Vancouver: Despite its corporate name, there is nothing perplexing or ambiguous about Enigma Animation Productions’ business plan.

In three years, says owner Mark Rasmussen, the Vancouver-based computer animation company will have four divisions: computer graphics, visual effects services, proprietary software and in-house production.

If anything, Rasmussen’s company may be more accurately renamed Ambitious Animation Productions, especially since the upstart company will be growing under the skin of the market leaders Rainmaker Digital and Northwest Imaging.

Enigma ­ which cast off its previous eight-year incarnation as a computer-aided design company for engineers and architects last Christmas ­ has by its owner’s own estimation already exceeded expectations in its goal of being positioned differently in the local business.

By carving out a niche in the mid-range effects and cgi market in Vancouver ­ that being the market that isn’t already sewn up by Rainmaker and Northwest ­ Enigma is on track to do up to $1 million in revenues in its first year, claims Rasmussen. Through its key television client ­ mgm ­ Enigma has in its first two quarters worked on the effects-heavy series Poltergeist and Stargate.

This is new animation work, stresses Rasmussen, who is loathe to appear arrogant enough to believe he can steal business from the senior players in Vancouver. The growth of the cgi business, the changing technology, the return of artistic sensibilities and the ability to charge his clients less allow the small fry to flourish, he explains.

‘It’s all about fast turnaround,’ says Rasmussen. ‘Our work is as good as theirs is. If you need it in three days, come to us. If you need it in one day you have to go to Rainmaker or Northwest. But you pay for it.

‘I’m eager to look at the upper end of the market,’ he adds. ‘But I know the realities.’

The mid-range business

By staking out territory in, firstly, television and catering to shows that are inclined to heed budget constraints, Enigma is positioned to take a lead position in a new class of business. Key competitors here will be Image Engine and Prospero Imaging, says Rasmussen, though he stresses that the growth curves suggest that two or three more small companies will have enough work to survive in the mid-range cgi business.

He’s buoyed by the numbers. According to The Roncarelli Report, an industry report published out of Toronto every few years, the most recent analysis shows that the demand for computer-generated imagery grew 32% from 1993 to 1994. The global value of the cgi industry was about $7 billion, with forecasts of $25 billion by the turn of the millennium.

Enigma wants its sliver of pie, says Rasmussen, and cost-effective technology and the exponential growth of computing power are helping the smaller effects houses. Enigma uses the new technology that is developed for Windows nt, the souped-up version of Windows 95.

Enigma uses 3D Studio Max and Softimage for software and Digital Fusion as its main compositing package. Enigma’s rates, meanwhile, run anywhere from 25% to 50% off the rates at the larger companies.

The creative element

As one of its first key jobs, Enigma was called in to provide ‘playback’ material for display monitors used in the mgm series Stargate.

Effects supervisor John Gajdecki wanted top-end, full screen-quality playback ­ a clip that showed cgi elements on a computer screen during a live-action shot. Specifically, he needed a futuristic representation of an mri (magnetic resonance image) scan that showed an alien attached to a human character’s vertebrae.

Enigma created the mri images that help on-screen doctors remove the unwelcome and otherworldly beast.

The 3D mri was created with 3D Studio Max by animator Nathan Hocken. It depicts bone structures and skin surrounded by the gauges and on-screen activity that lend scientific credibility to the 2D images.

Enigma’s marketing manager Brian FitzGerald says the company enhanced actual mri images with the addition of alien parts and color. For the second screen, which depicts a cg operation, Enigma created cg tweezers that are inserted into the body to nab the alien, which squirms away only to be snipped by a pair of cg surgical scissors. The scene switches from live-action operation shots to the playback shots that are shown full frame.

‘Up until now a lot of playback stuff was used in shot, combined with live action,’ says FitzGerald. ‘For this project, John (Gajdecki) wanted high-end playback they could do a 100% cutaway to, something that fully reinforces the live-action shots.’

Software and production

Where Rasmussen sees Enigma taking a lead is in the areas of troubleshooting and homemade production.

Within six months, or until Rasmussen can find the right candidate, Enigma will begin to develop a programming division that is responsible for creating the proprietary software needed to expand the limits of the current technology. Customizing the systems for the needs of the company’s clients fits into Enigma’s overall mantra of customer service.

And through a computer-animated series called Ringmaster ­ a circus theme series for young kids ­ Enigma is hoping to find some production leverage.

FitzGerald was recently at the Banff Television Festival shopping the series around.

Until the software and production divisions take off, Rasmussen will rely on the talents of his animation team, all of whom hail from the Vancouver Film School’s animation and multimedia programs.

Hocken is Enigma’s creative director and chief animator, Jason Kolodziejczak is junior technical director and animator, and Jason Palmer is a producer-animator.

Enigma’s other television clients include ytv, Dreambox Productions, Point of View Film and Star Film and Video. Among Enigma’s non-film clients is Vancouver stock brokerage firm Canaccord Capital Corporation.

With files from Teressa Iezzi.