What Animators do???

Animators create animation and visual effects for films, video games, television, mobile devices, and other forms of media using illustrations and software programs. Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Autodesk3ds Max, and Autodesk Maya are just a few leading software programs for animators. Animators also create graphics and develop storyboards, drawings and illustrations. They create, plan, and script animated narrative sequences, and assist with background design and production coordination.

Animator Jobs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics combines multimedia artists and animators into one career group. According to the Bureau, “multimedia artists and animators often work in a specific medium. Some focus on creating animated movies or video games. Others create visual effects for movies and television shows. Creating computer-generated images (CGI) may include taking images of an actor’s movements, which are then animated into three-dimensional characters. Other animators design scenery or backgrounds for locations.”

The Bureau reports that multimedia artists and animators work primarily in the following industries:

Motion Picture and Video Industries
Computer Systems Design and Related Services
Software Publishers
Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services
Specialized Design Services

The Bureau also mentions that a staggering 57 percent of animators were self-employed in 2012. This is the most current figure for self-employed animators. These professionals, not just the self-employed, often work from home. Others work at film, animation or video game production studios, cartoon networks, advertising agencies, web design firms, graphic design firms, and mobile technology companies. Some work in office settings.

Animator Salaries

At the end of 2014, the median annual wage for multimedia artists and animators was $61,370 per year. The lowest paid multimedia artists and animators earned less than $34,860. The highest paid earned $113,470 per year. At $72,680, multimedia artists and animators working in the motion picture and video industries earned the highest median annual wage of the top five industries for this profession.

It is important to keep in mind that salaries for multimedia artist and animators may vary by experience, type and size of company, and even geographic location. For example, California-based multimedia artists and animators average $88,150 per year—the nation’s highest average salary for this profession, while Arkansas-based artists average $40,890—one of the lowest.

The top five highest paying states for multimedia artists and animators were California ($88,150 per year), Washington State ($76,900), District of Columbia ($76,110), New York ($72,530), and New Mexico ($70,310).

Becoming an Animator

There are so many paths to becoming an animator today you'll lose count. Just a few options include a Bachelor of Art (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS) and/or a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) in Animation, Animation & Digital Arts, Media Arts & Animation, Computer Animation, Computer Graphics, Media Arts & Science, Fine Art, and even Computer Science (with an Emphasis in Animation). Courses common to these degree paths and other related programs include Drawing, 2-D Animation Production, 3-D Animation Production, and Stop Motion. Animators also study anatomy to study how animals and humans move in order to make character movements more realistic.

In addition to a 4-year degree, many employers look for at least two years’ experience in the industry, and advanced technology skills. Entry-level positions may require only a degree and experience through an internship or other support position. Senior level positions may require at least five to seven years’ professional experience in the industry and possibly an advanced degree. In fact, more schools than ever before now offer Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Animation, Animation & Visual Effects, Animation & Digital Arts, and more. Some schools in the U.S. (and many in Europe and Asia) even offer PhD programs in Digital Arts & Animation, Multimedia & Animation, Computer Science with an Animation Emphasis and more.

Job Trends for Animators

Employment for this group is expected to grow six percent from 2012 to 2022. Projected employment growth for animators and multimedia artists will be the result of increased demand for animation and more realistic visual effects in video games, films, and television. However, job growth may be slowed by companies hiring artists and animators who work overseas for lower wages. The increasing demand for computer graphics for mobile devices may counter slow growth by creating more job opportunities in the massive mobile industry.

Despite slow job growth, competition for job opportunities in animation will remain strong. The Bureau says, “Opportunities should be best for those who have a wide range of skills or who specialize in a highly specific type of animation or effect.” Still, in 2014, the U.S. was home to an impressive population of 68,900 multimedia artists and animators, making it the third largest career field in the world of Art and Design. At 259,500, graphic designers represent the largest group.

Job opportunities for animators and multimedia artists can be found all over the U.S. However, five states have the highest employment levels. California has the highest, followed by New York, Washington, Texas, and Illinois.

Awesome Animation Fact: Animation has been around for a lot longer than you think. According to Computer Science for Fun (published by Queen Mary, University of London), a 5,200-year old bowl found in Iran features an early precursor of animation. Along the bowl's side are five drawings that, when viewed in a sequence, depict a wild goat leaping up to eat leaves off a tree.

An Introduction To After Effects

Animation, Polishing and Compositing with After Effects

 After Effects is an incredibly powerful and versatile program that keeps gaining momentum in the industry. If you are new to the program, it may seem daunting to get into with the sheer amount of flexibility the program has in it's uses. If you're interested in After Effects you can download a free trial of it here, or through the link in the “Useful Links” section. After Effects main uses usually fall to three categories: Animating, Polishing, and Compositing.

The biggest thing about animating using the program is that After Effects lives in a world between 3D animation and 2D animation. In After Effects “2.5D” world there is depth to the stage you're animating on, but all your pieces are flat. It's a lot like animating with paper cut outs, you can move the paper forwards and backwards in space, but it itself has no real depth to it. That's how After Effects treats it's 3D space. Things are changing slightly with integration of Cinema4D, but that's using another program to achieve the true 3D elements.

A great example of After Effects' 2.5D animation style is Run Wrake's short film “Rabbit.” It's a great example of animating in After Effects and really capitalizing on it's 2.5D style.
Now not all animation in After Effects has to look like cut out puppets, but that is kind of it's default style. This is where After Effects is great at polishing.  After Effects works amazingly well with integration from Flash, Photoshop and Cinema4D.

The last area that the industry is really using After Effects is compositing, a lot like what Alex Horan did in Wolf Within, but it can be extended to live action as well. Green screening, masking and compositing are all things After Effects does very well with ease. After Effects compositing skills is something it has a distinct advantage of over other animation programs, it's masking ability is incredibly versatile. Here's a fun, fourth wall breaking, music video from the directing duo Daniels for Tenacious D that uses lots of compositing, in various stages of finish.

All in all After Effects is a very powerful and very versatile program which can bend and twist to whatever function you may have in mind for it.While Adobe does have a fairly high cost entrance, if you are serious about pursuing a professional career in any form of animation After Effects is an essential tool. And if you're just curious about it, Adobe's free trial is a great way to get your feet wet without having to shell out a bunch of cash.

courtesy:animation.about.com

830 VFX Shots Delivered By Fluiidmask Studios for 'Baar Baar Dekho'

With a simple concept in mind, to deliver the message that one should live in present and not be always chasing the future, Baar Baar Dekho hit the screens on 9 September 2016. Though the film met with mixed reviews for its storyline, visually it was spot on. The film’s story moved back and forth in time and showcased various futuristic devices and set-ups. And providing visual effects for these sequences was Mumbai’s Fluiidmask Studios.

With about 830 shots delivered, Fluiidmask, founder and creative director who was also the VFX supervisor  for the film, Viral Thakkar was roped in right from the scripting stage of the film by director Nitya Mehra to come up with the concept arts. Being involved in the story, he helped in developing the script on the basis of how the future would look and feel like. From the various phases in the movie to the costume, gadgets, looks Thakkar completely worked on it.

“We imagined future to be simplistic. Nitya used to constantly keep a tab on everything and restricted us in case we went overboard with the designs. She wanted things to be as real as possible since the movie wasn’t a sci-fi film,” explains Thakkar. “Based on human behaviour and how we might be few years down the line, the whole futuristic era was conceptualised. Since people are lonely nowadays, we thought that maybe in future there will be smart homes which will talk to the owner and fill in the void.”

A considerable amount of work went in creating the year 2048 section as it was the most complex year and required a lot of imagery and VFX. In the film, a BMW car could be observed and to give it a futuristic feel, Thakkar required the blueprints of the vehicle. “As the filmmakers had official tie-up with BMW, we got hold of the blueprints of BMW I3 from the design team in Switzerland. We worked closely with them and stuck to recreating the interiors of the car. Inspiration was also taken from the BMW 7 series which has 360 degree collision avoidance. The dashboard, steering wheels, side windows were worked upon wherein the car could detect the weather outside, select music according to the mood of the driver. We envisioned the future to be glass and hence you will witness glass in most of the devices.”

Apart from this, a crematorium sequence could also be observed in the film in which a lotus shaped glass rolls up around the body and then the body is burnt. Over here, keeping the architecture behind the scene in mind, the studio had to work on the lotus glass and the fire particles were nicely choreographed. While shooting in Glasgow, the skyline wasn’t what was required so it had to be reworked upon and cranes had to be removed from the background.

Apart from these sequences, the studio worked on creating the snowfall. The windshield wipers and snow on various actors were CGI. In some portion, they also had to work on the prosthetics as it had to be reshaped and remodelled. Necklines had to be recreated and wrinkles had to added or removed according to the year the characters were in. A lot of chroma removal shots were also there and VFX work was also carried out in the bus sequence.

With the VFX team being present during the shoot, it eased up the studio’s task on working on the shots and the project was delivered within two months. It’s heartening to see that directors are slowly understanding the importance of involving the VFX supervisors right from the scripting stage of a film as it not just eases out their work but also saves the VFX studio’s time in delivering the project.

Courtesy:Animation Express

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How Is Animation Timed To Music?

When you're watching an animated feature, often it's the music that helps to set the tone of the scene. It tells you if you should laugh, if you should gasp, if you should feel sad or horrified or frightened. It pulls you into the building tension of action scenes, gets you wound up, then crashes into a breathless crescendo at the scene's climax. It even punctuates actions to give them impact, above even the sound effects.

A hard roll of drums as soldiers march, blending into the chant of determined voices. A heavy bass thump right when the hero hits the edge of a precipice and his stomach drops along with the sound, even as a counterpoint shrill sends a thrill up the spine. It's all so perfectly timed, but how? How does the music match the animation so precisely?

Usually, the final music is composed after the animation is completed - but a rough soundtrack, known as a "scratch track," is created before the animation begins. A composer will work with the production team to discuss the tone the music needs to take, the length of the individual scores, and other audio needs, including working with voice actors and vocalists (for musical / singing numbers like the ones so popular in Disney films) to come up with a scratch track. This is often timed to what's called an animatic or story reel, which is a mock-up animation that uses still images from storyboarding and planning to help time the soundtrack properly.

The animation is timed and planned according to that soundtrack, to synchronize the motions and mouth movements with the voices and the background score.

A notable example of an animated feature film specifically composed to music is Fantasia, where the entire point of the film was to create an animation that reflected the story the music told.

Later the final score is added in, and the animation can be edited in post-production to make sure everything fits together properly and ensure the timing lines up perfectly; it's easier to edit the animation (both in post-production and during the actual animation process) to better fit the music than it is to completely re-compose a track to fit a change in the animation.

Sound effects are also added later, and aren't part of the scratch track; while with full-length scores it's easier to plan the animation to match the music, with quick sound effects it's much easier to add the sound effects in final editing. Those are just quick sound bytes that can be moved around.

You may have done something similar when creating your animations, even if you're working rough without a dope sheet and not pre-planning. If you've chosen to animate something to a specific song, and have imported that song into your 2D or 3D animation program, as you work you'll find yourself tweaking the timing and motions in your animation to better match the music. You can also see examples of animations timed to music with fan-created AMVs, where fans will pick a song and use clips from their favorite animations to create a new animation that matches the rhythm and beats of the chosen song. Even though they aren't creating the animation themselves or composing the music, the heart of the process isn't all that different.

Although post-production synching is the typical method, that wasn't always the case (and there are still rare exceptions now). Before the 1930s, usually animations were made without the soundtrack, and the soundtrack was composed afterwards. This includes recording voices, which is why in older cartoons, at times the voices don't seem to quite match the animated mouth movements.

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Return of the Panda Warrior

Are you all set with your Kung Fu gear? We sure are. We can’t wait for the third part of the Kung Fu Panda franchise. And we’ve been binge watching the previous two parts.

So just before the release this weekend, we thought of sharing a few things that we know about the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Did you know that the film was called Daydreamer to keep the original title under wraps? Read on for more interesting facts.

Bringing real to reel
Since the story takes place in China, animators spent years studying Chinese art, and travelled to China before the actual production. In fact, all the 2D dream & flashback sequences resembled Chinese shadow puppetry. For the music, John Powell & Hans Zimmer travelled to China to study local orchestra & instrumentation, and spent time with the Chinese National Symphony. The entire team also took Kung Fu & Tai Chi lessons to understand how the characters would move & fight.

Coloured
The franchise uses a lot of colour symbolism. Gold represents heroism, red represents power, blue represents negativity or evil, and green represents wisdom.

Changing roles
While Kung Fu Panda was directed by John Stevenson (of Shrek fame) & Mark Osborne (of Spongebob Square Pants fame), Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the head of story for the first film, directed Kung Fu Panda 2, making it the first animated blockbuster solely directed by a woman. For Kung Fu Panda 3, she has joined hands with Alessandro Carloni, the animation supervisor of the first film.

Inspired
The filmmakers took inspiration from other popular films & animation.

The rooftop chase scene pays homage to the wirework of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and the interior of the Jade Palace is a nod to the king’s palace in Hero. The fighting style of Mantis was inspired from Hanna-Barbera’s Atom Ant. They liked the idea of the creature being so small that when moving fast, he couldn’t be seen. The Royal Bridge was based on the bridge in Indian Jones & The Temple of Doom.

A global affair
Although a DreamWorks production, the animation team had artists from all over the world, including USA, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, China, Sweden, Philippines, Canada, Ireland, Israel, UK, Spain, Japan & France.

Chinese influence
The film also uses a lot of character names that have relevance in Cantonese & Mandarin. Shifu’s name means ‘teacher master’, a title often used for addressing martial arts trainers. And Tai Lung’s name translates to ‘great dragon’. The name of the prison is Chorm-Gom, which literally translates to ‘sit in prison’. Also, the furious five are based on the five animal forms found throughout Kung Fu.

Animal spirit
As per the original story, Po was to be lazy in the beginning, and become more confident once the training began. But once Jack Black, the voice of Po, came on board, he suggested that Po be a Kung Fu enthusiast from the beginning to make him more likeable. We sure do like him!

Black got into the spirit of his character. He underwent Kung Fu training, and often acted out the scenes physically while recording. He also added a lot of lines during recording that were maintained in the final films.

Story changes
Early versions of the story gave Grand Master Oogway a mob boss personality. Thank goodness that didn’t make it to the later drafts! Initially, it was also decided that Mantis was to be the villain in the first film. However, it was later changed to Tai Lung, the snow leopard. This was a much better version as snow leopards hunt both giant pandas (Po) & red pandas (Shifu) in real life. Some versions also had Mr. Ping as Po’s stern boss instead of his adoptive father. This was later changed after the suggestion came from one of the storyboard artists.

From 2D to 3D
Before animating the fight sequences in 3D, the animators completed the entire sequence in 2D so that they would have complete knowledge & control over how the animals would move during the sequence. You can never get away from the basics!

Source:Google Images

Tough affair
The animators claim that Viper, in the first film, and Lord Shen, in the second film, were the most difficult character to create. Viper’s model contained 120 different bones, and they used Chinese poetry as the markings on her skin. As per Nelson, detailing Shen’s large body & feathers was like animating six characters, all at once.

A family affair
Remember the smitten bunny in the dream sequence of the first film? Well, the voice actor was none other than Black’s wife, Tanya Haden. And Black’s son & Angelina Jolie’s (voice of the Tigress) children will be the voices of various baby panda’s in Kung Fu Panda 3.

Jackie Chan
We cannot imagine a martial art film without Jackie Chan. And the Kung Fu Panda franchise does not disappoint. Along with giving his voice to Monkey in the English version, Chan also gave his voice to the Cantonese & Mandarin versions of the movies. In fact, if you look carefully, you’ll notice that Monkey uses Chan’s signature double thumbs-up in the movies.

Setting the date
The studio had to change the release date several times. The movie was originally set to release in December 2015. But that clashed with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And the studio is no fool. They realised that Kung Fu was sure to lose in front of the lightsaber. So the date was pushed back to 2016. It is obvious that they wanted the movie to be released at a time when it would get maximum mileage. But have they not thought about the T20 finals, or have they?

Emotion vs action
The first film was about Po realising his true potential. The second one was about Po using his skills & learning for a larger good. Looks like the third film continues on the theme where Po will not only save people but will pass on his teachings & train others in Kung Fu. This movie also promises to bring the story full circle, with Po meeting his real family & discovering his village & people. Will this be the end of Po’s journey or will it lead to new adventures? We’ll have to wait for DreamWorks to answer that one.

source:http://www.arena-multimedia.com/blog

What is a Logo and How Does It Brand a Business/Website?

You see them on flyers, letterhead, billboards and building signs. They appear in televised commercials, websites and other forms of advertising. Chances are that you cannot go a single day without seeing a substantial number of logos. What are logos and why are they such valuable branding tools?

What is a Logo?
By definition, a logo (or logotype) is a graphic symbol or image that is used to represent a company’s trademark and name. It is often designed to create a unique way of easily recognizing and identifying a specific company or website.

There are so many different types of logo designs that are used for companies and websites around the world. Some are more popular than others primarily because of the success of the company represented by the images. However, one should never assume that a logo is just a fancy image. As a branding tool, it has more power and presence than you might realize.

Quick to Recognize, Easy to Identify
One of the most prominent benefits of a quality logo as a branding tool is the beauty of quick recognition and easy identification. With so many different business and website names, it can become very overwhelming to distinguish between them – especially when familiar logos are not available. However, an effective logo design can make that task a lot easier – allowing people to recognize your logo and identify your brand almost immediately.

For example, when you see the letter “F” inside of a blue box, chances are that you will automatically think of Facebook. Whether you love their food or not, golden arches shaped as an “M” will remind you about McDonald’s. A white apple with a bite mark might quickly remind you about Apple. Detailed explanations and wordy phrases were not needed for you to identify those familiar brands; the logos took care of that, right? That is the beauty of logo design by Designhill. Quality logos make it a lot easier for brands to identify themselves and for clients to identify those brands.

The Power of a Brand’s Name
Another benefit of using a logo as a branding tool is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a symbol or image. There are many cases where the company or website wants to keep both the brand name and basically turn it into a logo of its own. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Quite a few logotype names have become just as iconic as symbolic logo images, according to Design Shack.

Apple might use an actual apple, but its biggest competitor – Microsoft – uses the actual word with a definitive logotype. Think about IBM, Coca-Cola, and FedEx ad UPS. The names (even as abbreviations) have basically become their logos and there is nothing wrong with that. Effective branding power extends far beyond images and words; it is more about the actual design itself.

Appreciating the Essence of Color
When examining logo design by Designhill, you likely have noticed the broad use of colors. That is because colors can highlight the essence of a brand’s logo, allowing its personality to emerge directly through the design. According to Mashable, each color brings its own implication and nuance to the message conveyed through the design.

For example, the color red conveys sexiness and energy while the color blue conveys tranquility and trustworthiness. Black is used in designs to convey credibility and power while white is used to showcase simplicity and cleanliness. Pink is used for flirty and fun messages while green conveys growth and instruction.

The Basics of Logo Design
Understanding what a logo is and why it is such a powerful branding tool is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to be able to fully understand the basics of effective logo design. According to Creative Bloq, applying several simple principles will take your logo design work to new heights.

For instance, view simplicity as a requirement – not an option. Simplicity makes it easy to recognize logos and keep them memorable yet versatile. The logo design needs to withstand the test of time, meaning that it needs to remain effective on a long-term basis. When thinking about the longevity of your logo, focus on decades – not days. As mentioned earlier, versatility is of the utmost importance so that brands can use logos in a variety of applications and mediums.

The Bottom Line
From the surface, it might seem like logos are nothing more than fancy pictures or memorable images. However, logo design by Designhill focuses on turning those “fancy pictures” into effective branding tools by truly appreciating their value. Once you fully understand the branding power of logos, you will take one step closer towards creating the next iconic image (or logotype) for your client. Without appreciating its long-term value, though, you will never be able to achieve that goal.

 courtesy:http://www.ourtuts.com/

Understand Responsive vs. Adaptive Web Design

Web design is evolving. Designers are ideating innovative design concepts to cut on the renderability issues, optimize load times and make sites search friendly.

Web design’s new ‘buzz words’ are concepts like responsive, scalable and adaptive layouts.

However, there has been a great debate between the responsive and adaptive layouts, so how should designers, and clients, differentiate these methods and apply them for a website template?

Let’s understand both the concepts in depth:

With the increased use of smart phones and tablets, the ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ isn’t necessarily the best practice any longer. When you view emails on mobile, you’re seeing a zoomed out view of the email, usually at 50%. This makes the text impossible to read as it’s half the size. This is where the concept of responsive design comes in. As the name explains, responsive web design responds to cross platforms such as tablets, desktops, mobiles and many more without being contorted. The biggest benefit of this type of web design concept is a quick call to action. Users will not have to constantly resize or zoom in and out of the page or even worse, try and tap a button the size of a pinhead. This results in better engagement, CTR, Response rate and Opens. Responsive designs are compatible with 70% of the major client emails.

So what is the difference with adaptive design? Adaptive web design is the practice of looking up information and coming to a consensus whether there is a need to apply CSS classes or not. An adaptive design uses the components of progressive enhancement to define design methods centering users over browsers.

Fluid Grids vs. Predefined Screen Sizes

Both responsive and adaptive web design projects have many similarities. They both ensure that the website is rendered in the correct format across devices and screens like mobile, desktop and tablets to create a seamless user experience.

However, responsive web design relies on flexible and fluid grids whereas adaptive design relies on predefined screen sizes. Adaptive web design is proactive and it ensures to detect a user’s device beforehand and then showing the best layout as per the screen. So what does this mean in plain English?

Client Side vs. Server Side

Technically, both are used for mobile optimization. Responsive design is more ‘client side’ which means that the entire page is given away to the device browser and then the browser makes it compatible to the screen. Adaptive on the other hand, is ‘server side’ which means that the server detects the device attributes even before the page is delivered. For the first one, the device itself does ‘all the work’ while for the later; the ‘work’ is done at server level.

With adaptive designs, incorporating additional features such as touch gestures and location is fairly straightforward. Adaptive web design uses three layers of progressive enhancement:

Content layer – Rich Semantic HTML Markup
Presentation layer – CSS and Styling
Client-side scripting layer – JavaScript or jQuery behaviors

To sum this up, responsive design and adaptive design have caused a lot of debate and confusion in the recent past. Designers need to have a clear understanding of both concepts. As far as the device user understanding goes, there is no major difference in both the concepts. To have the right web design solutions for your business, it is important to ask for an advised opinion from professional people who have a good understanding of both the concepts.

courtesy: http://www.ourtuts.com/

An Overview of the Animation Industry in India

Animation is regarded as an essential part of the creative industry, as creative or artistic effort is extensively required in the development process of animation. The animation industry in India today has emerged as the fastest growing section of the entertainment and media industry. This section has tremendous potential in creating jobs through the exploitation of intellectual property. The industry is preferred as an outsourced destination for animation work and has gained significance due to cheaper cost, skilled labour and English speaking manpower, are few among its several advantages. The animation companies and animation studios in India are partnering with international studios to develop animated projects for the audience all across the globe.

India, as Animation Hub

Today India’s being the biggest hub for outsourcing animation work, is expected to grow in domestic entertainment industry as well in coming days. The 2008 report on the entertainment and media industry by Ficci-PwC Entertainment and Media estimated the Indian animation industry at USD 0.31 billion in 2007, which is forecast to grow at CAGR of 24 percent and reach USD 0.94 billion by 2012.

The potential platforms for animation include online education and industry specific applications like medical, legal, insurance, architecture, etc. As a matter of fact, Indian studios do not cater to the needs of these areas but are opened with the opportunities in segments like TV programs and feature films with skills in 2D and 3D animation.

India is gradually transforming itself as a supreme provider of animation production services for following strengths and edge in the market:

•  Availibility of English speaking manpower.

• Presence of several well equipped animation studios.

• Low cost of animation services.

• Heritage of traditional literature.

• India’s vast entertainment sector.

• Indian Animation Market

Until the animation studios made its appearance in India in the second half of the 90s, the Indian animation market was more or less static. The development of more serious activity of the industry began in earnest on this front after the export-oriented outlook came into existence. The multiple players present in the Indian animation market providing it an identity and diverse characteristic.Some of these big players include Films Division Maya Entertainment, Pentamedia Graphics, Acropetal, Silvertoon Studio, Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA), Crest Communications, Moving Pictures, Toonz Animation India, etc. The companies are situated mainly across cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore.

According to a recent NASSCOM study, the animation industry in India has begun taking shape where technical manpower, increasing demand from Indian television, establishment of more animation studios and training centres at domestic level and low cost animation production are included. The usage of animation has gradually increased in various end user segments such as advertisements/commercials, feature films, TV programs, and computer/omline games, where animation solutions have found a place in niches such as special effects, film titling, TV broadcast graphics, 3D modeling, Web entertainment programs and background development.

Outsourcing in The VFX Industry: VFX Studios in India Are At The Forefront

The words rapid and exponential do not even begin to do justice to the growth that the animation sector of India has seen in the recent years. During the beginning of this calendar year, it was estimated to be at 247 million US dollars and it was estimated to continue growing at 15 to 20% per annum. The big guys of the west like Walt Disney, Sony, and Warner Brothers have been sending out work on character animation and special effects our way and small business have been budding and sprouting in large numbers. Entrepreneurs in the animation industry say that though they are in theory clubbed with the IT industry, the work is 70% art and 30% technology and passion needed makes it possible for them to survive the competition. They haven’t just survived but they have thrived and are now bagging more and more noteworthy deals. As the outsourcing demands increase, more and more companies are joining the race from all around the country with Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad as the hubs. These companies have their own high-end studios and employ highly trained and skilled artists providing a full array of services. They also possess the ability to provide to a client’s customized requests.

Outsourcing as a pattern started with the IT industry. Slowly but steadily it has made its way into every other industry including that of VFX. But why India? What makes India the preferred choice for the west? The reasons are obvious. They are listed below.

Cost:

The fact of the matter is that it costs only about one fourth of the price to get a job done in India as compared to North America and only 35% compared to Korea and the Philippines. From the perspective of a business, you never skip an opportunity to save money unless it compromises quality.

Education and quality:
As the demand grows in the industry, more and more big advertising agencies and media schools are formulating courses focusing on quality training. And every year new talent pour into the job market, meeting the needs of skilled workers who can offer relatively better quality output.

Labour:

No job can be achieved without the labour to execute it. Having the second largest entertainment industry in the world gives India the scope to meet the labour requirements. And the constant improvement in the educational standards offers a bridge between the numbers and skill levels. After all, here the saying “what you see is what you get” is applicable in a very literal sense.

Communication:
With English being the primary language of communication in the profession environment across the country, outsourcing companies find it a lot easier to communicate their requirements.

Age of digital media

Digital media has changed the very way the world works. It presented the world an opportunity to interact continuously removing the age-old barriers of geography and reach. This contributed the growth spurt in the VFX industry. But the real change happened when Youtube became hit. The number of people searching, viewing, and interacting around video content has gone up tremendously. Youtube ready has the second largest number of search across the globe. Brands for a while now have leveraging this medium as a tool to reach out to its target audience. Because of this, the number of projects being made has also increased! It started out with the bigger brands and the IT companies that infiltrated the world markets and India. But has moved beyond that today but the concept of e-learning and other newer industries stepping in.

Because of these factors, outsourcing projects to India are only going to increase in numbers. The animation industry in India will only continue to grow and the VFX Studios in India will grow not just in number but also size and global presence!

Courtesy:ToolBox Studios

Adobe Makes Major Updates to Animate CC

Late last year, Adobe announced that it had renamed Flash Professional as Animate CC. Now, the software giant has launched an update which ranks as one of the tool’s biggest releases ever, tacking on more than a few new features.

The Animate February ‘16 release introduces direct integration with Creative Cloud Libraries, Adobe Stock and Typekit and additional features and enhancements, which include:

• Creative Cloud Libraries
• Adobe Stock integration for high-quality images, illustrations, and graphics
• TypeKit support for HTML5 Canvas document type
• New vector art brushes
• Improvements to pencil and art brushes
• Brush Library panel
• Tagged Swatches
• Custom templates for HTML5 Canvas documents
• OAM publishing support for AS3, WebGL, and HTML5 Canvas documents
• Publish text as outlines in HTML5 Canvas documents
• Projector support
• Stage scaling
• Rotate your stage
• Import SVG files
• Enhanced drawing object bounding box
• Video export to multiple resolutions
• Contents scale proportionately to stage size
• Enhanced Onion Skinning
• HTML5 Canvas improvements

Adobe has also issued updates for its no-code website design tool Muse CC.

First Image from New ‘DuckTales’ Revealed

As part of its March client presentations this month, Disney Television has unveiled the first image from the revamped DuckTales — an all-new animated comedy series based on the Emmy Award-winning series. Scrooge McDuck, his grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Donald Duck will return to the small screen through Disney XD sometimes in 2017.

The art charmingly shows off the kind of madcap, comically cartoony adventures that fans of DuckTales have come to expect, with an airborne jeep attempting to avoid an unseen, spear-throwing menace, Uncle Scrooge at the wheel, and Donald on the roof. The designs are just familiar enough while presenting a fresh, graphic novel inspired style.

DuckTales is one of 17 new series that Disney Media Sales and Marketing is presenting in the kids’ upfront this year — in addition to 28 current series, 785 episodes, the Radio Disney Music Awards and two new original movies spanning Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD.

Different Types of Animation Techniques and Styles

Animation is the process of creating the illusion of motion and shape change by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other. Animation is all around us, be it your favourite tv commercials, music, movies or even videos you can see the stop motion animation type. Movement creation techniques incorporate the conventional traditional animation and stop motion animation techniques of two and three-dimensional figures, for example, paper set patterns, puppets and clay figures. Keeping Stop motion as the base of all animation, different styles of animation techniques can be used to create the animated sequences.

Traditional Animation or Classical 2D Animation :
Traditional animation involved animators drawing by hand for each and every frame. If you love the feel of pencils on a paper, then the traditional approach is very fascinating. Traditional animation is creating the drawings one by one on the frame. 2D animation involves creating numerous drawings then feeding into a plastic cells, hand painting them and create the animated sequence on a painted background image.
Traditional Animation Movies : Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty, Aladdins of animation and animation styles,
Computer animation - 2D, 3D: The famous Mickey Mouse animation was created using the 2d animation technique.The first 2D animation was called Fantasmagorie, it's a short cartoon made by Emile Cohl. It's shot entirely in black and white, the cartoon is all about a simple stick man in live action. The cartoon is 75 seconds long and it took about 700 different drawings to create. This historic animation was released in 1908. During the 1960s many popular cartoons like the Jetsons and the Flintstones were created using 2d animation.

Digital 2D animation
Creating animations in the 2 dimensional space with the help of digital technologies is known as digital 2d animation. You don’t need to create digital models, you just need to draw the frames. Create 100s of drawing and animating them to show some kind of movement is technically known as digital 2d animation. Using Adobe flash, animators can limit the number of drawings used, which makes them easier to create digital 2d animation. Small variations like changing the color or frame rate can be changed almost instantly, thus making it easier for the animators to work on.

Digital 3D animation
If you are interested in making the unreal characters into a realistic one, then it’s Digital 3d animation. Digital 3d animation characters are much faster to create and they are quite popular in the movie making industry. Using a computer software 3d animated images are used to create many short films, full length movies and even tv commercials and a career in digital 3d animation is highly rewarding. Comparing to 2D animation and the traditional approach, 3d animation models are highly realistic.

Stop-motion animation
Have you ever wondered if a piece of stone can walk or talk, well anything is possible in animation? Using frame by frame animation, physical static objects are moved around and during the post production it is shown in a fluid movement. Stop motion animation has been around ever since the evolution of puppets. There were many movies created using the stop motion method, some of the finest examples are “Fun in a bakery shop” created in 1902.Edwin Porter directed "The Teddy Bears," which was one of the earliest stop-motion animation films. The movie is a short sequence of playing teddy bears, just over a minute in length, which took over 50 hours to animate.

Mechanical Animation 
Instead of robotics, machines can be animated by using the mechanical animation technique. Instead of creating the original machine, creating these mechanical animations, allows the animator to understand how the machine works. Explaining the functionality of these machines is quite easy through this kind of animation technique.

Audio-Animatronics and Autonomatronics
Walt disney imagineering created the trademark audio animatronics which is fitted in its disney theme parks. Otto is a robot which can easily sense a person in a room, converse with them and can also tell if they are happy. Autonomatronics technology is different from Audio-Animatronics technology. Audio-Animatronics technology repeats a pre-programmed show over and over again. Autonomatronics technology is driven by sophisticated cameras and sensors giving Otto the ability to make choices about what to say and do.

Chuckimation 
Chuckimation is one of the popular animation techniques created by "Action League Now!" creators. It's a combination of stop frame animation and live shots, where characters are dropped into a particular frame. It has some similarities to the famous puppet shows.

Puppetry Animation 
Puppetry animation is created using the life like puppets instead of objects. The film ‘The Humpty Dumpty Circus’ (1908) created by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert smith receives credit as the first stop-motion animation film that features puppets. Nowadays puppet animation is most commonly used in children’s cartoons and films. An example of puppet animation used in cinema is in the film King Kong (1933).The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) is an American stop motion musical fantasy horror film directed by Henry Selick. It used 227 puppets to represent the characters in the film and also 400 heads were used to allow the expression for every possible emotion.

Clay animation or Claymation 

If you like to play with clay then this is of the best forms of stop motion created in Claymation. In this Claymation, pieces of clay are moulded to create characters and based on the imagination of the animator, a story is unfolded. There are oil based and water based clays available. Sometimes the clay is moulded into free forms or filled up in a wire like structure called armature. The animated characters are kept in a set and with only short movements, the whole scene is film. 

Zoetrope Animation 

The zoetrope is one of several animation toys which were invented in the 19th century, as people experimented with ways to make moving pictures. It was invented in 1834 by William George Horner, and is one of the early forms of animations. Some still images are drawn on a drum and when turned in a circular way, you have an illusion of movement. The visual effect created by a zoetrope is still used today to create animated GIFs.

Cut-out animation 

Cut – Out animation is probably one of the oldest forms of stop motion animations in the history of animation. The first cut-out animation was created by Lotte Reiniger in 1926 and it was named “The Adventures of Prince Achmed”. She used quite detailed paper silhouettes to convey a beautiful story. In this method paper cut outs are moved under the camera lens to say a story. Ever since the evolution of computers, it was much easier to introduce the computerised cut images in a queue.

Sand Animation 

This technique is messy as you will have to get your hands dirty with sand. A lit glass table is used as a canvas and the animator creates animation by moving the sand in certain directions and yes you guessed it right, animators have to constantly erase their creations to create another scene. The whole process is photographed and then during post production, they are merged to show the sand animation. Even though it takes hours to complete the animation, the end creation will truly blow your mind away. 

Typography Animation 

Typography is all about font faces and letters and animation is anything that is in motion, well a combination of text in motion is known as typography animation. Typography animation is widely used during the titles part of a movie. If you have a love for the font faces and types, then one must watch the stop motion typography animation created by Barrett Forest called the “The Atlantic”. It’s so easy to create new kinds of font face by using softwares such as Fontlab.

Paint-on-glass animation 

In this technique, slow drying paints are used on a glass canvas, which allows the animator to manipulate the art and photograph them simultaneously. Sometimes turpentine is used in the paints, which makes it easier for the animator to work on the paintings. It’s tough and laborious task as you have to paint on glass, take photographs and then create another scene which is then blended together in the post production, to give an animated version of the painting.

Drawn-on-film animation 

Drawn-on-film animation has been around from 1916, but most of the animations are lost from that period. This technique involves scratching, etching directly on an exposed film reel or alternatively can also be created in a dark room introducing the light in variations to create shadows which are permanently embedded on the film. Sometimes animators can just stick the black film reel on to a workboard and punch holes into them or stick just about anything on the film reel. This animation was one of the earliest forms of animation technique and probably one of the cheapest, since you just need a role of film, etching tools and a projector. 

Experimental animation 

Experimental animation is the art of combining two or more illogical paintings or art to create an animated scene. Different kinds of animation paintings are introduced at odd points which are totally irrelevant to each other. So the randomly introduced paintings create a different frame altogether in the animation process. Some animators have used a magnifying glass on paintings and multiple frames are captured to create an animation. 

Erasure animation 

Erasure animation uses 2d animation for motion graphics. Many popular charcoal erasure films have been created using this technique and one famous animator is William Kentridge. Photography and animation has to be done at every change to create a fluid motion in the animation film.

Pinscreen animation 

A screen being pricked by thousands of headless pins is used to create pin screen animation. Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker invented the pin screen animation technique in the 1930s. The two people used the pin screen to create Night on Bald Mountain. Once the pins are pricked, the screen is lit on one side, which casts shadows, based on the depth of the prick, the deeper the shadow. Night was the first animated film to use their pin screen, a 3×4 foot rectangle containing around 240,000 pins that move laterally in order to create different shadow lengths.

Flip book Animation 

Even before the time of computers, animation was very much in practice. Artists used to carry a small flip book or flick book and draw a series of images, with little variation to the pictures, so when the book is flicked rapidly, you can see the series of images in a fluid motion, trying to show a scene. Flipbook animation is one of the oldest but fascinating kind of animation.

Interview Portfolio Tips for Architecture

Your portfolio is a creative expression of you, your skills, your ability to communicate and a general self-promoting tool! It provides a brief snap shot of your talent and gives you the chance to create a great first impression. Therefore, you need to spend the time to get it right.

There are a few quirky things you can do to leave more of an impression on potential employers. Firstly, do send out a mini portfolio with your application. Give them just enough to leave them wanting more. Show them a few snippets of your work that will impress them, then they’ll want to meet you in person – which is then your time to really shine.

Make sure you know your portfolio. This is something we can easily forget to do. You may be asked in your interview “so, talk me through your portfolio” – be prepared for that. Make sure to get across the key points of the portfolio. Don’t be afraid to do this – it shows that you are organised and passionate about your work, and the interview! Go through your portfolio and practice telling someone about your work, pick out some key features that you would want to discuss. Be prepared for questions you that might be asked about your work.

The Details

• Make a plan. Have a look at your work and figure out what you want to show, how you want to present it, and get ideas of how it will go together. You want the portfolio to flow, so consider this first instead of randomly placing images and text to create an architectural muddle!
• Keep it simple and clear. As always, don’t try to overcomplicate things. The bottom line is that people want to see your work, so make sure that you portfolio does just that – shows your work. If in doubt a few really good impact images are far better than a mish mash of ‘ok’ images. Think quality not quantity.
• Try and include variety. Show the different skills you have by demonstrating them in a variety of projects you have worked on. For example, if you are a bit of a ninja when it comes to model making, get that stuff in your portfolio! Make sure you take really good photos that show the model off at its best. Or, if you spend hours sketching ideas and design processes, scan it and get it in there. Don’t forget, you are unique, demonstrate.
• Make it digital. I would highly recommend that your portfolio is digital and not an old school cut and paste job. It is so much easier to adapt a digital portfolio for specific interviews/reasons, and have different versions for different uses. You can also add new work easily, and take out old irrelevant work.
• On a digital note – make sure the images you use are high quality. Don’t use pixelated or out of focus images, it looks terrible and makes you out to be unprofessional.
• Quality and quantity again. Don’t forget you are trying to show your best stuff not as much as possible. If you did a project that wasn’t great or you weren’t particularly proud of, leave it out. Or just pick out the good bits. Say you did some great drawings of the site, but your design was a bit rubbish, just show the drawings!
• White is alright. I have seen a few portfolios that have got a bit carried away with fancy backgrounds. I say, go white… or grey… or some light pale colour. The big old crazy backgrounds often detract from the images you have worked so hard to create. So, I’d say, white is alright.
• Show a range of image sizes through the portfolio. Think about how the portfolio reads, if each page is the same it could get a bit boring.
• If you have text on your pages make sure it is clear, a good readable size, and consistent. Maybe use bullet points or captions if you want to demonstrate particular elements of a project, or give a brief description. Whatever you do, don’t use too much text as it takes away focus from your images. 
• When putting your portfolio together consider: flow of presentation, range of images, portrait or landscape, size, binding, format, balance, variety, impact.

Why is a scene shot in green background for animation or adding special effects?

It's called Chromakey, or just Keying for short. Any time you hear somebody refer to "keying it out," they're talking about using color and/or light to key out or make invisible certain parts of the image, so that a second image resting underneath the first will show through. Chromakey is specifically keying out color, a lumakey is when you key out something based on light. However, most modern systems for chromakey make use of light/brightness levels as well as color.

For a long time, when shooting on actual film stock, a blue screen was the standard for several reasons. First, there is very little blue in a person's skin tones, so there's less to worry about making part of a person's skin invisible. Second, the blue shade used tended to have less grain in the image, which made it easier to isolate the background cleanly and remove it. Third (and this is why blue will sometimes still be used today), for scenes set outdoors, if you have blue spill onto the actors and/or props, you don't have to worry about trying to remove it completely, you can attribute it to natural cast from the sky. And when we say blue spill, what we were referring to is shades of blue from light reflecting off the blue screen and falling on the actor, a common problem when actors aren't well lit or are too close to the screen.

Green began being used for the screen with the rise of digital cameras. Most digital cameras compress the color information with a 4:2:2 ratio, or for lower end cameras, a 4:1:1 ratio. What essentially happens is they have 3 channels - red and blue chroma channels, and then a luma channel that carries only brightness information. The red and the blue channel get compressed to save space (hence the 2:2 part of 4:2:2, meaning those channels are compressed in half). The luma channel remains uncompressed. The green in the image is derived from looking at the blue and red channels (sometimes referred to as 'difference' channels), and calculating what's left after removing that information from the luma channel. If you see a color system labeled as YCbCr (or YPbPr for analog systems, like the red, green and blue component digital cables found on pre-HDMI TV's), it uses this sort of system of transmitting the color and brightness information.

So what does all that mean for green screen? Because the green in the image is derived from observing the difference between the luma and the blue and red channels, the result is a greater amount of green information compared to red and blue information, which translates to a better key when trying to remove the green. The more color information your computer has to work with for chromakey, the better. Also, as mentioned earlier, many chromakey systems will also utilize brightness values, in addition to hue and saturation, to narrow down the exact spectrum to key out, and the YCbCr system maintains the full range of uncompressed luma information. Lastly, like the blue screen before it, there tends to be very little green in a person's skin tones, making green the better option for chromakey compared to red, orange, etc.

Once you've seen exactly how chromakey works, you'll probably start noticing more often where it's being used. Green screens for driving scenes are extremely common, because if you shoot while in a moving car, even a car that has its engine off and is being towed by a truck off-screen, the actual sound of moving down the road (especially a poorly paved one) will drown out your actors' lines, and you'll have to re-record that dialogue later and attempt to sync the new lines up with the footage. These days, it's just easier on everybody to green screen the car shot on a nice, quiet sound stage.

So in short, the solid color screen in the background is there to present an even, smooth surface to cut out around the actor/props. It's not necessary that the screen be green, you can use any color. The trick is to use a color that isn't present on your actors and/or the props on screen. It just happens that most chromakey footage uses people, and green and blue both have very little amounts in skin tones, hence the common use of those 2 colors.

Do's and Dont's When Writing a CV

What is a CV or Resume?

In simple terms, your CV or resume sets out your skills and experience.
Your CV should demonstrate to any potential employer why they should hire you above any of the other skilled candidates who have presented themselves for employment.
Technically a CV (Curriculum Vitae) is a detailed document outlining all of your life achievements, qualifications, associations, awards and skills.

Things You Should Do When Writing a CV

Include your contact details at the top

Start with your name, address, phone number and email address. If your CV runs to more than one page, then make sure you include an identifier on every page, probably as a header or footer, and page numbers.

Decide whether you want to start with a personal statement

This is optional, although many CV-writing companies recommend it. If you decide to include one, it needs to say something real about you, and not just be an anodyne statement that could apply to anyone. Try to avoid jargon such as ‘forward-thinking’ or ‘strategic’ and use this to showcase your strengths, if possible focused on action.

Include sections on Key Skills, Knowledge and Achievements, Work Experience, and Education

Precisely how much to include in each section depends on the sector to which you are applying. Try to get some advice from someone in the sector if you don’t already work there. Start with the most recent achievement, experience or training, and work backwards in each section.

Include everything relevant in ‘Work Experience’ and ‘Education’

Once you’ve got plenty of work experience, it’s OK not to include the paper round you had when you were 16 and the summer jobs you had as a student, but you don’t want any gaps once you’ve started work.

If you’ve taken a career break for some reason, or had a period out of work after redundancy, say so. Otherwise you’ll be asked about it, if they don’t just assume you were in prison and bin your CV.

Don’t include every last course you’ve ever done, but do include everything that’s relevant to the job. If you’re going for a job as a forklift driver, they won’t want to know about your catering qualification, but your Health and Safety certificate might be relevant.

Check the essential requirements for the job, and make sure you’ve included anything that’s mentioned.

Make sure that your spelling and grammar are all correct

Many employers bin any CVs with spelling or grammatical errors.

Look at our pages on Grammar and Spelling, use your computer’s spell-check function, proof-read it yourself, and get someone else with good spelling and grammar to have another look before you send it.

Work on your presentation

Use a standard and professional-looking font such as Arial or Calibri, which is easy to read, and generally no smaller than 10 point for body text, larger for headings. Do not, under any circumstances, be tempted to use Comic Sans Serif.

Lay your CV out nicely on the page so that it’s easy to read and looks professional. Remember that it will probably be printed in black and white. If you’re not sure where to start with design, there are plenty of free CV templates available online.

Mistakes and Pitfalls to Avoid

Do not be tempted to lie

You will be found out sooner or later and, if a lie has got you a job, it will lose you one too.

Avoid leaving gaps in your career history

You may be ashamed that you had to spend time flipping burgers at McDonalds, and perhaps you don’t think it fits with your planned career as an astrophysicist. But, especially if you don’t have much work experience, every bit is useful and you should show what you learned from it: teamwork or time-keeping, perhaps.
Large gaps in your CV look like you’ve sat around doing nothing instead of having the initiative to go out and get a temporary job.

Do not start your CV with the dull bits

Many people make the mistake of starting with their education and qualifications. That’s really dull.
Start with your key skills, and what you’ve actually achieved in life. If potential employers like your key skills then they’ll read on to your qualifications.

Don't make your CV too long

Two pages of A4 is plenty. Nobody wants to read more. By all means make the font smaller, widen the margins and shorten the gaps between paragraphs, but no more than two pages.

Do not use an unprofessional email address

Get a professional-looking email address with your name, not a nickname. A jokey email address is fine for your friends, but it’s not OK for potential employers, and may even cause your CV to be rejected.

Do not include your hobbies and interests

Unless of course they have developed skills that are relevant to the job.
Nobody really wants or needs to know that you do karate, or like going to the cinema. If you do include something relevant, don’t be tempted to show off by including something that sounds impressive, but isn’t really.
Murphy’s Law says that the person reading your CV will be an expert in that subject.

The Golden Rule of CV Writing

Put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes and think about what they need to know about you. The job description should give you a reasonable idea.
Use your CV to tell them what they need to know upfront and clearly, in a way that looks professional and believable. 
Your CV will not get you the job but, if done well, should give you at least a foot in the door.

The top 10 skills that'll get you a job when you graduate

With so many graduates now on the market, employers will look for evidence of skills and work experience, which will make you stand out from the crowd. Start gathering them now or work on what you've got so you are ready to impress recruiters.
Graduate employers place a lot of emphasis on finding candidates with the right skills and competencies for their organisations. Depending on the career sector and profession you choose to work in, there could be very specific skills, abilities and knowledge needed to do the job. However, complementing these are general competences and behaviors that are essential for successful working. These are often overlooked by candidates, but they are the things recruitment professionals want to see evidence of.

The top ten skills graduate recruiters want

1. Commercial awareness (or business acumen): This is about knowing how a business or industry works and what makes a company tick. Showing that you have an understanding of what the organisation wants to achieve through its products and services, and how it competes in its marketplace.

2. Communication: This covers verbal and written communication, and listening. It's about being clear, concise and focused; being able to tailor your message for the audience and listening to the views of others.

3. Teamwork: You'll need to prove that you're a team player but also have the ability to manage and delegate to others and take on responsibility. It's about building positive working relationships that help everyone to achieve goals and business objectives.

4. Negotiation and persuasion: This is about being able to put forward your way, but also being able to understand where the other person is coming from so that you can both get what you want or need and feel positive about it.

5. Problem solving: You need to display an ability to take a logical and analytical approach to solving problems and resolving issues. It's also good to show that you can approach problems from different angles.

6. Leadership: You may not be a manager straight away, but graduates need to show potential to motivate teams and other colleagues that may work for them. It's about assigning and delegating tasks well, setting deadlines and leading by good example.

7. Organisation: This is about showing that you can prioritize, work efficiently and productively, and manage your time well. It's also good to be able to show employers how you decide what is important to focus on and get done, and how you go about meeting deadlines.

8. Perseverance and motivation: Employers want people to have a bit of get-up-and-go. Working life presents many challenges and you need to show employers that you're the kind of person who will find a way through, even when the going gets tough... and stay cheerful-ish.

9. Ability to work under pressure: This is about keeping calm in a crisis and not becoming too overwhelmed or stressed.

10. Confidence: In the workplace you need to strike the balance of being confident in yourself but not arrogant, but also have confidence in your colleagues and the company you work for.

There are certain words which are key to catching an employer's interest. Mention them in your CV and at interviews and see how impressed they are with your business-speak (but don't go overboard or you'll sound daft).

• initiative
• dynamic
• teamplayer
• proactive
• self-motivated

You can also talk in terms of actions that you achieve through your skills by using good, strong verbs in applications and interviews:

• led
• achieved
• completed
• co-ordinated
• delegated
• delivered
• identified
• presented
• promoted
• reported
• resolved
• organised

Top tips for developing the skills employers want

• Make the most of university life and extra-curricular activities to develop your general skills.

• Plan early to get relevant work experience and voluntary work which will give you transferables that will make you work ready: have something lined up for each vacation, and get ready for formal placement and internship applications at the beginning of your second year.

• Religiously record the skills you gain and work experience activities you do so that you can pull out good examples on applications and in interviews. If you want to identify your key strengths (and weaknesses you need to work on) sign in and use our free careers report tool.

• Network! Use family, friends and contacts to get work experience and to find out more about career areas that interest you.

• Visit your university's careers service: find out whether it runs any employability skills sessions; sign up for relevant courses and workshops; get help from a careers adviser to write a CV that really showcases your competences and abilities.

• Take advantage of careers fairs and employer presentations: talk direct to recruiters to find out what they look for.

• Always do your homework before applying for jobs. Employer research will help you identify the skills and competences a particular organisation places most emphasis on. In turn, you can tailor your application so that it stands out.