3D Animation – The Toy Story Revolution

It is easy to look back fondly on Toy Story as a funny and heart warming children’s film. It reached a generation of children and adults alike, sparking an incredibly successful trilogy and world-wide franchise that is recognisable by its lovable and unique characters.

What isn’t always remembered when everyone looks back on Toy Story is how revolutionary it was for the world of 3D films. It was the first feature length film made completely in CGI, pioneered by John Lasseter, and has contributed so much to how we all understand the role that 3D can have in films. CGI doesn’t just make explosions in action films or force you to wear 3D glasses in the cinema, it can be the basis for telling a story and creating a whole world. It was through making a full feature 3D animated film that Pixar proved this.

It is incredible to see how far 3D animation has come since Toy story was first released in 1995. With only 1 3D feature being released in 1995 by Pixar, to over 10 3D feature length films being released this year by a variety of production studios they have clearly had a big rise in popularity. The numerous studios that create these films every year opens up a world of new ideas and talents.

The quality of the environments, characters and the animation has developed so far in these 16 years. All it takes is to compare Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 3 and you will see the massive difference even within the same studio. The question is, where will it all go to? As technology improves year on year the possibilities for 3D are endless and with Pixar’s latest film moving away from the Toy Story franchise to their first medieval film, ‘Brave’, it is clear that there are no restrictions on what comes next for 3D.

CSR and how it is used today

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? CSR is when a company takes on the role of regulating how they interact with the law, international norms and ethical standards. A socially responsible business cares about the impact that they have on local and international society both directly and indirectly.

Puma is an example of a company that has taken CSR to great lengths with its carbon emissions ‘profit and loss account’. The idea is that Puma want to calculate the damage that they are doing to the environment by its carbon usage, as well as the impact that their emissions and water usage will have.

These set of accounts were made with the help of accountancy consultants PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) and research analysts Trucost to understand the impact that they are having, and to work out the best way of making the company more sustainable. These accounts will be released at the end of their financial year, and will be analysed by the shareholders and investors in the same way as their set of financial accounts.

Puma have got the right idea by going through their processes and finding the flaws, as it is only by highlighting the specific problems in the necessary areas of a business that realistic targets can be set to make improvements. They are also accountable to their stakeholders by releasing these accounts which is an extra incentive for them.

Sustainable and green technology can also start from the ground-up, right from the design through to the finished product. The Urban Tree Planter is one project that helps architects incorporate practical sustainability solutions into their designs. Although in most cities there won’t be enough space for even a small garden, these trees can be placed in convenient places to make the most of the space that they have.

How global networks can bring together responsible companies and conscientious consumers

Culture Odyssey have created a global network for active and virtual travellers to interact with each other and build a global culture. When you sign up to the site you the user are what make this community grow, and you do this by posting inspiring images and ideas, or places that you’ve been that you want to tell everyone about.

The online community is built up by users writing about anything of national or global cultural interest; from hidden gems in Canada, to hurling in Ireland, to the Pakistani street artist JR’s InsideOut project. Not only can the individual traveller contribute their secrets and experiences to the website, but local businesses can promote their services as well. The interactivity between these businesses and the individual traveller helps stimulate the national and local economies by getting users involved. 

Where this has been successful is because it is all made by the website user for each other’s benefit. It is free of political bias and gives readers an opportunity to consider places they haven’t thought of before, and with the help of small businesses they can see parts of the community that they wouldn’t see on a normal holiday. 

The community is underpinned by a common goal: to strive for sustainability that will benefit the environment. The network provides a place for likeminded individuals and companies to show how they are helping the environment in their own way, to inspire other people to do the same. Innovative ideas are shared which highlights the businesses that are doing everything they can to benefit the environment, and encourages individuals to seek out these responsible companies while they are travelling. 

UK - A Track Record for Success

It is undisputable that the UK is recognised as a leader in for global innovation and the design industry. It is the versatility of talent that helps the UK produce an astounding variety of products and services, from interactive interfaces to corporate identities.

The nation’s famous designers include Jonathon Ive, the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple inc and the person renowned for designing the iPod. Another notable name is Thomas Heatherwick, who directed the construction of the UK Pavilion, known as the Seed Cathedral,  for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Phil Pauley is also contributing to this international platform of designers with the Saudi Biome, a project that promotes ‘bringing the rainforest to the desert’ that critics have said could potentially be the largest BioDome in the World

To promote the design industry in the UK there is the annual London Design Festival. The festival is a cultural and commercial event that takes place in September that hosts ‘international exhibitions to trade events, installations to talks and seminars, from product launches to receptions, private views and parties’ (http://www.londondesignfestival.com/page/about). Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, claims that the festival is ‘the most vivid possible proof that London is the hub of the creative industries in the world’ (http://www.londondesignfestival.com/page/what-people-say-about-us).

With a rich tradition of excellence, and the ongoing innovations and designs that are present in the London Design Festival,  the UK is certainly a leading force for the design industry and global innovation.

Do You Have A Great Product, Idea or Brand ?

So you have a great product, service, idea or company and you want to tell the world what you can do!

What’s your next step?

Roll your sleeves up and get stuck into Power point....Possibly?

Try your hand at a bit of Photoshop to make up some really cool graphics....Maybe?

Get some great copy written and post it to the web or hand it to your marketing company and hope they deliver your message the way you want.....likely?

We don’t know what options you’ll go for, maybe none of them maybe all of them but we know what we’ll do for you. 

The Consultation

First we’ll really learn about what you want to say and more importantly why you want to say it.

The Storyboard

If you’re the creative type, you may have already done a story board or something similar we can follow. If not, we’ll put our heads together and take away the clutter, to bring out our imagination and then create a story board to get all your thinking down on paper... refine it, make sure it's relevant, delivering your message and showing your product or service in its best light.

The Creative Process

From the drawing board to the virtual world....here’s where the really cool stuff happens. In the virtual world anything is, well, virtually possible. Everything from the story board will come to life. We’ll add depth and scale to your project bringing it out of the 2D world and make it more engaging to your audience. We can add rotations, fixed camera points, colours, textures, lighting, shading, moving words (motion graphics) and the odd after effect.

The Review

But we won't over do it, you'll get just the right balance of content to make sure your message isn't diluted. And to make sure you're happy, we'll keep you updated with your production all along the way.

The Final Cut

Once you’re happy with our final draft we’ll finish it off in any format you want. We’ll even integrate your production into your web pages emails or PDFs.    

If you want something that’s going to engage your clients and prospects for longer or add the Wow factor to your message and give it more punch then remember you could always go with Pauley Interactive option.

And the really good thing about Pauley Interactive is we don’t cost heaven and earth. You won’t need a blockbuster budget to get a high impact high quality production.

So the next time you have a Eureka moment or you need the last minute presentation or if you just want to revamp your existing content then think the Pauley Interactive option.  

See more at www.pauley-interactive.co.uk/services.asp

The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Creative Work

There are certain areas of business which require a focus on creativity in specific disciplines in order to achieve specific aims or objectives.  Not only is the core activity of many businesses not creativity itself, but there may be the need for specialized creative skills which either aren’t currently available in-house, or aren’t available in the right measure or balance to achieve those aims or objectives.  Achieving, maintaining and nurturing true and focused creativity has traditionally been a part of businesses which has proven elusive due to number or constraints and pressures.  It has often been something which has been found to work best when separated from what are considered to be more practical and less creative aspects of the day to day running of businesses.  Outsourcing per se is an increasing global trend, and is commonplace in many different areas of business.  Outsourcing of creative work is therefore particularly beneficial for many companies for a number of sound reasons

Why Outsource Creative Work?

A Fresh Perspective and New Ideas

Most businesses and organisations of all kinds have their own culture and the restraints of their own particular business environments which they operate within. Whatever that organisation does internally generally takes place within and is influenced by the confines and context of that culture and business environment. As such, getting a truly fresh creative perspective and creating the right environment to allow this to happen is often hard to achieve in-house.  Even ‘creative’ companies have tended to separate their creative function from other aspects of the business in order to achieve the necessary creative quality.  Outsourcing creative work can therefore bring many more creative solutions and ideas which can help to establish differentiating factors and a competitive edge which are very hard to copy.

Allow Greater Concentration on the Core Business

With the creative factors essentially being taken care of elsewhere by trusted experts, this frees up the organisation’s time and resources so that they can be focused fully on what the organisation does best – its core business.

Leverage the Benefits of Specific Skills, Experience and Expertise

Taking 3D visualisation and digital content provision as an example, many organisations are unlikely to have or to realistically be able to develop the necessary skills and expertise in-house in this area within acceptable time and budgetary constraints.  It may also be the case that these specific skills are only needed ‘as and when’ rather than on an ongoing basis, so that best use can be made of available resources.

It is also likely to be the case that with a 3D visualisation and content provider that offers a wide range of services, beneficial integration of skills and services for the customers will be much easier and much more likely.

Highly relevant project management skills are also something very valuable and difficult to acquire that outsourcing to a specialist creative company could provide.

Lower Costs

The costs of setting up a creative centre in house e.g. specifically for effective 3D visualisation and digital content provision would simply be prohibitive and unrealistic for most companies e.g. specialised staff, equipment, training etc.  It makes much better business sense to use the services of an organisation which already has all of these in place, and has the experience and economies of scale to provide the right quality of services at the right price on demand

Reduced Risks and Better Problem Solving

The risks of investing time, scarce resources and money into areas that organisations have limited knowledge or experience of can be dramatically reduced by outsourcing to a creative company for whom it is essentially their core business.

The experience and knowledge that specialist creative companies already have can also mean that potential problems with projects and ideas are anticipated, minimised, and solved much more quickly and easily using the outsourcing route.

Why Not Outsource Creative Work?

An Unknown Quantity

The thought of outsourcing work to an organisation that you have not worked with before can lead to many worries based around trust, protecting your organisation’s name and reputation, dissonance, and a general fear of the unknown.  High quality creative companies however should be able to provide references, testimonials, and detailed case studies and examples of how they have or could overcome similar challenges to the ones you are facing with highly beneficial results.

Loss of Control

There is a natural need for all of us to feel that we are in control of our situation and environment, particularly where business in concerned.  However, trying to maintain, manage, and control something which we have little knowledge about or experience of can often bring an amount of stress and problems which are not only not worth the cost and trouble, but may also have a negative impact on our ability to manage many of the day to day aspects of business that we are normally capable of doing e.g. due to more limited time.  Outsourcing to a specialist is in fact often the best way of retaining and gaining control of a situation, and is often likely to bring the best and most effective outcomes.




See more at www.philpauley.com/cruise.html

Video Streaming and 3D Integration

Video Streaming and 3D Integration

The use of 3D in entertainment and business is currently hitting an all time high. 3D cinema is widely available and large manufacturers such as Samsung have launched 3D ready TV.  Recent collaborations involving computer and Internet giant Microsoft have focused on developing 3D enabled Internet browsers and smooth streaming, High Definition (HD), high quality3D streamed video.  Even the 2010 Masters Golf Tournament was shot in 3D for U.S. audiences with 3D enabled TVs and computers.  With 3D in the mainstream and with the mass markets becoming familiar with the superior experience that 3D technology adds to a variety of media, the timing for integrating 3D with streaming video for online marketing couldn’t be better.

Streaming Video

Streaming video online allows Internet users to view and experience video content without having to waste time waiting for an entire video file to download.  The phenomenally popular YouTube is a good example of how this media delivery method can be used to distribute rich content on demand to millions of users world wide every day. The advanced coding and video distribution technologies mean that audiences can experience dynamic and highly engaging content in a fast, smooth, and uninterrupted way. The technicalities of video streaming involve production of a video (pre-recorded or live) which is compressed to send (and decompressed at the other end), and transmitted to a Web server which is capable of delivering the same content to multiple users at once if necessary, and is viewed by the target audience via the use of a media player.  The media player used by the end viewer can be for example one of the many widely available players which work with the most common streaming file formats e.g. Windows Media, RealMedia, QuickTime etc, or downloadable proprietary or other specific players which relate to the particular format e.g. more specialised 3D players.

Integrating 3D

The widespread domestic and commercial use of the Internet, the wide availability of high bandwidth and fast Internet connections and standard protocols of all kinds, the huge technological advancement of and investment in viewing capabilities, and a mass market that are switched on to and hungry for the benefits of 3D provide the perfect conditions for its integration with video streaming. 3D itself provides a range of benefits which massively enhance any form of communication, presentation, and education.  3D allows concepts or accurate representation of real things e.g. products, components, buildings, vehicles etc to be clearly visualised and experienced in a highly realistic context. The subjects of the 3D animation and visualisation can be demonstrated and experienced like never before because the viewer can navigate them, move around them, view them and operate / work them, and interact with them in a way that allows unparalleled levels of comprehension and true understanding.

Application

For most business organisations, integration of 3D into streaming video made available via a website presents a major opportunity in marketing communications. Videos incorporating 3D motion graphics and product visualisation can allow website users to experience realistic fly throughs, presentations and the exploration of art and architecture, as well as facilities management tours.  The maximum leverage and added value can be gained from 3D advertising showreels, physics engines, and corporate presentations by making them available online via streaming video. The same technique can even allow website visitors, customers or potential customers to experience real time tours.  This can be an incredibly effective technique, particularly where creating the environment or physically moving the person to the environment being shown is simply too expensive or not financially or physically possible at that moment in time.

Adding a dramatic extra dimension to what is already a compelling way of presenting information and ideas over the web is therefore a very powerful sales, communication and educational tool which could provide a strong competitive edge to all organisations that use it.


Read more at www.cultureodyssey.org