Roddy McManus is executive producer at Tube Studios, a Montreal-based computer animation and visual effects company that produces content for TV, film and advertising.

One of the key benefits of having an in-house R&D team here at Tube Studios is the ability to create customized production techniques. Using technical know-how to solve creative problems is by no means a new concept for digital production studios, but what makes Tube’s approach unique is how we take on creative production challenges. For every project we undertake, we include what we like to call ‘creative R&D specialists’ as part of our team. Together, we analyze both the creative objectives and workflow needs of the production to develop a solution that fits the budget and time frame.

Creative R&D can be extremely useful when dealing with projects that require unique visual stylization. This can mean anything from a digital effect, a matte painting, digital animation or broadcast design. In all these cases, proprietary R&D can prove a useful tool to support an artist, director or designer’s creative vision.

A recent example is a new animated children’s series we are producing at Tube called Inuk. Based on original artwork by internationally acclaimed artist Marc Tetro, the series called for characters that feature a thick, uneven black outline that would have been technically impossible to recreate using traditional animation or off-the-shelf software.

Enter Adrian Hill, Tube’s director of R&D and programming. The show uses Softimage to create all the characters and animation, and Adrian wrote a proprietary shader that applies the ‘Tetro’ line during the rendering process.

This approach not only allowed Tube to respect the art direction of Tetro, but also ultimately gave the show a unique look and style that the market was looking for. The series has subsequently been sold across Canada (CBC, Tele-Quebec, APTN) and is being distributed internationally by U.K.-based Entertainment Rights.

Studios cannot solely rely on non-proprietary plug-ins and off-the-shelf solutions to create unique creative imaging, and the same can be said for workflow management.

The technical infrastructure at Tube was designed and optimized not only by engineers and technicians but also by creative and production specialists.

The Tube R&D team developed several proprietary asset management and networking tools specifically designed for high-resolution and multi-format film and video production. This infrastructure supports an ongoing philosophy at Tube whereby members of the R&D team look for ways to continually maximize the performance of not only the studio, but also the overall management of each production that comes through our doors.

BEARS is a Primesco Communications large-format film, produced for the National Wildlife Federation and Science North, for which Tube created a two-minute opening. As is the case with any large-format show, especially those in IMAX, the film posed several technical and logistical challenges, such as finding a way for our progress to be viewed and approved by the show creators in a timely, cost-effective manner.

By tapping into Tube’s multi-format infrastructure, Pierre Couture, our visual effects producer, was able to create lower resolution shots for approval purposes without interfering with the production pipeline. The director and producers were able to see shots at video, then 35mm resolution as the production moved forward. This saved both valuable production and rendering time. Having an in-house R&D team intimately familiar with the needs of the show was invaluable.

Creative R&D is not a solution for every production at Tube. We do have our share of ready-to-use applications and tools. But we look at having in-house developers as kind of like buying clothes off the rack vs. having them tailor-made. Sure, you can sometimes get away with a clean T-shirt and a nice pair of jeans. But for those special occasions when you’ve got to look your best, when you’ve got to look unique or even sexy, there is nothing better than haute couture. *

-www.tubestudios.com