Communicate changes easily If there’s ever been a time for animation to communicate company messages, it's now. Animation can help companies communicate changes easier, increase engagement, soften negative responses to wholesale changes, and alleviate fears your employees have post-pandemic. Disruptive technologies have been turning the screw on the need for digital transformation in the corporate [...]

Since its introduction, surgical simulation has become a central component of the way doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals learn and ply their craft. But let’s begin by establishing a definition, as surgical simulation can cover a wide range of technologies and tools: encompassing everything from physical models of the human body for students to train [...]

We have produced a number 2D animation explainers for the healthcare and medical sector which helps explain complicated treatment processes within the body. Whilst 3D animation is still the ‘star of the game’ in delivering beautiful and captivating imagery that is highly explanatory and helpful in gaining understanding about the inner workings of healthcare treatment, [...]

Virtual reality, animation and gamification are the stand-out performers in digital learning environments. Whilst these relatively new technologies are not ubiquitously established tools across the board - yet - researchers agree that the emotional provocation they offer can significantly enhance learning. The fact of the matter is that immersive technologies make experiences feel real. This [...]

The adoption of augmented reality (AR) as a corporate training tool is proving to be an effective approach. AR fosters faster learning, helps to improve soft skills, optimises workflow, reduces training material, saves time and enhances engagement. AR training tools in a corporate environment can be executed via a mobile device such as a smartphone [...]

With animation software becoming easily accessible for nearly everyone with a computer or smartphone at hand, everyone can have a go at creating animation. Many online courses are available to get you either started in animation or equip you with the professional knowledge to truly let your talent sparkle. With all those technical advances it [...]

With several years of commercial e-learning projects designed and developed for virtual reality devices, Sliced Bread Animation has taken a look to further build on this knowledge-base by adding haptic and force feedback aspects to e-learning experiences. In relation to the technology world, haptic feedback encapsulates every device that provides a sensation of digital touch. [...]

Many people believe that creativity is a special gift, only granted to a few geniuses out there. A widely held belief still is that the ordinary person can’t possibly come up with something original or new, as they simply don’t have a special talent like drawing skills, artistic understanding or poetic expression to name a [...]

What is Hand Tracking? Hand tracking has become an integral feature within recent generations of immersive technology and Virtual Reality (VR) devices. With the widespread adoption of this feature, engineers and developers are faced with a list of opportunities and challenges to tackle, most of which are related to human usage.  So what is hand [...]

Let’s not disguise the fact: e-learning content can be about exciting as a rice cracker. You may be wondering, therefore, how we have the audacity to make the bold claim advertised in the title of this article. Truth be told, we have a few tricks up our sleeves that might interest you. It appears the biggest barrier [...]

Animation and gamification are becoming more prevalent in business settings. Thanks to its animated visuals and engaging features, companies particularly find gamification is an effective training tool. An increase in data breaches has underscored that companies are obligated to raise awareness of cybercrime activity. Whilst it is widely believed that hackers use complex and advanced [...]

If you’ve read our previous blog about revealing a character’s emotions by bringing their eyes to life, you might be interested in how this quick animation was done. We’ve therefore prepared a little tutorial that you can hopefully follow easily. It introduces you to two helpful tools of mine that really speed up my animation [...]

It’s a great advancement of our times that nearly anyone with a designer's eye and some feel for motion graphics can now get their hands on animation software without the need to be able to draw properly … but, what is the secret of really breathing life into your character? Knowing how a character needs [...]

When trying to achieve realism and high definition in Unity, it is important to study lighting techniques within game engines (such as Unity & Unreal) to see how much you can push a scene and how much others have been able to achieve. Once you’ve done some research, find an image with nice lighting similar [...]

If you’re honest with yourself, the content on your internal communications platform is boring. Nobody is reading them. There could actually be a rack of reasons why your employees don’t read your intercoms but the main reason is a lack of engaging content. The problem most companies will encounter when internal communications are ignored are mistakes - and [...]

Employees and customers are hungry for information. However, for businesses to communicate effectively, it is the core questions of what, how and why that brings clarity. Explaining the “why” with animation enforces understanding and builds trust. Moreover, people are more willing to respond in a positive way when they can comprehend the purpose behind their actions. The other challenge [...]

Continuing on from Part 1 and Part 2. Disney v Warner Bros  The Golden Age of animation began in the early 1920’s and continues today. Disney was the first to transform cartoon characters into stars with the likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy.  The shades of Mickey Mouse first appeared in 1922 when Hugh Harman [...]

So continuing on from Part 1, Animated pictures made significant strides in the early 20th-Century. The first animated film was a series of funny faces created with stop-motion photography.  However, the foundations of animation as we know it today were laid two years later with the 1908 film, Fantasmagorie. The French artist Emile Cohl created the [...]

Those of you old enough to remember pre-millennium animation will have noticed the rapid improvement of animated films over the last 30 years. Today, 3D animation can be rendered with such accuracy it’s difficult to distinguish animated characters from real-life actors. It’s taken animators a little over 400 years to get to accomplish such an [...]

The evolution of deep learning models has seen significant advancements in recent years. With the adoption of game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine, animation teams can support data scientists by generating insightful visualisation from synthetic data. Animation is becoming increasingly popular in a business environment. Even in a standard format, animated visuals such [...]

If you’ve never worked with an animation studio before you would be forgiven for being a little unsure about what the animation process is, and how it all works. Do you want to know exactly what to expect if you work on an animation project with Sliced Bread Animation?

The next phase in the evolution of technology is haptics; applications that enable users to operate devices and machines without touching them. In the current paradigm, haptic technologies such as 3D virtual reality (VR) uses joysticks, steering wheels and gloves. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has pinned a giant question mark over the health and safety issues [...]

The 3D animation industry is becoming increasingly popular and firms are crying out for skilled animators. There are numerous opportunities for outsourcing, employment, revenue generation, and business growth. However, in order to make a career or an animation project profitable, animators have to be skilled in creating high-quality animation fast. Respectable animators should aim for [...]

It is said that creating and developing a game takes a whole village, but getting your game in front of players does not have to be an equally arduous task. There are a number of options for self publishing games with Unity3D. Getting player feedback as quickly as possible is vital for the game iteration [...]

Imagine opening your eyes to find yourself behind the controls of an aircraft, with no clue as to what any of the lights, buttons, and switches mean or do. Yet there they are, blinking, waiting to respond to your inputs even though you do not know what is expected of you. Now imagine another scenario [...]

Animated videos are increasingly surfacing across the internet. They appear on client websites and the multitude of social media platforms. It’s also fair to say animation is a favourite medium for corporations to make their internal communications more engaging. This is the beauty of animated videos. They are highly flexible and can be used in multiple [...]

Virtual and mixed reality technology has made a significant impact in giving businesses the ability to replicate real-world situations in a safe environment. The latest technologies have significantly enhanced training and learning. The next stage of development is to replicate the feel of objects in the virtual world using haptic tactile feedback technology. Haptics aims [...]

When I was a little boy I preferred to watch cartoons than children's TV programs with adults in. I much rather preferred to tune into the cartoon town of Trumpton and watch Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew and the boys than Floella Benjamin or John Craven. Animation has the power to hold children spellbound - and [...]

E-learning has been tipped to be a breakthrough for productivity. For employees to have a source they can turn to at the touch of a button enables them to learn quicker without interrupting other team members.

Ever wondered the process on how a 3D animation is created and the pipeline behind it? Or hear the words Pre-Production, Production and Post Production, and are unsure on the terminology? Here’s is a quick guide for you to understand all the elements behind the production pipeline for a 3D animation. 

There are lots of processes within an animation production pipeline, but 2 processes that seems to make heads turn with confusion is knowing the difference between a Playblast and a Render. Do you know the difference?

Whiteboard animations are brilliant for explaining processes and complex thoughts. They can bring a story to life and are engaging viewers through their hand drawn and warm approach. Are you considering producing one, but unsure on the animation production process? Here’s what you can expect when creating one at Sliced Bread.