Animation

Dunedin is home to some of New Zealand's most high-profile gaming and animation companies. Some of their best and brightest employees tell the secrets of their success.
by Kirstin Mills .

When most people went to see Lord of The Rings they were bowled over by the amazing creatures or stunning landscapes. When Mark McQuillan went to see the film, he looked (unsuccessfully) for mistakes in the animation.

That's because that's what you do when you're an animator. Mark works for Animation Research (ARL) in Dunedin. ARL creates 3D graphics and animation for sporting events, advertisements and documentaries and is well known for its real-time America's Cup graphics, and work on the Bluebird chips and Lynx fast ferry commercials. Mark's job includes making 3D models, animation and a little bit of programming.

"The good thing about working here is I'm doing a lot of different jobs all the time and that's probably the most exciting thing; I'm not just texturing models every day for ten years." At Dunedin's Logan Park High School, Mark studied arts subjects and graphics.

He'd always had an interest in things like technical drawing and working on visualising objects from different angles. When he left school he says he "milled around a bit", did some design papers at the University of Otago and then started to tinker around with 3D software at home, although it wasn't easy without a goal in mind. So he went to the Media Design School in Auckland and did a one-year intensive course.

Grant Mark: If I could go back in time I would sit myself down in my maths class and pay a little bit more attention

"I got a good base knowledge of 3D stuff, which has been quite useful." He came back to Dunedin, showed his work to ARL and managed to get a three-month initial stint, which led to full-time work.

Mark says there's a lot of hard work involved in getting a final 3D product, especially when projects like Lord of The Rings have set new standards.

"You have clients coming in and saying 'I've seen this on that movie. I want this. Here's how much money I've got.'"

He says he was amazed by the technical side of Lord of The Rings. "The bar keeps getting raised higher and higher. That was a big benchmark and it was quite good for New Zealand - it put us on the map. And now it's King Kong."

ARL general manager Cheryl Adams says that for people wanting to get into roles like Mark's, attitude and work ethic can often be rated more highly than academic ability. She says while she would question someone's work ethic if they got poor school marks, they don't necessarily have to be an A student. Everyone actv8 spoke to said being determined and focused will help you break into the industry, and that's possibly even more important in the competitive world of gaming.

VARIETY RULES

There are only about 100-120 people in New Zealand working full time in the gaming industry. One of those people is StrayLight Studios lead programmer Grant Mark. Dunedin-based StrayLight does gaming, visual design, websites and custom IT solutions.

Grant and a few friends started the company last year and he says that while gaming is a hard industry to break into, New Zealanders are proving they can do it. Probably the most successful New Zealand games company is Sidhe Interactive, known for its PlayStation 2 Rugby League games.

Grant has lots of roles at StrayLight because the company is still so new ("If I was in another business I would be three people") and, like Mark, he loves the variety, even when tasks get really complex. One of his projects was working on a "fun and simple" game called StarTag, aimed at a younger market. The game involves the player flying spaceships and making them tag each other. Grant worked on the layout of the code base, working out how all the different pieces interact underneath what the player sees.

The day actv8 visited, Grant described the StrayLight office as "chaotic", because the team was working on an animation for a Japanese games company. "You see them running around trying to do a motion capture of how a guy walks - and he's supposed to be a medieval hunchback carrying a lantern. So it's been quite amusing." Grant went to James Hargest High School in Invercargill and did Bachelor of Science at Otago. He originally thought he would do a software engineering degree but realised when he got to Otago that software engineering wasn't what he thought it was; he was actually after programming.

"Ultimately software engineering wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, which was a little frustrating because that's what my careers advisor at school told me. I think they were perhaps just a little misinformed as well." He advises students wanting to get into a job like his to ring up a company they would like to work for and find out what they want. Then contact universities and explain what you want to do and see if anything they offer matches that.

He emphasises that maths is important if you want to get into the gaming industry. "My maths is terrible. I have trouble adding things in my head in any sort of reasonable timeframe. If I could go back in time I would sit myself down in my maths class and pay a little bit more attention - particularly things like algebra would be very helpful."

Grant says English is also really important. "Programmers in general are terrible with English: they can't spell."

CLAY ART

The world of 3D modelling and animation is not only an option for people interested in computers. While he's working a lot on computers now, Taylormade animator Neil Bond came from an arts background.

Neil creates short animations used in the children's Saturday morning television show Squirt. He does everything from coming up with and writing a story to designing and building the models and setting up props and lighting on his set, animating them and then directing the sound. About 30-40% of Neil's work is done on a computer, particularly the design work.

Neil Bond: You just need to open your portfolio and someone who understands art and design will instantly recognise the talent.

He came from graphic design in news-papers but when he heard about Taylormade after moving to Dunedin a few years ago, he knew that was what he wanted to do. He approached them with his portfolio but while they were positive about his work, they didn't have anything for him. He mulled over it for a few months and started thinking about what he could do to get a job there. So he spent two weeks at home designing and building Clayton, his first clay model.

"I went in and said, 'Look, this is what I can do. Give me a chance.' They offered me a job on the spot and said, 'Knock yourself out'." He says his portfolio has always been a strength and he believes that is the case for anyone in a creative field. "A picture speaks a thousand words. You don't need a great big long CV that explains everything because the proof is in the pudding. You just need to open your portfolio and someone who understands art and design will instantly recognise the talent."

Neil's second piece of advice is to believe in your abilities and just keep drawing and practising. He says doing a good course will help, although it's not everything. "For me I had a very firm, strong belief that I didn't really need qualifications to get where I wanted and of course it has worked for me, but it won't work for everyone."

Animation all around

Animation Research products are used in everything from sports graphics to kids' TV.

SPORTING EVENTS:

- The America's Cup. ARL had a team of nine people in Sweden and Valencia creating graphics at the recent races.

- Golf. ARL had a team at the US Open when Michael Campbell won his US Open title. It provides 3D models of the entire course and using staff armed with GPS (Global Positioning System) units it shows where the ball lands and how far it is from the hole, as well as using animated wind direction arrows for each fairway.

- Car racing. Each car in the Nascar races is fitted with a GPS unit. ARL is working on a product which enables you as a spectator to put your car out on the track and race the real driver. The real drivers won't be affected by your car, but you will be affected by them.

- Adventure Racing. ARL has designed 3D solutions for adventure races to graphically show team positions for the Southern Traverse, the Mild Sevens Outdoor Quest and the World Championship Adventure Race.

- Cricket. ARL's solution lets every shot be tracked in 3D.

- Rugby. ARL creates player mugshots and penalty kick distance and direction graphics.

COMMERCIALS:

- Character animation for advertisements such as the Bluebird penguin and special effects like the Air New Zealand gannets flocking into a Koru.

TELEVISION:

- Graphics for documentaries including one based on human potential for TVNZ and one on ultimate disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes) with Natural History New Zealand for Fox.

- Squirt. ARL has written software for this children's television show.

Business/Sports Combos

People wanting to work in the IT industry don't just have to come from an art or programming path - there's also the business side of things. Jonathan Duncan works for Silicon Coach, which produces software to analyse sportspeople's performance, improve that performance and help prevent injuries. Many top sportspeople use its products including the All Blacks and all of the Kiwi medal winners at the last Olympics.

Jonathan went to school at John McGlashan College in Dunedin and did a business degree majoring in enterprise development which he started at Otago and finished at Massey University in Auckland. He's now doing his Master's in business entrepreneurship at Otago.

His job at Silicon Coach involves bringing new ideas to the market and involves marketing, research and product development.

"At the end of that process I work in with the programmers and technical department for getting the idea to market and trialling it. I am learning [about IT]." He says it's definitely a learning curve.

Jonathan Duncan: IT's continuously changing and you can never keep up even if you tried to. It's really, really cool.

"Even if you have a degree in computer science you don't know it all, you only know a tiny segment and that's the beautiful thing about IT: it's continuously changing and you can never keep up even if you tried to. It's really, really cool."