1. What is this site about ?
The goal of this site is to provide software and tutorials to get more people into the field of performance animation and digital puppetry. It's a fun and entertaining field. Unfortunately it's only been available to very few people because it usually takes a lot of very expensive equipment and complicated software to do.
In most other fields, an enthusiast can have a gradual pathway to becoming a professional. e.g. If you want to be a 3d modeller or animator and work in a major studio in the future, you can start off by learning 3d from the many free educational versions given out by 3d software vendors. If you want, you can get formal training from the many animation schools around. You can also start earning money by buying some of the lower cost modelling and animation tools available. In performance animation, there are no such things (until now of course). There are only a few motion capture software products around and they're expensive. Motion capture equipment is definitely not affordable to the enthusiast and it takes a lot of manpower, time and effort to set-up an application.
In this site you'll find the FREE PerfAnim-StarterKit Software (PerfAnimSKit) to use and play around with to help you get started. We're also selling a package you can buy with more features, more lessons and more available models (PerfAnimPro).
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2. Who's your target audience, and how can they benefit from this site ?
Hobbyists who just want to have fun can just download the starter kit and play around with it. You can already do a lot with the starter kit. In fact, that's the exact software we used with our initial clients.
As far as professionals or business people are concerned, there are 3 general categories of people that will benefit from the business aspect of performance animation because they can be involved in the different parts of the performance animation business.
a. People from the animation or games industry. This would include 3d modelers, animators, and design / texture artists and other people already familiar with interactive 3D rendered characters.
b. People from the field of traditional puppetry or theatre / performing arts. This would include puppeteers, voice actors, script writers, etc.
c. People who are entrepreneurs who want to set up a computer related business or people from the industries where performance animation can be applied.
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3. What do the terms performance animation, digital puppetry and real time animation mean ? Is there any difference among them ?
They all mean practically the same thing - the ability to control 3d or other computer generated characters / models or images in real time.
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4. Is the start kit for free ? What are the limitations of use ?
Yes, the starter kit is for free. The limitations are you can't sell the starter kit or claim it's your creation or modify it or reverse engineer it in any way, blah blah blah. You know, the usual software copyright limitations.
You can use it to learn performance animation and digital puppetry.
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5. What about the pro-version ? What's the difference ?
The pro-version has more features. You can take a look at this comparison chart between the two versions. There are performance packs that you can download in the pro-site that can't be used with the starter kit.
However, the most important part of getting the pro-version is the added support services. Aside from technical updates on the software, we provide information about marketing, organization, project implementation and other business oriented topics. We have a newsletter to give updates. Plus, we will be creating more performance packs for the professional package that you can use for providing performance animation services.
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6. How can I make money out of performance animation?
By offering the service. The business is similar to real world puppetry. You can offer the service to stores, malls, conferences, exhibits and conventions where there is a need to catch attention and promote products and services. You can also create video content by recording the output of the display and using it for corporate presentations, educational videos, commercials, music videos, TV shows and other television related application. You can get more details on the business side of performance animation in the Biz Opportunities section.
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7. How complicated is the software ?
There is one overall goal I set when I was building the software. It had to be as SIMPLE as possible. I mean, if you want a super duper software to use for performance animation then there are already packages out there to do it. However, they are a bit complex to learn, the learning curve is steep and of course, they're expensive. What I wanted to achieve was for a beginner out there to be able to run the software, load a performance pack, and then be able to play around with the digital puppets and start a performance in as little time as possible.
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8. I have some technical questions about the software, where can I get more info?
There's a technical FAQ in the support section.
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9. How much content is there going to be on this site (tutorials, articles, performance packs)?
Okay, as of the present time you'll only see a few tutorials, articles and performance packs online. You can already learn a lot and even do actual paid performances with these. Don't worry, there are going to be lots more. For the tutorials alone, I have over 50 topics listed and planned. The same thing with the articles and performance packs. However, as I've mentioned before, I'm doing all this by myself as of the moment so it will take some time. But rest assured that I will be posting updates as soon as I finish them. I'll hopefully get more help when you guys start ordering the PRO package ;-)
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10. Don't you have a VC (venture capitalist) backing you? How come you're doing it on your own?
Nope. Unfortunately, the total world market for performance animation software is very small so VCs would probably not be interested in it. I'm doing this on my own because I like diong performance animation and digital puppetry. For me it's fun and I already make a bit of money out of it so hey, I thought, if I like doing this stuff then maybe some other people out there would too.
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11. How much work did it take you to get the site and software done?
Well, it's a lot of work really but as I said before, it's already my hobby so I don't really feel that it's hard work. It's all fun for me. It's what I do when I take a break from my work.
The main difficulties for me right now are shifting skillsets. That is, I have to do a lot of things in different fields and it's sometimes hard to switch between all these mindsets.
First and foremost I have to be a programmer. I have to do C++ for the software and PHP for the website. When doing C++ I have to think about using different APIs and libraries (Graphics, Audio, File import/export), and even within that there are still different subsections involved (e.g. OpenGL, DirectX, etc. etc.).
Then I have to be a web designer / webmaster for the site. I have to maintain the SQL databases. If you think the site looks plain right now you should have seen the early versions. It was downright ugly looking.
I have to be a 3D modeler and animator when making the performance packs.
I have to be a 2D artist when doing the textures and editing the images I use for the performance packs and the site.
I have to be a teacher / writer when I write the articles and tutorials.
I have to be a performer when I do performances.
I have to be a salesman, marketing guy and all around businessman to take care of the business aspect.
But hey, it's fun. But I do plan on getting help when people start purchasing the perfAnim-PRO package. I'd like to get a large library of performance packs done.
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a. I work in 3D animation, can the perfAnim software help speed up my work for TV / Film animation production?
This is a common question that people in the animation and games industry ask me about the software. They usually use 3D modeling and animation packages and normally have a need for tools to speed up or improve the animation process.
The simple answer is NO. It can't edit motion data, you can't export the animation it uses into other packages. It's not a general motion capture software. There are other products out there for that purpose. The PerfAnim software was designed specifically for use in quick and simple performance animation / digital puppetry applications which are to be done live or the video output recorded directly to tape or other media.
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b. So how can I benefit from performance animation / digital puppetry?
There are articles in the tutorials and articles section to discuss this further, but basically it can help you in the following ways.
1. Give supplemental income from providing the service or creating digital puppets for clients (if you're a 3d modeler/animator). You're already knowledgeable in some way in 3D so it makes it easier for you to do performance animation.
2. It will give you an easy showcase for your original characters. Most of the people in the animation and games field that I know want to be able to create and own their own characters / content. Sure, they can design a new cartoon character or something like that but it's not enough to be able to print out colored posters of the characters that you make. And to be able to create animation take a very long time. What you can do is use performance animation to as a venuw of showing off your character in simple settings but in volume. An example of this is the yellow bunny character that I have. It's an extremely simple set-up (he's a jointed character, there are no morphs or skinning). The only set-up he has is a frontal shot where he can talk or sing. His movements are extremely limited but a number of people are already interested in the character because of the videos I've shown. You know how actors make videos of themselves just standing and talking and describing themselves in a mid-frame shot so that ad agencies can take a look at the videos and pick out the people they want? It's the same principle as that.
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c. Technically speaking, your software's not that high-tech, why is that?
True, there are a lot of improvements that can still be done for the rendering aspect plus maybe some editing facilities but the main reason is I'm concentrating on the performance aspect of the software and this website and tutorials and articles that go with it.
Yes, there will be bump maps and dynamic lighting and shadows and all that in the future but for now I'm sticking with what's stable. I used to worry about this in the beginning but most of the technical comments came from my friends in the 3d industry. Even in animation itself, there are a lot of simple looking shows that are extremely successful while some high tech productions have been flops. What counts is the effect on your target audiences.
The great news is that I have never had a comment like that from the actual people or companies that pay for the performance animation services. When you get a gig like a toy store attraction, the kids watching the puppet on the screen aren't going to say "Look Dad, that wooden head seems to have his specular lighting a bit off." and the trade show exhibitor isn't going to care if the puppet has 30,000 polygons.
Most of the reactions I get from the audience are "Is that thing really talking to us? Is it automatic?" I explain no, there's a puppeteer behind the booth. And they seem to accept it just fine. They laugh at the jokes all the same (even without dynamic lighting or shadow :-), they join the games just the same and they patronize the store all the more. And you know what? It suits the store or booth owner just fine to get all those people there watching and asking questions. And it suits them just fine to pay for the services.
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If you have more questions please send an e-mail to: info@animocap.com
