Mandar Apte

UI/UX Designer from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Category: Animation Film Design

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. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon. Animators are artists who specialise in the creation of animation.

  • Animation Film: Life on Air for TATA Docomo (2010-12)

    I completed a 2D animated film in 2010. If your memory serves you well, TATA Docomo was a telecom firm that was established in collaboration with TATA Group. They started an animation film competition, giving away cash prizes to winners and using the films’ productions as television advertising.

    I used more than 7/9 animation ideas to visualise this film. Used company’s own color pallete and logo elements.

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  • Web/Mobile App Monetisation & Revenue Generation Strategies

    All business survives on net profit.

    In accounting terms, here is how you calculate Net Profit. i.e. (Total Business Revenue) – (Total Business Expenditure) = Net Profit

    In the business world, there are two types of industries Service and Product.

    So if you are in the service industry, you survive on a paycheck by paycheck or hourly charges to the client. You have to work every hour of every day to make ends meet.

    But if you are a product company, you create a product based on your market and user research. You find consumer problems/requirements/gaps in the market and then try to solve them by creating your product in that category. So building a product is based on solving problems that your users are having.

    In my case, I was a designer by profession. I graduated with a BFA (Bachelor of Applied Arts) in Advertising. After my first two jobs, I tried freelancing in the web, UX, print, branding and animation film industries. I was the lone proprietor of my business. I was doing everything talking to clients, executing a project, delivering it and then waiting for the final payment to be released. It was too much for me at that time.

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  • Essence of Great Animation Film by John Lasseter

    Few excellent interview by John Lasseter on making excellent animation film with right ingredients.

    If you are into Animation Film Designing then you should watch his interviews,

    Thanks & Regards
    Mandar Apte

  • A real difference of FPS (Frames Per Seconds) & how it affects the quality of Animation

    FPS is Frame Per Second term used in all modern 3D & classical Animation films & Computer Applications Used to Animate them inside Computer Applications like Autodesk Maya, Adobe Flash to say the few,

    I will write from my experience of using high FPS likes of 60 is real smart idea,

    This is no smart guess that 60 FPS animation against 24 FPS animation is certainly more smoother, quicker, faster & refreshing to eye,

    I also got one experience that whenever you animate in 60 FPS animation you get more space or keyframes i.e 60 Keyframes per second to animate than or 24 FPS which are only 24 Keyframes per seconds.

    To just clear the terms, The Term ‘FPS’ is related to human’s vision’s characteristics i.e. Persistence of Vision

    As Wikipedia says about persistence of vision

    Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.

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  • Design Schools or Design Institutes in India

    India’s Education System (mainly Mumbai University from where I belong) is based on 10 + 2 + 4 years of graduation program.

    For applying to graduation program in Art you need to have following qualification, You must have 10 + 2 passed certified program that means you must pass Secondary School Certification (SSC) & then 2 years of Higher Secondary Certification (HSC) then only you can apply to Art Institutes like Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art & Sir J. J. School of Art for graduation in Art.

    In last few years common entrance test like MH-AAC-CAT (Maharashtra Applied Arts & Crafts Common Aptitude Test) are introduced in Maharashtra state. By passing this test it allows you to choose between art colleges for graduation in Maharashtra.

    Graduation in Design
    You have to start to learn design only through Art Colleges as there are no design colleges available for graduation in design.
    But there are few courses available to graduate in Design from NID & IDC.
    NID has ‘Graduate Diploma Program in Design (GDPD)’

    Following are the famous art collages mainly in Maharashtra, India.

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  • Steve Jobs & John Lasseter Joint Interview on Pixar’s Animation Film Toy Story

    Here is Interview of Steve Jobs & John Lasseter talking about Pixar’s New Release Toy Story,

    This Interview is taken by Charlies Rose & It is Dated Wednesday 30th October 1996

    An interview with Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, about his company, Pixar, which creates animated characters and movies with computer software, and John Lasseter, the director of the Pixar film, “Toy Story”, which follows toys that come to life.

    Thanks & Regards
    Mandar Apte

  • Why we don’t do Pilot Projects or so called Free Mockup Designs? & Why Pilot Projects & Free Mockup design doesn’t work?

    Few collection of thoughts from my experience of design freelancing & pursuing design processes & doing design oriented business for living for last more than 4 years.

    When somebody asks for Mockup before starting any paid & finalised project,

    Following situations can be seen & felt by designer

    • Client is unsure about prospect of project
    • Client has unpractical approach towards project
    • Client lack proper investment & money
    • Client is hesitant about future of project
    • It’s just real waste of time if you are not going to paid for it
    • There is confusion in conversation of respective parties client & designer
    • Time is blocked by unpaid Mockup design process
    • Designer can’t take more interesting & paid work because he is occupied by just making Mockups
    • Mockup has no value for showcasing in real world because people want what is more sellable content & design & finished product

    Now you can understand why we don’t do Mockups for any clients or any prospective client.

    Thanks & Regards
    Mandar Apte

  • How to get Inspire to learn to do great animation

    Here are few ideas that I use to get inspire to learn more about animation & do lot more animation in my work time…

    Idea No. 01: Read Blogs & Subscribe to RSS feeds

    1. “How to Learn Animation?” – While Browsing a web & while doing Social Networking
    2. My List of Animation Books an Animator should buy
    3. Animation Film Making Notes
    4. Indian Animator Chetan Sharma’s Blog
    5. Animation Mentor Blog, Animation Tips & Tricks

    Idea No. 02: Watch Movies

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  • Design Inspirations: Getting Inspired…!!! to do design & finally learning from it…!!!

    Today with broadband connection on my iMac & connected to the World Wide Web fearlessly with my own website & design blog… Switching from one website to another, reading blogs, going through Twitts, reading Facebook updates… Sometimes I feel It’s really easy to get inspirations through web if you do it right…

    Not like olden days when you only have to visit art gallery exhibition to see art & get inspired with…

    Here are few links that I find as inspiration to learn & do design…

    Apple Developer
    A website dedicated to Apple Mac, iOS & safari developers. Registration is free & site is loaded with deleopment learning videos & ebook learning resources… So happy Learning…!!!

    Adobe Developer Connection
    Adobe’s website do feature developer resources to develop for their adobe products or just learn to design using thei products like Photoshop, Illustrator etc.
    Adobe Developer connect is do present on iTunes Podcast Directory… You can find it here.

    Adobe TV
    Adobe TV is like adobe’s version of YouTube but all gathered to learn & get inspired about designing & learningthrough their products.

    Animation Mentor Blog
    You may know ‘Animation Mentor’ as an Online Animation Training school for learning Character Animation. But they do featured their own blog which is worth reading & bookmarking. Here is link for ‘Animation Mentor Webinar’. Here is link for ‘Animation Mentor Podcasts’

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  • Wondering How to give design Interview? Here are few Design Interview Notes that will help you to prepare for the same

    Here are few words about Design Job Interview preparation from my own experiences.

    Here are my two earlier blog post that will allow you to prepare Resume & Portfolio

    1. How to write your Design Resume?
    2. Creating & Choosing Your First Design Portfolio Format & updating it over the years

    Details of Preparation

    • Prepare yourself for interview a day before on interview date
    • Cycle through in your mind what are your capabilities, your professional goal in life etc.
    • Go through your portfolio to see it is in perfect order for presentation
    • Read your resume to see there is no spelling mistakes or something missing from it etc.
    • Preparation can also start with having own domain & personal dedicated blog & portfolio website that showcase your work handsomely.

    Preparing specific job related Resume
    It’s not bad idea to have separate resume for different domains of Design dedicated to each i.e. If you work in this three domain called Web Design, Animation Film Design & Graphic Design then you can prepare three different resumes dedicated to each three domains.

    Preparing specific job related Portfolio
    If you have three types of resumes dedicated three different domains that can also go with three differently designed ‘Portfolio’ dedicated to three separate domain of design. e.g If you are going for post of Web Designer then surely you can show Web Design Portfolio & Web Design Resume to recruiter to tell him you have mastered the web technologies like HTML5, CSS3, ActionScript & even design tools like Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop etc.

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