Mumbai: ANIMATE 2024, a 2D animation hackathon organised by FOSSEE, IIT Bombay, in partnership with Whistling Woods International, concluded on Friday, September 20, 2024 with an award ceremony at the Whistling Woods campus. Participants from across the country, including from the rural areas, took part in the hackathon.
Free learning materials provided
During the hackathon, students were provided free learning materials to master 2D animation software, Synfig Studio and other free and open-source tools, through the event's education technology partner, Spoken Tutorial, IIT Bombay. Students were able to self-learn at their own pace, in their vernacular languages, making the event more accessible to diverse participants across India.
Record number of registrations
Now in its third year, ANIMATE 2024 saw a record 5,000 plus registrations. The event was themed "Celebrating India's Innovation" and it was run between March 2024 to June 2024. Veteran Indian filmmaker and educationist Subhash Ghai, actors Vikrant Massey and Medha Shankr presented the awards in the presence of Professor Kannan Moudgalya, Principal Investigator of FOSSEE, Chaitanya Chinchlikar, VP and CTO of WWI and Dr. Sanjukta Ghosh, Head of Studies at Srishti Manipal.
The FOSSEE Project is part of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India.
'Empowering rural India'
Chinchlikar praised the participants saying, “Open source software helps democratise animation technology to all. It's very heartening to see so many students from across India, including rural areas, taking part in this competition”.
Moudgalya added, "Animation and video skills are crucial for India's youth, especially with the Union Cabinet's approval of the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality. Seeing participation from tier three and tier four cities aligns perfectly with our mission to empower India's rural population with high-quality education in their own languages.”
Ghosh emphasised, “ANIMATE 2024 empowers rural Indian communities to express their stories through animation and videography, fostering creative intelligence at the grassroots level. This event can nurture original thinking and creativity in rural India”.
Harshini VM from Vellalar College, Erode, Tamil Nadu, whose team won the first prize for Forest Protection said, “We didn't just learn Synfig Studio but also other tools like Inkscape and Openshot Video Editor, gaining invaluable skills. We are very grateful for this opportunity”.
Seikh Nabab Uddin from Dr. B.C. Roy Engineering College, Durgapur, West Bengal, whose team won the third prize for their animation on Beehive Cooler said, “We thoroughly enjoyed creating our animation and wanted to focus on helping rural communities. The Spoken Tutorial made it easier for us to learn in our preferred language”.
