Is your 3D animation studio future-proof?

Is your 3D animation studio future-proof?

If 2020 has proven anything, it’s that you never know what the future holds. Aside from the shocking impact on human life, COVID-19 has left entire industries on the brink of collapse.

But others are experiencing unexpected growth – and animation studios, game developers and previz agencies are among the lucky ones.

The gaming, animation and broadcast industries are enjoying unexpected growth thanks to lockdown

As an article recently published by the World Economic Forum explains, the gaming audience has expanded during the pandemic, and the industry is flourishing.

The article reports that Nintendo and Tencent both saw sales increases during the first quarter, with Nintendo selling almost half of its games digitally, a record that helped increase profits by 41%. Tencent’s year-on-year online games revenue increased by 31%. Even games released during the pandemic are performing well, with titles as varied as Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing breaking sales records after launching.

And TV and film audiences have grown just as fast, with Netflix reporting that it got 16 million new signups during the first three months of 2020 thanks to lockdown.

Unfortunately, travel bans, social distancing and remote working have halted or seriously delayed many projects.

Adapting to the new normal

Animation studios, game developers, previz agencies – and the mocap actors they work with – now need to work out how to overcome the challenges of lockdown as they work through a backlog of projects.

Some of the techniques these studios are exploring include:

• Keyframing
• Reusing previous mocap data
• Conducting remote shoots
• Using one actor in multiple roles
• Finding lightweight mocap kits that can be shipped to actors

Introducing BaSix Go: Lightweight mocap designed for animation

Future-proof your studio with BaSix Go,  our new easy-to-use motion capture software with the quickest and easiest setup ever seen.

It allows you to select your animated character, equip our BaSix active markers, and then stream live animation data directly to your animation package. This can all be done in under a minute, without the use of a mocap suit.

While many optical motion capture systems contain features that allow for a range of mocap applications, Basix Go is specifically designed with animation studios, game developers, and previsualization in mind.

BaSix Go simplifies and speeds up the animation and previz process. Setup and calibration of the system are quick, and the software is extremely easy to learn and use.