FlickerLab has partnered with Gonzoft, the developer of GO, to launch the real-time animation system in the United States. GO, available exclusively in the U.S. through FlickerLab, will be introduced at the world's brand and property marketplace, the 2008 Licensing International Expo in New York, which ends today.
"GO is a revolutionary digital puppet platform featuring real time performance of animated characters in any style, including 2D, 3D, and stop motion," said Harold Moss, FlickerLab Founder/Creative Director. "The GO system offers a unique, real-time production solution, a full animation studio in a box. Entire shows of any length can be produced and broadcast live, or laid off to tape, with up to 16 characters performing on screen at once, and live switching between characters, scenes, live or stored video, and interactive games. GO is a remarkably innovative production solution for existing web, mobile and live events."
FlickerLab Managing Partner/Exec Producer Tammy Walters added, "We are offering GO to clients who have their own properties and are looking for a production partner with a unique solution. With GO, companies which have their own branded characters, can animate them in a very cost efficient, time efficient manner, in real time, which has never been possible before. In addition, everything in the GO environment is in your control and everything can be triggered real time -- the animation, the scenes, the camera angles. With GO everything is in one world, in one box, in one software program. You can produce a show on the fly, as though you were a technical director, and it is done."
The GO process is simple. A producer uses a touch screen to cut between scenes, characters, games, etc. At the same time, performers control the movements of the animated characters with a standard game controller while their character is lip-synced live as they speak into a microphone. The performers bring their characters to life (entering and exiting the scene, eye blinks, head turns, gestures, etc.) and change expressions (mad, sad, happy, sly, etc.), walk and talk. In addition, the system's modular design enables the expansion of animation libraries quickly and inexpensively by adding new characters, scenes, and expressions as needed.
GO offers real-time simultaneous lip-sync of up to 16 characters. Within 20 milliseconds the software determines the proper mouth for lip-syncing. The system accepts voices via telephone, which makes it possible for people to call in and participate in a live TV show or webcast no matter their location. The powerful timeline feature allows for later editing.
With GO, daily animated shows for broadcast, web, or mobile delivery can be created at a significantly reduced cost -- up to a 25 to 75 percent savings in time and money. Animated characters can perform live and interact with audiences and the simple user interface can be operated by non-technical personnel.
GO has already been used to create hundreds of hours of broadcast television throughout Europe, North America, and the Middle East.
