Irvine animation company a name player in video game world

The video game world has rapidly evolved into a Hollywood-movie-style scene highlighted by out-of-this-world sequences, big-time explosions and hand-to-hand combat for players’ entertainment.

Animation Vertigo, a Filipino-American company with offices in Irvine, San Francisco and Manila, works with some of the game industry’s biggest titles, including the $11 billion Call of Duty franchise.

Established in 2004 by Irvine resident Marla Rausch, Animation Vertigo provides post-production motion capture and animation for its clients 24 hours a day six days a week.

The company’s name was inspired by one of Rausch’s favorite U2 songs, “Vertigo.”

In the past 11 years, Animation Vertigo has made its name stick out in the digital industry through its work with game, television and film clients while maintaining a studio of 55 full-time editors based in the Philippines, Rausch’s native country.

“I knew a lot of people there who loved video games, who loved animation and who loved being a part of that,” said Rausch, Animation Vertigo’s chief executive. “Not a lot of people were given the opportunity to work on really big titles, and I wanted to do that [for them].”

Every project, whether big or small, is handled by Rausch’s outsourced team, something she believes has helped set her business apart by breaking the typical entertainment company routine of hiring and then releasing motion-picture editors. The limited turnover enables her to finish products quickly, she said.

“I am actually able to allow work to be completed while the client is sleeping so that the next day when they come in, there’s already work done for them to start working with,” she said. “That’s how we usually get the client.

“I see outsourcing as external development,” Rausch added. “That is just how the world economy is working out; it’s allowing external partners and developers to work together.”

In March, Rausch was honored as a Woman of the Year at Enterprising Women magazine’s annual national conference in Florida.

“Marla is a chameleon; she can fit in anywhere,” said Josie Salazar, one of Rausch’s assistants. “She can go to bat with these big million-dollar companies and bring a lot to the table.”

Animation Vertigo recently completed post-production work on Mortal Kombat X, released to the public April 14 as the 10th installment of the popular video game series.

For such a task, each member of Rausch’s team focuses on a different area of motion capture and animation.

The “tracking” team concentrates primarily on body and facial movements. Animation and reworking teams focus on fine-tuning the motions.

“At any given time we have between one and six active clients with products working through our studio,” said Nick Kambic, a producer for Animation Vertigo. “Our biggest challenge is adapting to the different pipelines each one of them have.”

With technology in the digital world turning on a dime, Kambic believes the company does a great job of staying ahead of the game.

“We constantly train our guys and we constantly send people out to the Philippines to make sure our guys are up to date with the latest software,” he said.