Rollbots – Elliott Animation

It’s rare when a production facility discovers a way to dramatically increase the complexity of an animated series while staying on budget. Toronto-based Elliott Animation made this very breakthrough using Craft Director Studio® for GCS3™, a software and hardware bundle developed by Craft Animations™ AB and Gamecaster®, for its new animated children’s series “Rollbots.”

Craft Director Studio for GCS3 completely eliminates the time-consuming and costly process of traditional keyframing of virtual cameras in 3D animated scenes. This enabled Elliott Animation to produce digital layouts requiring highly complex camera movements much faster than traditional keyframing would have entailed, which saved the company a tremendous amount of budget.

We estimate that completing these complex shots traditionally would have added an additional $600,000 in costs to the production. By using Craft Director Studio for GCS3, we were able to keep the intricate camerawork in the show while staying within our budget.

George Elliott, president of Elliott Animation

Combining the advanced technology of Craft Animations’ Craft Director Studio® software with Gamecaster’s patented GCS3 virtual camera control hardware creates a superior bundle that revolutionizes the process of directing animation — through the camera’s viewfinder, providing hands-on control over the virtual camera. Elliott found that with real-time creative control over animated scenes, he could afford to experiment with alternate takes and see immediate results.

From a creative standpoint, Craft Camera Tools for GCS3 is a huge step beyond camera keyframing, especially with respect to complex camera movements. It makes it easier, faster and cheaper to get exactly the kind of shots we want.

Elliott Animation used the Craft Director Studio® for GCS3 system for the production of “Rollbots,” a new 3D animated kids’ series from Amberwood Entertainment that recently premiered on Canada’s YTV and is coming soon to the U.S. on the CW 4K!DS Network.

   

Elliott Animation

George Elliott

http://www.elliottanimation.com/

As one of Canada’s few geek…nerd…artist owned and managed animation studios we at Elliott Animation believe the best stories start and end with talent. That’s why we empower our team to create innovative and compulsively watchable family entertainment, which is another way of saying, we make awesome cartoons. We love doing what we do. You might even say we’re nuts about it. Elliott Animation Front Entrance - Toronto, Ontario Our team thrives on our flexible and innovative yet pragmatic production pipeline, our positive studio vibe, and our creativity. We appreciate entrepreneurial spirit as much as talent and ability. Our clients appreciate our can-do attitude, our 30 years of industry experience, and our serious love of the craft. Internationally regarded for our work, we combine world class talent with inspired execution, outside-the-box creativity, meticulous attention to craft, and a commitment to budget and deadlines to make every frame count. Focusing on concept, direction, storyboard, layout, design and key animation, George Elliott and his artists have worked on more than 1000 2D & 3D animated series episodes, Direct-to-Video features, features and interactive properties. A partial project list includes: Total Drama Island, Ridonculous Race, Grojband, Stoked, Crash Canyon, Yin Yang Yo, Jimmy Two Shoes, Rollbots, My Babysitter’s A Vampire, Land Before Time V, VI, An American Tale III, Ferngully II, All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Secret of NIMH II, Rescue Heroes, Elliot Moose, The Roswell Conspiracies, Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys, The Pink Panther, Wing Commander, Robocop, Beetlejuice, The Family Dog, Eek the Cat, Ned's Newt, Bob & Margaret, George Shrinks, Committed, Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse, Extreme Ghostbusters, Umptee 3 TV, The Magic Adventures of Mumfie and Mummies Alive. Elliott Animation has over 100 production workstations in-house and 5 postproduction compositing stations. We have a CG render farm, digital video decks, audio assembly and multiple non-linear editing systems. Our significant investment in high-tech tools and electronic infrastructure helps us optimize the speed and cost effectiveness of 2D, Flash and 3D productions and put it all on the screen.