It wasn't that many years ago that I would have been shocked if someone had told me that I would be writing an article on digital technology in animation. What I knew about computers was about as much as I knew about the fertility rites of primitive tribes in New Guinea. I was convinced that mixing computers and animation was intriguing only to those people who loved computers but knew little about animation. A visionary I was not. To me, platforms were ugly shoes that girls wore and chips were things you used to scoop up guacamole. Motherboards, CPUs, bitmaps, vector based and motion capture were all terms that sounded like they came out of a sci-fi novel. `Like the Hula-Hoop,' I told myself, `this too shall pass.'

Someone once said that the future is only a nanosecond (whatever that is?) away. The Brave New World has arrived and digital technology is now as much a part of animation production as 2-B pencils and peg holes.

Technology in Asia
Digital technology has established a foothold in Asia much as it has everywhere else. For the purpose of this article I will examine Digital Ink and Paint (DIP), 3D Animation and Motion Capture separately. The majority of animation studios in Asia now offer some form of DIP and many also have 3D capabilities. Motion capture systems however, have not found their way into main stream animation studios as of yet, but may be found in many post and digital studios in the area.

Digital Ink and Paint
Technology is great, but unless it fills a need, it will sit there like that terribly expensive espresso machine you treated yourself to last year and have only used twice. It's neat to have and to show to your friends, but it sure costs a lot for a cup of coffee.

Wang Film in Taiwan was the first Asian animation studio to make a major commitment to digital ink and paint. Courtesy and © Jean Koo.

Asian 2D studios have had virtually the same access to digital systems as studios in the west, but they have been slower to dive into this sea of new technology. It is one thing for a large animation company producing a television series to invest in one or two digital seats to access their work being delivered from Asia. It is quite another thing for an Asian subcontracting studio to invest in thirty to sixty seats to perform the work itself. The core business of the Asian studios has always been based upon their ability to make a profit as subcontractors for western clients. Digital ink and paint systems required a major capital investment and few Asian studios were willing to experiment with expensive new technology that few of their clients demanded, or even wished them to use.