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a question of outsourcing

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a question of outsourcing

Two questions:

1) just out of curiosity (because i have neither the funds nor the inclination to purchase any animation at the moment), but are there any studios in less expensive countries that do the same quality animation as these folks:

www.blur.com or www.AngelWars.com

I ask because whenever I visit 3D animation websites from companies in cheaper countries, they don't look like they are even 5% as good as these guys. Surely there must be some company that can do strong 3D animation at affordable rates?

Roger hits a huge nail bang on the head. Going overseas equals lower costs but the intensity of your involvement as a creative or producing partner goes up manifold.

A lot of artists are either self taught or just not exposed to enough cinema, pop culture or even the world at large to know or create something without outside help or communicate a 100% clearly.

other countries besides India? The PHILIPPINES for one. Its outsourcing industry on animation and other i.t. services are now growing. Have a look at TheRedmachine.net or animation council of the philippines.

Hi fcdbayer

Progres Animation is an animation production house based out of Singapore. Our studio comprised of a team of 30 dedicated fulltime animators, all of which have strong traditional art background to tandem with cutting edge technical expertise. We are backed by a full running rendering farm as well as motion and facial capture facilities, all of them in-house and completely run by the studio.

That being said though, we'd rather let our showreel speak for ourselves.

www.progresanimation.com

Cheers,

Progres Animation
info@progresanimation.com

Tom & Jerry

Thats right! I can completely relate to the "not exposed to pop culture" part. Ever snice I came to India I hear nothing but "Tom and Jerry", 24 / 7... seems like that's what anyone who's in their early 20's grew up with. That and no other animation. I showed my team some Ren and Stimpy eps (Space Madness).... they hated it! They were either totally confused or very offended. They also strongly disliked the Animatrix... anything 2D that was not just like Tom and Jerry, they felt very uncomfortable with. They LOVED Tex Avery though, and old wartime 1940's Disney cartoons.

In China, though, its a totally different story. Of course these were rich kids in expensive universities, but their student work was extremely good and heavily influenced by Japanese games and animation.

But yeah, overseas animation is basicaly high maintenance. You have to be part director, part supervisor and part teacher.

Animation talent in India

Guys,

I am relative newbie here - in case I get some netiquette wrong :-)

We are a boutique 3D animation studio based in Massachusetts with operations in Chennai, India. Please check us out on the web http://www.animatixstudios.com - especially the 2 short films. Also check out a cool animated messaging product on http://www.mpulse.net

Thanks & Regards,

Srini

Usually most outsourced cartoons are either done in China or Korea at high quality, but these people usually charge a good amount of money.

Animation writer who loves...Animation!

well pakistan is doing some 3d work. here is a company that deals in 3d
http://postamazers.com they have a brand called Commander safe guard they are running for PnG. I am not sure but their success might have made them expensive buy.

We ourselves are the verge of setting up a major new studio but we are not dealing with 3d, not yet atleast

do take a look at my showreel http://cubexsystems.net/cartoons/zafari_demo4.html

-
http://www.cubexsystems.net
Outsourced Services
YIM: asifbiz Skype: cubexsystems

Depends on how you do it

Hey there.
Im currently directing a CG show at a studio in India, and it's actually going pretty well. It's true, that work done overseas in 3D can be pretty lousy, but it can also be done well. The thing is, it's not just about how good the studio in India (or wherever) is, but also how good you are at directing them.
If you want Blur quality, you better be willing to pay Blur prices. Hell, why not hire Pixar for that matter? But if you need to get the job done overseas, part of the deal is, they are there to follow YOUR lead. You can't just hand the job over and expect them to step up. You can do a lot of good work here, but you need to send supervisors who know what they are doing, send a lot of well organized, clear pre production material, send reference movies, give clear directions, work together with the studio in getting your production going.

Otherwise it's just a matter of luck whether you get a good product or not.

lkjasd;fjkl

I checked out some Indian companies, like Toonz Animation India, and their 2D stuff looks pretty strong. But their 3D....it just doesn't hold even the tiniest candle. Check out Blur's portfolio of TV spots and check out their 3d animation for Halo (or some other first person shooter, i get the names mixed up). It is just so strong.

I shouldn't have to mention this, but since it is my first post, I want to ad that I'm certainly not spamming for either of these countries. I am genuinely impressed with their animation and curious as to the extent to which equivalent companies might be available overseas at cheaper prices.

i was just havin a discussion with a journalist over a film project im hoping to begin. it turned to a 3d project that might compete with mine and i said i wasnt worried as it was BOUND to be below par.

india as a whole just dosent have the 3d capabilities required to successfully work on international projects.

not as an operator high on the value chain anyway

Hello

You should also look Elecom Toon's animation... As I feel our Animation Quaslity is also upto the mark and satisfactory.. if you need I can send our demo too......

My email id is bikram@elecomtoon.com and site is www.elecomtoon.com

skinnylizard, thanks for your answer. frankly i'm surprised that India's 2D animation capabilities would be superior to its 3D. Especially since India is renowned as a center of technological know-how and expertise.

however, that doesn't answer my initial question: are there any countries (other than india, which you have stated is not up to the task yet) that can do high quality animation but cheaper than the US?

bikram, your company makes some lovely 2D backgrounds, and your 2D animation isn't bad. your 3D architectural renderings are pretty decent too. but when you aren't animating buildings and apartments, your 3D animation is so awful that even a non-artistic person like me could pick up a copy of Bryce 3D and make better animation (*edit)

Hi Tom, and welcome to the AWN Forums.

You'll pretty much get what you pay for. The reason why studios like Blur can charge so much is because they take the time and effort to make their work look so good. You might want to research Dreamworks' 3D TV show "Father of the Pride." If my memory serves, that was animated in Malaysia. They might have the quality to price ratio that you're looking for.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

You'll pretty much get what you pay for. The reason why studios like Blur can charge so much is because they take the time and effort to make their work look so good. You might want to research Dreamworks' 3D TV show "Father of the Pride." If my memory serves, that was animated in Malaysia. They might have the quality to price ratio that you're looking for.

not sure but i believe the studio set up for Father of the Pride is in China, set up and trained by dreamworks, and is making the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3d animated movie for release next year (which looks pretty sweet). I can't imagine they are very cheap though.

Ape is right, you get what you pay for.

You can do production overseas for cheaper, but you will pay extra for more detailed pre-production and long distance production management.

As much as some traditional artists may try to refute it, technology does allow more to be done by fewer people tho so in the right hands, quality work can be cranked out for less manhours and less dollars. But 22 minutes is still going to cost you hundreds of thousands today (including pre and post) and feature length is exponentially more.

That being said, what cost the big studios 90 million to make 5 years ago could probably be done for 20 mllion now.

im not sure but i know that there are one off places in the far east (phillipines, china, korea) that might be able to offer you what you need done.

india is a great center of learning as you put it but the problem is a lot of 3d animators that get involved in production havent had enough art/animation training and therefore lack the basic skills required.

one place that does great work is rhythm and hues india which is a direct subsidiary of R&H LA. they work very very closely with each other and therefore a great deal of work in major films happens here.

when used in conjunction with a team the indian 3d guys can def do good things if you leave them on your own theyll snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (but i think its for a short time. few years theyd catch up)