Animation industry has evolved a lot in the past decade. It is now one of the most popular and growing industries in the whole world. As an emerging industry, its expansion has created a special interest in the people that want to create animated content. Industry giants like Pixar, DreamWorks have already shown their tremendous work and have inspired others to contribute to the industry. In India, the animation industry has boomed within the span of last five years. The VFX and CGI used in the movies, such as Baahubali is a perfect example that the animation industry has already established their roots in the hearts of the audience. Furthermore, various institutes and academies are ready to teach and deliver tomorrow’s animators. As far as the technology is concerned, it will never stop evolving along with the tools and hardware used in the animation industry. Therefore, it is vital for the companies, startups, and entrepreneurs to observe these on-going trends in order to survive and contribute their best to the industry.
Shrinking Evolution
The past two decades have seen the emergence of several new market players and that has increased the overall competition. Firms are now delivering high-end performance and effects in order to gain an advantage over the competition. The result seen is in the quality form of animation, VFX, and CGI imagery that did not have existed before. The investment in this one of kind special effects is in millions of dollars. However, the time has changed now and the technology is indeed evolving but it is also shrinking. This technology is reaching every aspiring artist in the form of free and open-sourced software. Software like Blender and GIMP has provided cost-free alternatives and opportunities to the individuals and startup to deliver their best to the industry. The consequent result seen here is the return of the artists to the storytelling aspect of the content generation, which further has rewarded the artists to overcome their budget limits and create content for the industry and for the surviving communities.
Distribution Platforms
Long gone are the days, when theatres were the only platform of witnessing the visual spectacles. With the advent of the internet, people have content in their hands. There has been an explosion in the new outlets and cables delivering seamlessly content to the audience. Moreover, this content is delivered in various styles, genres, and formats. The networks like Netflix, Alt Balaji, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu have widened the opportunities for the worldwide content creators. Additionally, this has created a healthy competition amongst the distributors to deliver their best content to the audience.
Looking at the freelancers, these can create their own content from their couches and can still reach millions of people. Adding to that, if a self-generated content is really showing a demand in the audience, it can easily be picked by any big studio. Events like this have never happened before in the history of the animation industry.
Digital Imagery
All the world’s loving animation and effects are advancing further and are not only limited to the RGB screens. The technology has pushed the content out of the screens into the real world. The advancements of 4D, AR/VR, mobile devices, and holograms have pulled out the content into the real life. The true power of technologies like AR and VR will lie in the interaction between the scene and the audience. Consequently, the audience will be able to see and interact with new experiences every single time.
The Global Workflow
The dotcom boom has also helped in forming a stable connection between the different worlds. The flow of outsourcing was definitely in the air for sometimes however, it is just starting for the animation industry. The virtual offices and the team are already paired up and are delivering their best to the audience and the industry. Furthermore, the uplift from the space conundrums and the introduction of cloud computing have eased the way in which corporations are interacting.
Animation for Adults
The animation and cartoons only being watched by the kids have always been a stigma to the animation industry. The recent release of the Incredibles 2 has proved otherwise. As the current economics of the online streaming media is maturing, the industry will perceive the more content creation for the adults.
Real-Time Rendering and Creation
The real-time rendering and content creation are opening new branches in the content execution and delivery. The flexibility provided by such real-time monitoring will aid in pre-production, production, post-production, compositing, and rendering. The real-time changes will definitely change the face of the animation industry.
All these trends and techno-friendly advancements provide easy ways not only for the freelancers and startups but also for the big corporations to generate their best content all around the world for the animation industry.
