Animation and VFX are two indispensable tools of modern filmmaking. Although animation has been extensively used in media and entertainment content for several years, it is most of the time falsely considered as a part of VFX. And also in no way should VFX be considered superior to Animation. Both serve different purposes even though they have some overlapping workflow approaches. Both also offer rewarding career options and you can choose the best institutes to get trained in animation & VFX. With promising career courses, you can build a successful career in the media & entertainment industry as an Animator or VFX Artist.
Before we dive into the key differences between them, two let’s consider them to keep things in perspective.
Like any other art form, animation too grew from scratch. It was initially done through sketches on a film, and subsequently with the help of software. However, that was not the case in VFX. It had the advantage of being created on high-end tech right off the bat. Techniques were inherited from the ones used in animation like lighting, modeling and texturing. Despite this, it is good to know that both continue to evolve and grow at their own pace. Now let’s dive into the differences
Application:
Animation in a pure sense is about creating motion in a character. The character could be in the form of a human being, objects or just about anything. It could be a sketch, painting or even a physical model. Animation creates illusions of movement in these characters and thus creating a scene. The concept of VFX is the exact opposite of it. VFX is applied to real scenes or frames. The special effects created on the software are superadded on real elements thus enabling us to manipulate live-action shots with the help of computer-generated imagery. This helps us to achieve tasks that otherwise won’t be possible or might be expensive during production.
credits: Mateusz Butkiewicz on Unsplash
Timing:
In terms of time taken, the animation is usually but not always a laborious process as it is involved right from the beginning of production. VFX is a part of post-production and becomes challenging only when most of the shots of a movie heavily rely upon it as in Sci-fi and Superhero movies. Talking solely about the post-production phase, VFX takes longer even though the number of people involved is higher. It requires an editor, colourist, motion designer, sound designer, 3D artists and compositors while post-production in animation is mostly devoted to sound designing which plays a bigger part here than the former.
Cost implication:
From an economical perspective, the cost of technology is higher in VFX. Animations are flexible in the sense that you can simplify the costs. That being said, if the animation is complex, the requirement for specialized professionals drastically increases and so does the cost. Movies of studios like Pixar and Dreamworks require as much budget as VFX of Disney.
credits: Ryan Garry on Unsplash
Excited to build a career in Animation or VFX? There are plenty of courses available at the best animation & VFX institute. Choose a course that suits your requirements the best and get started!
The year 2021 marks the Silver Jubilee of Arena Animation Sayajigunj . This is also a very special year where the world has recently faced an unprecedented global health crisis. While it’s not a time for celebration, it is still important for us to reflect on the past, and more importantly, to focus on the future. So arrangement is done on a precautionary basis.
Arena Animation Sayajigunj was officially founded 25 years ago, Elsewhere our wealth and service of expertise can be traced back to 1996 .
To Treasure such memorable moments for more than 2.5 decades consistently proving a competitive market in terms of lending education services and enriching lives of youth and guiding many people towards the path of hope has always been a goal for us .
So to cherish such memorable and remarkable journey continued since 25 years our management has inaugurated the day with the motivational speech – by our Centre Director– Ashish Kanojiya and rewarded the employees via his kindhearted words for showing loyalty and Sincerity towards company without sacrificing the ethics strongly accompanied with the successful journey of Arena Sayajigunj . It was quite touching and emotional moments for all as it’s coming from a person of few words. Moreover, we all were stunned with the students’ creativity, as they have decorated the whole centre with colourful balloons, lights, paper work and beautiful crafting skills which was such an enduring experience to watch, as it displays their dedication, strong bond & attachment towards us. Indeed it is one of the most proud and touching moments for all of us.
So As a token of Triumph Our Management has orchestrated a DJ event in a premium disco lounge cloud3 , for all the students and staff members. We have embraced the moment by cutting the giant Red Velvet cake where More than 200+ students have been a part of such an amazing celebration.
Cloud3 is Vadodara’s premiere party place. It was the time for all the Arenians to put their dancing shoes on and step into a world of fun and magic and redefine the lounge experience. All the students were taking pleasure in clubbing. It feels like howl at the Moon is a high-energy bar centred on live trendy Bollywood and Hollywood music, dancing, and a nightlife experience like none other! It was stepping up into a world of fun and magic and redefined your lounge experience in huge LED panels, psychedelic lasers and thundering speakers. We have offered them the best music and sound system, Gala Dinner & beverages for the same.
It is one of the best places where students can have a glimpse of metro city lights, which are supposed to be the best give away for their support and association with Arena Sayajigunj.
All the stars of the Arena were grooving on the music. We were amazed to see the talent as they have some ravishing dancing moves happening on the floor .This day will be gracefully carved in history of Arena Sayajigunj and we hope to continue over service with utmost gratitude by fulfilling the lives of the students and spreading the smile in life of others by offering them best knowledge of education and making them job ready and grab upcoming opportunities towards their bright future.
It is a matter of great pride to cherish the silver jubilee of Arena Animation Sayajigunj successfully completed 25 Years of Academic Excellence. Arena Animation, Sayajigunj is a Pioneer in Animation and multimedia education at Baroda city for more than two & half decades . Arena trains students in the latest industry relevant courses backed by alliances with world leaders. Arena has an extensive network of centers all over India, we stands No.1 in Gujarat and in Top 5 pan India. We have trained over 7000+ students locally since its inception in 1996.
We are into fostering good value system in terms of giving education services in a new technology & opening a world of opportunity for students by providing them with a superior education along with professional hands on training in the field of Multimedia & Entertainment.
Arena Animation has a spectrum of courses for all kinds of audiences ranging from career courses to professional courses as well as short-term courses that offer students a plethora of career opportunities such as
Animation
VFX
Gaming /AR-VR
Web & Graphics
UI-UX
Broadcast
Multimedia
Digital Advertising & Marketing.
Arena Animation Sayajigunj’s purpose is to help student build career into creative industry and enhance the individual skills by our experts and mentor them to get professional legitimately as per their interest.
We truly believe that along with prominent efforts and add on skills there are unlimited opportunities to grow mentally and professionally by giving them the culture that pays for your performance and stimulates the passion from within. We are highly proud of each of our Students and make them a skilled and responsible citizen for the country We want you all to GET TRAINED AND GET HIRED & rejoicing the success by placing the students in renowned MNC companies, Studios & Advertising company building creative careers in movies and producing future entrepreneurs for the country.
As an aspiring VFX Artist, you must have seen tons of behind-the-scenes footage of movies that use advanced VFX techniques to create fascinating visuals for the audience. Something common in all of them is the usage of blue and green screens. Sci-fi, period and fantasy genre movies use them all the time. Before we dive into it further, first let’s understand the concept of chroma keying. It is the process of shooting video on a solid colour backdrop which is later replaced by the required footage or CGI. It isn’t strictly a post-production process as shooting on a screen on set is the first part of the entire workflow.
But why only blue or green? Blue and green are on the opposite ends of the color spectrum. Red and orange which correspond to the skin tones, so by using blue or green you have lesser unwanted effects when keying a person on screen.
Should you choose the blue or the green screen for chroma key compositing? This essentially depends on the lighting of scene to be shot. If it’s a daytime background, then green in the ideal choice as it blends seamlessly. Blue as you’d have guessed is best for replicating nighttime. Apart from that the choice actually isn’t that simple.
Blue is a higher frequency colour than green and thus gives a more distinct keyed image with greater contrast.
The blue screen is also the most common choice of the compositor as it has less depth than green screen and so it does not stand out in the real world. The blue screen can be created using silk or fine fabric coated with an emulsion of fine particles of a light reflecting material. Most people like to use velvet for this purpose, but fabric such as muslin can also serve as a good option.
Talking about the counterpart, green color is processed the cleanest with the most luminance. The result is that you will be able to pull a clean key with the least amount of noise, and often, without a complicated lighting setup. Conversely, because of green’s brightness, it can also lead to more ‘spill,’ meaning the green color may reflect and bleed over on your on-screen talent. It isn’t that big of a problem and one of the easiest ways to avoid it is to ensure distance between the actor and the screen.
credits: (c)Disney Studios
Now it may seem as though blue is superior to green, which to some extent is right. But it does have its own downsides too. Blue screen will require twice as much light as green screen thus it’s an expensive choice. This difference in luminosity results in less colour spill than green. You would not want your post production to be messy after all.
In conclusion even though blue gets the upper hand, the green screen is still the most popular choice for chroma key compositing since it’s cheaper and has lesser depth with respect to its surface. Nevertheless, you may need to use both screens in various circumstances. The ideal solution is not just one.
Fascinated with the behind-the-scene intricacies about film-making? You can become an integral part of the process too. Get trained in VFX fundamental and advanced techniques at Arena Animation.
Check out the career courses in VFX here and take the first step ahead in your career pursuit.
Arena Animation Sayajigunj Organized its Annual Competition SPARX 2021, Which was initiated to Encourage Students to Compete and participate in Such Competitions and also a Unique Platform to Showcase their Skill and talent. The Event kicked off on 20th October 2021. Students Got One Week to Prepare their Artworks and Get Themselves Nominated in Eight Different Categories Namely Character Design, Photo manipulation, Creating a Social Media Post,3D Environment,VFX Shot ,Creating a Promo Video and Character Animation Sequence.Around 150 plus Registrations and Submissions Were Done.
The main Event i.e. The Awards Felicitation Ceremony was organized on 28th October 2021 making World Animation Day Special for everyone. Special Guest for the Event was Mr.Amar Trivedi, RAH, Arena Animation Mumbai as He Shared Some Useful Tips and Knowledge with Students and Flagged the Event.
Our Centre Directors Mr. Ashish Kanojiya and Mr.Ambubhai Kanojia as they gave there Valuable presence at the Event and All Staff Members Counselors, Mentors and Admin Staff were present at the Event to Felicitate the Best. Around 80 Plus students were present as Audience at the Event while Other’s were Active at Our Online platforms as per Current Protocols. Event Started with Previewing of Short listed Entries and Healthy Interaction on Certain Works with Students attending. in Second Half Winners were Announced from all the Categories and were Felicitated with Trophies and Certificates as the Whole Atmosphere at the Event was Joyous and Motivating. In Certain Categories Special Jury Mention was also awarded for Good Quality Work. The event Concluded with Closing Speech from our valued Guests and Photo shoot of Winners and Organizers as the Event was a Grand Success as it provided the Creative Platform to Students to Stand Out from the Crowd. Thanks to all The Team Members of Arena Animation Sayajigunj and Its Students the Event was Able to achieve its Motive.
Recently there has been a significant rise in ‘baby’ characters in animated movies and shows and it’s not a surprise that they are doing exceptionally well not just at the box office but also as merchandise. There are loads of examples to back this up, some of the most popular ones being ‘Baby Yoda’ and ‘Boss Baby’. Let’s get to know the basic fundamentals of creating such attention grabbing characters.
Proportions:
Let’s take Jack Jack from ‘The Incredibles’ as an example for the body proportions. The easily noticeable design is the big forehead and the absence of the neck.
Children have small legs, heads with the same width as the shoulders and a tiny chin. As the character gets older, the head stays at the same size but the legs and neck grow along with other aspects of the body. In animations, little children can have even bigger heads than the adults. Also make note of it that babies are full of folds, simply because they has more skin available to cover the bones than adults. This makes them appear chubby and cute.
Behaviours:
Remember ‘Boss Baby’? Even though the voice over was provided by sixty three year old Jack Baldwin, the creators of the movie were still be able to match it with a 2 years old character. And that was possible because Boss Baby was one of the exceptions where the plot line itself demanded a baby to act like a professional businessman and not that of a kid. Normally, responses from a child or a baby to their external surroundings, even though immature but are still extremely varied over different ages. This is due to the transition between childhood and the adulthood and the result of this process is characterized by severe changes in both the physical and social status.
To express the characteristics of this transition, it is essential that you observe children’s behaviour in real life. Babies’ curiosity to explore new objects and kids’ the tendency to be talkative and appearing smart are the defining features.
Expressions:
Displaying emotions solely through facial expressions is something cartoons are well known for throughout the history. The major element of conveying emotions such as anger and happiness lies in the eyes and the movements of the nose.
While babies have very small and closed eyes in real life, in animations they are very expressive and giant, in order to create a better harmony with the big head. This technique works with any character which tries to pass the impression of being cute, so it’s more a matter of style and taste rather than a rule. Also notice how their bodies reacts to external stimuli, how their emotions are expressed and how they see the world differently.
Image Credits: (c)Dreamworks
While drawing kids is a great way to go back and being one of them, creating them with the correct appeal takes practice, time and lots of observation. And don’t forget to always look for creating subtle differences between characters, even if they’re of the same age. We recommend you to watch the following movies to get the
1) The Incredibles
2) Boss Baby
3) Coco
4) My Neighbor Totoro
5) Spirited Away
Remember that it’s best to just work around improving your initial sketches and adding details to it rather than following a strict guidelines. Get trained in the creative and technical aspects of animation with Arena’s career courses in Animation.
Which is your favourite baby character in Animation movies/shows? Let us know in the comments section.
