While CG is indeed a refined animation technology, Hollywood is increasingly recognizing the power of stop-mo to subtly portray story, wordlessly engage emotion and directly transport us into fabulously crafted alter-realities that we can almost touch and feel. Laika, maker of Coraline, Paranorman and Boxtrolls, has once again taken on another jaw dropping project with this new 3D stop mo fantasy thriller for Focus Features, boasting a star-studded cast with Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes and Brenda Vaccaro. The film is set to release August 19, 2016. President of Laika and this film’s Director, Travis Knight, was also the lead animator on Coraline. Read on for some kind words on why he faithfully uses Dragonframe.

Director Travis Knight:

    Dragon is an extraordinary achievement in design and function, an elegant blend of creativity and technology. LAIKA uses Dragon on both our commercial and feature film stages as the core piece of our production technology. It is a program that is at once simple and sophisticated: accessible and intuitive for the most troglodytic artist, yet sufficiently deep and robust for the most grizzled, technophilic veteran. With its ingenious interface, reliable performance, and exhaustive set of features, Dragon is as essential to modern stop-motion production as an X-Acto blade and a power drill. It makes other frame-grabbing tools seem as antiquated as a surface gauge. I can’t imagine animating with anything else.

We’re most honored to be the software X-acto blade of champions! We also can’t wait to see this sweetly treacherous Samurai tale unfold! -Dragonframe

blog by vera long