"The demand for animated entertainment has expanded"

What is the recent tie up with UTV Toons about?
In its endeavour to continually grow its business and provide the Indian market with high quality animation, UTV has deployed multiple licenses of Autodesk 3ds Max® 8 software, the latest offering from Autodesk Media & Entertainment.

Designed to meet the present and future demands of increasingly complex 3D production environments, 3ds Max® 8 software will allow UTV to increase the overall productivity of its animation division by 20 - 30 percent. Over the next three months UTV plans to expand its Toons division to house 200 animation technicians at its facility in Mumbai. Additionally, the company expects to migrate at least 80% of all future projects to 3ds Max® 8.

Due to its vast range of products Autodesk M&E is in touch with all the studios across the country. What kind of outsourcing is gaining prominence in the country and why?
A recent study on the animation industry by NASSCOM pegs the global animation market at US$ 50-70 billion by 2005. Total animation production by Indian producers meanwhile is expected to touch US$1.5 billion by 2005 (Arthur Andersen's study on the Entertainment and Media sector).

The demand for animated entertainment has expanded. In the past, animation series were aimed at children aged nine and below. In recent years however, TV stations have been producing animation series for various age groups. Broadly speaking, animation is increasingly used in video games, and movies are also increasingly reliant on animation and computer graphic special effects. The major opportunity areas for animation producers in India are feature film production, TV programmes, Advertising/commercials and Games.

Indian animation companies like UTV Toons are already executing international animated series such as "Freej", "Magic Cellar" and "Tripping the Rift". An indicator of the kind of work expected to be outsourced to India is the recent $10 million animation outsourcing deal between UTV and US based BKN New Media Inc.

Which are the countries that are gaining prominence as animation outsourcing destinations and what are their respective strengths?

India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore and China are the major outsourcing destinations across the world.

As indicated by industry estimates, the animation production industry in India has the potential to grow into a major export engine for the country. Indian design studios are establishing their credentials in overseas geographies, gaining valuable experience and building their skill sets in this high potential global market.

Along with cost, quality plays a critical role in outsourcing work to India. There are large film production studios and over 10 global class animation studios in India that are equipped with relevant experience, state-of-the-art infrastructure and software platforms.

What products and which sectors is Autodesk M&E going to be bullish on, in the coming New Year?

Going forward we plan to maintain our focus on film and video animation and additionally target games, Web, interactive media, consumer products, industrial design, automotive, architecture and visualization markets for our software business. Our latest offering, 3ds Max 8 is created to address the growing 3D pipeline complexity with new data management, character animation and speed/performance advancements.

3ds Max software is the industry's most popular solution that help customers realize their creative 3D ideas for design visualization. Its superior features make it applicable across several industry verticals such as architecture, construction, engineering, medicine, defense, e-learning, forensics amongst others.

Every market and region has its specific needs, what are the most required solutions and production features that the Indian studios demand?

Indian studios need advanced 3D modeling, animation and rendering capabilities to develop world class animated games, film and video production and design visualization. Given the number of international projects coming to India, these features are necessary to create a world class product

Software like 3ds Max 8 not only address fundamental needs of advanced users such as Character Development, Advanced Modeling & Texturing, More Comprehensive Development Framework and Complex Data Management, but also deals with complex datasets in highly collaborative workflows.

Additionally it also introduces state-of-the-art non linear animation and character development tools and important innovations to its already leading modeling and texturing and rendering tools, including powerful new tools such as pelt mapping. In the competitive market of animation outsourcing, these features can help studios differentiate themselves.