Marrying Video and Animation: A Look at the Future
Animation a Profitable Partner for Video
Animation technology has a history of use with video, its live-action counterpart. Motion capture has been used with 3D animation for some time, and to lucrative effect.
There is a big market for this pairing. Warner Brother’s The Polar Express, using beautifully executed 3D animation with motion capture, was the biggest film to open both in 35mm and IMAX. Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped A Scanner Darkly earned $23,000 per screen in its opening weekend.
New, More Affordable Animation Software
The animation software used in films like The Polar Express is expensive to say the least. Motion capture technology can cost between $100,000 and $200,000 per single scene.
Steve Perlman, considered a pioneer in the effort to bring Internet capabilities to TV, has supposedly created software that will do this much more quickly. His new 3D animation software, called “Contour,” produces “photo real” animation, abandoning the technique of rendering human figures through pencil and color.
Perlman has claimed with the creation of his new animation software program he can now create a scene of video animation with merely $1,000 to $2,000.
Big Future in Video Animation
Whether it’s “Contour” or other another form of animation software that will prove most useful to 3D animation features, the basics of 3D animation will still be needed to enter this growing industry. Although it sounds archaic compared to “Contour,” CAD is still the most widely used animation software out there. Basic software skills will prove essential to animators new to the industry in the coming years.
Sources
Reuters
Animation Magazine
Movie Marketing Update
About the Author
Joe Cooper is a freelance education and technology writer and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor’s in American Literature from UCLA.
