When the subject of 3D animation is brought up, most people think of their son’s or daughter’s latest video game, but 3D animation is being used increasingly in Fortune 500 companies. It is quickly replacing standard video as a training tool. This article will discuss why 3D animation is making a big splash in the security training industry and will also cover 3D’s practical application. These applications are already in place in other sectors, such as architecture, interior design, naval architecture, medical training, and military training.
If you are in the corporate world, you may just remember Human Resources plunking you down in a seat during orientation and discussing various do’s and don’ts topics such as Sexual Harassment, How to Put out a Fire, How to Take a Bomb Threat phone call and other different basic security situations. You may have also enjoyed watching a re-enactment of these issues above on a video. Well, what did you think of those videos? I guess you felt watching a soap opera would be more entertaining and better acting.
In the security industry, personal protection, and specifically security driving, Scenario-Based Training (SBT) has proven to be one of the best methods of instruction. By using SBT, those involved in the protection function can examine an incident, discuss what went right and wrong, and develop lessons learned from that. In the past, there are usually two ways to do this training: actual or simulated.
It uses the Human Resources videos listed above as an example. A corporation would hire a video/audio company or use in-house resources to produce a video; it would use its employees, taking time away from doing the things that make the corporation money or hiring actors to depict the scenario. Taping would take one or two days; editing another a few days. The estimated cost for a 5-minute video is approximately $50,000; multiply that by the number of videos, and you can see a lot of money spent.
Applying the above to personal protection would be expensive and nearly impossible. Most executive security groups are usually operating with a limited budget. To recreate a recently attempted ambush would be costly and mind-boggling. A surveillance detection video program specific to their environment discussing choke points and danger zones can be done with a handheld camera pointed out the window. But how about this: as you are watching the presentation of you driving in your environment and coming to a choke point, the display shows an image of your rearview mirror, and in your mirror, a car pulls up behind you. The car pulls around you and cuts you off; it’s time to earn your paycheck. The scenarios you could come up with are endless. If you try to do this with your handheld camera or even if you had a videographer directing, it would be near impossible and cost the national debt– enter 3D animation.
3D animation is a process where characters or objects, any character or object you would like, are created as moving images. Rather than traditional flat or 2D characters, these 3D animation images give the impression of being able to move around characters and observe them from all angles. One of the advantages is that you can create an eye view of the character. As an example, we recreated the Herrhaussen incident from the eye view of the drivers of all three vehicles, what the terrorist was looking at, overhead, side, and front view, and the result of that. From all that developed a lessons learned, and there are many of them, what could have been done to prevent the incident? All this can be done with one person at a quarter of the cost, and it can be completed in as little as a few hours, depending on how detailed the animation is.
Imagine trying to do that with video. First, you would need to talk to the city to shut down that intersection for about two days while you hired actors, vehicles, and film crew to do their thing.
Whether you are a security director training employees in the military, are a security officer, or are on an EP team, if you want to save time and money, try 3D animation as a helpful training tool. I think you’ll like what you see.
