Custom Animation

Custom Animation is a set of effects which can be applied to objects in PowerPoint so that they will animate in the Slide Show. They can be added under the Custom Animation function (Slide Show | Custom Animation) or through the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). PowerPoint 2000 and earlier versions introduced basic effects such as Appear, Dissolve, Fly In and so forth. In PowerPoint 2002/XP and later versions, the Custom Animation feature was improved, adding new animation effects grouped into four categories: Entrance, Emphasis, Exit and Motion Paths.

Transitions are effects similar to Custom Animation, but are different in that they can only be applied singularly to individual slides as they change from one slide to another and are limited in options.

Entrance effects can be set to objects so that they enter with animations during Slide Show. Emphasis effects animate the objects on the spot. Exit effects allow objects to leave the Slide Show with animations. Motion Paths allow objects to move around the Slide Show. Each effect contains variables such as start (On click, with previous, after previous), delay, speed, repeat and trigger. This makes animations more flexible and interactive, similar to Adobe Flash.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 adds new transitions and animations, and makes changes to previously added animations, adding Fade effects to animations such as Wipe.

Animation Trigger

Animation Trigger is another feature introduced in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002/XP and the later versions (but, to date, not for Macintosh). This feature allows animators to apply effects that can be triggered when a specific object on the Slide Show is clicked. This feature is the basis for the majority of PowerPoint games, which usually involve clicking objects to advance in the game.

Games

Using hyperlinks and Animation Triggers, one can create games such as Jeopardy, using the tools to maneuver from question to answer. Taking this same principle, the animator can also make more complex games similar to a dungeon game or escape-the-room game. In this format, the animator can create a domain where the player chooses to go right or left, or pick up objects, and so forth. The process takes time, but is generally cheaper and easier than using multimedia software such as Adobe Flash.

For more experienced users, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is also commonly used in PowerPoint to keep scores, enter inputs and so forth. With the help of VBA, animations can be programmed with more flexibility.

Movies

A battle scene in the PowerPoint short movie, Shadow Fighter: The Movie, produced by PowerPoint Heaven

PowerPoint can also function as a movie maker program. The animator using PowerPoint works similarly to an animator using cels, using a succession of slides to create the illusion of movement. Many tools within the PowerPoint program can be easily used for maximum effect. Drawing tools such as AutoShapes, contains lines, connectors, basic shapes, block arrows, flowchart components, ‘freeforms’ (AutoShapes drawn by the mouse on pen tool) and banners, callouts and action buttons, help draw out a slide. Custom Animations and sound tools can also be used to help add excitement to the project and create interest in what might have been an otherwise dull presentation. The process of drawing out multiple slides takes time, but, again, it is considered to be less expensive and easier to use than buying and using professional graphics animation software.

Another way to produce these animations is by animating a cartoon as a single slide acting as a frame of film. This allows the slide show to run like an animated film. This is time consuming, but the artist has much more control and can do much more detailed and precise animation. It also allows control over the timing of the animation. This also makes editing of the animation easier afterwards. On average, month’s work of such animation usually ends up at about a minute in length. A three minute animation can take around three to four months to complete depending on the amount of detail, these lengthy cartoons usually run around 1,800 slides.

Using Custom Animation, cartoons or movies similar to those created in Adobe Flash can be done with PowerPoint. With minimum time, an animator can produce a simple show similar to a stick figure movie, where the body movements are animated using Motion Paths and Emphasis effects. An example released under PowerPoint Heaven, has a section called the Shadow Fighter series which demonstrates PowerPoint movies.

Distribution

While PowerPoint offers various distribution formats, notably in PowerPoint Show (.pps, .ppsx) and web page (.html), not all animation functions work accurately when saved as a web page or executed with a PowerPoint Viewer. Standalone EXE is also an alternate way for a creator to distribute his work with PowerPoint Viewer embedded. This allows for the audience without access to PowerPoint to view these works, as well. Animation works can be easily created by amateur artists which are then distributed on the web, though technical knowledge is required to create a notable work. A screen capture can also be used to manually convert a PowerPoint movie into a more viable format (e.g. WMV).

Drawbacks

Though animations can be created easily using Custom Animations provided in Microsoft PowerPoint, it may be much more tedious to complete a project in PowerPoint than in professional animation programs such as Adobe Flash due to the absence of key frames and tweening.

When effects such as Emphasis Grow/Shrink and Spin are applied to objects, they may appear to be jagged or pixilated when previewing in the slide show. In addition, excessive use of these effects may degrade the slide show’s performance. (PowerPoint’s built in Hardware Graphics Acceleration feature does help in minimizing these setbacks; however which requires a video card that supports Microsoft Direct3D.)

PowerPoint 2000 and later versions introduced macro security to help protect computers from malicious code within a PowerPoint presentation. This led to disabling all VBA or macro code by default, causing presentations containing codes unable to run properly. This complication can be easily fixed by adjusting the macro security settings to Low.[10] Security Warning in PowerPoint 2007 alerts the user of macros in a presentation as soon as it is opened, giving the option to run the presentation with or without the macros enabled.

A compositor’s role

Every facility is different, but they are all similar in that the compositing is at the end of the digital pipeline, meaning you are one of the last members of the team to touch the shot before it gets recorded to film. Also, compositors are generally the last to get hired and the last to get released from a project as well.

The compositor’s job is an important one. I always like to use the analogy that the compositor is the equivalent to a sound mixer or recording engineer of a recording studio. As a recording engineer is technically responsible for weaving all of the different pieces of music together, so that they make sense to the ear, the compositor is responsible for weaving all of the pieces of visuals together so that they make sense to the eye.

What skills are needed to become a compositor?

1) Become a problem solver

Probably the most important skill you can possess, and I can’t emphasize this enough, is the ability to problem solve and be resourceful. Often times on a project, image elements are assigned to you that don’t fit together at all and it’s the compositor’s responsibility to make them seamless and believable when they are composited. Elements might come to you in a different color space, resolution, or format than what you are presently working in, and you have to make adjustments as needed. Objects may need to be rotoscoped or painted out of a shot, which in a smaller facility, where you are more of a generalist, you would be responsible for doing this. In a larger facility, the roles are more specialized and you would most likely be compositing only.

2) Train your eye

If you are the type of person that has a knack and a passion for painting, photography and other 2D fine arts, then you will probably make a good compositor. Like a painter painting a landscape, a compositor typically works from the back and then forward. He/she also has to be familiar with camera movement (matching it or stabilizing it), depth-of-field shifts, lighting, shadows, keying, color (grading and matching), contrast, atmospheric perspective, (objects closer to camera have more contrast than objects in the distance, where blacks appear more gray), composition, key-framing and animation, motion blur, grain, etc.

Compositors are experts at mimicking the world around us. Casually take a moment to observe your environment, ie: how transparent a reflection is on a car windshield, or how a sun casts a warm orangey hue on everything as it sets, or how the trees that whiz by you while driving in your car are motion blurred, but the car beside you, going the same rate of speed as you, is not motion blurred.

By the way, the compositing techniques are not only limited to use in films, but they can also be applied to video and games production as well.

From:-

Shazia Raza

9795460063

Academic Counsellor

Picasso Animation College, Lucknow

The packaging of Kellogg’s had a hand drawn characters and that still runs till date. Kellogg’s took the same design forward for the commercial as well. Animators and Advertisers were both equally keen to work with each other. Both the industries formed a synonymous bond with each other and a whole new industry emerged with new technology coming in and creative ideas splashing across television screens. This gave rise to various new opportunities in the field of animation as viewers got hold of more than what they saw on the theatre screen. New experiments started taking place with respect to ad films and a clutter of animated ads took place which led to immense amount of competition.

Animated commercials were not only a hit with the children but at the same time advertisers started to use animation in ad’s for adults too. In India, Pilsbury atta was a very famous ad where a small pilsbury boy would help a lady in making roti’s and another ad that was a rage was sunflower oil where a small boy was seen running around freshly made puri’s and jalebis. Though this fad in India came quite late but it proved effective and now we see a hoard of animated advertisements.

The association between model animation and the actual world in which the movie is made means that it has to confine itself to the laws of the actual world so that it looks believable and real. But it’s obvious that these laws can be modified a little in order to get the message of the ad across. The actors or characters in the ad can walk and talk like normal public but if it tends to look like it’s actually there and happening it’s a great achievement.

One of the best things about using animation in TV commercials is that its gives an ability to advertisers to create a different world altogether which is not possible in real world using live actions. You can let your imagination run wild and have a situation which you could possibly imagine happening but it wouldn’t happen in reality. It helps in making the viewers get transported in an altogether new world which they can possibly just imagine and can this helps them live the moment. Kids especially being a great audience to animated commercials are always in awe of such stupendous things and getting an animated commercial does not always guarantee sale of the product but it at least guarantees interest of the viewer. Animation is also highly used in the case of toothpastes where a company tries to show the parent brand and a competitor brand and compare the usefulness of the brand against the other.

Animation in TV commercials was brought into action way after animated movies were made. Whistling Woods International School of Animation creates an excellent platform for students in animation.

Video Games have certainly evolved since the arrival of one of the earliest video games, Pong by Atari, more than 30 years ago. Back in the day, people were content to play this two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis. Gamers today, however, are demanding an increasingly more immersive gaming experience, one that the industry is constantly seeking to meet.

Almost every video game today uses character animation. It’s become a standard element in modern entertainment software.

Today, gamers find themselves in fully rendered CG worlds, competing in increasingly complex missions with more believable characters. This is where character animation specifically comes in to play: By creating greater empathy for the character, gamers become more involved in the game.

The uniqueness of gaming compared with other media is that we cannot just relate to the hero, but we actually become the hero.

As technological parameters, have increased and technology has become more sophisticated, game developers are using more complicated characters that allow the gamer to more fully connect with the gaming experience.

A Good Game Needs a Good Story

Technological advances also allow for increased intricacies of storyline. In this way, animators say that we start to see an overlap between the film and gaming industries.

Scriptwriters concentrate on storytelling and character development. If a game looks great,sounds great and is marketed well, it still won’t sell if the content doesn’t keep the

player involved, challenged, and wanting more.adding that after the content has been created, it’s the animators who are responsible for bringing it all to life. As a result, animation is playing a bigger role than ever.

To further involve gamers in the plot, more cinematics are being used so that gamers can see exchanges between characters and the subtext of what a character is thinking. It’s in a cinematic where an animator must control how users see the scene and where the animation is created through the lens of a camera shot, which is similar to watching a small ‘movie’ unfold.

A Big Demand for Character Animators

Character animators are in high demand in the gaming and the feature film industries because of their ability to bring characters to life. And animators say that creating empathy for the character is still the No. 1 objective in games and films.

As games become more sophisticated and technology advances, plot-driven games with more real and believable characters is where the gaming industry is headed.
Creating the animation for the video characters can be challenging, but is also rewarding and fun.

Whatever the future holds for the gaming industry, it is clear that character animators are in demand more than ever. Though the tools and technology are constantly changing, the core of what you do as animators remains the same.

From:-

Shazia Raza

30/7/2010
Academic Counselor,
Picasso Animation College, Lucknow.
Mobile: +919795460063
E.mail: shaziya@lucknowpicasso.com

Paint 3D offers some of the industry‘s most advanced aspects of paint and texture creation technology. Paint 3D is also the original development ground and authoring tool for Ptex, Disney‘s revolutionary open source texture mapping system that eliminates the need for UV mapping and efficiently stores hundreds of thousands of images in a single file. This represents the first time Walt Disney Animation Studios has commercially licensed its proprietary animation software to an outside company.

“The technology group at Walt Disney Animation Studios is proud to have created some of the most innovative software in the industry and we‘re thrilled to be contributing technology to The Foundry to make these next generation tools available to everyone,” said Dan Candela, director of technology at Walt Disney Animation Studios. “We‘re looking forward to expanding our relationship with The Foundry, using their technology to help create 3D paint and texture tools that leverage the best of our mutual technologies.”

“The addition of Mari to the product portfolio earlier this year has launched us into a new market,” said Collis. “This agreement with Walt Disney Animation Studios provides access to their Paint 3D technology with its industry-proven toolset, powerful procedural paint and definitive Ptex paint infrastructure. It‘s a natural complement to Mari and we‘re very excited about producing new solutions.”

Paint 3D was first used on Disney‘s 2005 animated feature, Chicken Little, and was widely deployed on Meet the Robinsons (2007), Bolt (2008), and all subsequent animated projects including the upcoming November release, Tangled. Disney first used Ptex on the production of its animated short, Glago‘s Guest, in late 2007, and went on to present it publicly for the first time at the Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (EGSR) in June 2008. I (I Its enthusiastic reception was followed in January 2010 by an announcement of the availability of the Ptex technology as open source.

Mari – technology originally developed at Weta Digital – is a 3D texture painting application. The technology was driven by the need to handle complex, high-resolution textures on 3D models. Mari was designed as a full 3D paint tool with responsiveness and feature set that exceeds the best dedicated 2D paint systems. Mari is extremely scalable, coping easily with extremes level of detail – literally, thousands of textures – quickly and elegantly.

Anumeha Srivastava

Assistant Academic Counselor

Internationally movies, music and gaming are the 3 pillars of mass entertainment but we can be rightful in saying that gaming is still in its infancy right now and it is too early to call it the 3rd pillar in the Indian entertainment industry. To throw light on the topic were some seasoned professionals from the gaming industry namely Jaspreet Bindra – Regional Director – Entertainment and devices, Microsoft who was moderating the session along with the legendary Ernest Adams, Game designer consultant , lecturer and an industry veteran who has been in the industry for the past 21 years. Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO of Indiagames, Arun Mehra, COO Zapak Digital Entertainment Limited, Siddharth Roy, Gaming head – Hungama Digital, Neeraj Bharadwaj – MD Accel India growth and Navdeep Narula from Reliance.

Jaspreet started off with a short video of project Natal. Microsoft‘s next generation controller less console set to launch in November 2010.”The only experience you need is life experience” it said at the end of the video. The video showed how the introduction of such a console would bind the whole family together and expand the gaming ecosystem which was previously occupied by hardcore gamers.

Ernest Adams continued proceedings with his views on the Indian gaming industry as he said, “I am here to advice and consult game developers across India. Some day someone is going make it big in India and I would like to be a part of it. I recognized that there are certain challenges that developers face while making localized games. The question here is, can you make gaming the 3rd pillar within the limited boundaries that Indian developers have? Firstly you have to make gaming acceptable for the general mass. Games are still not accepted as we might like as the industry needs to be ready for ‘moral panic‘. Parents in India do not encourage their kids to heavily indulge in gaming which is holding back the progress to some extent. If gaming needs to be the 3rd pillar the game industry has to compete with film ,TV and Cricket for that matter. I came to know today that releasing a movie during cricket season is not advisable. So these are the main hurdles that need to be overcome.”

Indiagames has definitely shared a major chunk of game development on mobiles and the online space as well. If cricket sells in India, Indiagames has capitalized on this fact by making cricket games. Indiagames has developed about 10 cricket games for the mobile and have had over 10 million paid downloads at an average revenue of INR 50 per game including the share of service providers. Vishal started of f by showing a small clip of the new DLF IPL game which is available on mobile and the browser and it has connectivity with face book. “I believe in the next 3 years everyone will talk about gaming. As I am working in the gaming industry I have noticed that you have to change your business plan every year because there is something that comes and disrupts your plan every time you get into the flow. The current key thing in games is face book. Everyone is on face book and it has got everyone gaming form kids to grandmothers. This has made us re-look at our business. I believe the next big thing is that the model on mobile is going free. ‘Free is the new premium‘. Make the game free and motivate people to spend within the game with the micro transaction models. Make gamers compete with their facebook friends. It‘s the completion that keeps games alive.” Vishal said.

Zapak has hugely made the online gaming space noticeable with the extensive advertising that they did after their launch and since then they have entered the major value chains in the gaming industry. Zapak has set up gameplexes over 40 cities all over India and are making kids spend INR 2000 per month at these gameplexes. Arun also showed a small clip related to various world events and how there are games everywhere eg. (Tiger Woods surrounded by girls and being tagged as multiplayer just couldn‘t be overlooked). “Zapak made you realize that there is a gamer in you. 7 million gamers are playing on Zapak and over 2 million youths participate in gaming tournaments. Youth passions have changed, kids all over are now consuming gaming as we used to consume music. If you look at some huge brands like Axe and Pepsi, they have started using gaming as a advertising model. So we need to be experimenting.” said Arun.

Need is the mother of all invention. There is piracy happening but consumption does happen.

Accel India Growth is a global VC and private equity fund. Neeraj Bharadwaj chose to focus on the global gaming space as it is equally essential if we want our local space to grow. “What is happening globally in the gaming market? Globally it has become a mass market and no longer belongs to hardcore gamers. With Wii the casual gamers have increased. Along with that facebook has done a tremendous favor to the gaming industry. Companies like Zynga and Playfish have reached out to the mass market with their games. It is true that the game experience that you get on a console you will never get anywhere else but we surely cannot overlook the achievements of facebook games. 8 of the top 10 facebook apps are games. This is a massive market today, so online gaming has crawled high up on the ladder. In the mobile space as open platforms like Android, Appstore and Ovi, the monopoly that operators had in the market has been broken.
These are all plus points from the industry perspective and this is slowly helping us to move up the ladder where the Indian gaming space is concerned.”

Siddharth Roy heads gaming at Hungama digital, he contributed to the discussion as he said, “Both Vishal and me have large chunks on mobile gaming space. Indian consumers are largely brand driven and thus brands play a very important role. Gaming becomes a very interesting way for brands to interact with their consumers. We have games on Orkut and till date our games have about 100000 gaming consumptions per day. On the mobile space there is extensive gaming as there are across Bollywood movies and sports. If the game design and game play is interesting, the consumer not only stays with you but there will be effective word of mouth and you will see consumption happening. Today the Farmville community is bigger than any other online gaming community. So gaming is out there.”

Navdeep put forward an interesting point of view as he came from the retail space. “We need to be circumspective and go about cautiously as parents are still hesitant to buy games. The 3 major platforms of gaming pc, consoles and mobiles, big daddy being the mobile as there are about 450 million handsets in India alone but in spite of that of our business comes from the console gaming space. We need to involve retail as well. The PC offline gaming business is dying as it is giving way to online PC gaming. Console is where the business is really taking over according to me. After a HDTV the next investment these days is the console and I guess 3D is the big thing now. 3D is something gaming we will be benefiting from the most as 3D really gets you there. That would be possibly a big move to establish gaming as the 3rd pillar of entertainment.”

It does come out that mobile is somewhat a more profitable way to go if we want the presence of gaming to be felt in India. The numbers speak for themselves as 450 million plus mobiles and mobile gaming constituting about 1.8 billion INR of the annual revenue. Consoles are the current dictators as they are constituting a major chunk of the gaming revenue in India with 4.9 billion INR in 2009, but mobile are certainly going to be the next gaming dictator with an expected revenue of 14.3 billion INR by 2014 clearly overtaking consoles. So with the gaming industry in India on its way up and with the revenue coming in, the entire ecosystem will evolve and it is only a matter of time for gaming to become the 3rd pillar of mass entertainment.

Anumeha Srivastava

Assistant Academic Counselor

Picasso Animation College

Lucknow

Team of artists make 360 degree views and allow you to choose proper design for your future building. In the past time there was a possibility of re designing as there is no technique to view your future building in virtual environment. Architectural animation also used widely for interior design purpose and it is not limited up to interior but also used for landscaping. Landscaping is the most complex process but animation makes it easy as it provides pre visualization.

In the making of 3D house plan, 3D Building plan, 3D Floor plans animation is used. To make attractive look animators are using 3D Floor plans which allow you to select pretty flooring design. If you are going for future building then you must be aware with animation technique. You must have to aware with concepts of architectural animation.

There are too many resources available which are providing animation services as without using this technique more and more time will be consumed. More and more time consumption makes cost effect. So to prevent from these problems organizations are using it widely. By using architectural animation you can save your precious time and can provide that time for further productivity.

In the animation every line and specification will be accurate so it reduce the possibility of redesign and serves superior quality. Animation technique is used in making of Residential Building, Commercial Building, Institutional, Industrial and other type of building like sky scrapper.

3D animation rendering is also important technique used to view moving object on computer or TV. In the motion you can get better ideas and that allow you to visualize your ideas in different ways. 3D Walkthrough and 3D Flythrough are the exceptional part of 3D animation rendering. 3D walkthrough is the strong communication tools used in making of 3D view of interior and exterior with every minute detail. 3D Flythrough is used to generate visual presentation of engineering concepts.

Avina
Academic Counselor
Picasso Animation College
+91-9506033762

Every day, surgeons operate on thousands of patients around the country. For each operation, the surgeon and support staff have trained in some way to perform the delicate surgical procedures, some of them training on cadavers in medical school and others learning by doing. For each operation, the patient has gone through a learning experience as well, via conversations with doctors and nurses, while first considering and then preparing for the surgery. Occasionally, patients get to see a video of another person undergoing the procedure to be performed on them.

Animated 3D Anatomy

This ATP project enabled Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) — a small company founded in 1988 in Ames, Iowa, and specializing in three-dimensional (3D) visualization — to develop a new set of computer-based technologies for making training tools to help surgeons

and patients better understand important aspects of surgical procedures before they are performed. The technology was developed for use in health care, medical research, medical education, surgical planning, rehabilitation equipment design, and patient education prior to surgery.

EAI was established to create software that can show animated 3D objects, and its initial products were used in court cases to present re-enactments of car crashes and other events. The company sought ATP funding to develop new methods that would enable it to extend its technical capabilities to depict the inner parts of the body, not just the exterior. In the process, the company hoped to extend understanding of human anatomy. Its attempts would be path-breaking, since there were then no other known efforts to gather digital anatomical data from different sources into one uniform database or to present that data in 3D motion.

“Walk-Through” Surgery

There are a number of different career paths for animators. We often think of animators as the talented artists who create the cartoons we love, either for film or movies. Animators continue to work in these areas, but increasingly, many are employed creating animated graphics for a variety of projects.

This can include websites, online advertisements and video games. Animators can find full-time employment with movie or television production companies, with advertisers, web design firms, video game companies or with animation firms. Free lance work is another option for animators, particularly those specializing in web animation. Most entry-level positions will require an animator to have a bachelors degree in a related field such as fine arts or media. There are a number of animation schools that offer course work specifically in computer animation and associated technologies. In addition, a strong portfolio of work, which a training program can help you to develop, is an essential part of landing a job in computer animation and becoming an animator.
Video Game Animation: The video game industry is just exploding right now, with no slowdown in sight. Nearly all games will need a team of animators to bring the games to life. Motion capture often is being used here as well as in movies to nail down convincing character animation. But there is still a lot of work involved obviously. This is where you could come in. : ) But this of course is one narrow example. Texture mapping, lighting effects, and other special effects are just as important to the success of a video games attempt to draw you in and immerse you. It might sound like many of the same elements in a feature film. That’s because technology is closing in the gap, and the paying consumer demands more.

There is an obvious bridge between animation and video game design. This connection is often reflected in video game design programs and degrees that have strong elements of animation in their coursework.

Movie & Television Production: The full spectrum of animation in these areas is quite large. Jobs may include character animation in the form of a cartoon, logo, special effect and more. In case you haven’t noticed, 3D really has taken off in the realm of computer animation and animation in general.Movies such as Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo, the latest Star Wars prequels are all relying extensively on 3D computer animation. What would have looked fake and rigid a mere 6-7 years ago now looks photo realistic and seamless for 3D rendering and animation. A program like Maya can spit out amazingly detailed and convincing characters like Gollum (seen below), Ring Wraiths, and an insane amount of fighting, screaming Orcs. Exciting techniques involving motion capture can really add to the realism of characters. It really is an exciting time to be in the industry. Texture mapping, lighting effects, collision detection and special effects also need to be covered.

TV also offers a fair amount of opportunity in computer animation. Commercials are littered with animated logos, cats that sing, and bottles that dance. : ) Local News always has an animator of some kind doing the logo fly in or that kind of thing. There are also TV movies, and obviously shows that rely on a computer artist to do some digital special effects. Some may start their animation career this way.


The Internet: More and more, you are seeing animated advertisements dance across your screen as you’re on the Internet. You go to a movie site or a band site, and you have a very good chance of seeing a flash animation. Much like other media industries, the Internet is expanding at a mind boggling rate. And with it comes new websites and advertisements that need a way to stand out. Static images don’t always cut it, so why not get the attention of the viewer with animated characters or text?

An Outlook on the Computer Animation Industry

Salaried animators and multi-media artists (grouped together) are earning an average of about $44,000. In the video and motion picture industry the median salary is higher, at around $60,000. As with every career, the salaries animators earned varied greatly with their employer and their region.
Computer animation, like many creative fields, is fiercely competitive. As the web, the entertainment industry, and other multimedia outlets continue to grow, there continue to be opportunities for talented artists to work as animators. But you really need to get the proper training at a strong computer animation school to be on that cutting edge that these employers seek. Not only do you get hands on training with the best equipment, but you also rub shoulders with those who know the industry well. This is just as important as the training itself.

If you are artistic, have an eye for detail, can meet tight deadlines, then maybe an animation career is what you have been waiting for. Do YOU have what it takes to become an animator?