Toon boom may be the next IT boon

The market for animation experts, who tweak complex software packages to create images ranging from Lara Croft and Spiderman to Javed Jaffri...

The market for animation experts, who tweak complex software packages to create images ranging from Lara Croft and Spiderman to Javed Jaffri’s character in Jajantram Mamantram or Aamir Khan in Ghulaam, is small but growing fast. Almost every Indian film now has five to 10 minutes of animated content and telefilms are also plugging into the software industry to improve quality — and push up sales.

‘‘Each animated film requires skilled professionals and huge investments into infrastructure if it is to succeed,’’ says Naveen Gupta, V-P Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics. Adoption of animated content in the mainstream has grown from nearly none, to hundreds of minutes of high-quality 3-D and 2-D minutes rolled out over the last three years. Since then, the vertical has been recognised as a potential revenue-churner for the software servics industry.

According to NASSCOM estimates, the global animation industry will grow upto $50-70 billion by 2005 and is a massive opportunity for software businesses to exploit the demand for roughly $37 bn worth of animation services. However, the animation industry is still waiting for the government to implement several recommendations, which are currently with the Dept of Information Technology. These include an industry status for the animation sector, tax incentives to the players and setting up of Animation Technology Parks on the lines of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). Global software majors like US firm Discreet are already in India providing access to the latest software packages for 3-D animators, even animators like Toon Boom Technologies (Canada), Wildbrain Inc. (US) are names that Indian firms have to compete.

The Indian animation industry includes players like Toonz Animation, UTV Toons India, Soft Image, Jadoo Works, Heart Animation, ColourChips, Prasad Studios and several others, which, as per NASSCOM, are distinctly more cost effective. According to Maya, animation in India is 19 to 20 times cheaper than elsewhere. All we need is quality manpower. ‘‘With our 25 centres we can train around 1,500 people annually, but to grow the industry needs a holistic approach,’’ says an official.

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