If you always enjoyed watching animated movies and also dreamt of creating it, then you should probably be heading to Hyderabad.

The city of Nizams is now the city of animation and especially now, as this industry faces a huge shortage of people.

"We are facing shortage in terms of quality manpower, which in turn could be an opportunity for the industry and for people who look at a career in animation," said Tapaas Chakravarti, CEO, DQ Entertainment.

In the last one year more than 25 production houses have set up shop in the city, as the boom is being compared to the IT boom that happened a few years ago.

The Indian animation market is pegged at $285 million at the moment. The animation firms engaged in production see a growth of close to 30 per cent and touch about $1 billion by 2010.

"The industry is now getting into intellectual property development. Hyderabad studios are making their own movies and they are moving from outsourcing to home productions," said Rudra Matsa, CEO, Panel Animation Studios.

By the end of 2008, the animation industry will require 30,000 professionals almost three times of what it has now. Hyderabad itself will see close to 30,000 people being recruited by animation companies.

Out of 200,000 people trained at various colleges only 1-2 per cent have the required skills to deliver a world class product. No wonder, the production houses are setting up their own visual arts schools to meet requirements to take on biggies like Pixar and Dreamworks.

It takes an average of 18 months to make a 90 minute animated film and some companies make 6 or 7 films at a time meaning there is a huge requirement of skilled professionals.