An excerpt from an interview with Martin Studnicky.

What is 3-D animation and what are its applications and uses?

Bringing created objects to life. 3-D is creating worlds and bringing life to them. Visualizing dreams in 3-Dimension and animation is bringing life into these works. 3-D is used for construction, engineering, architectural areas, movie industry, print, web, games. You find 3-D in every area of life.

What is the process for 3-D animation and how tedious is it?

The first step is how to think in 3-Dimentions: X, Y, Z coordinates, to understand how these coordinates work. There are two areas in this field it’s the construction design and the other is the organic design, one is calculative and the other is the potter with clay. Someone who is a math guy would be apt for construction design like the engineer and vice versa. Visualizing needs experience and practice.

How budget plays a significant role?

Budget plays a vital role in producing 3D works. I visited a film director from Vietnam, working on a war film. He wanted to have 3D images (2-3 sec) in the movie; it was just having a bunch of airplanes flying. The cost was 15,000 dollars; as a result he had to cancel the whole idea. In Switzerland a guy made a game for 300,000 Swiss Franks excluding marketing. He marketed it and sold it for 600, 000 Swiss Franks. If you want to produce a good film, it’s expensive.

What is the current scenario of 3-D animation in India and do you think India in the future can see animation studios like Pixar and movies like ‘Incredibles’ be made here?

It’s for sure possible. What India needs is people who are willing to take a risk, people with a vision, maybe the money too. The best way to start is to collect your friends and start a garage company. This is how Microsoft started. Then you don’t need America. Why get inspired by the Americans?
The movie ‘Final Fantasy’ has 3D characters, which are very close to reality. For example, David. Michael Angelo made the perfect human body. People said it’s not possible to draw or sculpt the human body in perfect proportions; he expanded the horizon and brought art to the next level, that’s what the industry is heading to. It’s a challenge to do a human body how it looks when it sweats, when its cold, these are the frontiers the industry is going for, remodel an actor so that even if he dies he could relive. Animating a virtual David is what I would say is the ultimate. Another example is the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ which had water that looked absolutely real, so they reduced the quality.
You have a great culture and background, you can make it. I think the one thing that you require in this field is patience and passion, if you have the heart for it then this kind of a life becomes part of you.