Keyframe

Discuss your feelings on the possibility of developing an animation/games production

company in the current climate and whether there are initiatives in place to support this.
I personally would not want to set up an animation or games production company, and while
there are schemes to help with this e.g. grants from Bord Scannn and through crowd
funding, I wouldnt want that level of responsibility. Ireland is a good place to set up these
companies as we are the tech hub of Europe, when games are tested for the European market
it is done in Dublin, this is because we have a unique set up, we provide good incentives and
our location is ideal for communication and conferences with the game company HQs in both
Japan and the U.S. the U.S is -8 hours GMT while Japan is +9 hours GMT so when Japan is
going to sleep its daytime in Ireland and early morning in America. For animation it is
similar, a lot of American shows, and even some English ones, are animated in Ireland by the
studios here.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of internships with studios?
A. Advantages of doing an internship in a studio is first and foremost the experience
and knowledge gained. You also gain contacts and an opportunity to prove yourself so
that they might want to keep you.
B. Disadvantages include being used for cheap, free labour. Youll do a lot of work for
them and receive no recognition or pay, and probably not be offered a job afterwards.
What talents are essential to bring to the industry and what is most called for in this day and
age?
Essential talents and skills necessary to bring to an animation company is being tech savvy
and open to learning new processes, as well as team working and reliability. In this day and
age the most called for skills depend on the company usually, a small or independent
company might need some extra animators or background artists, whereas companies like
Disney or Pixar would need people with skills in specific programmes but they would need
more 3D animators and sculptors instead of 2D.
Discuss the technology that is being used, and why it is being favoured?
Publicly available software being used by companies include Adobes Photoshop, After
Effects, (to a lesser extent Flash/Animate), Autodesks HumanIK, Maya, and Mudbox,
ToonBooms Harmony and StroyboardPro, along with Modo, Mari, Katana, Nuke X, V-ray,
Renderman, ZBrush, and Havok.
No matter where you work Adobe Photoshop will always be used.
The most commonly used 2D software is ToonBoom Harmony, it has taken the place of
Flash/Animate, and while it will take time to get used to, although it is easier if you know
Flash, it offers so much more, and is being favoured as it is an entire pipeline in one, from
sketches to modelling, rigging, lighting, and compositing. Boulder Media were renowned for
creating their shows in Flash and held out on moving to ToonBoom until a better software
came along which was Harmony.

For 3D animation Maya is the standard the world round, it is used by Disney and GameFreak,
and very few companies, animation or gaming, will use 3DS Max. For live action though,
ZBrush is used.
Havok and HumanIK are physics engine.
Modo and ZBrush are 3D modellers and sculptors in one while Maya is a modeller and
mudbox a sculptor.
Mari is for texture painting
Katana is a lighter
Nuke X is a compositor
V-Ray and Renderman are both Renderers.
Mention at least two Irish studios that are producing work currently and consider what their
success might be due to.
Two Irish studios currently producing work are Boulder Media and Brown Bag, both are
hardworking studios that are known for making great cartoons, and for making programmes
for Disney, in particular their young childrens block of shows. The main reason for their
success is that their shows are actually good to watch at any age, not just the target audience.
The Amazing world of Gumball by Boulder Media is for a young audience but it contains a
fair bit of adult humour that makes it appealing to adults as well. Brown Bag have some of
the best 3D animations for a non-major studio such as Granny OGrim and Octonauts.
If there was any speaker at the seminar that you found particularly interesting, discuss what
aspect of the talk or advice was noteworthy or thought provoking.
I found Niamh Herritys talk at keyframe to be interesting, as well as Aoife Doyles workshop
in Flash. The way she talked about what was needed to make a career was really helpful, in
particular she said to know whats happening in all formats of animation, know where the
funding comes from to help get your projects backed, understanding how to put together a
solid bible to make really good pitches, and knowing where the markets are and to attend
talks whenever you can.