1996: Origin of the idea
From 1990-1996, Cantoche’s founders, Benoît Morel and Serge Vieillescaze, worked as freelance character designers who contributed to the production of the first real-time 3-D video games and animated films including Down in the Dumps published by Philips Media, L’Ile du Docteur Moreau published by Sony Psygnosis, and Le Tour du Monde du Bibendum produced by Michelin. During this period they invented technical tools for character interaction and new animation methods. They developed in-depth knowledge of the limitations of virtual character interaction as well--in terms of user-friendliness and technology. They had acquired a level of expertise that was recognized by the video game industry. Notably, they participated in the official testing of one of the market’s future 3-D standards, 3D Studio Max. They were frequently consulted for their expertise in this domain.
1999: Launch of Cantoche
The prior three years resulted in further specialization for Cantoche’s founders and inspired them to launch Cantoche to expand the technological capability and application of 3-D characters for business and personal use. Their vision involved improving human-machine interfaces and meeting the growing need for these interfaces to be interactive and increasingly more human. During this time, the founders analyzed and tested all the available existing solutions for animating avatars and imbuing them with emotions; none of the existing approaches offered the performance and functionality required to meet the vast need that the founders had identified.
In 1998, the foundation for the patented Living Actor™ technology was laid: its objective was to allow for greater interactivity and fluidity in the characters, offering multi-platform availability and adapting to the technical limitations of the various devices found on the market. Thus, after four years of research and development conducted with the support of several public and private entities, Living Actor™ was introduced and sold in 2001 to large companies seeking to attract new users and sustain the existing client base.
2002-2005: Cantoche became the world leader of the Avatars
It barely took two years for Living Actor™ to establish itself at every level as the technology of reference for multi-media interactive agent solutions. More than 300 large companies in France and abroad have acquired licenses and characters. Many public and private research institutions in Europe and the United States use Living Actor™ for their experiments and studies on future human-machine interfaces. These early years of business--primarily in France and in the large business-to-business and business-to-employees market--were accompanied by intensive research and development initiatives to transport the technology to other platforms, especially wireless devices.
2005: Living Actor™ mobile solution
Beginning in 2005, Cantoche stepped up its growth in the user generated content market. Cantoche created an innovative real time technology for emotion-rich avatars driven solely by the user’s voice that allows end users and companies to generate advanced personalized video calls and video content on mobile and chat-based services. The Living Actor™ avatars encourage user interaction and user-generated content that is critical for mobile operators and media companies. Cantoche solutions are multi device and allow companies and end users to use Avatars everywhere!
2006: Cantoche launch a branche in the USA
Well known for its solutions, Cantoche continues to serve large European companies and sign agreements with the major players of the telco market. In April 2006, Cantoche launched a branch in the USA to facilitate expansion in the USA, Latin America, and Asia.