Animators


Introduction

Nearly all of us have seen animated movies or cartoons in our life , either in the form of full length movies such as "The Lion King" and "Toy Story", or television series such as Mickey mouse or Tom and jerry. These days several advertisements also use animations to convey their message effectively.

Nature of Work
Animators create sequences of motion picture art that tell a story or communicate a message.
Traditional animators draw each picture individually on paper which are then transferred onto film and when played back rapidly (about 25 frames per second) give us the effect of motion.
However, these days with the advent of powerful computers and software such as 3d Studio Max, Alias, etc nearly all animation work is being done on computer. computer animators rely less on traditional graphic design expertise and more on proficiency on using the animation software. However good drawing skills are always an asset.

Nearly all animators are part of a team and have a specific area of specialization. Some of these areas include, character animation, Three dimensional animation etc. Some animtors work on individual characters, scenes or sequences, others may work on assembling these together to form the complete picture. All work done by animators has to confirm to the script and specifications laid down by the director.

The bulk of the animation jobs are in the field of advertising which require short animation clips. In India animation movies in regional languages have yet to pick up in popularity and consequently hardly any Indian animation movies or television series are produced.

An encouraging trend however is that Indian companies such as Pentafour Communications and Crest communications have developed considerable expertise in high end animation and have bagged foreign orders for animation films to be produced in India and exported.


Education and Training

As in most fine arts fields, no formal education or training is required; what is required is talent and a good knowledge of computer based animation packages. Many multimedia academies have sprung up who offer to teach you animation. However most of them teach the bare basics and do not have qualified and talented faculty. Before signing up at any of these institutes, ascertain the competence and experience of the faculty and the software packages they teach. On the PC platform one of the most commonly used animation package is Macromedia Director for two dimensional animation and 3D Studio Max for three dimensional animation.

On the higher end Silicon Graphics platform which is used to produce quality animation for broadcast and full length films, the commonly used software tools include, Soft Image, Alias Wavefront etc. Training on this platform is offered only by a select few training schools, the leading being Pentafour.

Government Institutes:
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad offers a course in Visual Communication. Animation is one of the topics covered in this course. Admission to this institute is on the basis of an all India entrance exam.

Remuneration
As a fresher you can expect a salary of Rs.4,000 - 6,000 per month depending on your talent. This salary increases rapidly with experience and training on high end computers.


Future Prospects
As can be seen on Television more and more advertisements use animations. Also the animation industry as a whole is growing the world over. With the development of the requisite skills, Indian companies are bagging orders for animation production from advanced countries due to our cheaper costs. As a result there is a growing demand for talented animators with the right software skills. This trend is expected to continue in the future