Animation is a booming industry with
a wide variety of jobs available.
Animators can work on full-length
animation movies, create television
commercials, make DVDs, make games for
Internet, mobile, PC or consoles (like
PlayStation or XBox), work in the
advertising industry or as web
designers. The e-learning industry also
uses animators and so do fields like
medicine, engineering and architecture.
The entertainment industry including
movies, TV programmes and Special
Effects (VFX) for movies or TV is a
major employer.
A typical animated film requires 700
to 800 animators. Of the 30,000
animation studios around the world, 70
percent have a turnover of US $1
million.
India, South Korea, Philippines,
Singapore, Japan and China are seeing a
deluge of outsourced animation work from
across the globe. Indian companies are
creating a number of animated films and
cartoons for US and European studios.
Animation is a global industry with a
large turnover (estimated at $59 billion
in 2006) and a growing demand; this is
causing a shortage of skilled people.
There is a wide variety of jobs
available in the animation industry,
some of which are
as follows:
- Designer
- Audio & video specialist
- Visualiser
- Graphic designer Graphic
Designing
A graphic designer is responsible
for the layout and presentation of
different types of media (such as a
poster, a package or a website)
- Multimedia author
- Web designer Web designer
A web designer creates web pages.
Web designers use graphic design
skills as also tools like Flash,
HTML, CSS, etc.
- Content developer
- Modeler Modeler
Modelers facilitate the filming of
puppets or any form of 3D models.
The puppets are positioned and
filmed before being moved slightly
and filmed again. This gives the
impression that the models are
moving. A modeler should have a
solid understanding of anatomy, form
and volume.
- Texture artist Texture artist
A texture artist applies a surface
to the 3D modeled character, object
or environment. Coordinates are laid
out to give the model an applicable
surface for colour and texture.
- Rigging artist Rigging artist
Texture artist A rigging artist
takes the modeled, textured 3D
character or object and sets it up
with a skeletal system or joints (if
required). Without this step, the 3D
model would not be able to animate,
talk or move fluidly and correctly.
- 2D animator 2D animator
2D animation involves the creation
of a high volume of separate
drawings that define a sequence.
This technique is widely used in
creating characters for animations
and cartoon programmes.
- Lighting artist Lighting artist
Lighting an animation requires the
artist to create variations of
shade, colour intensity and shadows
that would have been produced if it
had been a real-life scene with one
or more light source.
- Rendering artist Rendering
artist
Rendering artists take all the data
in a scene such as models, textures,
animation, lighting, etc and output
the correct combination in the form
of individual frames of animation.
- 3D animator 3D animator
The 3D animator takes the sculpted
(or modeled), textured and rigged 3D
model and breathes life into it.
This is done by putting in order the
key frames such that they appear to
be in motion.
- Compositing artist Compositing
artist
Compositing consists of layering
individual frames of animation on
top of one another to create final
images. These images are then strung
together to create complete shots or
mini animated movies.
- Editor Editor
An editor assembles various visual
and audio components of the film
into a coherent and effective whole
- Storyboard artist Storyboard
artist
A storyboard artist creates a series
of panels that contains a visual
interpretation of the screenplay –
much like a comic book
- Character animator Character
animator
A character animator brings
characters to life and generally has
knowledge of traditional animation,
stop-motion animation as well as
claymation
- Effects artist Effects artists
Effects artists create a believable
world for the action to take place
in.
- In-between artist In-between
artist
Tweening (short for in-betweening)
consists of drawings that are
inserted between the ‘key’ or
important drawings to make the first
image flow smoothly into the next
one.
- Image editor
- Multimedia developer
- Digital post-production artist
- Special effects artist Special
effects artist
Special effects artists integrate
live-action footage with Computer
Generated Imagery (CGI) or other
elements (such as model work)
- Programmer
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