Animation Canada’s Bruce Richardson helps animators find the solution that’s right for them from among the vast array of toony software packages available at his Toronto outlet.

Richardson began his career nearly a decade ago as a cameraman, shooting corporate videos before moving into editing and post-production. He started Animation Canada’s parent company, Videolink, as a video editing service, but later turned it into a nonlinear system provider. Soon he was fully ensconced in the software retail biz.

Richardson says his company supplies software to the likes of Nelvana, The Animation House, Toybox, Yowsah, Canuck Creations and many others,

‘We are supplying most of the studios in Toronto,’ he says. ‘A lot of our clients are animation studios, because we specialize in animation. Some are 2D, some are 3D.’

Richardson says his biggest seller is LightWave 3D animation software from San Antonio, tx-headquartered NewTek. He believes LightWave to be the most photo-realistic of the various 3D software systems.

‘They did a survey recently in Hollywood about 3D animation software,’ says Richardson. ‘LightWave has more than 50% of the market in tv and film, which is pretty incredible given there are about 15 solutions vying for this, including Maya, Softimage and 3ds max. More than 50% of tv and film is done with LightWave combined with those other guys. People use them together.’

Richardson, who maintains he sells more LightWave software than all other Canadian NewTek dealers combined, says the system’s work has been seen by virtually anyone who owns a television or who has been to the movies in the past five years. tv shows that frequently use it include lexx, Babylon 5 and the various Star Trek series. LightWave has also been used in many tv spots, including those for Mars M&M’s, Ford and DaimlerChrysler. Feature films include Starship Troopers and Armageddon.

‘Many of these [productions] can afford Maya and Softimage or whatever else they want, but they use LightWave exclusively,’ says Richardson. ‘It’s the look – it is the most photo-realistic renderer. A lot of people agree it has the best rendering engine of all the software systems.’

Richardson notes that LightWave was one of the systems employed in multiple Oscar-winner Titanic.

‘The three guys who got splattered [from falling when the ship sinks] – that was accomplished with Softimage, but throughout the movie the ship was done with LightWave,’ Richardson explains.

He adds that many users he has spoken to find LightWave easy to learn and use. One of the software’s helpful characteristics is that all its program options are displayed in pull-down menus and written out.

‘There are no symbols to memorize,’ he says. ‘Often other programs have little symbols where you have to do a mouse-over and you have to know what they mean. That’s not the case with LightWave.’

He adds that another useful feature of LightWave is that users can be connected to one another via news groups and mailing lists so they can share tips on working the software and achieving the best possible results. •

-www.animation.ca

-www.videolink.ca

-www.newtek.com