The future of Animation lies in the current crop of audience & their perception. Are you basking in the Oskar glory of Life of Pi?If yes, then dive into the deep of the matter. They are saying something called CAVE (Cloud Animation & Visual Effects) did most of the magic. You are not much into animation, but you enjoyed it anyway. Didn’t you?
A year back, You joined the worldwide spree about The Adventures of Tintin; Avatar & was amazed by the ‘near human’ cartoons. Back to your very own drawing room, the little animated fly of Makkhi must have surprised you by its potential if not by the vengeful actions. The tiny tots are glued to cartoon channels, video/mobile games ; they remind you of your childhood & at times, you too join them. Why should children have all the fun? Generation gap does exist, but certainly not in front of Tom & Jerry or Mickey Mouse.
The amount of giant labour that goes behind these stupendous creations, is quite awe inspiring. A typical animation movie requires minimum 5oo animators! So the splendour of the Animation Industry can be easily assumed. Though the target audience of Animation is mainly children. The adults find it innovative as well as refreshing too. While children love both 2D & 3D animation, with the surge of the 3D animation, young adults are mostly hooked on 3D. In fact, the popularity of 3D has affected the 2D market but in practical.. if someone knows ANIMATION technology is not a problem for him/her as Animation is the skillset.. and software or what we call MULTIMEDIA is a medium to show it . However, once the hype cools down, it can be well said that both 2D & 3D will go hand in hand.Animation don’t related with software .. software only enhance the speed of work, Animation can be done with a simple lightbox with paper pencil and colors (I am talking about 2D). Probably I will touch upon the gaming field in another writeup as ANIMATION and GAME DESIGN or GAME DEVELOPMENT or GAME ART are not at all same 
“Play, so you may be serious”- This is probably the catch-phrase for youngsters these days. They are loving games & this invariably refers to a momentum growth of 3D mobile games. The gaming industry is booming. Now, most video games use poly models resulting lower speed. Very soon, advanced video cards will be used for higher speed. The development of future gaming, however, depends on the newer innovations in the field of Animation. The success graph & future prospect of the gaming industry clearly signals that the Animation industry is poised to be the biggest crowd puller in near future.
- The major segments in which the success of the Animation lie, are- 2D, 3D gaming, Multimedia, Web-design & VFX. Animation is a creative industry for the creative people. Depending on one’s aspiration, creative skills, experience & expertise, the Animation Industry has to offer a colourful palate with high-paying, one of the most promising career options. Apart from the PSUs, private & home production houses are always there to start & flourish your career as an animator. Sectors in which animation works are sold like hot cakes are-
- Advertising
- Online & print media
- Films
- TV commercials
- Theatre
- E-learning
- Interactive classroom
- Entertainment industry
- Medical Industry
- Corporate presentations
- Plants and mechinary
- E- business
Also, in animation field, one can assume different roles, such as-
- Amateur animator
- Concept artist
- Character animator
- 2D animator
- Texture artist
- 3D modelling and texturing artist
- Key-frame animator
- Rendering artist
- Roto artist
- VFX Artist
- 3D animator & counting.
It requires an organised effort, patience, extreme discipline & good research skill. A junior animator may start his career with 12k which may go up to as hefty as 40k depending on his creativity, experience & expertise.
The scope of animation is huge all over the world. But in India, well, the future is vast, bright & the market is in dire need of good animators. Here, the Animation industry is still at a budding stage though in recent times, thanks to the spread of digital media, people are showing more interest. Indian Animation Industry is relatively young. The first Indian animated educational film was Ek Anek Aur Ekta. Roadside Romeo is India’s first attempt of 3D animation. Newer movies are of course better & much advanced. Take the example of Hanuman.
India is a favoured destination for relatively low-cost production & large base of skilled animators. Outsourcing is the chief means of the Animation industry. Yet, the indigenous market is gradually waking up. Outside India, the market is more mature & the media strategy is friendly to the Animation Industry. In India, till now, only mythological concepts are universally granted for animation. Films that tried otherwise, like Toonpur Ka Superhero couldn’t claim success. While children associate the animation mainly with ‘cartoons’, adults find the storylines too simple & superficial. The infrastructure & minuscule investment are some other hurdles.
But India has power of producing exceptionally original work. The Indian Animation Industry is supposed to reach a growth of 5,400 crore by the end of 2014. This is just 2% of the tremendous growth potential. A healthy growth has started from the end of 2011. Indian animation students are leaving footprints on several international projects.
Inflation, like all other sectors, does affect Animation too but in a relatively meagre quantity as of 25%. Chance is always for the dedicated ones & fresh minds loaded with ideas. Making animated human characters is a challenge because accuracy is flawlessly expected. In the future, it will be indistinguishable from the real actions, as expected. Improvement in the existing infrastructure & emergence of new entrepreneurial start-ups will help the Animation industry take up the BPO model which in turn will boost up the economy & man-power.
The rich talent pool of India is truly enviable (Because some institute offers MULTIMEDIA instead of ANIMATION) . Only it has to be properly nurtured. Loads of animation training colleges are there. Virtualinfocom is a leading in this sector & has pioneered since 1998. All are creative. We just need to realise our potential. Virtualinfocom helps to bring out the inherent entrepreneurial skills with the utmost care. A flair for drawing & sketching is all what takes to learn Animation. Virtualinfocom devotedly offers specialized training in 2D & 3D animation along with advanced knowledge of the principles of Traditional Animation like squash & stretch, anticipation, animation design sense, Digital animation programming etc. The Animation Industry is as vast as an ocean. As days will roll by, the need of a shade of the fantasy world will definitely be felt more, and the scope of creating a niche for oneself in the industry will be brighter as well. The goal is not always to imitate live actions, but to create a perfect fantasy world with real-time rendering.
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