An in-depth Study on the Animation Industry - Philippine Institute for ...

manufacturers. Driv<strong>in</strong>g this consolidation will be the need to become more W<strong>in</strong>dows
NT-oriented, the <strong>in</strong>creased costs of market<strong>in</strong>g to an expand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustry, and a much
larger number of users.
Fueled by the grow<strong>in</strong>g demand for its product as well as new technology and
enterta<strong>in</strong>ment vehicles, the computer-animation <strong>in</strong>dustry will cont<strong>in</strong>ue to change at a
rapid rate, perhaps faster than ever before. The computer animation <strong>in</strong>dustry shows
solid growth, but the systems of choice are like shift<strong>in</strong>g sands.
Though the computer animation <strong>in</strong>dustry's 29% growth <strong>in</strong> 1998 was lower than its
35% marg<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1997, the surge <strong>in</strong> revenues from $15.8 to $20.3 billion dur<strong>in</strong>g that period
was impressive. But while overall growth rema<strong>in</strong>s constant, change is rampant with<strong>in</strong>
the <strong>in</strong>dustry itself.
A major part of this dynamism is a shift <strong>in</strong> the comput<strong>in</strong>g platforms used by
animation producers. While 1998 showed a rise <strong>in</strong> the use of all platforms, their relative
ratios are chang<strong>in</strong>g, with NT grow<strong>in</strong>g faster than the others, Unix show<strong>in</strong>g modest
growth, and the Mac<strong>in</strong>tosh hold<strong>in</strong>g its own.
The major force beh<strong>in</strong>d the demand for computer animation is the enterta<strong>in</strong>ment
<strong>in</strong>dustry. As the use of computer-enhanced imagery <strong>in</strong>creases, the public's demand for
it seems to <strong>in</strong>crease as well. Indeed, production for various enterta<strong>in</strong>ment segments
accounted for more than 70% of all animation volume towards the late 90s.
The <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g importance of the NT platform is clear, as its share of computer
animation workstations <strong>in</strong>creased from 28.5% <strong>in</strong> 1997 to 35.4% <strong>in</strong> 1998. Surpris<strong>in</strong>gly,
Mac<strong>in</strong>tosh basically held its own, dropp<strong>in</strong>g from 12% to 11.9% dur<strong>in</strong>g the year, and the
Unix platform's share <strong>in</strong>creased slightly, from 14.7% to 15.4%. The rise <strong>in</strong> the use of
Unix workstations can be attributed to the demand for high-end SGI Unix-based
systems for film production. Also, several large companies cont<strong>in</strong>ue to rely almost
entirely on SGI Unix-based platforms because of their <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> proprietary
computer animation code for the platform. The one platform that has lost shares <strong>in</strong> the
past year is the PC/W<strong>in</strong>dows category, slid<strong>in</strong>g from 44.8% <strong>in</strong> 1997 to 37.3% <strong>in</strong> 1998.
Many are tout<strong>in</strong>g the potential of the L<strong>in</strong>ux operat<strong>in</strong>g system for computer
animation. But so far, there has been only limited movement to port ma<strong>in</strong>stream
computer animation software to the OS. Thus, it is not likely that L<strong>in</strong>ux will be a major
factor <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry.
The <strong>in</strong>dustry percentage strengthened <strong>in</strong> 1999 as major new movie projects
us<strong>in</strong>g computer graphics get green-lighted. <strong>An</strong>d dur<strong>in</strong>g the next few years, it is also
expect to see the NT platform cont<strong>in</strong>ue to <strong>in</strong>crease relative to the PC/W<strong>in</strong>dows platform,
with the Mac<strong>in</strong>tosh and Unix percentages rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g relatively static.
One factor beh<strong>in</strong>d future growth is the ease of entry <strong>in</strong>to the computer animation
production <strong>in</strong>dustry brought about by affordable and powerful NT workstations.
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