Animation: Should It Cost The Earth?

It is a common misconception that high quality animation requires a substantial budget and is confined to the realms of large brands and marketing agencies with their big campaigns!

Adele John is the lead animator at Big Paw Animation in Southampton and has noticed that over the last decade the cost of producing an animated corporate video has been driven down by advances in hardware and software technology.

"A large number of our projects are B2B so many of our customers come to us with no knowledge about animation, the processes and the costs associated. At Big Paw we initially like to educate our clients on what is involved and the technology used, so they have a better idea of what can be achieved on any budget."

Big Paw encourages their clients to think about how animation can be applied specifically to their business, and realise that it is a hugely powerful and engaging media that when used efficiently can assist in the visualisation of a service or product.

Adele is trained and qualified in the art of classical animation and states that the processes involved in animation production have moved on dramatically since the advances of computer processor speeds and GPU rendering.

"Back in the 1930s at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, USA they would have painstakingly drawn out every frame on a light box, inked in the cells and then captured the images using a rostrum camera. However, now in the 21st century processes can be streamlined with the use of graphics tablets, computers and even motion capture. Every animator in the industry needs to embrace this move and adapt their skill to keep up with technology."

Big Paw upgraded their workstations last year with the latest Intel Xeon 8 Core processor chips and Nvidia Quadro CUDA core graphics cards to improve production and rendertime for all their projects. They have noticed improved efficiency in production and this has helped reduce costs throughout the business. The advances in computer technology have helped make animation more affordable and accessible to all size businesses so they too can embrace the power of animation.

www.bigpawanimation.co.uk