The Hindu Business Line : Learning to build fantasy worlds

You get this surreal feeling in the green room. We are led in there quietly, and then the lights come on. Here, the ‘green’ room is not backstage where actors put on their pancake, away from public glare. This one is where the actual action takes place. Bright lights positioned so that no shadows get caught in the camera. The lights give you that feeling of being in an unreal world, a world of fantasy.

Welcome to the world of 3D animation.

eWorld was curious to know what exactly went on in training schools that imparted software animation skills. Our visit took us to the offices of Aptech’s franchisees under the Arena Multimedia umbrella.

For a student who dreams of creating a Nemo (of Finding Nemo fame), or a Diago (from the movie Ice Age), The Green Room comes into the picture (pun unintended) only after several hours and weeks of training to draw and learning other software skills. So let us begin at the beginning.

We are escorted first to the teacher, who actually instructs us in drawing. Inside a large room, along the walls are several desks, each with a clamp attached with a measuring scale. The instructor Vijay Amarnath once worked under film director Balu Mahendra. Among the things he says, of interest are skills in key-frame drawing. As we reveal our ignorance, he helpfully explains that any action, such as throwing a ball, can be divided into key frames. So, a picture of the arm with a bent elbow, another sketch of the arm halfway into the throw, and then the final sketch of the arm outstretched after the throw are the key frames. Once you draw these, the remaining action can be filled in with software.

Beginning with lessons on how to listen (yes, that is an important skill, say the instructors of the animation course), draw straight lines without the aid of a ruler, and capture an image by looking at an object; the students of Diploma in Animation Engineering (DAE) are taught even the apt posture to have while sketching. They are made to understand the shapes behind every object. In other words, an informal course in physiology is what they go through. Says Amarnath, “Without a basic knowledge of physiology, you could have students giving awkward poses to the human body.” The leap of a tiger has to be graceful, so the contours of its body cannot be drawn in a haphazard way, he says.

In addition to sketches (aka Cell animation) and key frame animation, students learn character animation (animating the desired character), cleaning up (tracing the repeating strokes using tracing paper and backlight to save time), story boarding (fusing animations into the characters of the story), and rotoscopy (correcting colours, composting and creating layers in the predetermined fashion).

After a taste of drawing skills, we get into the software domain. The building taken up for software instruction is divided into three classrooms with seating capacity of about 30 each. Explains P. Saravanaraja, the Aptech Franchisee who spends a whole evening with us, “We would love to have more students per class but that would dilute the impact the teacher would have on students.”

Here, Saravanaraja takes a detour to demonstrate key frame animation using the electronic pencil. An artist draws key frames that show a person bending down and straightening up. Using software, the whole action is depicted smoothly onscreen. This happens in a matter of 10 to 12 minutes, and leaves us awestruck with the instructor’s ability to conjure up a string of images for us. The electronic pencil goes quickly over a horizontal pad but the image appears onscreen.

Between 2D animation and 3D animation comes the Green Room with which we introduced you into this world of dreams. For projects, students use cameras to capture objects, including dinosaurs and other exotic looking animals in miniature, inside the green room. Lights are used to ensure that shadows don’t interrupt the capture and come in only when needed.

Then we come to the animation lab. You find here about 40 high-end terminals, each seating about one to three students practising or working on an animation project.

We learn that students who opt for only 2D animation typically find careers in e-learning, or in doing up Web sites with multimedia and the like. The 3D animation specialists get a chance to go on to movie animation and pre-production work.

So who decides which student is apt for either course? Saravanaraja says it depends on the student’s aptitude. “One should be a good 2D animator to become a 3D animator. However, to become a 3D animator it is not necessary to be an artist but should have a fair idea of art.” 2D animation courses last about nine months while 3D, which comes after the 2D phase, lasts 11 months.

Interestingly, among students who pass out of 2D animation courses, only 25 per cent are keen on progressing to 3D animation. And, ironically, the demand for 3D animators is four times the current supply. Says Saravanaraja, “The demand for animators is huge. A leading animation MNC with a centre in Bangalore wanted about 4,000 animators. However, the company could meet only 10 per cent of its requirements.”

Whoever is talking about a slowdown in industry?

Animation is nothing but a moving illustration. Twenty four frames are required to create a movie for one second. What you see in cartoon movies in a minute would have the rapid movement of 1,440 frames or sheets of sketches in a predetermined fashion. Hence the production time of a movie is a function of the number of minutes multiplied by the number of frames. Visual effect can be achieved by mixing live characters with animated ones. 3D animation is part of visual effects. Movies using visual effects are popular in India as they have shorter gestation period (since it is actually mixed with real characters), eventually confining the budget to a few 100 crores of rupees. Fully animated films are expensive and time-consuming. Such projects are primarily taken up in western countries. However, the backend work is done in India, and hence the demand for animators and other related technicians.

Feedback from students

Balamurugan: He tells us he is very happily employed with a Top 5 IT services company, in the area of e-learning. He passed out in 2002 and was employed with an Internet Service provider in Chennai before moving on. After gaining experience in multimedia and 2D animation, he now designs e-learning packages. For now, his client is an automotive company that requires employees to pass an instructive course. Clients send in what they want from the course. He uses these to design the package. Ram Chand: After a year’s work in e-learning, this multimedia student from Aptech now works with an international publisher that has started a third-party shop to provide e-learning services. From a current headcount of 10, it wants to quickly scale to 100. With three years’ experience, Chand is able to command a CTC of Rs 6 lakh a year.

Santhosh Kumar: A truly passionate animator who is determined to make it big in the world of 3D animation. He works with DreamWorks (Remember Steven Spielberg?) in India, his first job. Ask him how he made it to a top company in the campus interview and he says his passion clinched it. But how does one prove passion? Kumar first asked the interviewer who his favourite animation genius was. In response to "Tim Dobber", Kumar said that in ten years’ time the interviewer should mention his (Kumar’s) name when asked the same question! He now works in the rotoscopy department. The path of progression would be designing animated features.

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