Technical Animation: creating the technical aspects of the assets to be used for animation, such as motion rigs and motion libraries.
Effects: creation of complex visual phenomena like explosions, smoke, water, fire, rain, etc. through simulations or advanced tools.
Lighting and Rendering: creation of the ‘set lighting’ look in a manner similar to films, and generating the final images through complex software calculations.
Compositing: creation of the final composite image by assembling all the components such as animated character layers, effects layers, background layers, and adjustments layers. Color correction and tonal balancing of the entire sequence.
Editing: Aesthetically cutting together desirable bits of footage to create a cohesive flow for the final narrative.
Art direction / Production design: Designing the environment, the mood, and the color palettes of a film.
Production Control: A relatively new and emerging area of specialization. Production managers plan, schedule and monitor an entire production. They are the eyes and ears that enable scheduled deliveries to clients and are a very important part of any animation team.
In western countries, education institutes have recognized the need for specialized training in VFX and animation, thus they offer courses from a very basic to PHD levels. In India, most training institutes offer only Diploma courses. Only very recently, Degree courses are being offered due to the demand for graduate courses from parents and students.
Courses to get into the VFX Industry
The professional education in ‘animation’ has three levels of study after 12th as the following. There are Certification, Diploma and Degree courses.
Certification courses are short duration courses , but they really cant address the needs of the industry as such a short duration is not enough to learn the subject well
Diploma courses are taken for the duration of 1-1.5 year and are available after completing 12th grade from any stream. Diploma courses available with Seamedu is Diploma in Visual Effects & Animation.
Degree courses have duration of three years after completing 12th in any stream- B.F.A.
Visual Effects
& Animation for Film & TV course covers both live action & animation with a focus on Specialization. Seamedu is starting VFX courses in Bangalore along with CMR University.
The VFX industry is somewhat unique since the work is extremely visual in nature. The majority of entry-level hiring is done on a basis of your ‘demo reel’ which is a 3-5 minute film of your best work edited together. If you have drawing or fine-art skills then a traditional art portfolio also goes a very long way in getting the attention of studios.
As with most industries, you have to start at the entry level with a basic skill set and then the salary rises rapidly as does your experience. International studios on an average pay more than domestic ones and the salaries vary by location. Mumbai is currently at the top end of the table. A skilled animation director with 6-10 years of experience can earn between INR 100,000 – INR 300,000 p.m. An entry level artist can draw between INR 10000 – INR 15,000 p.m. depending on the city and of course the quality of the demo reel. Senior artists and team leads can command between INR 30,000 – INR 75,000 p.m.
Every industry is defined by the people in it. The case in VFX/Animation is similar as well. If you want to have a good stand, you must strive for it and prove yourself in this field while at the same time keep on learning about newer technologies for improvement. Also, have fun!