Tech skills required The whole process of animation is partly art and partly science. The art part being the skill to sketch and the ability to conceptualize the idea and present it in a visual form. The real prerequisite for being an animator is an almost intuitive grasp of the fundamental principles of animation and the ability to tell a story and draw an emotional response from a viewer through animation. While the science is mostly about understanding geometrical aspects and the physics behind motion, light and gravity, the field also requires understanding of a variety of technologies and tools that help achieve the ends of the animation process. It's not just a creative domain, but a very technical area. Let's look at some of the key areas in the animation and VFX process and the knowledge required.
What are the prerequisites to start a career in this industry? The gaming industry is a rapidly growing entertainment industry that is as important culturally, socially and economically as music and films. In the UK, over half the population plays games: males and females, young and old. The opportunities to join the industry are immense and there are many entry points. The most important roles will be filled by computer scientists, mathematicians, designers, artists and animators and project managers. The skills required are determined by the scope of the game and the platform it will run on. Obviously, games written in Flash are quick and easy to produce. Games written for PS3 and Xbox360 require teams of about 100 specialists taking two years to produce a game, at a cost running into millions of dollars.
What are the basic skills that aspiring animation professionals should have? The ability to use a software package like Maya is a great asset. Other skills include the ability to build virtual 3D Wire frame models, create polygons and textures, hand animation or use motion capture facilities.
What effect has the explosion of video games had on the animation industry? The expanding video games market offers opportunities to the animation industry and must not be regarded as a threat. Video games require incredible amounts of art and animation that offer new opportunities for co-operation. However, mistakes can be made when animation studios suddenly think that they can develop games themselves. Warning: making consoles games is not easy! Whilst both animation and games involves the moving image, moving from creating a linear experience where the director creates a non-linear visual story to making a game where the player controls the action in real time is totally different and requires different skill sets. Gameplay is the most important aspect of the game and creating it is not a science, it's an art.
Modeling, Shading and Lighting: A modeler in games or movies needs to create the wireframe representation of 3D objects. For that, he needs to have the knowledge of polygonal modeling techniques. While producing effects like shimmering fish skin is the work of a Shader artist who writes algorithms based on a mathematical code and needs to have programming skills in C, C++, Perl or Python etc, a Lighting analyst should have an understanding of how lights interact with surfaces and the creation of shadows in 3D. All this designing is done using softwares like Maya or 3D Max.
What kind of job roles are available for animation and multimedia professionals? Animation and multimedia professionals have a variety of lucrative career paths to choose from. Individual career paths depend on their own abilities and aptitudes. They can be texture artists, 3d modellers, riggers or animators. At the top of the hill are jobs such as, Creative Director, Animation Director, VFX Director, Lighting, Modeling and Rigging artists, Production Head, etc. It's hard to predict in the beginning what the eventual career path will be. This industry is highly technical, and the scope for specialization is huge. On the whole, a degree certificate carries a lot more weight and seriousness in the job market.
Gaming has gained a lot of popularity in India, and India of late has become a hub for game development. Where is this trend headed for in future? What opportunities are there for developers in this arena? Games are immersive realities. You can escape your worldly worries in the bytes of a computer game. Gaming jobs are just beginning to appear in India and developers, designers and testers are very highly paid positions. It's a very cool career compared to others.
What areas of Multimedia and Gaming will see more demand for professionals in the next few years? The entertainment industry is booming in terms of visual effects and medical animation is a hot area of development. Intellectual Property Rights, digital content distribution, product design, and even architectural simulation are all new areas of development. Creative professionals in this industry can start with the Ad industry, moving up to Bollywood films and eventually on international platforms such as Hollywood films. For example, did you know that a lot of animation in some of the biggest Hollywood movies was done in India? These include names such as The Lord of the Rings, Narnia and The Lion King.
Pipeline: A Pipeline is the complete lifecycle of the animation process, from the concept to the final outcome. A pipeline manager should have a keen knowledge of the entire process and should be able to incorporate changes and repair problems on the fly without having to stop the process.
Rendering: Rendering is a technical director's domain. This process takes all the elements of a 3D scene-geometry, textures, lights, animation, and backgrounds-and renders them into a single image or series of animated images called a shot. Rendering is usually done with advanced rendering systems that work in conjunction with the 3D animation software, typically Mental Image's Mental Ray, or Pixar's RenderMan.
What technologies are behind the special effects and animation we see in movies? Can you also talk on the latest trends and technologies that are coming and shaping up the future of multimedia? Special Effects & Animation that we see in movies boasts of the latest technology in all domains, be it Hardware, Software, Networking, Data Recording or Skilled Artist resources. Movie production sees the use of latest camera equipment capable of recording to image sizes more than double the size of HD video. Handling such data requires high-speed transfers, huge disc spaces and high-end graphics machines. This calls for special software capable of handling such footage.
Technology is the key to the growth of animation and at the same time, it is the artist who actually uses the technology to achieve out-of- world graphics. He has to combine Computer Generated Imagery & other elements to do justice to that particular shot.
The animation industry has also seen a greater use of Motion Capture equipment to capture life-like motions directly from trained actors to the computer, and integrate it in CG.
Talking of upcoming trends, 4D entertainment is not a far-off dream. With the advent of stereoscopic display systems, soon there will be Sport Shows, TV serials and Live Performances in your living room. With technological advancements to support this, the Animation and Effects industry will be further pushed to a new level.
Mobile games, console and PC based games; all are gaining momentum in India. What kind of skill-sets should a game developer have for venturing in this domain? The game development professional can be broadly categorized into the super creative pool and the highly trained technical crew. The two groups form the same team but have varied skill sets.
The Gaming industry requires artists good at sketching & conceptualization to develop creative concepts, game characters & elements. They also require specialists who focus on one particular process, for example asset creation, animation or visual effects. The youth are the key factor behind the games. The majority of developers belong to the under-30 age group. Artists who wish to enter the game development domain must be energetic and passionate about games. First learn about the Gaming Industry, and then try and sharpen technical skills of your choice. The technical crew on the other hand consists of developers, programmers, network specialists, software analysts & testing professionals. These are primarily IT & software related profiles, working in close quarters with their creative counterparts. ?
The core of any production studio is the Rendering department. Sstudios have dedicated render farms compromising of hundreds of servers which act together to do the task of rendering. Bigger studios have their own render farms, while smaller studios depend upon dedicated Remote Rendering service providers. DuxSoft is one such remote rendering service provider in India where not only studios but also freelance animators can submit their work for rendering tasks to obtain the final outcome of their work.
Courses and Certifications There are graduate as well as post-graduate level courses for animation and multimedia available from institutes like National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and Image College of Arts, Animation & Technology, Chennai to name a few. These courses provide the individual with skills related to all aspects of the animation domain as well as an opportunity to hone up their creative and imagination skills, and also to improve their story telling ability.
There are private institutes too, like Frameboxx and Academy of Animation and Gaming, which provide professional training on 3D animation software and also on various game development platforms for enthusiasts along with regular education.
Final words Animation and gaming is for those who want to put their creative mind and imagination to work. Acquiring the skills of visual storytelling and conceptualizing ideas would only help in perfecting your talent. Specialize in a core talent, be it graphics designing, shader writing, game conceptualization, etc and gain experience in the field to help you learn all aspects. And with the technology evolving rapidly, keep yourself updated with the latest in computer graphics and animation. The field is all about being creative and with experience one can expect to have a great career ahead.
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