Magic happens here.
Yes! Would you believe it if I say you can now produce Disney quality 3D animations just using your smartphone?
“Disney quality? Seriously? He must be kidding! there is no way.” — Your thoughts right now. Okay! but I think it's possible and I’m optimistic to make it happen, and that’s only because of the technological improvements in both hardware and software.
At Highavenue, we are working on a mobile app using which you can create short 3D animated scenes within minutes using your smartphone.
How the app works (Our first step) — Request Access now:
Get our closed alpha version: click here.
Step 1 — Select a 3D scene:
Choose from a diverse list of 3D environments which suits your idea/story for the animation.
Step 2 — Pick a character:
Either create a character that looks similar to you within a minute by just uploading a few photos or pick a character from the default list that goes well with your environment.
Tapping the Next button will take you to an augmented reality scene where you can walk around inside the environment and manipulate the scene however you want. For example, you can rotate, adjust the position, and scale the character so that it suits your story.
Step 3 — Animate the character: (multiple ways)
- Option 1: Connect your mocap suit to the app & transfer your actions to the character in real-time without any lag. (You can use Rokoko or Highavenue’s low-cost suit)
- Option 2: Record a video of yourself performing some actions and the app convert the video into animation tracks.
- Option 3: you can also select a pre-built track and apply it to the character.
Step 4 — Multiple camera angles:
Set up multiple cameras at various positions using AR and lock them. When you record the scene, outputs from each of the cameras will be saved to your local device.
Once recorded, you will have all the options to edit the videos. You can add, trim, delete, attach voices/music, adjust volume etc. Lastly, share your final output to external platforms.
Why though? (Problem):
Billions love to consume animated content but everybody knows how tedious and time-consuming it is to produce these. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 4–5+ million software developers in the US, but only 60k+ animators. A professional animator takes around 2–3 weeks to produce a high quality 3D animated scene of length 15 seconds— this explains the extreme barrier to entry.
Creating 3D animations has been impossible for a common person — because:
- She/he needs expensive infrastructure.
- Learn & become fluent in complex tools like Maya, Blender, Cinema4D etc.
- Understand a ton of concepts from rigging, physics, human anatomy etc.
Press enter or click to view image in full size
Opportunity:
3D animations have always been a fascinating thing to all consumers. Like music & movies, animations played a strong role in shaping the culture and mindset of many, sometimes even the whole country — thanks to production companies like Disney (& Pixar), Dreamworks, etc., on the west, and anime producers on the east. It’s a unique form of storytelling, an otherworldly experience, which can’t be expressed through other formats.
We want to democratize the creation of 3D animations and give birth to new creators (solo/indie producers). This will open up a new realm of opportunities in the 270B USD animation industry — Not just for the new creators but also for the upcoming & aspiring artists who are already struggling to make their way.
I take refuge in relating what Highavenue will do to the animation industry as to what Tiktok did to the video/media sector or what Clubhouse is trying to achieve in the audio-tech space. When you lower the barrier to create any form of content and democratize it to the people, the phenomenon produces a new market on top of the existing industry.
Press enter or click to view image in full size
Our plan:
Our aim is that any inexperienced person, with no knowledge of animations whatsoever, should be able to use the tool and produce 3D animated scenes within minutes. To achieve the above — below are the elements we have planned to fix:
- The vocabulary phobia: Reduce the complex terminologies and break them down to simple & understandable words like filter, effects etc.
- The UX problem: Easy to use & straightforward options. Remember the phase of everyone building “No-code” and “Low-code” tools — likewise, implement smooth drag & drop options to perform a particular task (To be as easy as applying a Snapchat filter).
- The manual labour issue: Automate all the time-consuming processes in the 3D animation production pipeline. For example, replace rigging with mocap options or 3d modelling with LiDAR/ photogrammetry methods.
- The asset store issue: AI-powered searchable store that has a huge library of 3D assets like models, animation tracks, environments, shaders, effects etc., and recommends the right of set objects for your story. This has to be free to use for all the users.
- Finally, the hardware replacement: The existing hardware has the capability to run a real-time render to capture good quality content. But connecting the smartphones to remote workstations, render farms and cloud storage can improve the production quality & match up to Disney level output.
Ask us any question that you might have or get in touch with us (pradeep@highavenue.co)
I’ll be writing more about the upcoming features and all the cool stuff we are working on at Highavenue.
Make sure to follow us for more updates. Don’t forget to get access to our alpha version — we would love to know your feedback.
Request access to get our closed alpha version: click here.