What Separates the Good Animator from the Bad Animator?

There are a lot of things that separate a good animator and a bad animator. There are a lot of animators out there that have all of those qualities. Two important things that inspire all are an animator's attention to detail and creativity. Of course, all shots have to tell the story, sell the emotion, have good body mechanics, timing, weight, etc. What is unfortunate is that a lot of times a shot will have all of those elements, and then the animator will consider it done.

A good animator will work his shots until they are good enough to be in the film. A great animator will take it that extra 5 percent past what is required and make it amazing. Feet don't land square to the floor most of the time, and fingers don't grab an object and then stop moving. Eye lids are constantly reacting to what is happening in the eyes, and the face has so many ticks and tiny oddities that it is overwhelming. The animators that blow me away always seem to take the time to add the small imperfections that make a shot feel real. Sometimes there are small details that you feel more than you see. However, if they weren't there it wouldn't feel nearly as sweet.

The other thing that really gets everyone pumped about a shot is an acting choice that no one would ever have thought of. Some animators are able to come up with ways of expressing an emotion or an idea that are wildly original but seem to not be out of place for the character. It is very obvious in those moments that the animator put in the effort to avoid the clichés and brainstormed until they had something special.

To sum up the views of a good animator as someone who has all of the skills but also takes real pride in their work. They aren't just trying to get their shots approved by the director, and they aren't running with the first idea that will work. They are not just trying to get four seconds of footage into the film. They are trying to create four seconds of inspired animation that will help elevate the film. There are animators that have been in the industry for many, many years and still labor over their shots that way.

The world 3D Animation and VFX

3d animation and VFX study has lots of surprises up its sleeve. There is increasing demand for skilled 3d animation and visual effects professionals in today’s market. Growing business prospects of video games and animation films have made training programs in 3D animation and visual effects a worthwhile education option.

Curriculum of 3D animation and visual effects generally combines traditional arts and computer animation. Traditional subjects include concept drawing, life drawing, 2D animation, character design and composition. Study of these subjects help students of 3D animation and visual effects are taught including Photoshop, texturing, animation and modeling.

Specializations available

You would find 3D animation and visual effects a smart career choice only if you opt for a specialization for you. Generally, 3D animation and visual effects course offers the students three specializations which are known as- 3d animation, visual effects specialization and modeling specialization.
3D animation specialization
Students pursuing this specialization undertake study of effects production for an entire VFX shot.

Modeling specialization

This area of 3d animation and visual effects concentrate on the creation and production of industry standard and production models. Students doing modeling specialization conceptualization professional demo reel with top lighting quality.

Career prospects in 3D animation and Visual effects

3D animation and visual effects study ensures that they become highly skilled 3D artists. Professionals of 3D animation and visual effects can explore career avenues for position like visual effect artist, technical director, texture artist, lighting artist, modeler, character animator and pre- visualization artist.

Video Game industry soaring high

Surging growth of video game industry has brought about several coveted job positions for career-oriented aspirants in related field. One of the demanding job positions within graphic and animation field is the profession of video game character artist. Character artists are skilled and qualified professionals who design video games and shape video game characters.
A professional video game character artist must know basics for creating video games. However, his or her prime job is to determine the types of characters that can match the requirements of the newly crafted video games. Possessing advanced technical knowledge about computer artists.

Job Specification
Character animation professionals or character artists are trained people who build and design characters, shape their looks and give movements to them. So they should ideally possess strong drawing sketches of various creatures on white board or paper. Once the basic design is finished, character artists create the same design in computer with the help of modeling software.
The work of video game character artists begin with plain shapes. These are known as primitive polygons. Then, these polygons are stretched, twisted and combined to form the shape of the skeleton which seems to be covered with mesh of wire. Thereafter, the mesh of wire is covered with virtual skin and muscles. Finally, colors are added.

Required professional training
Video game character artists can be professionally trained in video game animation and design schools, colleges, universities and vocational training institutes located in Chandigarh. These institutes offer diploma programs in large numbers of related fields including video game character designing.

Course work taught in video game character, animation and design degree program also includes several technical training such as storyboarding, characterization, drawing, modeling and design

Student work at National School of Media

Top #10 world's most expensive animated movies EVER

Even with production costs that can reach up to 170 million dollars U.S., animated movies are still among the most profitable for the movie industry. During the past 5 years, almost every major film studio has sought to emulate the success of the genre pioneered by Pixar (which was recently acquired by Disney) and lately, Dreamworks Animation. Even the smaller, independently financed studios are producing more 3D animated films.

So what are the most expensive 3D animated films ever made? The following list shows the production costs of each movie, its U.S. box office take, and its worldwide box office take. All figures are rounded to the nearest million, and do not include promotion costs, which can run anywhere from 10-50 million USD per picture.

#10
Shark Tale
Released 10/1/04
Distributor: Dreamworks

Shark Tale managed to make a hefty profit for Dreamworks, even though it was widely panned by critics (On Rotten Tomatoes, only 35% of 160 critics gave it a positive review) The film had its controversies, mostly dealing with the ethnic stereotypes portrayed by some of the movie's characters. Examples:
Italian Americans complained about the stereotypical mobster references;
Some African Americans were offended by the stereotypical behavior of Will Smith's character.

Production Costs: $75 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $161 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $363 Million (USD)

#9
The Wild
Released 4/14/06
Distributor: Buena Vista

The Wild is from C.O.R.E. Feature Animation, and was distributed by Buena Vista (Disney). The movie was accused of being a rip off of the movie "Madagascar", although "The Wild" is reported to have been in production before "Madagascar". The film only did fair numbers at the box office.

Production Costs: $80 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $37 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $87 Million (USD)

#8
Toy Story 2
Released 11/19/99
Distributor: Buena Vista

Toy Story 2 is the sequel to the successful original Toy Story movie, also produced by Pixar and distributed by Disney.The movie revolves around the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when no humans are around to see them.

The movie holds the distinction of being the best reviewed movie ever on the movie site "Rotten Tomatoes". There are 108 reviews listed for the movie, all of them positive.

Production Costs: $90 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $246 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $486 Million (USD)

#7
The Incredibles
Released 11/5/04
Distributor: Buena Vista

The Incredibles won the Academy Award in 2004 for best animated feature film. It is Pixars 6th feature film, and the first to be rated PG, rather than G. It was also the highest selling DVD of 2005 with 17.4 million copies sold.

Production Costs: $92 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $261 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $631 Million (USD)

#6
Finding Nemo
Released 5/30/03
Distributor: Buena Vista

Finding Nemo is another academy award winning feature film for Pixar studios. The heart-warming Finding Nemo had an opening weekend gross of $70 million, a record at the time, but was soon surpassed in 2004 by Shrek 2. There are many rumours about a sequel, but this has not been confirmed officially.

Production Costs: $94 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $339 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $866 Million (USD

#5
Treasure Planet
Released 11/27/02
Distributor: Buena Vista

Treasure Planet was a rare miss for Disney/Buena Vista. A spectacular miss, actually. It is known as one of the biggest box office bombs ever. The makers of the film used an innovative animation technique, combining hand drawn 2D animation and 3D computer animation. It is also the first film ever to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX theaters. Despite these innovations, the film failed to connect with audiences. Some blame the failure on the high competion that year (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lord Of The Rings Two Towers, and The Santa Clause 2 were all released around the same time). The high production costs were blamed on the 2D/3D technique. Many critics say the final results of the technique were not worth the extra costs. But you gotta give Disney credit for trying.

Production Costs: $100 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $38 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $91 Million (USD)

#4
Monsters Inc.
Released 11/2/01
Distributor: Buena Vista

Monsters, Inc. was the 4th film in the Pixar lineup. The film, about monsters who are afraid of children, opened with the highest ticket sales ever at the time, and is the 6th most popular animated film in history.


Production Costs: $115 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $256 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $525 Million (USD)

3
Dinosaur
Released 5/19/00
Distributor: Buena Vista

Dinosaur used live action backgrounds combined with computer animated effects, with spectacular results. The opening two minutes of the film are particularly impressive. The movie was supposed to have no dialogue at all (just a narrator), but Disney head Michael Eisner insisted on dialogue to make the movie more commercially viable. It was the highest-budgeted movie of 2000, with a reported cost of $128 million USD (some unnoficial estimates go as high as 200 million).

Production Costs: $128 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $138 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $356 Million (USD)

#2
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within
Released 7/11/01
Distributor: Sony

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was the first film to attempt photo-realistic computer generated human characters. The movie was promoted agressively by its distributor, Sony Pictures. Despite the promotion, the film went on to become the second biggest flop in animated film history (Treasure Planet is #1), nearly bankrupting its creator, Square Pictures. Many speculate that the failure was due to the fact that the movie was nothing like the video game it was supposed to be based on, alienating many of the movie's potential fan base.


Production Costs: $137 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $32 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $85 Million (USD)

#1
The Polar Express
Released 11/10/04
Distributor: Buena Vista

This 2004 feature film was based on the children's book of the same name, by Chris Van Allsburg. The actual book can be read in about 5 minutes, but the film was 90 minutes long. The film enjoyed modest box office success, but the results for the film's 3D Imax version were incredible. Financially, the 3D version outperformed the 2D version by 14 to 1! There are now plans to release the movie in its Imax format every year during the holiday season, so expect even higher revenue for the film in the future.

Production Costs: $170 Million (USD)
U.S. Box Office: $173 Million (USD)
Worldwide Box Office: $297 Million (USD)

Highly recommended tutorial- The making of Wine Glass

Henrik Malmgren’s well crafted The Guest has a not dissimilar feel to that classic 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers where instead of Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce we have the lonely Elsa celebrating the birthday of her departed husband when a fugitive from the police takes shelter in her home. The brute - complete with pump action shotgun, police helicopters screaming overhead and the house surrounded - is charmed by the old lady whose solution to the problem is gracious and not without tension. The 3D drama contrasts the sedate home of the lady with the urban chaos occurring noisily outside. As with its illustrious predecessor, the feature is the relationship between old lady and criminal, a tour of the family photograph album cementing a friendship. Very largely self-financed the film was made in co-operation with Open Workshop and the West Danish Film Fund. Teacher and musician, the multi-talented Henrik has a dedicated site for the film.

Career opportunities in 3D animation industry

How much do animators earn?
Animator salaries vary according to industry demand and area of specialization. In general, freelance animators with about 2-3 years of professional work experience earn about $500-750 per day.

Is 3D animation the right field for me?
If you have creative or artistic inclinations, then 3D animation may be a career choice for you. 3D animation could be applied as a medium for communication in virtually any industry. Whether you are pursuing a career in artchitecture, industrial design, medicine or law, learning 3D animation will be can be an asset for you your work..

Do I need to be an artist to be a 3D animator?
It depends on which specific are of animation you want to focus on. In some areas of specialization prior artistic skills are very imortantant, and in others they are not. The 3D animation software is so advanced today that it also provides you with tools and libraries of 3D models, textures, and animation files and with experience you can create stunning scenes and images.

Do I need to be a computer programmer?
3D animation programs are user-friendly applications that resemble design programs like Photoshop or Illustrator.The applications use the familiar mouse/windows/icons interface-just click and create.

What software should I learn for 3D animation?
Currently, the three high-end 3D software packages in the industry are 3DS Max, Maya, and SoftImage. The programs are similar in their technical capabilities, and difference in final output stem from designer talent, not from the software.

an eminent media academy

National School of Media is an eminent media academy, welcoming students who are keen to step into the world, where creativity is the beckoning paramount. NSM thrive to empower its students with a vision, which help them see the world that is teeming with unseen and unfelt ingenious possibilities.

NSM exclusively offers an unrivalled vocational experience, producing students who are proficient of fulfilling the most eager and demanding needs of the media industry. Students learn hands-on skills in a supportive environment alongside the most skillful industry professionals.

Animation Placements at National School of Media

At NSM we promise that we won’t let your career slip under the radar. As we are associated with many well-known companies of the nation, therefore, we guarantee our students 100% placement in the renowned media houses. We follow rigid procedural approach by expounding the talent and profile of our students to the profound recruiters of the industry. Our career facilitators are always available to advice on job opportunities, interviews and audition techniques, thereby, helping students in successfully launching their career. Contact : 09914441888