Graphical display firm relies on instinct and speed

It goes without saying that a good business plan is often the difference between success and failure - but not so for Animation Research.

The Dunedin-based computer animation company has thus far flown by the seat of its pants and managed to achieve a degree of success through contracts with the America's Cup, Airways New Zealand, and even Indian cricket - all without a business plan.

"One of the reasons we've been here for 15 years is we've never done business plans," says managing director Ian Taylor. "We move by instinct and move very quickly."

Taylor spent 16 years as a Television New Zealand presenter, director and producer before founding the company in 1990 in a joint venture with Otago University. It wasn't all smooth sailing. The company spent $200,000 in its first year and earned only $9000. But that wasn't enough to make him lose confidence.

"It was one of those things that you looked at [and said], 'This is really good and if we just hang around long enough somebody will find us'."

In 1991, things turned around as Taylor bought out the university's share of the company. Just two weeks later, he won a contract for a United Airlines television commercial.

The company's major breakthrough came with the 1992 America's Cup in San Diego.

"We decided there must be a lot happening out there [on the water] because it looked really boring, but if people got so excited about it there must be a lot we don't know about."

Animation Research thus put together a "winged keel" - a 3D animated graphical display that showed television viewers the real-time racing positions. The company now holds the contract for this element of America's Cup coverage until 2007.

Animation Research's technology has also been used to show television viewers the trajectory of golf balls. Coverage of major golf tournaments and more than 40 tour events in the US, Europe and Australia brings in about $1.5 million a year, Taylor says.

The company last week won a four-year contract from the Indian Cricket Board to provide its graphical displays, and is now working to secure a long-term deal to cover the Red Bull Air Race World Series.

Another of its projects includes an air traffic control simulator that allows trainees to look at 3D images of a working airport through a virtual control tower. The system replicates airports in New Zealand, right down to rain running down the windowpanes.

The simulator was built in partnership with Airways New Zealand, which plans to market it internationally.

The development was a challenge for Animation Research and a risk for Airways, Taylor says.

"Our aim was to make sure they didn't end up on the front page being pilloried for having invested in a company that didn't have any track record in building these things."

Taylor hasn't put an estimate on the size of the market for Animation Research's technology, but with few competitors globally, co-operation between players is advantageous.

The company is in discussions with 3D visualisation studio Orad in Israel about developing and marketing new sports applications.

Broadcasting to handheld devices is one potential growth area, Taylor says, and the company already provides its America's Cup racing graphics in real time to mobile phone users in Europe.

Of the bigger picture, Taylor says New Zealand needs to improve its technological sophistication so that small companies like his can compete in a global marketplace.

New Zealand has been an early adopter of internet technology and was once more advanced than many other countries, including the United Kingdom. But that early momentum has not been maintained, he says. "I've watched this country slide backwards simply because nobody has taken on the issue of broadband properly."

ANIMATION RESEARCH

Who: Ian Taylor, founder and managing director.

What: 3D computer animation.

Where: Dunedin.

Why: "We decided in 1990 that digital data was going to be the currency of the future and what we would do is turn it into pictures people could understand."