Bangkok Post : Animation classes initiative

CREATIVE ECONOMY

Hoping to change Thai youths from game addicts to game creators who are able to use animation, V Technology System has joined forces with four companies to provide equipment and training to help schools set up "animation classrooms" in line with the government's creative economy policy.

Nutthapong Phanthakiatpaisarn, Managing Director of V Technology System, said that the company had prepared "Animation Classroom: Classroom for the Future of Thailand" in order to set up special classrooms to teach animation.

The aim of these classrooms will be to teach students to develop animation works and create games as well as edit films by themselves. Teachers and trainers from the Faculty of Architecture and Planning of Thammasat University will teach students a variety of programs as described in the curriculum.

The project is aimed at changing students' behaviour from being software users to software developers, from game players to game developers, and to create potential personnel for the software and animation industries.

The project is supported by several companies from the private sector. DCOM Group is offering DMA PCs with AMD chips, Hewlett Packard has provided servers while the Thai Credit Retail Bank is offering loan credits. Any schools that would like to take part or any shops that would like to become dealers can directly contact V-Tech's Call Center.

"Most importantly, we would like to produce an 'output' of the project. We will monitor and follow up on project results and the development of animation works such as various kinds of cartoons, games and advertising and short films that can be produced by the Animation Classroom through a contest on http://www.ma-show.com," Nutthapong said.

"This will encourage students to pay attention and continually develop their innovations. The site will be a communication channel that provides professional advice. And it is open to digital content businesses, who can recruit students based on their performance."

The Animation Classroom includes an E-Studio comprising blue screen, video recorder, PC, LCD TV and laser printer, while the E-Student Set comprises PC, student desk and chair.

Animation Classroom offers four packages priced between 500,000-1.5 million baht, depending on the number of computers. And the company aims to sell packages to around 400 schools.

"The cost of the solution lies mostly in the hardware because we use open-source software for animation tools in order to help schools avoid licensing costs and also to avoid piracy problems. The solution also helps us to compete in the computer market based more on unique solutions rather than competing on price in order to win the contacts," Nutthapong said.