MAAC (Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics), the training arm of Ketan Mehta promoted Maya Entertainment Ltd. has just announced the opening of four new centres three of which are to be in Bangalore and one in Bubhaneshwar.

Its course completely focussed on 3D and SFX the Academy which is in its third year of operations with 34 branches at last count, churns out nearly 1200-1500 3D graphics artists in a year.

Says Rajesh Turakhia CEO Maya Entertainment Ltd, "Our students are picked up by the top animation studios of the country, the studios appreciate the kind of training that we impart at MAAC".

The academy has courses designed for beginners and for those who wish to take up a career in 3D and SFX. The fees vary from Rs 45,000 to Rs 85,000 depending on the course and the course period is for six months.

When it was pointed out that the courses offered by Toonz Webel and ZICA, both promoted by Animation studios are for a period of 18 to 24 months in comparison to MAAC's courses which last for 6 months only, Aruna Kumar, Product Manager, MAAC clarified that " We always try to stay on par with the industry and train our students only in the latest version of any software, since most graphics software companies release a new version every six months it fits in with our course duration, besides our focus being on 3D and SFX, 6 months is ample time to train"