Licensing and Development Options
The creation of Microsoft Agent solutions at Project Destiny Studios is separated into two main processes, the production of the Agent character file and the development of the Agent-enabled software application. Because each type of work is so dramatically different for each process, the Agent character file development and Agent application development quotes have been separated.
Agent Character Development Options and Costs
Project Destiny Studios specializes in traditional hand-drawn animation, and uses a style of animation similar to that of the Walt Disney Company. Animation is drawn at the movie industry standard of 24 frames-per-second to ensure the most fluid and lifelike motion possible. Hand-drawn animation is a highly specialized and laborious process, but at the same time it produces breathtaking results that cannot be paralleled by any other method. Animation work includes the costs for the rough key animation, rough in-between animation, clean-up animation, ink and paint work, digitizing the animation artwork, and compiling the Agent character file.
Due to the unique nature of animation work, time and cost estimates can only be given after taking into account both the complexity of the animated character’s design and the actions that are desired for animation. For example, if you wanted to commission an animated character that is as complete as the Foxee™ character located at www.foxee.net, it would likely cost you between US$2000.00 and US$2500.00. Although this may seem expensive, consider the fact that Hollywood animation studios spend in excess of US$100 million for each animated feature they produce, and hire teams of over 200 people to create them. Taking that into consideration, commissioning Project Destiny Studios to do your animation work costs a mere fraction of what you would pay if you were to use a Hollywood animation studio to do the same quality of work, and that is with the assumption that you could find a Hollywood studio that would be willing to do the work at all!
Services Available:
Licensing the Foxee™ Agent Character “As Is”
Foxee™, the arctic blue fox, is a fully functional Microsoft Agent character that can be built to work with either a desktop or a web application. She has a British English text-to-speech engine built in for audio speech output, and can accept user input from a computer keyboard or a mouse. She has a “tail swish” idling animation, an eye-blink animation, an "Alert" animation, an animation where she looks cross with you, and and animation where she barks at you to get your attention. In addition, she supports the Microsoft Agent Idle Level 1, Showing, Hiding, and Listening standard animation states. A working example of Foxee™ being used as part of a web application can be seen at www.foxee.net.
Costs:
Benefits:
If you would like to have Foxee™ be able to do more than just move, talk, and wag her tail, you can commission Project Destiny Studios to create new animations and actions to be added to her. There are many possibilities for animations that you can have drawn for Foxee™. Some examples include having Foxee™ be able to open and shape her mouth as she pronounces words while she speaks, having her run, jump, or dig, and having her show emotions like being happy, angry, sad, surprised, or scared. In the end what Foxee™ can be animated to do is limited only by your own creativity!
Costs:
US$50 per hour of animation development work
Benefits:
A custom Agent character meeting your specifications can be designed to uniquely represent your company. You will get complete control over what the abilities and animations developed for the character will be, and you can have more control over the amount of time and costs needed to develop the character.
Costs:
US$50 per hour of character design work
US$50 per hour of animation development work
Benefits:
Agent application development work includes planning, analyzing, designing, implementing, and maintaining the Agent software application. The hourly rate for application development work is US$50 per hour, which according to the CyberAtlas Web Marketing Guide is $US30 less per hour than the average cost of employing computer programmers in the United States. This shows once again how using Project Destiny Studios to develop an animated Agent character for you is a very cost-effective solution.