."

Steeped in Latin traditions, Dora the Explorer premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999 and spread into 74 countries in 15 languages. Whether their last name was Salas or Smith, parents bought Dora dolls, movies, books and bed sheets, making her one of Nickelodeon's biggest success stories.

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Structures always need animation

Pope Benedict's second encyclical, Spe salvi (By hope were we saved), gives us a timely reminder about something we many times take for granted and then forget.

Structures, in whatever form they come and no matter how important and indispensable, are useless if not animated by freedom and love.

It's a reminder for all of us, but most especially for our leaders in all fields of human endeavor, whether in the civil side or ecclesiastical.

The prompter is amply discussed in nos. 22 to 27 of the document, generating a good number of helpful insights, corollaries and practical considerations. It would be good to go through some of these points here, like…

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Waddell Media Expands Into Animation

Waddell Media has announced the acquisition of multi award-winning Belfast-based animation company Flickerpix Limited.

The name Flickerpix will be retained by Waddell Media and developed under the creative vision of its founder, Joel Simon.

This is Waddell Media’s first foray into the world of animation and comes at a time of unprecedented growth for the company.

Said Waddell Media Managing Director J Brian Waddell commented: “2007 has been by far our strongest year and we wanted to kick off 2008 by building on that success. Flickerpix is a great company that produces fantastic, innovative work and will complement our existing portfolio.”

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Is Bollywood’s future animated?

Many directors are now finding a new way to meet their creative output...Animation. The animation industry is very young in India as only a few movies have been made in this format. But it is growing by leaps and bounds and many new animated movies are in the pipeline.

History of caricatures
The world of animation is very new to India. The first Indian animation movie to be released in theatres in June 1934 by New Theatres was called ‘ The Pea Brothers’ . The ministry of information and broadcasting and the Children’s Film Society of India played a major role in shaping the animation industry in the country.

Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design invited professionals from the West to train Indian animators in various aspects of the art as well as technology in the late 80s. Despite these initiatives, no serious efforts were made till the next decade to cultivate animation as a serious industry.

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Argentina becoming animation hot spot

Argentina is becoming a Latin American hot spot for animation, with producers entering the field with projects that fuse local flair with international standards.

Illusion Studios, behind blockbuster "Patoruzito" with Disney-backed Patagonik Film Group, has refashioned its pencil-based production operation into a digital studio with 2-D Toon Boom and Maya 8.5 3-D software.

It gained financial muscle last year with the entrance of the Exxel Group, a Buenos Aires-based private equity fund, as 80% owner. This made it possible to expand its one-feature-a-year capacity to three -- plus content for the Internet, mobile phones, theater, TV and other outlets. Illusion has 120 animation artists in Argentina and this year will open a Mexican house with 25 artists.

"Our aim is to expand the reach of our animated films with U.S. market standards and without leaving behind the essence of the Argentine characters," says Gaston Cami, head of international relations. "They are strong characters for films and TV series."

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1980s Animation 'The Smurfs' Coming to DVD

Over the next several months, fans of 1980s cartoons will never have a better chance to discover their inner smurf. Coming to DVD for the very first time at the very end of the month of February 2008 and readily in development or production for a slew of consumer products and film projects for its celebration, The Smurfs, like many other television programs from its era, now returns to prominence with fans of retro animation. A series that emphasized camaraderie and community relations above all else, The Smurfs offered its young audience how to live the long hard fight, learning to care for one another right from the start… even if there's a crazy guy trying to capture your village so that he (or his cat) can eat you.

Coming to DVD starting this month with the help of Warner Home Video is The Smurfs: Season One, Volume One; the first home video installment of the long-running television cartoon. Featuring a cuddly, miniature town of little blue persons that live in mushroom houses and pride themselves in a strong community, the Smurfs are a curious little bunch of folks that many kids of the 1980s grew close to.

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DreamWorks Animation Expanding to India

DreamWorks Animation SKG has formed a strategic alliance with Thomson’s Technicolor Services division to develop animation capabilities in India. The alliance will leverage Thomson's recent investment in Paprikaas Animation Studios in Bangalore, which will help DreamWorks complete a growing slate of projects as it expands into television via its recently announced deal with Nickelodeon.

Strengthening Paprikaas’ creative, technical and computer animation capabilities will help Thomson reach its goal of becoming a worldwide supplier of animation through Technicolor Services, which has been a leader in post-production services for animated feature films. DreamWorks Animation will assist Technicolor in recruiting, and training of animation talent for the Paprikaas team.

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Indian animation industry may touch $950 mn by 2009

With global players like Walt Disney, Imax, Warner Bros signing contracts with Indian animation companies for outsourcing and co-production, it is expected that the animation industry in India can touch $950 million by 2009 and is expected to grow at a fast pace over the next five years.

However, outside the Industry there is scepticism about the pace of growth because of the challenges like piracy, lack of intellectual property (IP) protection rights, acute lack of resources and investments the Industry is facing.

In an interaction with Business Standard, KPMG Advisory Services (P) Ltd Director Jaiddep Ghosh said, “Although India is the largest media consuming market in the world, only 1 per cent of the US market size which is estimated at $10 billion, so far the animation is concerned, it is currently pegged at $600 million.”

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Indian animation industry faces several challenges

Lack of developed market, low level of professionalism coupled with minuscule investment in technology are some of the challenges being faced by Indian animation industry which needed to be overcome on priority basis in order to put the industry on high growth trajectory.

These were the views of the animation experts during a Conference on Animation and Gaming orgnaised by CII here on Saturday.

Addressing the gathering, KPMG, Advisory Service Private Limited, Director, Jaideep Ghosh said, "Animation industry in India is still at developing stage unlike in US and Canada and it is turning out to be a major challenge for animation industry in India".

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PDF step-by-step: Create and use screen animations in your files

My work as an IT trainer for accountants involves producing a lot of complex printed materials. But there are times when it is just not possible to put over on paper the sequences someone might need to follow to carry out a particular task in an application program. Over the past year, I have been exploring the possibilities of including animated graphics within PDF versions of my training materials.

While I have carried out quite a lot of experimentation into the best way to achieve this, I am sure there are improvements still to be discovered or pointed out to me, and there are many other, more sophisticated, ways of creating tutorials – including of course Adobe's own Captivate package.

My aim has been to keep it all relatively simple, by just taking the original printed documentation and adding suitable animations to make the final PDF document better than paper, while also allowing it to be printed and read as hard-copy if required.

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