Frequently Asked Questions:
Is 3D CGI animation expensive? Absolutely, when "professionals" do it. But 3D CGI is not our primary business. We're working to bring our own products to market and learned these skills to aid in that effort because we desperately needed a way to show our ideas but couldn't afford it. Other inventors and small business folks started asking who did our animation/video work, we said, "We did," and they asked, "Could you do something for me?" So we started doing cheap 3D CGI animation for people without tens of thousands of dollars to spend. The video we did of our spokescritter, Rollie The Rescue Roller 'Roo, on the home page would have cost us the same as a luxury SUV. But he's effective, informative, entertaining, and priceless to us.
What's an average cost? From the "professionals" up to $750 for each finished second of 3D animation. Yes, each second! Do the math. Hourly rates are up to $250 an hour with $150 an hour for editing. If you watched some of our videos on the 3D CGI page you noticed they were quite long and elaborate. Our work turns out to be 10% to 20% of what others charge. The minute of Rollie on the home page would have cost us $30K to $40K at least!!!
Why is your work so much cheaper? Because we can't do everything they can do. We don't have all of the sophisticated equipment and software they have either. We use regular PCs and basic software. We're not trying to compete with Hollywood. We're trying to take ideas or products and show them doing what they're supposed to do, have them look somewhat realistic, to show to potential investors, licensors, customers or whoever, and do it within a tight budget. Now that we've done so much of the work necessary for our own products, we've got some time to do other things. When we're not working for us, we work for people like us; small businesses or individuals with limited funds that need to find cheap ways to get what they need so they can follow their dreams.
Why is 3D CGI animation so expensive? It's a highly technical, labor intense skill mixed with art, business, marketing and other talents. The creative work takes time. It also requires a lot of "computer time" for the software to render (paint) each frame, and there are 30 frame to each second. The Ice Screen video on the CGI page has segments that took our computers 30 hours to render just 8 seconds of the raw animation. That's after creating and placing all of the products, food, drinks and 800 ice cubes in the shot - and then making them all move realistically. Adding sounds, music, text and other effects comes after that. We only charge for the time it takes us to physically do the work. Unlike the "professionals" we don't charge for the "computer time" because we just get it started and go home.
How long does it take? Days, weeks or months depending on the project, everybody's schedule, and how quickly it needs doing. Simple doodads without moving parts can be turned around in days. Complicated doodads that are still evolving can take months because of the changes and edits necessary to get it right. But once we give you a price (and we price each project before we begin) we will work on it until it meets your expectations and is equal to our previous work. However, if you add new animation elements we will add accordingly.
What do I get for my money? Each project is made in a high resolution format that can always be reduced without loss of quality. If you'll be showing your video projected on a monitor or large screen, you'll have a DVD and a data disc with .avi files. For a website we'll make lower resolution .wmv files. Need pictures? We'll make you as many "photos" for PowerPoint or printing from your project as you require and they can be thousands of pixels high and wide if you need. Want to send your idea to many people? We'll make you a DVD you can reproduce for pennies each and reach out to everyone cheaply. And if you don't need video but just want "photos" for brochures, posters, whatever, we'll do that too. We made our own Patent drawings by outlining "photos" of our 3D models. There are links on the Products page.
Why do some of the videos look grainy? Watch Rollie on the home page. That's what our videos look like. To save website space we have a lot of our videos on MySpace. There they get reduced and converted to "flash" which makes a very small file but a poor video. We'll gladly send you a DVD showing our video work in high resolution. We've also printed 2' by 3' posters and you can't see any pixelation on them.
How do I get started? Email us or phone us. Around Atlanta? Drop by. We'll talk, maybe send pictures or sketches back and forth across the Internet, toss ideas around. If we think we can do something worthwhile together we'll quote you a price, you'll pay half, we'll get started, and when we're finished you'll pay us the other half. Are you ready?
What's an average cost? From the "professionals" up to $750 for each finished second of 3D animation. Yes, each second! Do the math. Hourly rates are up to $250 an hour with $150 an hour for editing. If you watched some of our videos on the 3D CGI page you noticed they were quite long and elaborate. Our work turns out to be 10% to 20% of what others charge. The minute of Rollie on the home page would have cost us $30K to $40K at least!!!
Why is your work so much cheaper? Because we can't do everything they can do. We don't have all of the sophisticated equipment and software they have either. We use regular PCs and basic software. We're not trying to compete with Hollywood. We're trying to take ideas or products and show them doing what they're supposed to do, have them look somewhat realistic, to show to potential investors, licensors, customers or whoever, and do it within a tight budget. Now that we've done so much of the work necessary for our own products, we've got some time to do other things. When we're not working for us, we work for people like us; small businesses or individuals with limited funds that need to find cheap ways to get what they need so they can follow their dreams.
Why is 3D CGI animation so expensive? It's a highly technical, labor intense skill mixed with art, business, marketing and other talents. The creative work takes time. It also requires a lot of "computer time" for the software to render (paint) each frame, and there are 30 frame to each second. The Ice Screen video on the CGI page has segments that took our computers 30 hours to render just 8 seconds of the raw animation. That's after creating and placing all of the products, food, drinks and 800 ice cubes in the shot - and then making them all move realistically. Adding sounds, music, text and other effects comes after that. We only charge for the time it takes us to physically do the work. Unlike the "professionals" we don't charge for the "computer time" because we just get it started and go home.
How long does it take? Days, weeks or months depending on the project, everybody's schedule, and how quickly it needs doing. Simple doodads without moving parts can be turned around in days. Complicated doodads that are still evolving can take months because of the changes and edits necessary to get it right. But once we give you a price (and we price each project before we begin) we will work on it until it meets your expectations and is equal to our previous work. However, if you add new animation elements we will add accordingly.
What do I get for my money? Each project is made in a high resolution format that can always be reduced without loss of quality. If you'll be showing your video projected on a monitor or large screen, you'll have a DVD and a data disc with .avi files. For a website we'll make lower resolution .wmv files. Need pictures? We'll make you as many "photos" for PowerPoint or printing from your project as you require and they can be thousands of pixels high and wide if you need. Want to send your idea to many people? We'll make you a DVD you can reproduce for pennies each and reach out to everyone cheaply. And if you don't need video but just want "photos" for brochures, posters, whatever, we'll do that too. We made our own Patent drawings by outlining "photos" of our 3D models. There are links on the Products page.
Why do some of the videos look grainy? Watch Rollie on the home page. That's what our videos look like. To save website space we have a lot of our videos on MySpace. There they get reduced and converted to "flash" which makes a very small file but a poor video. We'll gladly send you a DVD showing our video work in high resolution. We've also printed 2' by 3' posters and you can't see any pixelation on them.
How do I get started? Email us or phone us. Around Atlanta? Drop by. We'll talk, maybe send pictures or sketches back and forth across the Internet, toss ideas around. If we think we can do something worthwhile together we'll quote you a price, you'll pay half, we'll get started, and when we're finished you'll pay us the other half. Are you ready?