Do you know that the 22 minutes special effects in the climax scene of the Shankar's Tamil film 'Jeans' where two Aishwaraya Rais dance on the stage-is the longest ever special effects sequence made in the world.

  The ranking of the Chennai based Pentamedia Graphics as the world's number one animation company ahead of US-based top guns like Lucas Digital Domain is a sure sign of the potential India has in this feild.Yes India is growing in the field of animation.

  With animation becoming an essential component of the increasing number of feature films produced in Hollywood, cost cutting has become producer's main concern particularly because animation, computer graphics and computer-generated special effects cost a bomb if undertaken in the US studios and labs.

The 2D animation

  A good animator is much more than just someone with the technical skill to manipulate tools. A good animator must also be an actor, a keen observer of life and the laws of physics, and must possess a high degree of left-brain organizational skill as well.

  Animation is a laborious, highly skilled process; the smallest details must be taken care of, right down to ensuring there is uniformity in the distance between the two eyeballs in the several drawings that 2D animation requires, and checking that the pencil lines in the various sketches are uniformly thick.

Difference between 2D and 3D

  Quality two-dimensional animation communication better than a series of related still drawings. In general, simple 2D is less expensive than 3D.

  The line separating the two kinds of animation has already been crossed and recrossed countless times, until that border has been scuffed into meaningless oblivion.

  The 2D animator is much like a director of live-action film, who with the lens of his camera forces everyone to view his subject from exactly the same viewpoint at the same time, whereas the 3D animator is more comparable to the director of the stage-play, the actors of which may be viewed at any given moment from the front row, from a balcony, or from far back in the orchestra section. The 2D animator may choose the best angle of the pose; the 3D animator must make a good pose and hope it will be understood from whatever angles it may seen.

  Also, the 2D animator can enhance a pose force a perspective, or minimize or exaggerate the foreshortening to enhance his drawing, even though knowing that the pose, if it could be viewed from some other angle, would look false and wrong .Generally, the 3D animator cannot do this unless there is only to be one cameras viewpoint and it is known. This is comparable to the way statuary was sometimes designed for monumental settings such as cathedral niche, for example, fifty feet above the viewing floor.

  The 2D animator must construct his character over and over again ,constantly reminding himself that the character has no weight unless the quality of his movement gives him weight.

  While computer based 3D animation is gaining popularity, for traditional 2D animators, drawing skills are very important. What works ,however, is a 'happy marriage' of 2D and 3D,such as in Lion King, where the character were 2D,but the background,3D.

  There are many job opportunities in the field of animation. There is a great deal of opportunity in the field of 2D animation. There is great deal of opportunity waiting to grasped, and that the Indian animation industry, still in the fledgling stage, will mature in the near future. Some of the institutes offering 2D/3D animation courses are given below:

1.Arena Multimedia,4th Floor,
Kalliathu Royale Square,
Palace Road,Thrissur-680020
Ph:0487-2337506,2337717
www.arena-multimedia.com

2. Aries Animations,
MG Road,ManeeshPlaza,
Thrisur.
Ph:0487-2385736

3.Image Multimedia,6th floor
Landmarks enclave,
Near South Over Bridge,
Valanjambalam,Kochi.
Ph:0484-2373136

4.Glimpse International,
M.K.V Buildings,
Shenoys Junction,
Kochi,
Ph:0484-2383290

Courtesy : Deepika Education