MUMBAI: Being a Saturday as well as the final day at Anigraph, Day 3 opened to a full house. The packed auditorium got to view some very impressive showreels interspersed with talks.

The highlight of the day was the talk on 'International co-production in animation' given by Crest Communications CEO A K Madhavan. Madhavan very lucidly explained the wisdom involved in co-producing animation, responding to questions with characteristic patience and calm.

Also of note was the presentation by Broadcast Consultancy Services CEO Reena Ashok. Entitled 'Renderfarm on Rent by IBM Shaf' the presentation had Reena explaining as to how such a service can help studios function more effeciently, reduce overheads and improve output.

Rendering being one of the critical processes in animation and VFX, the presentation held the attention of all industry members within the audience.

Some good showreels were demonstrated in the plenary session 'Special FX in movies and TV' and in the presentation on 'VFX in advertising'.

Played during the FX for Movies and TV plenary, the Hatim showreel had the audience spellbound. The students amongst the audience were informed beforehand by the organiser Ramesh Meer, that TV shows have relatively smaller budgets for FX.

Complimenting Jyoti Sagar on the impressive FX of Hatim, the curious audience put up questions on topics like miniatures, CG and compositing.

'VFX in advertising', the session by the brilliant VFX & graphics artist Ara of famous FX was a short one and could have been longer. Responding to a question from the audience Ara explained the methodology and innovation that went into the famous 'Yeh pyaas hai badee' Pepsi campaign featuring Shahrukh, Saif and Priety Zinta.

The commercial had a scene with 800 cars in a single frame, 30 of which were real while the rest were digitally manipulated. Seperate plates had to be shot from different roof tops at the Bandra-Kurla complex, lighting and reflections considered and a lot of sweat and thought went in the creation of the compelling commercial.

The enriching last day at Anigraph was however, not without it's share of disappointments.

2 eagerly awaited speakers, Martin Poole of The Pixel Farm (UK) and Pankaj Khandpur of Visual Computing Labs did not turn up.

Meer announced that both the speakers were stranded, (Poole in germany and Khandpur in the United States) due to visa problems.

Meer expressed his irritation with the Indian embassies abroad and said that it was very difficult to get timely assistance from them.

All in all, as Anigraph 2004 came to an end, the audience and participants went back home contented that they had spent their time well. In the past three days they had learnt a lot about the business of animation, techniques and software. All of this for free without paying even a Rupee. For this the organisers thanked all the sponsors, Shaf, Seagate, Apple and Rahul Commerce for their support.

Way to go ..............!!!

Earlier stories on Anigraph '04
Anigraph 2004 opens with session on special effects
Day 2 at Anigraph '04: The industry participates

For detailed session wise reports on Anigraph'04 check the June 28 issue of Animation Express. (To subscribe for free send a mail to anex@indiantelevision.com).