Shoreham Port is home to a diverse range of businesses from the traditional to those at the cutting edge of technology.
Animazoo is one of the latter and is leading the way in computer animation. The company, which was established by Ali Kord in 2000, has recently received a grant from the Technology Strategy Board to develop an affordable motion capture suit.
The £1.42m grant, awarded under the Board’s competitive programme for Application of Digital Technology in Creative Industries, will enable Animazoo to conduct development work on the suits that are worn by actors to produce the fantasy creatures such as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and computer game characters.
Animazoo moved to Shoreham Port in 2005 and has since grown from five to 17 people, generating an annual turnover in excess of £1.2m.
Animazoo has been at the forefront of innovation in the world of motion capture since the early 90’ and is the manufacturer of the award winning Gypsy mocap range and the original groundbreaking gyroscopic technology.
The company’s motion capture technology is used around the world by a host of household names including; game developers such as Rockstar North – producers of Grand Theft Auto, and broadcasters including the BBC, RAI TV in Italy and Fuji TV in Japan
Development work on the new motion capture suit, which involves Animazoo working closely with experts at the University of Sussex has already begun in earnest.
Animazoo is using its market leading motion capture design and development expertise, alongside the University of Sussex’s Internet academic knowledge, to research software aspects of the project.
The university team will produce the Software Developers’ Kit for the final product and assist in identifying market opportunities for the new product, which is likely to include the home entertainment sector, with the suit selling for between £200 and £500.
“It has always been our long-term goal at Animazoo to transfer the experience we’ve gained in high-end motion capture projects into an affordable, mass market product and this partnership will make that a reality,” says Ali. “We hope the suits we’re developing here will be like the virtual reality which was promised 20 years ago but never delivered.”
8th January 2009 .