Broadcast Beat Magazine 2017 BroadcastAsia Special Edition | Page 50
Q&A: BRETT INESON
PRESIDENT OF ANIMATRIK
The president and CTO of performance capture
studio Animatrik discusses work on the largest
scale virtual production effort ever undertaken
– Warcraft
How did you first get involved in the perfor-
mance capture industry?
I’ve been passionate about animation since I was ten-
years-old. My parents were eager to expose me to
cool areas of life that they thought would interest me,
so they sent me to an art summer camp in Toronto. I
found my way into the animation and TV broadcast
track, where we drew flipbooks and used 8mm cameras
for stop motion – experimenting with live people and
drawings.
Passionate about both animation and computer sci-
ence, my mum and dad really helped expose me to
the industry. I had a high school level programming
education long before I ever went to high school! After
I graduated University I went off to Vancouver Film
School for their 3D programme.
I graduated and landed my first job at Mainframe
Entertainment, working on the world’s first ever 3D
animated TV show Reboot. Moving up to the role of
Senior Technical Director, Mainframe soon landed a
show for Sony Entertainment called Heavy Gear. One
of the main requirements for the show was motion
capture. Through this, I became one of the first people
immersed in the technology. I fell in love with it.
Why did you start Animatrik?
In a past I was working for a manufacturer of motion
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