Insights success the 10 most creative animation companies

Editor ’s Pick Live In the “Seven Dimensional-7D” Fantasy World

Chalk Talk

Market Dashboard

Growth of 3D Animation in India

Why is Animation a Necessity for Businesses?

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August 2016

The way of business solutions Highlights Creating a Unique Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Around Alumni to Grow Innovation and Entrepreneurship in our Institutes and Corporates

Cover Page

Paras Trivedi Creative Director & Managing Partner

CXO Standpoint CXO Standpoint RFID RFID -- The The Next Next Big Big Thing Thing CEO OF THE MONTH

Virangini Kamat Co-founder Nikhil Doddamane Clickcode Media

Animation Studio:

Balkrishna Kamat CEO & Founder

The Best Visualization Solutions Provider for

Your Real Estate Business

FOSSIL 1984

www.fossil.com

Editorial

T

he very first animation, Agkadyanchi Mouj made by the father of Indian Cinema Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, in the year of 1917 had wowed many movie lovers of that time. As years passed, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Captain India, the 2016 animated movie reveals, to what extent the Indian Animation Industry has expanded.

India is now the best destination for outsourcing projects from entertainment giants like Sony, Walt Disney and IMAX. Apart from these renowned companies, India is reaping a huge profit in collaboration with various companies in the North American and European Countries. High-quality, fresh contents with excellent creation make Indians the “Best Animators” in the world.

World’s Animation Hub,India!

The major reason why the developed countries show immense interest towards Indian companies is the low-cost they have to pay.

Animators in India are well polished with immense training with Diploma, Bachelor and Master degrees in this area. Students can find a career in the animation field because the right person with right skill-set gets decently paid. Another important factor is the vast base of English speaking personnel in the country.

The animation industry is in the fastest growing phase. Along with the global animation market, Indian market will also make a huge profit in the upcoming years. Numerous companies have already affixed their signature in the entertainment world. Several start-ups continue popping up all around the country with the hope of expanding beyond the horizons. This industry has also brought countless job opportunities for a swift developing country like India.

Taking everything into account, we can say that, Animation Industry fire up the pace of India’s transformation into an Animation Giant.

If this trend continues, the sky is the limit for Indian Animation Industry. From 2D to 4D, over the years spanning from 1917 to 2016, people have witnessed the Indian artistic ability and sharp productivity. In 100 years, this one industry has contributed much to the advancement in technology with state-of-the-art technology and new sophisticated software. India is foreseeing the years ahead with bliss and great expectations. Hope this continues forever.

Musna Mony

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Musna Mony Co-Editors Sonal Burghate Charlie Gupta Abhijeet Parade Art & Design Director Rashmi Borkar Co-designer Mayur Khapekar Picture Editor Alex Noel Art Editor Amol Kamble Visualiser Harmeet Singh Ramgharia Business Development Manager Manisha Priya Marketing Manager Karishma Joshi Business Development Executive Savitri, Pooja, Ketan, Gopi, Akansha, Ankush Research Analyst David Circulation Manager Swapnil Database Management Sharad Technology Consultant Vishal More sales@insightssuccess.com

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Chalk Talk

Growth of 3D Animation in India

Editor’s Pick

Live In the “Seven Dimensional-7D” Fantasy World

38

Market Dashboard Why is Animation a Necessity for Businesses?

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CEO of the month

Clickcode Media:

An Entrenched Team with Creative Minds “In

our animation we must show only the actions and reactions of a character, but we must picture also with the action. . . the feeling of those characters.�

These are the words of the pioneer in Animation Industry, Walt Disney. CLICKCODE MEDIA is an Indian Animation company which harmonizes stunning creativity and state-of-the-art technology for etching lifelike characters.

deadline set by the client without compromising on the desired quality of the output.

Clickcode Media recently got recognized as the Most Promising Upcoming Digital Marketing Agency of the year 2016.

At Clickcode Media, they value and understand the purpose of the Animated Videos they create for any client. Most of the businesses confer with the team to make Explainer Videos for them mainly to explain their products or services to their audience, a majority of them being their website visitors and social media followers. Clickcode tends to create videos that will keep the audience interested till the last second of the video. This means videos that they make have more chances of selling the products or services of their customers.

Stick to Responsibilities

Clickcode Media is a one stop solution for animation development in packages which include concept, script and storyboard development, and voice-over along with the animation part. So the clients need not have to go searching for script development or voice over services separately.

At their studio, the creative team has the freedom to keep experimenting with new styles-the factor which many are lacking. They are also encouraged to follow industry news as well as expert contents to always be updated.

Any creative work usually gets better with the excess of time you spend with it. However, the eminent team at Clickcode Media usually delivers the project within the

Clickcode Media creates engaging videos that can explain the concept, products or services. With technology, the ethics and lifestyle of humankind have also changed.

8 | August 2016

A goal with a deadline turns out to be perfect, and quality is the paramount aspect of any project Clickcode Media undertakes. To meet the deadlines and never to compromise on quality, Clickcode team takes this seriously and communicate estimates of practical timelines required in prior when a new project comes up. But they have also worked day-night on projects with very tight deadlines and have managed to get the desired output and appreciation from the clients.

The Ritzy Services Propounded

CEO of the month

Nikhil Doddamane Founder and CEO Products and services need to be marketed online or via television, in order to reach out to them. The busy life schedules and novel gadgets in hands have revolutionized the idea of promotions.Clickcode Media has helped hundreds of businesses take advantage of Promotional Videos.

The team offers many different styles of videos including but are not limited to Motion graphics Animation, Whiteboard Animation, 2D/ 3D Animation, Stop-motion, etc.

The Creator of Clickcode Nikhil Doddamane, Founder and CEO of Clickcode Media incorporated the company 3 years ago. Nikhil dropped out of college while pursuing his Engineering degree, as his business started picking up when he had started the business during his college days. With immense interest in Web Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Nikhil chose his career in Digital Marketing and Animation Industry and is being successful in it.

come s t c e j o f the pr “Most o s through to u r basis, a l u g e r ls on a nfident o c s u referra g is makin s grow as an f l e s t i that d help u n a o d e w ation” in what z i n a g r o

Nikhil asserts, “I’m an observer of how things move around and how people behave to a change. And henceforth during my academics itself, I started to realize, if I have to be successful, I need to build up something out of my own talent and channelize it to those who need it. I began to understand market potentials of various products and services and tried a couple of ventures too.”

As a CEO, Nikhil has multiple responsibilities to take care of and one of them is ensuring the efficiency at work.

Nikhil manages this by assigning roles and responsibilities to qualified individuals in the organization, gives them a team and makes sure they get their part of work done on a daily basis.

August 2016 | 9

CEO of the month He has enforced agile method of working which has made the work life systematic and efficient.

Nikhil gets involved in most of the project conversations, talks to almost everyone on a daily basis, discusses the challenges they are facing and try to ease it with expert advice.

Nikhil ensures the staff’s comfort to work. They have an open workspace where the staff can spend time on their desk or on the couch with a cup of tea. He has idealized the importance of quality of the work the team does and how that helps them to grow as a team. He encourages them to conduct weekly discussions and fun activities to ensure everyone is happy with what they are doing and are at their productive best.

Keeping the customers happy is Nikhil’s motto and everyone in the organization understands its importance.

A Moment to Remember Every project that Clickcode Media takes will have new challenges to face and new things to learn in the process. However, they think that the ones with the shortest deadlines are the most difficult to handle.

Nikhil explains an instant, “A requirement suddenly came up from HP on a typical Friday evening and we did not want to say NO. They wanted us to develop 3 minutes of Motion Graphics-Explainer Video and deliver it before Monday evening. We just had 3 days’ time to work. One of the animators had already left to his hometown for the weekend. There was less time to think, multiple people to give feedback every few hours, and no time to sleep. This was an absolute challenge. However, the video went live in front of thousands of people on Tuesday morning as scheduled. We had our phase of frustration. We understood their urgency. But we remained calm and managed to do all the revisions as suggested. They were happy in the end. All that we could do was to smile, go home, and take a long sleep after three days of striving.”

This is one of the incidents where Clickcode has managed to deliver on a very tight deadline with the desired output quality. Efficient teamwork always pays off.

Clickcode’s Fortitude Nikhil believes that his greatest strength is the skilled team who understands the importance of a happy customer and a quality video helping another business to improve. Most of

10 | August 2016

the projects come to them through referrals on a regular basis. That itself is making them confident in what they do and help them grow as an organization. Moreover, their determination of creating Quality Results, Timely Delivery, and Dedicated Customer Support boost up their selfconfidence and strengthen them to face the challenges boldly.

Helping Businesses to Grow Clickcode Media has served over 150 clients from various sectors and the list includes Hewlett-Packard, 3M, Shell, Ayurcentral, and a few startups funded by Accel Partners.

They call themselves a Digital Marketing Agency with Animation Services as a prime offering. Helping businesses to get more business is what they do at Clickcode Media where the team designs and execute online marketing campaigns which let their customers reach, engage, sell, and build a lasting relationship with their target market.

Cover Story

S T U D I O :

The Best Visualization

Solutions Provider for Your REAL ESTATE BUSINESS

T

he perfect blend of technology and imagination….this is the essence of success behind Animation Studio.

Animation Studio has been serving architects, real estate companies in architectural visualization, rendering, and walkthrough. It is an award-winning and professionally managed 3D Animation Company in India.

Today, visualization solutions are a key aspect of Real Estate Marketing. At Animation Studio, they provide a wide range of excellent architectural visualization services in a quick time frame at affordable prices.

Their work spans clients based in India and Europe, giving them an insight into both domestic and international markets. With deft communication skills and processes developed over time, they coordinate smoothly over the internet with clients around the world. Their location in a Tier III city in India and an enviable pool of reusable library models allow them to keep costs lower and output quicker than most other top 3D companies in the country.

The company is based in the vibrant & beautiful state of Goa, on the west coast of India. They have marketing and coordination offices in Mumbai and Zurich (Switzerland). They are not just an outsourcing destination but they also take up works from India and neighbouring Asia.

Magnate in the Foreground Balkrishna Kamat, CEO & Founder of Animation Studio, and his wife Virangini had a vision and took the plunge and set up Animation Studio to bring about a change in the Real Estate Marketing. Balkrishna holds a BE degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Goa University. Prior to the inception of Animation Studio, he worked with Fomento Group and Anant Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. Balkrishna, coming from a Mechanical Engineering background, and his wife from an Architectural field, decided to club their knowledge and setup the studio. Despite not having trained staff, the husband and wife duo were persistent and patient and slowly began gaining momentum.

Looking ahead, in 2011 Balkrishna saw the opportunities aplenty. The company started its operations in Mumbai & Pan India with Paras Trivedi as Managing Partner heading the Creatives and Business Development. Looking ahead, the dynamic trio plans to set up offices in Dubai and Singapore as well.

Cover Story

Paras Trivedi Creative Director, Managing Partner Animation Studio

Virangini Kamat Co-founder Animation Studio

Balkrishna Kamat CEO & Founder Animation Studio

Cover Story Triumph Cruise As a company, Animation Studio focuses on architectural visualization. “When we started the company, we have begun with a vision to raise the bar on 3D animation services and 3D architectural facilities in Goa and in India,” says Balkrishna. Looking back on their journey, the company grew from just the husband wife duo to a team of 30 highly trained professionals who maintain creativity, even when taking on large-scale projects.

Recalling their first project, Balkrishna states that they started with Mechanical Engineering animations for the Fomento Group, who were one of their first clients.

Balkrishna also recalls how at the time, animation walkthroughs were practically unheard of, and Architect Dennis Coelho gave them their big break to develop a video for him.

Prominent Clientele At Animation Studio, their work spans a plethora of architectural visualizations for Residential Towers, Residential Complexes, Industrial Parks, large and small Villa Projects, Theme Parks, Commercial Establishments, Hotels, etc.

Balkrishna says that the firm completes close to 100 projects in a year. Among their illustrious list of clients,

include the likes of Acron Group, Alcon Group, Alcon Victor, Risara Developers, Trident Developers., Kamat Constructions, Commonwealth Developers, Akar Developers, Fomento Group, Mathias Constructions, Jai Bhuvan Developers, Models Constructions, Milroc, Ashray Developers, and BF Homes.

They also have to their credit Pan Indian clients which include ADLABs Entertainment Ltd., IIT Mumbai, IDC, UPSIDC (UP Government), Skyline Group, Dheeraj Group, Sheth Realty, Marigold, Aryan One, Nisarg Nirman, RNA, Puranik Constructions, Kabra Group, Manisha Developers, Classic Homes, Vastav Group and Hiranandani Group and many leading architects from Mumbai and pan India.

Besides their in-house team of designers and specialists, they also work with some of the best and biggest names in the industry including Film Makers, Graphic Designers, Photographers, Music Producers, Voice over Artists and lots more. These helped them to create stunning visuals using the best of technology.

More recently, the company has used aerial photography and videography to showcase real estate project. They used a technology called camera tracking, where they superimposed a 3D virtual building to a live Aerial shoot. Balkrishna also says that the company

Cover Story

In architectural visualizations, we create stunning illustrations and walkthroughs for our clients. Due to the size and expertise of our team, we are able to cater to the requirements of established business houses as well as start-ups and customized visual solutions based on project size presenter. This is done by shooting a model against a green screen and then Chroma keying the virtual walkthrough.

The Strongest Dream Team Ever “If you can dream it you can do it”- Walt Disney.

Paras believes that creativity has no limits. The Creative Team led by Paras Trivedi the Creative Director has two production departments, Photo-realistic rendering, and Motion graphics; in both the departments they have preproduction teams, production teams, and post production teams. The preproduction team for motion graphics conceptualizes the presentation, makes storyboards, write scripts, develops models, the production teams execute the work seamlessly as per the concept, and the post production teams execute the special effects, 2D animations, and other post productions for the motion graphics. They also work in Print Media & Digital Media.

Aiming to be the best in their field, Animation Studio follows a process, which ensures that their works are perfect. The inputs which are received in the form of CAD drawings are converted into 3D models. From there, they are textured, animated if necessary, apt lighting effects are added, the visual is rendered and then taken into post production. He also states that their vision is to achieve client satisfaction and ensure delivery of work up to the high standards that they promise.

Over the last 10 years, their growth has been phenomenal. Not only has their team grown, their expertise in Infrastructure, Still and Animated visualization, Audio Visual Real Estate Presentations, Product Visualization, Website Development and other interactive 3D for the web has grown, too.

The Next Venture- Korolla Multimedia Veering away from the architectural side of animation, the duo recently launched Korolla Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. which specializes in Product Visualization, e-Learning Safety Films, Medical Animations, and Story Boarding Services. Korolla Multimedia is funded by an investment from Switzerland and has funds flowing in at regular intervals as well as work from Europe.

Korolla, says Balkrishna, focuses a lot on Product Visualizations, with IFB Industries Ltd. as one of their major clients. Their focus also lies in story boarding which is essential for a smooth flow of events, actions, and expressions. Recently, they have ventured into Medical Animation as well. The highly creative team even conceptualizes animated invitations.

The team with domain knowledge in product and medical animation, safety films, and 2D whiteboard animations are based in India and serve the Indian market; however, they execute a lot of outsourced 2D and 3D animation works from Europe.

Stunning Works In a short span of time, the company has managed to work with the leading companies in India and Asia. To their credit, they have created a Film on road safety for the Oman Government, which runs on their local channel. They have also developed Animated Safety Films for Cipla and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. “From detailed surgical procedures to extensive drug or device mode-of-action presentations to broadcast features, the range of films we can create is wide and entirely devoted to medical and scientific imaging. Our medical and scientific animations are used by the pharma companies to explain the working of their drugs to doctors; hospitals use them to explain procedures,

Cover Story

disease, and defects to patients and they can also be used by science teachers to explain concepts to students,” says Balkrishna.

More recently, Korolla has tied up with Tally Safety Solutions from Mumbai, a well renowned safety training consultancy to venture into e-Learning and customized animated safety films to be used for safety training for all industries.

‘

We at

The work at Animation Studio has been recognized in India and abroad. They have been awarded an ISO 9001:2008 certification by accreditation authority Sisbel in Turkey. Through this, their processes are certified to be the best, in which they maintain client data secrecy and data backups.

Animation Studio are committed to giving

best

Quality

visualization services bearing in mind

‘

Korolla has worked with large corporate clients as well as small start-ups.

Their attitude is professional, be the project is large or small. Projects come in all sizes. Whether it is petal-sized with tight budgets and tight deadlines or an epic production with many colours, everything they do is naturally crafted with flashes of creative energy and imagination.

convince them. We shot to fame when an architect won an award for the visual representation of his project and people began to see the benefits of the architectural visualization. We built a market for ourselves and today the demand for our service is steadily growing,” he says.

stated and implied needs of the

CUSTOMER

Work Hard Dream Big Colin Powell quoted once, “A Dream doesn't become reality through magic; It takes sweat, determination & hard work.”

As the largest animation company in Goa, Balkrishna admits that the initial days were tough. “There was no awareness and people did not understand the advantage of service like ours. We had to work hard to

Among their biggest achievement till date is their award for the Best A r c h i t e c t u r a l Visualization Services for Goa and Maharashtra Region from the BIG Brands Research and their ISO 9001:2008 QMS certifications.

The trio believes that there is no alternative to hard work and creativity has no limits. There are profuse opportunities. A lot of new technologies are coming out like 3DVR, Interactive Touch Screens, Holobox, and 3D printing. Animation Studio has started venturing into the above areas.

Animation- Giving Life to Imagination

A

nimation is a wonderful technology, medium for entertainment, solution for businesses as well as healthcare, and a perfect tool for marketing. Hitherto, Animation has trekked through different phases of transformation and finally in 2016, it is seen as a deep-seated technology in the dome. Whether in the amphitheater or in visualization solutions, Animation is an inevitable quintessence.

Animation is used to represent the objects which do not exist in the real life and adds some magic and fiction into the movies. Entertainment was thought to be the primary use of Animation, and in that particular arena also, Animation has grown by leaps and bounds and has emerged with Special Effects, Visual Effects, 3D, 4D, 7D technologies, etc. In a nutshell, this technology is exhibiting cent per cent growth rate in India, making the country, “The Best Destination for Outsourcing Animation Projects”. Not only in outsourcing have Indian companies excelled, but also in producing projects of Indian origin.

Insights Success Magazine has crowned “Animation Studio” as the Cover Story taking into consideration, their ground-breaking contributions in the field of Real Estate Marketing by integrating Visualization Solutions. They continue in the success path with novel ideas and sophisticated techniques.

While flipping the pages of Insights Success Magazine, do not miss out the profile of Nikhil Doddamane, “CEO of the Month”. Nikhil is a young entrepreneur shining in the Indian Animation Industry and has produced multifarious Animation projects which helped other businesses to grow.

Insights Success Magazine, after in-depth research and studies, has listed “ The 10 Most Creative Animation Companies 2016”, considering every potential application of the state-of-the-art technology and how they influence the well-being of humans.

It is interesting to know the story behind this technology and the story tellers. That enthusiasm motivated Insights Success Magazine to list “The 10 Most Creative Animation Companies 2016”.

Company Name

Management

Brief

Animantz Creative Animators Pvt Ltd animantz.com

Prabakar T Founder & CEO

Animantz is a flash based company having its wings in the service areas of 2D animation, flash games, and e-Learning.

Animation Studio animationstudio.co.in

Balkrishna Kamat CEO & Founder Virangini Kamat Arch. Consultant & Co-founder Paras Trivedi Creative Director & Managing Partner

Animation Studio provides a wide range of excellent architectural visualization services in a quick time frame at competitive prices.

Assemblage Entertainment is a full service CGI animation and visual effects studio for interactive content development, visual imagery and production of high-quality CGI animation content for full-length features, direct-to-home DVDs and television series.

Assemblage Entertainment madassemblage.com

Founder & CEO

Clickcode Media clickcodemedia.com

Nikhil Doddamane Founder and CEO

ClickCode Media is a one stop solution for animation development in packages which include concept, script and storyboard development, and voice-over along with the animation part.

Digitoonz digitoonz.com

Vikas Kumar CEO &Founder

Digitoonz is a full-service Animation Production Company dedicated in the areas of producing TV Series in Flash, 2D and CGI Animation for TV - Broadcast and feature film.

MilliToons Entertainment Ltd. millitoons.com

Dr. Ramabhotla Srinivasa Sudhish Chairman & Managing Director

Millitoons Entertainment Limited is an Integrated Design Solutions Company engaged in Film Production, TV Commercials, Animation, and Web design to fulfil all the communication needs across various media.

Prance Animation Studio prance.in

Pranav Agarwal Founder & CEO

Prance brings detailed, accurate & attractive architectural walkthroughs, Graphics Designing, 3D creations, Corporate Branding & Web Designing.

RGBA Studios Pvt. Ltd. rgbastudios.com

Aakash Shivdasani, Ashish Pradhan, Faramarz Wankadia Creative Directors & Sandesh Pai Producer

RGBA Studios is a Production and Post-production house offering Production, Visual Effects and Animation services to the Television, Film, Advertising and allied Media and Entertainment industries.

Mayank Nimavat Founder & CEO

Sarvam fx is a VFX and Animation studio which specializes in all types of Visual Effects, 3D Animation, Motion Graphics, Architectural Visualizations work, and much more.

Arijit Bhattacharyya Founder & CEO

Virtualinfocom offers many innovative solutions in IT, Game Development & Animation.

Sarvam fx Animation & Visual Effects Studio

sarvamfx.com

Virtualinfocom virtualinfocom.com

AK Madhavan

Assemblage: You imagine it.

We create it.

n India, people are gradually accepting animation as a viable, alternative form of entertainment. This has triggered growth in the quantum and nature of domestic consumption. As a hub for animation and production services, India is playing a dominant role in the global markets. Moreover, with the political fraternity extending a supportive hand to encourage the use of CGI and technology in various sectors, the huge size of the business opportunity in India is waiting to be explored.

I

of a prolific career traversing over 30 years. The most recent feather to his hat is that of an entrepreneur. As a business leader, Madhavan has decades of experience in sales and marketing across the IT, financial services, banking, and media & entertainment industry in addition to brand building and advertising. Voted as the most influential in the animation and VFX industry, a stalwart, Madmax and his crew are opening new avenues and revisiting the animation business with a renewed zest of creativity!

Today it is believed that animation is a universal language that resonates across geographies and demographics.

Assemblage Entertainment uses this language to tell their stories, to open up new worlds and to bring dreams to life!

The dictionary defines Assemblage as ‘a collection or gathering of things or people.’ As you probe further, it also represents an artistic composition made by grouping together a multitude of objects using two or three dimensional elements. That is who Assemblage Entertainment is - a motley crew of animation specialists that are crossing borders and boundaries.

Assemblage’s Inception Story On an otherwise uneventful day in December 2013, Madmax who opened up Indian shores for many animation industries firsts, decided to endeavor another so he set up an entrepreneurial animation studio co-producing two global full length CGI feature films- Assemblage was born in the heart of Mumbai.

Trailblazer of Assemblage At the helm of Assemblage, AK Madhavan aka Madmax, Founder & CEO is the one who opened the doors of the animation services business to the Indian markets and holds a strong credibility in the industry. A visionary, a charismatic leader and a marketing guru, Madhavan boasts 20 | August 2016

With a team of over 280 artists, technocrats, production managers, and a strong proven delivery model, Assemblage has very quickly put itself on the global map of CGI facilities ready to produce high quality feature films of a global nature. Today, the types of clientele Assemblage have are Sony Pictures, Studio Canal, Flying Bark, Splash Entertainment, Lionsgate, Arc Productions, and some large major animation studios in Hollywood.

Strength of Assemblage The greatest strengths of the company are its skilled workforce, its ability to generate internal cash flows to fund its business, its high reputation and credibility, and a fresh approach to the animation business. They are a team brought together by their passion for telling interesting stories using stateof-the-art technology.

‘ AK Madhavan, Founder & CEO

Technical Expertise Assemblage Proffers Accomplishing the production work and delivering the movie to the clients on time, without compromising on the quality is one of the most important responsibilities of an animation company. The industry is also responsible for meeting quality thresholds and delivery timelines of an international clientele, financing, honing the right creative sensibilities, and developing the required talent and skill sets. The team of Assemblage comprises of several award winning artists, technologists, and production pipeline managers etc. who have helped to deliver two full length movies in some incredible circumstances. As a young studio, Assemblage has used various remote data centres and cloud rendering platforms to render its movies and has

We are global feature film focused CGI animation studio

Assemblage’s team of over 280 artists have a vast body of experience across regional and international studios, and have won several global awards and accolades including BAFTAs, Emmys, and Oscar nominations. Their creative and technical acumen combined with their strong experience in producing content for various platforms across the animation spectrum hold them in good stead.

‘

received much recognition from global technology majors including the likes of Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services.

Milestones Achieved Backed by the unstinting confidence of clients and employees, they did the unthinkable. Within 2 years since its inception, the entire 90 minutes of both these films, Norm of the North and Blinky Bill was produced in Assemblage's studio. With little more than tremendous goodwill, reputation and a passionate team at their disposal, Max and the rest of them set out to achieve the impossible. The largest animation project completed by the company is a full length movie Norm of the North for Lionsgate, which received a wide theatrical release in North America in Jan, 2016 in 2400+ screens.

Foreseeing Future Assemblage’s endeavor is to constantly strive to identify new trends and patterns in the ever evolving animation ecosystem. This is evident in the new ethos we are trying to introduce into the Indian animation industry - the best of multiple worlds that their people have inhabited until now, the culture Assemblage fosters, the talent they acquire, the technology they deploy, the co-production agreements they enjoy, the work that they bring to India and so on. As a creative studio, Assemblage invests in the creativity of its people and nurtures them to push their abilities to the next level.

Most importantly, Assemblage’s relationship across large studios, producers, distributors, technology partners, etc. puts it in a very unique and lucrative position. With the relationships it hones today, the projects being delivered currently, a strong confirmed future order book, Assemblage is poised to scale to new heights.

August 2016 | 21

Chalk Talk

Growth of

3D

Animation in India n 2016, 3D Animation is one among the greatest buzz words in the entertainment world. Since its emergence to the now seen stage, 3D animation has grown swiftly and steeply. Animation is 70 percentage art and 30 percentage technology. Skills and knacks are the prerequisites to shine in this ďŹ eld.

Warner Brothers, since they are outsourcing animation characters and special effects to Indian ďŹ rms. With the increasing demands in outsourcing, various animation companies have emerged across India. Animation companies are forming animation hubs in major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum, and Hyderabad.

Indian animation companies have especially beneďŹ ted from the global giants of animation like Walt Disney, Sony, and

Indian companies integrate their passion for art with

I

2D 22 | August 2016

to

to

to

to

Chalk Talk new sophisticated technologies that produce world class designs that go shoulder to shoulder with the designs from most famous animation companies from all around the world.

The most modern animation companies own high-tech studio with the right ambience to produce artworks, strengthened by eminent engineers and backed by the state-of-the-art equipments. Dedicated companies offer a full range of services from designing, story board, 2D animation, 3D animation, medical animation and animatic to logos, demos, viral videos, portraits, banner ads, etc.

What Helped in the Swift Growth?

The development of new 3D animation software and technologies have driven the rapid growth of new tactics for 3D content creation. Autodesk 3dsmax, Autodesk Maya, Motion Builder, Adobe Premiere, etc. are some examples of 3D animation software. The 3D animation market growth is influenced mainly by favourable regulations by the Government, by multi-industrial applications, 3D character merchandise and by blooming entertainment industry. Apart from all these, the low cost compatible hardware and availability of comparatively cheaper internet connectivity have led to the proliferation of the free software downloads.

The animation industry in India typically has three business models, namely Content Production, Outsourced Animation, and Collaborative Animation Services.

‘Chhota Bheem’ is one example for content production in India that reaps grand revenue and circulates over popular kids channels. The market has also been categorized into Plug-insoftware, packaged software, and Software Development Kits (SDK).

With less time, the animation software market has exhibited a very high growth rate with the help of animation

computers and stereoscopic imaging software. The motion capturing (Mocap) systems, video cards, and GPU strengthens the hardware segment.

How Outsourcing Helped?

Indian animation industry is being tapped by the North American film and TV program producers largely. There are many reasons behind this increasing demand for Indian studios worldwide. The North American and European countries from the beginning show immense readiness to outsource their animation contents to companies in the Asian and Pacific Rim countries.

The bulk animation in the earlier years included 2D animation contents along with some 3D contents only. But now, the scenario has changed a lot.

When compared with the past, Indian Animation Industry has gained its foothold in the International space by investing more in technology, moulding eminent artists, and developing better infrastructure in film making. As we can see now, there are numerous Animation Studios, VFX, Game development, and Film making institutes providing several high-end educational programs all over India.

Students are also interested in overseas education because of the increasing opportunities and decent pay scale.

Still Growing….

The VFX industry is estimated to be nearer to 50 billion. It is expected to have a significant growth by the year 2020, up to Rs.87.1 billion. The film and television space play a vital role in boosting the industry. With the emergence of newer gadgets, the gaming industry has also boomed beyond boundaries. Still, more improved growth rate is expected in the next couple of years. Sophisticated techniques along with creative expression have paved strong basement for the foreseen growth. Now, the

animation industry has entered into an important growth phase. India is now one among the most sought-after destinations for providing animation and content services.

3D techniques acted as a backbone to develop the innovative 4D technology.

This new technology is widely used in feature films as well as in other animation projects. The most popularly used animation and artistic application is the 4D Cinema. Disney, Sony, Pixar, and IMAX are the examples of studios that have created and promoted cartoons using this technology. The key players in the animation industry include Newtek Inc., Autodesk Inc., Smith Micro Software, Inc., Credo Interactive Inc., Electric Rain Inc., Strata, Electric Image Inc., Toon Boom Animation Inc., Side Effects Software Inc., and Maxon Computer GmbH. Without any doubt, we can see Indian 3D animation industry attaining higher position in the global market.

August 2016 | 23

CXO Standpoint

Creating a Unique Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Around Alumni to Grow Innovation and Entrepreneurship in our Institutes and Corporates

F

or a young entrepreneur in the initial stages of their venture, there are many elements to success -validation, guidance, investment, resources, connections, to name a few. Coupled with these are challenges around compliance, regulations, and ďŹ nancing. For our young promoters, trying to transform their ideas into a business is a struggle only compounded by lack of information about and access to all these different elements. Our institutes produce the top talent around the world but we as a nation still are not able to create a cohesive ecosystem around our institutes that can support the entrepreneurs across all these elements.

Adding to this, a growing need among the corporate world, where companies are now looking outside to these entrepreneurs for innovations to support and bring in-house. They face a challenge on how to not only source innovation but foster it to create a pipeline for themselves.

Anju Gupta Co-Founder & President IvyCamp

24 | August 2016

Interestingly, there is one common thread that ties all these together and that is completely underleveraged in

CXO Standpoint

our startup ecosystem. This is network, that in some countries has proven to be a very powerful foundation for startups - it is global, it spans all sectors, brings with it expertise in every field imaginable, and most importantly a bond that is irreplaceable. This is our Alumni Networks.

Lets look at a few facts taking only one of these institutions, the IIT’s.

• IITans in senior management positions in almost all fortune 500 companies • IITs in all senior positions of government, finance, and business • 20% of all IITans have been an entrepreneur at least once • 25000 companies globally founded

by IITans • Over 500 Companies started by IITans have gone to IPO • 500,000 Alumni globally Add to these the IIMs, ISB, BITS, NIIT, and other top engineering and management institutions in the country and we have a network and resource pool that no country can match.

At IvyCamp, Alumni and Entrepreneurs are at the core of what

we are doing. Leveraging the Global Alumni networks to help our young entrepreneurs be successful by providing them with the resources and connections they need, when they need them. And providing these in via one centralized platform.

to leverage this connect. The key challenge here has been the lack of a formal platform that allows Alumni to connect expressly for the purpose of innovation and entrepreneurship and a trust factor. At IvyCamp, that is what we aim to provide.

An Alumni driven corporate institute partnership has natural synergies that can be systematized. There needs to be an ongoing information flow about real world challenges that corporates are facing not only today but what they anticipate over the next few years, where they are looking to innovate.

This knowledge is required to feed into the institutes to direct innovation towards some specific challenges - this has obvious benefits both for the corporate and the entrepreneur. On the flip side, innovations need a home from a development, POC and funding perspective and corporates can provide a natural home for this. The Alumni network again provides the common connect between corporates and institutes.

A platform where stakeholders can leverage the Alumni network for mentoring, funding, access to incubation centers, corporate connects, services and much more. Alumni at corporates can provide the connect from the other side in terms of ideas and resources. This creates an amazing opportunity for a unique type of talent collaboration from the existing corporate experts and the talent pool in our institutes.

Given that in India, we have the network, and the talent, it seems surprising why we have not been able

This Alumni based entrepreneurship ecosystem is a unique and completely underleveraged powerhouse that IvyCamp has created as an end to end solution enabling alumni to come together and generate value in India's startup ecosystem by mentoring, funding, and supporting entrepreneurs and the Educational Institutes Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystems.

August 2016 | 25

: Digitoonz Digitoo n z The Pioneers The Pioneers in AAnimation nim a tion Industry Indu st r y

D

igitoonz is an interactive entertainment and animation production studio established in the year 2009 in Noida, a city in the National Capital Region of New Delhi, India. They also have a business office in Delaware, USA. Digitoonz is one among the rapidly flourishing Animation Studios from India.

Digitoonz stands for “Digital Cartoons”.They are a fullservice Animation Production Company dedicated in the areas of producing TV Series in Flash, 2D and CGI Animation for TV - Broadcast and feature film. They have worked on various TV series and feature films including children, entertainment, and edutainment. Digitoonz has global presence in Animation, Media & Entertainment industry. The team Digitoonz’s works have been broadcasted on famous Kids channel of Europe, Middle East, USA, UK, and Latin America.

Exclusive Services Propounded Digitoonz aims at providing nonpareil services to their esteemed clients which make them the most sought after Animation Company. Experts say that animation is 70% art and 30% technique. Digitoonz combines art and techniques in such a way that, their work steals everyone’s heart, 26 | August 2016

irrespective of age, culture or race.

Digitoonz mainly offers services in 2D Animation, Flash Animation, Toon Boom Harmony Animation, and CGI animation. Highly skilled professionals form the backbone of team Digitoonz.

They are dedicated in providing world class services to bear out the current organizational requirements by understanding the importance and secrecy of each business related information and giving it utmost prominence. The team adopts a fact based and structured approach in all the assignments they undertake and ensure quality work adhering to the deadline. Digitoonz manages a skilled talent resource pool completely devoted to meet the client’s expectation level and their diversified demands.

Challenges that Ignited the Will Power Digitoonz since its establishment has faced a lot of challenges but they overcame everything with their will power and strong passion in the field. Every project they undertook are notable and eye catchy in terms of uniqueness, elegance and popularity. Whatever services they offer, they add a unique touch of natural essence to them.

‘

Vikas Kumar CEO & Founder

Digitoonz considers The Little Raven, an animated feature film as the greatest Animation project till date. What made it most difficult was, the technology which team Digitoonz adopted specially to achieve this project. They are always ready to accept new challenges and achieve it with dignity, by developing new team and training them as per the required quality.

Master Brain behind Digitoonz Vikas Kumar, CEO and Founder of Digitoonz, founded the company seven years back, along with his friend Syed Nadim Akhtar as a small scale company. Vikas has started his career as a Graphic Designer and has worked with renowned companies in Delhi NCR before founding Digitoonz.

We are always ready to accept new challenges and achieve it with dignity, by developing new team and training them as per the required quality

International Animation Film Festival and its Market (Mifa), major international event for over 8,000 industry professionals, which was during 13-18 June, 2016, Kid screen Summit during February 8-11, 2016 in Miami and several other congregations across the world. As of now, Digitoonz is a well-established as well as prominent Animation Studio which juxtaposes with any animation giants around the world. The future is full of opportunities, and with the right team giving life to images, Digitoonz will achieve more and more statures.

Success Saga Digitoonz has a list full of success stories and achievements with neverending series of satisfied clients. Works like Misha the Purple Cat Season I and Season II, Pasta Freaks, etc. makes the company dearest to viewers. The animated characters are a real treat to viewer’s eyes since they all seem to be alive.

‘

Vikas looks for perfection in everything his company does since he is much passionate about animation.

He considers clients' business as his own and works hard to accomplish the task most efficiently. Vikas says, “It is a great journey to grow more and more and it feels like I am living my Dream.”

Digitoonz’s Forte and Future The greatest strength of Digitoonz is transparency, which helps them maintain long-term relationship with all their clients as they believe in Digitoonz. They believe that they will never back out and will deliver the project successfully.

Digitoonz is also working as a CoProduction Partner with Italian, Catalan, French, Polish, Canadian, German, and other producers. Since 2009, Digitoonz has co-produced many TV Series as a Work for hire/CoProducer/Co Financer. There are several other series which is under production and in the development process. The co-produced series has been broadcasted on the major kids channel like Disney XD, RAI, Rai YoYo, TV3 etc.

Digitoonz has attended the Annecy

August 2016 | 27

MilliToons:

The Pioneer in Indian Animation M

illitoons Entertainment Ltd. was incorporated in the year 1985 and is in the business of cinematography, films, ad-films, television films, cartoon films, 3-D films and providing all kinds of services related to animation films for about two decades now.

Millitoons is poised to produce independent shows with its highly professional and creative manpower. They offer exemplary imaging services, cutting-edge animation technologies, cultural compatibility, and sophisticated management. Millitoons is an ideal solution for the design and production requirements of computer animation and visual effects for Films, Commercials, Television, Medical Applications, the Internet, Education, Gaming, etc. With the advent of latest imaging techniques and new technologies that have changed the arena of animation, Millitoons strives to be amongst the front-runners in the industry.

About the Trailblazer Dr. Ramabhotla Srinivasa Sudhish, Chairman and Managing Director of Millitoons, is a well-known name and a reputed person in the field of animation and movie making. Dr. Ramabhotla is a serial entrepreneur having multiple qualifications which include Chartered Accountant, Graduate in Law, Hon. Doctorate conferred by Burkes University, United Kingdom and also an Alumni of Harvard Business School, Boston, USA. 28 | August 2016

Dr. Ramabhotla has received a number of awards from various organizations in recognition of his contributions and accomplishments in various fields such as Udyog Pratibha Ratan Award by All India Business Development Association, Gem of India Award by All India Achievers Association, Rashtriya Ratan Award & Indira Gandhi Sadbhavana Award by Global Economic Council, Samaikya Bharat Gaurav Satkar by Delhi, Telugu Academy Award for the contribution to Indian Animation Industry from M/s.

Toon Boom Technologies (Canada) and was also a Jury member of International Emmy Awards Committee.

Dr. Ramabhotla has been featured and covered by various leading Channels, News Papers, and Magazines (Domestic & International) on a number of occasions both at corporate and personal level. He has been featured on the cover page of “India Today” magazine as one of the prime movers of new Technology Industry in Andhra Pradesh, and by “Times of India” as one of the Top 20 Visionaries of Andhra Pradesh.

Milestones Achieved The film production segment is growing by leaps and bounds and the technology boom is creating waves in the entertainment industry. In this golden era of technology, Millitoons has achieved incredible milestones. Millitoons has a dividend paying track record in the past. They have produced a Bollywood movie, “Mukhbir”. The cast of the

web, TV, and launching channels on new technologies. The company already owns IPRs in animation and rights of about 1100 films in various languages.

‘

Dr. Ramabhotla Srinivasa Sudhish Chairman and Managing Director

movie includes huge film stars such as Om Puri, Sunil Shetty, Sushant Singh, Rahul Dev, Jackie Shroff, and Raima Sen. The company has acquired the entire business of M/s. Millitoons Animations Private Limited, which was the first animation company in India and was a subsidiary of French Major Company called Millimages, and also has acquired and holds IPRs & other content on a large scale.

Strong In-built Factors Millitoons possesses an experience of over three decades in establishing a global platform for Animation and Cinema. The company is already an empanelled member of the Department of Audio-Visual Publicity.

We firmly believe that it’s our dedicated people and our ability to work on a wide range of software that enables our clients to entrust us with their valuable projects

They currently own the YouTube channels named “TV NXT, TV NXT Telugu, TV NXT Kannada, TV NXT Kids, etc.” The Channel already has about than 1.7 Crore views, which was attained at its Soft launch stage itself.

The Channel plans to launch itself on various other platforms including live streaming on its own website and through apps for Android, iOS, and other devices on a grand scale.

Millitoons owns three acres of prime land in IT SEZ, Vizag, and is constructing a Production Centre of about 50,000 sqft. The Production Centre is being geared up to accommodate 800 seater ITES, Animation, and Production Centre shortly.

‘

Another major in-built feature is that they retain a competitive advantage through their extensive and growing movie library, and internet rights comprising of about 1100 films in Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada.

The Board of Directors of the company consists of well-known and reputed individuals with several years of experience in the field. Further, the company is in the process of making considerable inroads into the development of business and is confident in taking it to the subsequent levels in the upcoming years.

The Production Centre will boost the business of the company and will provide a competitive edge against its competitors and will also help in cost cutting, optimum utilization of resources, and ultimately resulting in better growth and improving profit margins.

The company has a huge bank of Comics and Cartoon features which can be exploited on various platforms including but not limited to animation, feature films, publishing houses, digital publishing, apps on various devices, etc.

Focus and Future Outlook The main focus of Millitoons shall be the Production of Films, domestic productions in the space of theatrical, August 2016 | 29

RGBA Studios:

The One-Stop for Visual Effects and Animation R

GBA Studios is a boutique production and postproduction house. The post production arm offers Visual Effects and Animation that services the Television, Film, Advertising and allied Media, and Entertainment industries. The production house delivers 360 degree TVC production services having 3 Creative Directors on board.

‘

RGBA Studios is renowned for their endto-end solutions from concept and treatment notes to final renders. Unlike other companies, RGBA takes clients along with them throughout the project journey. The eminent team adds their own flavour to every project they undertake rather than simply executing a provided written script. Highly professional team members sit together for pre-production entailing extensive references and research before jumping into a project swiftly. RGBA aims at paramount creative as well as innovative art works reinforced with concept art, storyboards, 3D pre-visualisation, and style frames that beat any other trends in the industry.

Some of the things we do are more interesting, more challenging or just turn out looking better than others

Peerless Services Propounded RGBA started as a post-production animation and VFX house, but as of the last 2 years, they are now a live action production house as well based on the huge success of the 30 | August 2016

Seat Belt Crew. They work with a lot of different media.

The secret behind success is their approach towards customers. Team RGBA first and foremost understands the client brief and product/service, and then devises a unique and interesting, mould-breaking visual treatment.

Project delivery is the stage where many businesses fail. But RGBA Studios stands out from the crowd by providing on-time delivery of the projects they undertake, upholding commitments. The team accepts and executes a reasonable amount of changes within the previously agreed terms, as hospitality and flexibility are hallmarks of service in this business. They offer the entire spectrum of services from concept art and treatment notes/ideas through to finished film using the latest 3D and 2D software.

Tactics that Cracked Challenges Like any other studio, RGBA has also faced challenges in the industry. What made them overcome those tasks were strong team work and high ethics in work. As two Gems in their crown, they proclaim Cadbury Wowie, the animated film and Seatbelt, the live action production as two examples of such challenging tasks.

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RGBA’s Turnkey CGI Production and Directorial debut was a 45 second CGI film for Cadbury’s new chocolate bar

wrangler, Farhan Abbas - Lighting / render wrangler, Shivaji Jadhav Modelling and Animation, Pramod Generalist, Vivek Vashishth - Line producer, Shiva Kumar Dewan Intern, Prateek Mankame - Intern, Fayaz Choudhary - IT and Tech.

sandesh paI Producer

faramarz wankadia Creative Director

for kids, “Wowie”. The script called for a global appeal embodied in the style, characterization and look. In 8 weeks and across 3 countries, they worked with animators in Europe with support from their own studio in Mumbai.

Tightly managed production pipelines across continents led to the timely delivery of this TVC and put a feather in RGBA’s cap where CG film production is concerned.

Coming off the back of a 4-year collaboration with Ogilvy Mumbai in a multitude of roles from in-house animatic to post production VFX and CG for several TVCs originating at the Ogilvy think-tank, RGBA studios was approached by the Ogilvy team to direct a social service initiative for Channel [V]. RGBA made it to Cannes 2014 as a finalist, 4,677,722 views on YouTube, and still counting.

ashish pradhan

Creative Director

Aakash Shivdasani Creative Director

This kick started their live action film production business.

Eminent Partners of RGBA RGBA comprises 4 outstanding partners, Aakash Shivdasani, Ashish Pradhan, Faramarz Wankadia, the Creative Directors and Sandesh Pai, the Producer. They bring to bear a combined total of 36 years in the field of visual effects and animation. Their unique approach to design and effects is twin pronged relying on technical and creative know how.

The solid team members who add values to the organization are, Amol Katkar - Generalist with a compositing specialisation, Arun Chauhan Generalist with a modelling specialisation, Vikas Acharya Compositor and motion graphics, Ninad Pethe - Lighting / render

RGBA’s Forte With a team of 11 artists, RGBA has thus put out over 420 projects - from TV commercials, to VFX shots for feature films, channel IDs and promos, complete CG and live production of TVCs, 3D animatics for advertising agency research purposes, previsualization for feature VFX shoots, and CGI for print. The team at RGBA is a combination of artists with an average of 5 years of experience.

Drawing on the relationships with other professionals in Mumbai and abroad, RGBA also has access to a corps of skilled freelancers and alliances with ancillary service providers that they can call upon to facilitate projects that are of larger magnitudes. They say, “The RGBA stamp is guaranteed as we are responsible for supervision and quality control of these partners.”

Unending Client List RGBA focuses mainly on Advertisements; hence agencies like O&M, LeoBurnett, Contract Advertising, etc. are on top of Ad agency clients list. RGBA has associations with numerous giant Turnkey Clients like Cadbury India Ltd., HPCL, Nissan, Aditya Birla Group, Unilever, World Bank, Sony Pix and Castrol to name a few. The famous Production Houses such as Red Ice Films, Storytellers, Lemon Yellow Sun Corcoise Films, etc. often collaborate with RGBA Studios.

August 2016 | 31

Editor’s Pick

Live In the “Seven Dimensional-7D” Fantasy World

W

e are living in an unbalanced chaotic environment, where it is harder to identify what truly exists and what does not. Likewise, movies have undergone dramatic twists that led to the integration of Visual Effects to create the Virtual Reality which make people live the movie, not just watch it!

The application of dimensional technologies in the movies started with 2D technology and continued with 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, 7D, and now even 9D. This list has not yet stopped.

The research and development for this cutting-edge technology is growing day by day with the aid of new advanced software and high-end technology. This is the era of tech, the best of the times, and every new morning with some novel Wows!!

32 | August 2016

Slightly modifying Dickens’ words to fit into the scenario of the modern era, “It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of Light, it is the season of Darkness, it is the spring of hope, it is the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we have nothing before us, we are all going direct to Heaven, we are all going direct the other….”. (Taken from “A Tale of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens) These lines are extremely relevant to present day scenario. Technology has given us the best experiences making our lives easier, but to some extent it enslaves the human race. However, movies

Editor’s Pick

are the all-time preferable entertainment media by all age groups.

Virtual Reality is another unbelievable achievement of tech savvy engineers, which make laymen confused with what they see, what they hear, what they smell and what they sense.

Computer Graphics and VFX technologies give life to non-existent objects making the master brains behind the work, The Creators.

3D to 6D Voyage….

With the emergence of 3D and 4D theatres, the trends in watching movies have changed drastically. The realistic movie experience helps viewers remember the story along with the scenario. It provides a kind of movie experience where viewers could get a realistic touch while watching the movie. 4D theatres are now common in almost all the major cities worldwide.

The main principle behind the technology is seat effect simulation.

The 5D entertainment equipment can be said as an advanced version for 3D and 4D devices. Although 5D is onestep above 4D, 5D incorporates advanced physical features like aroma, smoke effect, water droplets, fog

effect, etc. to give a more realistic experience. Some high-tech theatres around the world have equipped the seats with leg ticker, butt poker, neck and air blast, sub-woofer etc. to produce the immense effects. For suspense thriller lovers, 5D equipment will give spine-chilling experience. In 6D, some added effects like light, blow fans, etc. are used.

The 7D Era….

7D is the most exciting technology that enables movie lovers to be a part of the movie by presenting visually appealing characters as well as objects in front of them, integrating Virtual Reality to the technology. Apart from usual effects used in 3D, 4D and 5D, 7D theatres incorporate a technically advanced feature called hot crop drop simulation.

The breath-taking 7D effects make the movies memorable forever. One example for such an incident is the blood spatter effect. One will certainly get trembled at the instant of getting splashed with blood after a ghost’s bite or during a war. While in a 7D theatre, the audience must be ready to ‘experience the story’. In fact, the viewer needs to keep an umbrella with

him/her if does not wish to get wet in the rain!

The spray simulation creates a real life sensuous feeling including the virtual feel of seeing characters very close, sense the breath and slight wind movement while the character passes closer to the viewer. In a nutshell, the audience could feel what they see, as the entire simulator platform acts with respect to what is happening in the film. In India, 7D theatres span over the major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Bhopal, etc.

Expect More….

The next generation technology, 9D excites moviegoers with intensified effects. This technology is literally not a 9-dimensional video, but it gives the feeling of the nine sensory effects the viewers can experience. 11D is yet another buzz word in the entertainment world, although it is similar to 7D, the marketing strategy is attracting moviegoers towards it. The list never ends. As humankind exists, innovations continue. Let us foresee our future, not in dreams; but in reality, the Virtual Reality.

August 2016 | 33

Sarvam fx: The Planet of Creativity

S

arvam fx is a Creative Studio which has expertise in the Visual Effects & Animation field. They offer an international level of quality work and are fully capable of supporting world-wide clients by their specifications and requirements. Sarvam fx helps businesses to bring their vision to life, their products to customers and the business to success.

At Sarvam fx, they create stunning characters and environments for the clients’ narrative. They always work with the clients’ ground up from the story boarding stages to the finished piece. Also, their Visual Effects services make CGI to create realistic environments, characters or events that would be too dangerous, costly or impossible to capture on film or video.

Unique Services by Sarvam fx Sarvam fx makes the clients see the unseen and mould their ideas into reality. They proffer stunning solutions for animation and graphics. Creating a user-friendly online application, or looking to Corporate Presentation, they have the capability to use Digital technology to create the most effective solution. They specialize in all types of Visual Effects, 3D Animation, Motion Graphics, Architectural Visualizations work, and much more.

In this rapidly changing and fast moving world of

34 | August 2016

advertisement, newer ideas, techniques, and newer products are vital. Understanding the client and working according to their needs, they offer best of the best services. They also explain the clients about various options available to them.

The fast moving world wants everything rapidly and in time. They are always ready for in time services. Flexibility in the desired work, as per the need and wish of the clients is another unique feature Sarvam fx holds.

Master brain of Sarvam fx Mayank Nimavat, Founder & CEO of Sarvam fx, is the key person to the centre of Sarvam fx. Since its inception in the year 2014, Mayank is also serving as the Creative Director of the creative team at Sarvam fx. With his hard work and iron will, he founded Sarvam fx which is Gujarat’s First Visual Effects & Animation Studio.

Mayank listens very attentively and wholeheartedly to the clients. He is not only a master in animation works and visual effects, but his talent in 3D architecture and Graphics Designing is unparalleled in every aspect also. To meet the perfection, he takes 100% efforts to know what actually the clients want to be done, thereby to encourage them for various options available for that particular work. Mayank says, “There are no employers, only artists working with Sarvam fx.”

inspirational work in the industry. They do not know any limitations for any work, any challenge, whether it is about the time limit or size of work.

Any big work is always welcome at Sarvam fx.

‘ Mayank Nimavat Founder & CEO

“Champ Diaper”-the Supreme Project At Sarvam fx, every Project is greatest and unique in many ways. Each project has very different and interesting story.

One such example is the “Champ Diaper”. Management came up with four 3D simple characters of animals.

They had to explain them about the difference between 2D characters & 3D characters, what will be the effect of moving 3D characters, the best way to demonstrate in a very attractive manner about the Product Highlights, and grab the attention of the viewers in the best manner.

The results were the fame achieved by the Champ Animal characters. Small telefilms of these beautiful characters

We turn a pile of creative ideas into sustainable innovations

Both the animation & VFX works need to be performed as a team work for great success. The team Sarvam fx in number and talents is the real & greatest strength of Sarvam fx. Once they are on work, they work day and night to finish the work to be realistic.

This atmosphere of teamwork & friendly environment at Sarvam fx encourage to respond sensitively to the different centers of India.

Mayank opines, “New Situation, New Themes, New Ideas, and New Projects are our mastery in Animation Field.”

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were created, websites were opened, and many other things happened in a short span of time. In recent Janmashtami Fairs, festivals in many cities all over the India, huge posters, and cut outs of all Champ Animal characters were the places of great attraction, and thousands and thousands of children with their parents were busy taking photographs, videos, and selfies with the Chap characters.

The Most Creative Team An efficient team is the backbone of every successful organization. At Sarvam fx, a strong team of enthusiastic and talented people works every day to be a part of creating some of the best and most appreciable &

Prominent Clientele Sarvam fx has a long list of clientele, who are the pioneers in the Industry.

Aditya Birla Group (NUVO), Elle18, Roger, Vadalia, Nissan, Champ Diapers, Amul industry (automobile with 16 divisions), Ganesh Auto (TATA motors), Balaji Wafers, etc. are some of their valuable customers.

100% client satisfaction is the team’s motto, and so far they are successful in achieving that.

The prominent clients of Sarvam fx are coming from different fields, mainly under Automobile Industry, Consumer Products, School & Nurseries, Machining Industry, Consumer Industry, etc. With comprehensive devotion, Sarvam fx accomplishes their target within the deadline and enthralls more clients towards them.

August 2016 | 35

Market Dashboard

Why is Animation a Necessity for Businesses?

H

ave you watched the Interstellar and Gravity? If yes, then you might have realized what animation is capable of. But animation is generally used in the media industry. Then how does it help enterprises? The answer is simple, to increase the online presence of businesses by having content that engages, compels the targeted audience, and marketing great content. In 2012 alone, the increase in the usage of animation for businesses was 40 percent. This is not surprising because forward thinking enterprises have been marketing digital content for many years.

Animation helps businesses to grab attention on the web, to keep the audience engaged, to make a long lasting impression, and to communicate quickly and concisely. The word ‘animation’ is generally associated with cartoons or films, but it has in-depth meaning for businesses. The term can use a range of technical approaches, but it is usually delivered in 2D or 3D. So how can businesses use animation to target the audience?

Animated Infographics It is the era to rip up the book and to replace the slideshow.

Animated infographics are hugely used for sharing statistical, complex or process driven content. Content can be delivered purely as graphics, or supported by a narrative.

Marketers and training departments are requesting to replace the traditional paper-based information with chapter based content by recognizing animation’s ability. Funny or serious, long or short, it transforms internal or external communications.

2D Technology 2D technology is mostly used in animation or motion graphics, that can either be developed in isolation or integrated into a traditional video; created as an independent message. The 2D knows no boundaries and its 36 | August 2016

uses are vast. Whether a short ad for social media or an animated backdrop for green screen training, 2D animation creates involving content.

3D Technology The techniques used by 3D animation are usually similar to the techniques used in movies. Regardless of how deep your pockets are, 3D animation is accessible to all kinds of businesses. 3D animation has been traditionally associated with architectural projects, it now allows for many varied and wider use. With evolving techniques every day, 3D animation is perfect for product demos, process or explaining services.

Character Animation Sometimes a business, organization or brand isn’t always perfectly suited to ‘traditional video,’ this may be because their products or clients are commercially sensitive, or else because of unsuitable premises or may the service cannot be captured on camera. Doesn’t matter how large the company’s business might be, ‘character animation’ can take the organization or brand to new levels.

Animated Ads ‘Animated Ads’ are more popular than ever before. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and many other social networks have added functionality to enable sharing fifteen to thirty seconds of Ads. Many big brands have already jumped to this trend, some time ago, but the cost effectiveness of the animation now allows any business to make visually captivating content, easily, and repeatedly.

So, whether companies are looking to tell, sell, or explain, putting an animation in the Video Marketing Strategy can produce dramatic results. By ensuring clear message and well-defined objective, the companies can hit the spot, rather than becoming a flop.

Interview with Insights Success

Last Mile’s journey towards success in the Consultancy world -By Diwakar Menon Q - What were the risks involved in Last Mile’s consulting business and how you have addressed them?

The biggest challenge we face in the consultancy business is the commoditisation trap. Our uniqueness stems from the fact that we have carefully designed our offerings and tailored them to organisational demands. We have ensured that we have leveraged our past experience to build effective and easily deployable frameworks across all our service lines. We have then taken these frameworks and been able to very quickly adapt it our customer engagements. This has helped our customers to jump start their initiatives. That, in addition, to the fact that the people we have brought on board has been our differentiating factor, and to that end, we have been lucky to get the right team in place.

Lastly, in a consulting mode, we offer point solutions - i.e. we come into an organisation, solve a particular problem, enable the organisation to work independent of us and exit.

We have seen a fair amount of success in this way of working, and helps bringing in a fresh point of view into organisations, without the need to commit to long term business.

Q - Have you encountered situations within Last Mile where you have had to take critical decisions? If so, how have you overcome the situation?

Saying no to a particular line of business. We have been very clear that our operating model is to offer point solutions, enable the customer, and get the customer’s organisation to be able to move forward post our catalysis.

Our goal is to help them solve a particular testing problem.

If we are not the right set of persons to solve the problem, we indicate so. It is tough - for the customer, as they look to

38 | August 2016

us for all solutions, and to us, as turning down a possible business is not easy. But I think that has held us in good stead. We are not there to compete with our customer organisations - we are there to help them get better at what they do in their core services.

Q - What are the things you have learnt from your mentors?

Being close to your customer and being available for them 24x7. We have come across situations where we know we are not the right persons to deliver, but have stepped out of our zone to help them find the right partners. Solve their problem, even if you have to stretch yourself. It’s a trait I learnt from observing my leaders at Perot Systems and Tech Mahindra.

Secondly, keep an eye on the cash flows. We have been cash flow positive from our early times, and we have been prudent with how we have scaled. We hired part-time consultants initially to start with, invested in bright kids, coshared office spaces before we rented our own, and managed our expenditures. When you have employees’ dependent on you, you look at financial risk very differently!

Lastly, the value of a good network. The value that a good network provides cannot be quantified.

Q - What roadblocks Last Mile has encountered while achieving success?

Sales and Marketing: We built a lot of our offerings leveraging our network, but good sales and marketing has to be built so that your business can sustain outside of the network too.

Interview with Insights Success Product focus: We started our product focus a little too late, IMO. We should have created different ways of funding this and spun this out separately early in the lifecycle. However, this is always a chicken-and-egg issue - so not really a big regret.

Each of the founders will have different drivers: We learnt that each of the initial stakeholders brings a different focus and intensity into the organisation. It will mean that all of us need to recognise it, and work with it, rather than getting worked up about it.

Support functions: Pay attention to the fact that there is more to an organisation than just the idea or the service. There are supporting functions, where you have the practical challenges of managing an office, managing your finances, managing your sales, managing your workforce.

Not many tend to speak of these, but they are time consuming too, and these are basic building blocks of a lasting organisation, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Lastly, the need for a cohesive team that you can depend on. Our fall back mechanisms kick in, when one is temporarily out of action, and works amazingly well.

Q - Your views on entrepreneurship/ leadership and management Ego - the biggest stumbling block to getting work done. Be ready to don different hats - from running around to paying bills to taking strategic decisions.

Set short term targets in the general direction of where you want to head.

Long term is 6 months in the initial stages.

Have a focus, stick with it, be ready to adapt - since market perceptions can be very different. Go out of your network, and get a true feel of what your services (or products) are worth to people who have no obligations towards you.

About Diwakar Menon Diwakar has over 25 years of work experience ranging from test consulting to delivery to pre-sales.

He has been the head of service delivery for key customer contracts that encompass a variety of services from AD, AM, Testing, Infrastructure Management and Business Support Services across a multiplicity of pillars like Govt, Health, Financial Markets.

He has pioneered and set up end-to-end test services across multiple lines of business, consolidating the services across the organisation.

In previous roles, he set up and oversaw the Test and Application Management competencies for a leading service integrator. The group focused on specific transformation programs to help reduce the TCO of organisations, and being able to present the same to the clients at CxO levels.

Part of the initiatives were helping a major customers reduce their overall cost of operations through selective outsourcing of application development and management services, transformation programs to

re-engineer applications using legacy systems onto a more strategic stack, and optimization of the process through Business Process Reengineering. He was also responsible for growing the Testing practice from 1% to 12% of the company’s revenues in a span of 3 years.

He has also been an early proponent of quality, having worked with and then led organizations to ISO 9001: IT Certifications.

Diwakar possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Mumbai University. Prior to founding Last Mile, Diwakar has worked in global organizations like Tech Mahindra, Perot Systems (now Dell), Deutsche Software, Tata Unisys (now TCS) and CMC Ltd.

August 2016 | 39

Virtualinfocom:

Trendsetter in Indian Mythological Animation

E

stablished in 1998, Virtualinfocom is known for many innovations in IT solution, Game Development & Animation. It all started with a dream to “Bring Art and Technology Together Successfully”, in a way that would allow the world to reap the benefits of creativity armed with Information Technology.

That dream shaped Virtualinfocom, an organization, after 17 years of its inception, offering knowledge solutions to 67000+ clients across 134 countries, with a network of over 14 centres and subsidiaries.

The eminent team at Virtual Information and Communications (Virtualinfocom) believes in the perfect mix of imaginative and innovative efficiency, coupled with ground breaking technology provides their customers with the state-of-the-art products and services. They are the makers of First Indian Real Actor Based Content in 2008.

The ability to think outside the proverbial box is one of their greatest fortes and it is not as easy as it is cut out to be.

Research and development are the keys to success that they have achieved over the last few years and their R&D team works tirelessly to make the requirements of next generation animation and gaming possible.

Superior Services Proffered At Virtualinfocom, they offer high quality professional classical animation services, Sand Animation for all kinds of Online, TV, Digital, and Advertising media. Their inhouse animation and cartoonists have great design skills

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and experience of creating some of the best animations for internet, TV, advertising, and publishing industries. Unlike many other designing companies, they have their own stateof-the-art classical and digital studio that allows them to serve all kinds of media. Each of the animations is created with greatest care and quality assurance, which means clients get the most unique and original Animations.

Shakuntala, Little Tuli, and Maa Durga are some of the Animation Projects they have created.

A Story to Tell There are many, but when asked, the first two major projects that flash in Arijit’s mind is Ashwathama and Fight of The legends. Both the contents are made with real models/actors as motion capture technique in 3D. It’s about the making of Indian Superhero blended with the latest technology and a different storyline.

Story Outline: During the events of Fight of the Legends, both the forces of light and darkness have been annihilated, with only the thunder god Indra and the lord of the hell Narakasur remaining to represent them.

An epic fighting game set in an age of myth and legend. The souls of the most powerful gods have been summoned to brutal battle. Fight of the legends to restore peace in the most graphically amazing game. A pantheon of champions is yours to train to new heights and take to war as you enter an epic story, mystical prizes and hand to hand combat.

All of the characters do have their own story and they stay in various realms. They have released only Ashwathama & Katya as RPG game and are going to release the other

can do.

Able to work on his own initiative and as part of a team, Arijit has proven leadership skills involving managing, developing, and motivating teams to achieve company objectives. Arijit has first-class analytical, design, and problem-solving skills. He is globally networked and is dedicated in maintaining high quality, ethical and corporate governance standards.

‘

We at Virtualinfocom have dedicated our

professional lives for providing solution

Arijit Bhattacharyya Founder & CEO

games too as RPG where users will find all connected characters together.

Trailblazer of Virtualinfocom Arijit Bhattacharyya, Founder & CEO of Virtualinfocom, is an entrepreneur for over 18 years and has made contributions in various fields of technology. Arijit earned an MCA along with Financial Management degrees & some of the global certificates like Brainbench, MCSD, MCSE & SCJP, etc. Over the last few years, Arijit has held key positions in several trade bodies and industry associations and has served as a Board Member / Advisor for several companies.

Prior to Vitualinfocom, he was the Secretary, Charter member, and EC member of TiE Kolkata. He is the Founder and Board of Trustee of The

to all our customers’ needs,

The Bona fide Team Arijit says, “Our team is our greatest strength.” The major aspect of Virtualinfocom is the work environment they have managed to establish and provide to the team. The team believes that the highest quality work is created in an environment where people enjoy working and where people are treated fairly, honestly, and with respect. They work as one unit towards a common goal, a common idea, and this is what sets them apart from the rest of the companies.

‘

wants, and desires

Bong Entrepreneurs, a non-profit Entrepreneurship Development Organisation, a sub-committee member of CII East, Executive Committee Member & VP of ELMA, Mentor and Guide of National Entrepreneurs Network since 2007. Arijit was also the Judge of International Game Development Competition- “Dare to Be Digital”, Advisor and Director of India’s largest animation event AnimGaming.

Arijit likes to introduce himself as a technologist, founder of a wonderful technology company, non-executive director of others, and a restless entrepreneur with a passion for creating feedback loops between innovation and teams and revenue streams, applying new and old business models to changing industries, and pushing people to do the very best they

Some of the Awards won by Virtualinfocom team are, Innovators and Leaders Award 2012 by BCC, EIILM in 2012, Star Enterprise Award 2011, Second Prize Young Interactive Enterprise 2010, India’s First Game Development Training Institute Since 1998-in 2009, Leader and Innovator by CMO Council, Second Prize TATA Udyogparbo and NEN 2008, etc. to name a few.

Esteemed Clientele Virtualinfocom has an unending client list. It is since 1998 and hence difficult to put pen to paper on the portfolio of companies associated with Virtualinfocom. Although few among the vast database of Virtualinfocom’s clients are Gujarat NRE, Schlumberger, Waste International, ION Consultants Pvt. Ltd., CII Kolkata, Metalogic Systems Pvt Ltd., Team India Pvt. Ltd, Sulekha Communications, etc.

August 2016 | 41

CXO Standpoint

RFIDTHE

NEXTBIG

THING The Need and Benefits of RFID RFID is among the niche technology innovation by mankind that comes with a bouquet of advantages which helps in reducing the generic challenges faced by organization resulting from long time consuming process, Identified /Unidentified Human Error, Tracking and Tracing, Pilferage, Counterfeiting, and absence of transparency. As an Industry, we all work for deadlines and any discrepancies arising out it is a cost to the organization, this cost indirectly affects the profits /margins of the business.

The benefits of this technology can be seen in the form of better transparency in the system, real time information

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updates which helps in quick decision making, better accountability, elimination of human errors, resulting in better profit margins and high compliance levels.

These days applications of RF technology can be referred to in our day to day life like Metro transport smart Card, automatic pass system at toll gates, wristbands worn by staff at petrol pumps, windshield tags on new 4 wheelers, keyless entry in vehicles, cashless cards at food court in malls etc.

Revolutionizing IoT with RFID The power of RFID is even more evident when we look at emerging opportunities for RFID in the Internet of Things

CXO Standpoint

(IoT) landscape. The number and range of IoT applications that can be envisioned with RFID devices are tremendous. The inherent value of RFID lies in enabling “things” to report data in real time for faster, quicker, more interactive decisions both at the industrial level and increasingly at the consumer level.

One of such examples in everyday life is automated home, where people can interact with everyday devices in their homes. This vision of the future sees appliances such as refrigerators being aware of their ‘state’, and knowing when to order and replenish groceries; electronics such as lighting, music and TV automatically tuning to individual preferences, which can be managed by presence (proximity to RF-enabled device), by time or by sensory input; access solutions, whether logical ones for Wi-Fi user authorization, or hands-free operation of doors and windows.... the possibilities are truly endless.

In the Race to Win The global RFID market is highly competitive with the presence of well-established global market participants. Companies like Alien Technology, CAEN RFID, Impinj, Invengo, Motorola, Convergence Systems etc which acts on a macro level followed by Asian players like BCIL, Honeywell, Eco Tracksys, 3M etc dealing in multiple RFID related domains at micro level.

There is a tremendous demand for customized solutions like Library Management, Campus Automation, Vehicle Tracking, Asset Management, Industrial Automation and Laundry Tracking etc and each vendor aims to provide a unique package of innovative and cost effective RFID solutions to its clients where ‘identification’, ‘authentication’ and ‘automation’ are of prime concern. The deployed solutions helps the companies realize their hidden and invisible operational inefficiencies and thus makes the system more efficient with reduced wastage and costs. Data Analytics is further used to analyze the data collected through deployment of RFID solutions which in turn help the companies to take strategic decisions at the right time.

Mr. Somya Jayaswal Co-Founder & CEO

August 2016 | 43

CXO Standpoint

Trends and Challenges One of the biggest challenges in this Industry is the lack of awareness amongst its users. RFID components which are generally exported from European and Asian markets are a bit more costly than their traditional counterparts like Barcode, EM and EAS which makes it difficult for medium and small scale organizations to adopt and migrate to RFID technology. However RFID will continue to grow in its established niche where barcode and other optical technologies are not effective. It is expected that within a time span of next 3-5 years the cost of RFID Readers and tags will fall enough to allow the market to adapt it at a massive level and thus give a boost to the existing and new vendors in the market.

Government of various countries such as US, UK and China have mandate use of RFID for projects related to citizen identification and counterfeiting. Such policies have fuelled the growth of RFID market globally There has been a 30-35% increase in government initiatives towards adaption of RFID Technology in e - governance, security enhancements and industrial automation during the last 2 years. Domains like education, power and energy, oil and gas, Defense, mining and natural resources, transportation and logistics have received major adaptions and funding for automation throughout its value chain.

The RFID market size in 2015 was $ 10 billion and is expected to cross $ 25 billion by 2020. Of this total market size, the RFID Tags are expected to contribute to a little more than half of the value of the total RFID market. The tag market will grow at a CAGR of 23% followed by the reader segment growing at 20.9%.

Mr. Nishant Kumar Dean Founder & CTO

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While US still leads and contributes to more than half of the RFID Market size, Asia Pacific and Middle East will be the next hot spot for the industry on account of rapid growth and development initiatives by the private and the government.

With 100 smart cities project announced by government of India, the scope for expansion and growth becomes huge in this domain for Indian players. RFID shall continue to be a niche market for its vendors and each will thrive to make smarter industries with focus on manufacturing, education, retail, transport and healthcare.