AccelTransmatic, a media services company based here, has announced that its animation division, Accel Animation Studios, will expand operations here.

The company intends to set up additional facilities for 200 animators in its facility at the Dhrisya building in Kinfra Animation SEZ Complex, Kazhakoottam, near here.

NEW INITIATIVE

The move is part of its initiatives to undertake all 2D and 3D animation content development work at its facility in Thiruvananthapuram while all visual effects jobs would be taken up at its studio in Chennai.

The company has sought to shift focus to the media services business after a decision to merge Ushus Technologies, the software division, with Accel Frontline Limited.

The money raised through the sale of the software division will be ploughed back to expand the media and animation development operations at Kinfra Film and Video Park.

R&D CENTRE

AccelTransmatic has also started preliminary work on setting up what it describes as a world-class research and development centre for media and animation on its two-acre campus at the Kinfra Film and Video Park.

The facilities are likely to come up over a period of the next 18 months.

Commenting on the expansion plans, Mr N. R. Panicker, Chairman, AccelTransmatic, said that Accel Animation Studios has been growing in stature over the last three years with several prestigious projects, many of which have been executed from the company's SEZ unit at Thiruvananthapuram.

“The expansion plans in Kerala reiterates our intentions of playing a leadership role in developing the State as an ecosystem for media and animation,” he added.

Accel Animation Studios, set up in Chennai in 2006 as a division of AccelTransmatic Limited, has facilities spread over Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. The operations in Thiruvananthapuram currently focus on building Accel's own properties with focus on Animation, 2D, 3D and motion capture (Mo-Cap) while the Chennai operations focus on 3D animation and visual effects (VFX).

PRESTIGIOUS PROJECTS

Accel Animation Studios in Thiruvananthapuram employs over 80 animators who are working on prestigious projects that include Shaktiman and Raju, the Rikshaw .

Shaktiman is an animated series and is produced in co-production agreement with BIG Animation. Raju, the Rikshaw is a 3D animated series for the global audience.