I may have some friends and relatives that would argue with me about this, but I am fairly certain that my knack for spotting the early signs of seismic shifts in the software industry is just about the only thing I have ever been any good at. And although I don’t claim, nor do I desire, to be in the same sort of public standing as the Bill Gates’ of the world, I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the steering of some wonderful software enterprises over the years.

From national defense to animation, my entrepreneurial journey in the software industry includes leading roles at SD-Scicon - the first UK software company to obtain a full listing on the London Stock Exchange; Parity Software - the first UK IT services company to combine a leading edge systems integration business with a flexible contracting workforce; French-based software company GFI Informatique; and most recently the Kelseus animation research company.

http://www.youtube.com/v/xDCsRp58WQ0&hl=en

Through Kelseus, I launched my latest venture, Antics, where we are trying to push 3d animation technology to the next level. For the last seven years, my energies have been focused in this dynamic field of 3d animation software, the art of which has been, like so many technologies recently, freed from the exclusive domain of experienced professionals and made accessible to the masses. 3d animation software is finally becoming accessible to the everyday consumer. Here, now, is a quick look at how this latest trend developed.

Filmmaking is expensive. Actor payroll, film stock, insurance, and the sheer time required to orchestrate shooting even one full scene all contribute to the high cost of the art. Moreover, visual entertainment is always being made more complicated. Special effects, integrated photo-realistic computer graphics and fancy camera work continue to raise the bar for film makers. With all of these elements to consider, mistakes can be costly: I once had a film industry acquaintance explain to me that if they could be shown in advance of shooting a scene that some prop or element was even 1 foot too tall for an arranged camera angle to work; it could save him about $200,000.

By the year 2000, the software technologies like those that had been able to blend live action with photo-realistic digital animation for hit films such as The Matrix, were gradually being experimented with as means for pre-visualizing how a scene should look before actually shooting it.

Antics interior plane set complete with interactive chairs and overhead luggage bins. Antics intelligent
characters can be directed to interact with their surroundings. Images used by permission of Antics Technologies Inc.

It was a wonderful idea, but in retrospect, not in the least bit practical. The problem lay in how difficult, expensive and time-consuming it still was to actually use available 3d animation software at the time. The most experienced computer graphics engineers were needed to manipulate the programs effectively, and even for them the process still required a heavy time investment. For a whole day’s work, often only about 10 seconds of fully sequenced, running animation could be produced. At that pace, pre-visualizing a full 5 minute scene might take a team of three digital animators 10 days.

The velocity problems were a result of 3d animation programs at the time not being designed with any level of artificial intelligence in them. So, while a designer would know in his head that he wanted a character to walk in a certain path across a room, for example, the designer would actually have to create individual frames that visualized the character’s every motion. When these frames were run in sequence, the character would then appear to walk, and the image appeared in near photo-realistic quality.

But a director didn’t necessarily need that level of detail when trying to conceptualize and visualize a scene. The number of scratches a table has on it, for instance, isn’t required to get a clear idea of how a scene’s spatial arrangements and camera work would play out. What was needed was 3d animation software that could be easily manipulated, preferably by the director himself if needed, to orchestrate a scene’s elements and props, plan character movements, and arrange camera positions accordingly.

Antics interface showing examples of Western genre content. Consumers have access to multiple
camera viewports and a user-friendly timeline. Images used by permission of Antics Technologies Inc.

At about the same time that pre-visualization was becoming popular, video games, like 2000’s highly anticipated title Perfect Dark, were being released with sophisticated software engines that incorporated high levels of both artificial intelligence and dynamic movement and interaction in the game’s models and environments. If film makers were willing to accept a games level of visual detail for pre-visualization, which by-and-large they were, here, potentially, was the missing link in 3d animation pre-visualization software.

In my 44 years in the software business, I’ve had the excellent fortune of being able to involve myself in some of the industry’s most pioneering developments - such as national defense software, e-commerce, IT security, and others. If these endeavors have taught me anything, it is that great innovations cannot be made to a budget and a time-table. If that were the case, IBM would have invented every technology there was to invent years ago.

Innovation comes from putting smart, passionate people together and giving them a general idea of what it is they are aiming to create. With that premise in mind, in 2001, as a practical research project, I gathered 6 people from all over the world who were well-versed in existing video game and pre-visualization software technologies for a meeting at a small cottage in Cambridge, England. The intention was to find a way of blending 3d animation and gaming into a more useful tool for the emerging pre-visualization software demand.

The result was a games engine-based 3d animation software that could manipulate all the elements of a scene in real-time through a point-and-click interface. The games engine enabled the team to apply pre-fabricated animations and interactions to every 3d model, prop and environment so that orchestrating their movements was intuitive. Gone was the necessary evil of having to explicitly create every movement of a model if they were, for example, to arrive at a door, open it with their right hand, and close it behind them.

Now the model’s motions were pre-mapped: walking to the door could be planned by drawing a line from where the model stood to the door, and when the model got to the door, a simple point and click between the model and the door would automatically tell the model to grab the door handle, open the door, walk through it, and close it behind them.

Antics intelligent characters can be directed to open car doors, sit inside and close the
doors behind them all with one click. Images used by permission of Antics Technologies Inc.

Video games largely occupy a segment of peoples’ lives that is distinctly recreational. Their application has been singular, really – entertainment. But underneath that veneer of amusement, there is a huge amount of potential. In these engines lies some of the most sophisticated digital interpretations of human intuition and action.

The technology has caught on. And not just in the film making industry. Its ease of use and real-time capabilities make this type of software now as easy to use as many other every-day pieces of software. Originally intended as a solution for film industry pre-visualization professionals, point and click 3d animation software is a tool for telling any manner of stories. This exciting point of convergence between professional quality tools and the untapped power and creativity of the consumer imagination is where this latest trend in computer graphics will play out.

About the Author:

Philip Swinstead is the Founder and CEO of Antics Technologies, Ltd. (previously known as Kelseus Ltd.), a company that develops real-time, point-and-click 3d animation software based on a custom video gaming engine to enable rapid, dynamic 3d animation sequences. Originally intended for use at professional production houses for pre-visualization of TV commercials and feature films, Antics is now available for free to mainstream consumers and hobbyists as the Antics V3 BasePack. Mr. Swinstead has been involved in the upper echelons of the software industry for more than 44 years, during which he has led some of its most pioneering companies and trends. In 1969, Mr. Swinstead founded the UK’s first software company to eventually obtain a full listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). He has founded 2 private software companies with annual revenue greater than £200m, and has brought one other through an initial public offering (IPO).