The conference, in four sessions, evaluated various aspects, challenges, strengths of animation and gaming industry with special focus on India as an upcoming player.

Describing the meet as “an attempt to be a linkage between all the stakeholders of the industry”, Partap K Aggarwal, chairman, CII, Chandigarh said, “Movies like Krrish, Dhoom II and Hanuman have pushed up the demand of animated content in India. All we need is to bridge the demand and supply gap with well-equipped studios and trained manpower.”

Puneet Vatsayan, Managing Director, Mobera Systems, highlighted the growth of the gaming industry. “By 2009 the Indian game development market will reach 30 million dollars. Mobile boom has really grown the scope of mobile gaming in India which is relatively cheaper. We must take advantage of that.”

The panelists discussed that India still faces tough competition from countries like South Korea, Singapore, China, Japan, and Malaysia among others. India’s contribution is less in developer market since the focus is still on low end.

“However, it is not the scale of the industry that is in question,” emphasised Vivek Atray, Joint Secretary Tourism and Public Relations, Chandigarh Administration. “Chandigarh is gearing up for a revolution. Within a couple of years the city will have its own multimedia film city that will be home to a multimedia college, a multimedia technology park, a digital studio and a multimedia entertainment centre.”

“The skill of making the virtual look real is going to be in great demand in India soon. We definitely need creative people to come to the forefront now that softwares like Shake, Final Cut Pro Motion 3, Color, and Compressor 3 have made the whole process lot easier,” maintained Nitin Bhushan, Senior Product Manager- Computing and Lifestyle, Wipro.

Anand Kapoor, Director, Image Foundry stressed that 3D still was not accepted as “a proper job” by the people. “I have seen many modelers resign due to family pressure. To move this commerce forward India must realise the importance of broad knowledge. Now that international companies like Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Imax and Sony have invested in the Indian market, focus should move from insecurities to creative potential and a proper outlet.”