Its all about Animation!!!

"ANIMATION has evolved as one of the fastest growing and most in-demand industries in the world today, and has become a popular feature in movies and advertising commercials that make heavy use of special effects," says a brochure from Aptech and yes we agree!

Personality: Animation is a creative thing and one needs to have creativity while handling. One should have flair for sketching/drawing. It needs long hours of continuous work with a whole lot of dedication. One should be good at visualizations, choice of colors and acting too. Though this profession seems to be quite unglamorous, yet it is very exciting and unless one has the complete dedication and interest in it one should not enter this field.

Educational Qualifications:For a diploma and for a bachelor degree in animation one needs to have passed 12th standard from any recognized board with minimum of 45% marks. For postgraduate program one should have a bachelor's degree in any discipline preferably arts. One should have a basic knowledge of handling computers.
Specialization:One can specialize as a 3D or 2D modeler, special FX Creator, Animator, Character Designer, Games Designer, Interaction Designer.

Colleges, Institutions and Universities:

* National Institute of Design (NID)
* J.J School of Arts.
* Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA)
* Industrial Design Center (IDC), IIT Mumbai and Guwahati
* Arena Multimedia
* Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics
* TOONZ Animation India Pvt .Ltd
* Academy of Digital Arts and commerce
* RAI University
* ANIMASTER

Career Prospects:Animation application areas include myriad avenues in the following areas

1. Entertainment (movies and television)
2. Business (product promotions and marketing demos)
3. Sales (presentations)
4. Education (Computer Based Tutorials/Web Based Tutorials)
5. Publishing (graphics and printing)
6. Virtual reality in Defense
7. Web designing
8. Engineering
9. Advertising (commercials and print ads)
10. Fashion designing and interior designing
11. Development of computer games/mobile games
12. Medical, legal and insurance industry (presentations and model)

Course fee: It mainly depends on the institute you are going to pursue the course from and also the kind of course you are doing, whether it is a diploma, degree {short term or long term}.

Kind of Jobs:

1. Modeler
2. Layout artist
3. Clean-up artist
4. Scanner operator
5. Digital ink and paint artist
6. Compositor
7. Key frame animator
8. Background artist
9. In-between animator

Every role is crucial for the successful creation of the Animated project

Nature of work:From a simple flick book to the computer 3D animation of stories, animation involves a lot of hard work and long hours of meticulous planning.
3D animation is a complete teamwork and works on the creative ideas.3D animation itself is a combination of wide variety of career combinations. The various steps included in the making of a 3D animation movie consists of: Story → Story Boarding → Character Sketch → Concept creation → Modeling → Environments → Rigging → Character and Mechanical Animation → Storyboard Animation → Lighting →Texturing → Dynamics → Voice Recording → Digital Editing → Vfx → Final Film

Opportunities: Animation is fast emerging a special form of media now days. Animation is growing into a multi-billion dollar industry generating a great scope of employment for those who ready to try their skills into it.This field being new to the Indian sector has a lot of hidden potential and talent, which needs to be properly groomed and exploited according to the international standards. There are many companies like Walt Disney, I Max and Sony who are ready to outsource their artoon characters and are ready to invest heavily in this sector in India. Especially for someone who looks at animation and computer graphics as a serious career.The range of jobs available for a computer animator can be mind boggling. There is hardly any industry that doesn't require or use computer animators.

Job Prospects in India: This is expected to boost India's creative reputation. NASSCOM has projected a creation of an additional 300,000 jobs in this sector in next few years. Indian animation industry though a late starter is on the threshold of a boom period and so has a great career potential. India has great mythological stories and characters, good artists and technical.

Job Prospects Abroad:I MAX,Sony and Walt Disney are the top notch companies who require competent animators for various projects.

Remunerations:Animation is a sparkling career option even though it is at its nascent stage in India. It is rightly said that animation is a career where one can literally 'draw' ones salary. The training institutes help the candidates in their placements. After finishing the in-house training in some leading animation production studio, you can be a junior animator and can start earning between Rs.12000 to Rs.14000. A senior animator with an experience of 3 to 5 years can take home a sum of Rs.25000 to Rs.35000. But if you have a portfolio of some good and outstanding animation work you would even be able to earn more than Rs.50000 to Rs.60000.So in just a few years one can draw a salary of six figures.