For over a century, the magical art of animation has enraptured viewers worldwide through its singular power to manifest imagination onscreen.
Animators have long captivated viewers by crafting fictional worlds and characters that feel as real as life itself. Today, animation has expanded far beyond entertainment into fields like education, architecture, healthcare and more. Advanced technologies are further stretching the possibilities of animation, allowing creators to develop stunningly realistic and interactive experiences.
As animation and graphic design expert Harmeet Kaur Saini puts it, “Animation offers endless creative possibilities to bring ideas to life.” Her own winding journey reveals how animation intersects with diverse industries and geographies. Born in Mumbai, Harmeet’s love for animation blossomed early on through movies and games. She dedicated over 800 hours mastering 2D and 3D art tools, earning certifications along the way.
After working on Indian entertainment and advertising projects, she moved overseas to study learning technologies, eventually becoming an video games and learning instructor herself. “Good animation develops crucial skills like storytelling, visual communication and time management,” she explains. “As both an engaging teaching aid for kids and a means to prototype products or medical visualizations, animation impacts many fields.”
Today, animators are employed across sectors like marketing, healthcare, engineering and more to utilize animation’s innately visual power. Advanced technologies especially expand its applications. For instance, animated content is being leveraged in grade schools and universities to explain complex concepts intuitively through immersive videos, interactive models and gamified quizzes.
Architects use 3D walkthroughs to showcase building designs to clients. Product designers prototype and test innovations rapidly through simulated models. Scientists illustrate cellular processes or surgical techniques through detailed medical animations. Marketers render data insights through animated infographics in boardroom presentations.
“Animation allows visualizing almost anything imaginable like abstract processes, fictional worlds, data patterns and much more. Enterprise technologies like augmented reality and AI will expand these use-cases much further, allowing highly realistic rendered content. The Indian industry’s foundation lies in cost advantages, but we’re moving up the value chain through our skilled talent, IP creators and tech innovators,” notes Harmeet.
She herself has worked with Indian as well international names including Angry Prash, Be YouNick, Soulja Boy and Grammy-nominated rapper/singer Tyla Yaweh. She emphasizes that animators remain in high demand globally across both mainstream entertainment as well as emerging sectors like advertising, enterprise VR/AR and modular content production.
Harmeet highlights crucial soft skills for aspiring animators: “Patience, perseverance and creativity are musts. But people management, communication and accountability also go hand in hand with mastering your technical craft, be it in modelling, texturing, rigging or lighting. Animation allows simulating practically anything we dare conceive. The only limits are our imagination. The future remains filled with tremendous possibilities,” concludes Harmeet.
