“There is lot of great development happening in India, what you see now is just the ‘ice cube’ on the tip of the iceberg”
Where is animation technology headed, what are the challenges that animation technology players like Autodesk are looking to overcome?
When we look at animation technology in general, there are many complex simulation problems and challenges that animators face. These are equally challenges for the developers of the software they use. At Autodesk there’s active research going on in simulation, including of particles and cloth, actually on the simulation of reality. The biggest challenge is in understanding what reality is. How does one simulate it? Perfect simulation of reality always seems to fall flat. The way science models the real world is rather different from the way we humans perceive it. The idea of CGI is therefore to create an optical illusion that gives a sense of what looks real.
Sometimes physically accurate simulation may not be very entertaining. When you are making content for entertainment you often want to emphasize certain aspects, not making things real but making them hyper-real, which is why CGI and even Digital Intermediates are becoming such a big part of entertainment creation.
So simulation has to be as entertaining as possible. Our customers are looking at creating more realistic characters, more realistic dynamics. For example snow and how it falls and accumulates. Things like that are challenges, tech problems. We are also pursuing simulation technology which is more interactive. Then there’s this concept of uncanny valley…
What is Uncanny Valley?
In animation, often the harder you try to make something look real, the more unreal it seems. This phenomenon is known as the Uncanny Valley. One of the mitigating factors in animation is using the story and the theme of the content to make viewers suspend their disbelief. The Incredibles was accepted and appreciated because it was stylized not real. With Final Fantasy where everything was intended to be much more realistic, the result was not accepted with the same amount of enthusiasm, the reason being that the audience held on to their disbelief. The biggest difficulty in crossing the uncanny valley is creating believable human characters. No technology is really close to automating this today despite several recent efforts.
Today, good character animation is a massively labour intensive technological process. Every time we build technology to make something simpler, people create more complex art and want that even simpler. So every time we learn something new, we realize how much more there is to learn when it comes to simulating reality. What is awareness? What is real? We are so programmed to analyzing humans above than anything else that we notice inconsistencies immediately, things we would not be so aware of in the animation of say a plant or a tree. The problem of simulating human behaviour may be solved eventually but will take a long, long time.
Similarly, airbrushed models work in Magazines because they are still frames, but when you meet someone who has undergone plastic surgery in person, you often immediately sense something is different or wrong. The reason lies in that – due to our continuous interaction with and observation of humans in motion – any minor deviation in facial or body movement, behaviour or interaction would immediately be obvious to us. We’d feel something wasn’t normal. Human behaviour is an interesting challenge to researchers of AI and is one that we are far from solving through simulation techniques. This is why the artistic role of the animator is still a critical component of animation. They provide the required human interpretation to make the result more realistic.
Please elaborate some more on the latest in Animation technology research and development?
We are always working towards creating software platforms that people find easier to use. When you develop content you need to add creative value but that is getting increasingly complex to do and to manage. We want to make it easier for users to do this. We also want to make it easier for them to develop customized tools for our software platforms. Our solutions have to be extensible and our focus is as much on productivity as creativity. With data becoming increasingly complex with larger and larger 3D scenes our platforms have to be efficient and extensible and collaborative. We have to be able to exchange data more efficiently and in more standardized ways and our FBX 3D format is a key component to this.
Do you collaborate with studios and users of the software for development?
Yes we do. The industry is always one step ahead because they have specific applications and specific problems to solve. How do we evolve and push the boundaries of animation? To do so we need a talented team of experts both internally and externally that can drive innovation in our products. We work directly with our clients to do so. We also have a strong consulting team made stronger by Alias’s.
What trends do you see in animation globally?
Not only animation but the entire media and entertainment sector is witnessing a very strong growth globally. The growth is double digit in Asia, in segments like games the growth is 17 to 20%. Huge growth in emerging markets also in countries like India and China. The growth is of different kinds though. In India the production growth is more on Films and Advertising which are huge, in China it is online games is showing stronger growth.
Statistics reveal that per capita spend on home entertainment is higher in China then in India, while spend on filmed entertainment is three times higher in India then in China. The way media is consumed in these countries is different; the way these industries are growing in the two countries is also different. In China it is more government-planned investment which helps create surplus infrastructure, in India it is more like the western model of competition, businesses in India are leaner and very profitable. As a result the way we sell technology in China is very different from the way we sell it in India.
Do you see Indian content having a more international appeal?
We are already seeing trends in this area but it is nascent. There have been a few successes such as Monsoon Wedding and Bride and Prejudice. There is definitely growth in consumption in the NRI communities, but Indian content has not yet been able to successfully cross over on a large scale. We often hear about the Crossover phenomenon and comparisons between China and India in this area; but China has a natural advantage: martial art sells easily across the world. There is no such globally appealing theme from India to help Indian content cross over, or at least one has not yet been identified.
Do you see digital technology helping India compete more effectively?
Yes. I went to see Paheli in a B tier theatre in Montreal, Canada. The quality of the print was astounding, better than some of the ones from the US. This was a movie that was graded digitally using Autodesk’s Discreet Lustre technology at Prime Focus in Mumbai. Prints can then be created from a high quality “digital negative” on a much more repeatable and scalable basis. Technology is enabling India to produce and distribute content that is very high end and that can stand side by side with US productions in international markets without any issues in image quality. Similarly digital production and distribution is helping provide domestic viewers with higher quality product which is encouraging them to spend more which in turn fuels growth.
You are going to see a lot of interesting things happen in India soon. There is lot of great development happening here, what you see now is just the ‘ice cube’ on the tip of the iceberg.
From your perspective, where is India on the Global animation map?
We are going to see more and more global producers influenced by what’s happening in India. This is a water-shed moment. FICCI Frames 2006 is a validation that Indian animation is as good as anywhere in the world. There are three markets developing very differently. Out-sourced content production, creating content for internal audiences and creating content for global audiences.
Outsourced content production is a large and strongly growing segment with significant investment from overseas pouring in and with overseas companies such as Rhythm and Hues even setting up local facilities.
Animation market is growing strong internally too. Hanuman was a profitable venture, and a great precedent to set in the market. It is a milestone in Indian animation. And we are seeing an increasing demand for visual effects and animation in Indian films from the obvious as in Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi to the more subtle invisible effects such as the MIG-21 fighter planes in Rang de Basanti
In terms of Indian content for global audiences – this is a very small and lowly developing market. Its i hard to see what the crossover appeal would be. One interesting area might be Historical drama. This has a lot of appeal, as in Gladiator or even Ben Hur – but things have to be executed properly. Another factor is the difficulty of compromise between what can appeal domestically and what appeals internationally. This is compounded by cultural differences as well as censorship issues – though we are also seeing very positive trends in the latter area over the past few years too. The fact that it is not a tried and tested market makes it a bit risky but that’s the opportunity too.
What educational challenges do you see for India?
When it comes to animation in India, the execution is often flawless, but innovation is the next big step, especially when it comes to advancing the state-of-the-art in animation. This requires a larger pool of skilled talent. One challenge is getting animation more accepted as a part of mainstream education and as a career choice compared to traditional professions or even IT. Until animation is better accepted by the Indian middle class as a high tech, high value career, things will be hard to improve.
Elevating the study of digital media professions is a key concern. Most companies are very focused on application specific training because it fits their business models. US companies fund university research. We need organizations here too to do the same. There also needs to be a stronger industry lobby, much like the ACM and Siggraph in the US. This would help better drive the political and educational agenda of the animation industry as a whole. NASSCOM has an growing influence but there is still a big delta between the US and India in this respect.
Is any development of the Animation software happening in India?
Autodesk as an organization outsource work to India on development perspective but almost all of the work is done abroad, though we have many non-resident Indians on our software teams. If you look at the number of Siggraph Papers co authored by Indians, you realize that there is a lot of brain drain. As a result there is not a really strong base of independent of 3D animation software developers in India today.
Your comments on Piracy…
Piracy in terms of content consumption is a bigger issue than software piracy, because content drives the digital media software business. However both are key issues. The challenge is to educate and change the habits of people in markets that are full of piracy. We have a two pronged approach, one is we raise awareness and two is that we also take disciplinary action. Autodesk invests quite a bit in anti piracy efforts around the world. You need to change habits and that’s a long term process. For this to really succeed governments need to take an active role, much as happened in Korea. Protecting content as well as intellectual property helps bring more money into the business as a whole which helps fuel not only the media industry but the overall economy.
Parting comments…
Technology is a great enabler and a great equalizer. Basically technology helps companies better compete both nationally and internationally and Autodesk has a mission to enable companies around the world build higher quality, higher value media. It is a great personal satisfaction that Autodesk technology has enabled India to become a leading DI centre in the world, equal to the US. The bulk of mainstream Bollywood and Hollywood movies are colour graded using Autodesk technologies and as we saw with Black and Paheli and more recently with Rang de Basanti the quality of Indian product is as good as that of the US.
Personal satisfaction to me is helping build the DI business in India.