Real-Time Animation with Blue Zoo

Michael Davies animates in real time

Last week Escape Studios visited the London animation studio Blue Zoo to test their new Real-Time Animation Pipeline.  

Traditional animation is painstaking and time-consuming, but Blue Zoo's new real-time pipeline allows the user to create puppet animation in a matter of seconds.

The interface uses the Oculus Rift, and allows the animator (on left is our Head of Animation, Michael Davies) to create puppet-style animation much more quickly than using a traditional approach. 

The Oculus interface allows the animator to use a layered approach, starting with the main body control, then animating the head, hands, eyes, eyebrows and so on. The effect is very much like a digital version of The Muppet Show, producing a lively, energetic style of animation.

Real-Time Animation

Blue Zoo' founder and director Tom Box was keen to assure us that this new technique was not intended to replace traditional keyframe animation.

Instead, it could be appropriate for dynamic, fast-paced puppet-style animation.  So, for the right style of show, perhaps a Spitting-Image style news show for example, real-time animation could be the answer. 

Real-time animation creates huge opportunities for our students at Escape Studios to create animated content in a fraction of the time of traditional animation techniques. 

About Blue Zoo
To see more about Blue Zoo Animation, and what they do, follow the links below:

• How Blue Zoo Stay Creative as a Studio
• Blue Zoo's Real Time Rendering Pipeline
• Challenges of Running an Animation Studio
• Blue Zoo and the Making of "QPootle 5"
• Escape Animators Visit Blue Zoo

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2022, follow this link. To apply, visit the official page here.