Published on July 29, 2005

The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) will establish the Northern Animation Studio in Chiang Mai in September.

The studio is to provide facilities for animation and multimedia software development for students in 17 universities in provinces in the northern part of Thailand, and also for animation and multimedia software companies throughout the country.

The move is to support the Information and Communication Technology Ministry’s policy of bringing Thailand to the forefront of animation and multimedia software globally.

Panutat Tejasen, of the Sipa Chiang Mai branch, said that to push Thai animation and multimedia development, Sipa has decided to establish the studio to provide important facilities for students and local development companies.

It aims to train people that have strong skills in current developments while offering local companies the latest technology to easily and rapidly develop animation and multimedia software that meets global standards.

In the 300-square-metre studio located in Sipa’s Chiang Mai branch, optical motion capture and video post-production facilities, that are at the heart of animation and multimedia software development, will be set up.

“The studio will help local industry develop animation and multimedia software faster, better and cheaper. With this, we will have many more new-generation developers familiar with the use of high-technology equipment in animation and multimedia development, hopefully at the same level that other countries have,” said Panutat.

The hi-tech equipment is expected to speed animation and multimedia development in terms of quantity and quality. It means the country will have more capability in sourcing animation and multimedia development projects from overseas.

Panutat said the main success factors in outsourcing from abroad are not only enough developers, but also qualified developers who can use high technology equipment.

“Like India, there are many developers, 100 times more than us. Therefore, we have to use high-technology techniques like optical motion capture to build our resources to catch the huge global jobs. If we do not train our developers to be familiar with the new animation and multimedia technology, while we have a small number of developers, we cannot have the country listed on the animation and multimedia map of the world,” said Panutat.

The animation studio is not only designed for server animation and multimedia, but also to facilitate the development of games for both PCs and mobile phones.

It aims to train around 500 developers who are familiar with using the new technology in animation and multimedia development by next year. It also aims to encourage at least 50 animation and multimedia series to be developed using the technology and facilities offered by the studio.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation

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