A Quick Q&A
Before we get to the numbers, this seems like a good occasion to pause for a little human dialog. It’s easy to forget that applications are made by real people with real passion and aspirations who really want to help make the world of computing a better place. I was able to throw a few emails back and forth with Ryutaro Sugiyama, one of the two brothers behind LoiLo, Inc.
Tom's Hardware:How did you first get professionally involved in gaming?
Ryutaro Sugiyama: I started studying computer graphics and animation during my university days. My career started off with working for a television company, but I ended up traveling to many different places, still working with the same Visual Jockey platform my brother and I had worked with in school. Computer graphics and visual art installation program creation has always been my hobby. Actually, not much is different compared to what I am currently doing now. But these tools and skills are what helped me get a job with SEGA as a game designer.
Tom's Hardware: What did you do at SEGA?
Ryutaro Sugiyama: I was chief of game effects and created movies for Sonic.
Tom's Hardware: No wonder Super LoiLoScope looks like it does. But with titles from Windows Movie Maker to Adobe Premiere flooding the market, why does the world need *another* video editor?
Ryutaro Sugiyama: Our target consumers are beginners and those who might have given up on visual editing. Currently, only certain people edit visuals and yet many own a device for taking digital pictures: cellular phones, digital cameras, and so on. The reality is that anyone can take pictures, but not everyone can use the usual software editing tools. Current software is often complicated, performance is poor, and there are many limitations. We think about what people want to do next, and our UI is created accordingly to make things happen even before being told to do so.
We can do this at speeds like never before by blending Visual Jockey with our GPGPU engine—we call it “ecou engine.” This is what makes our UI possible.
Tom's Hardware: As I understand it, Visual Jockey is a real-time mixing and effects platform for video, like Adobe After Effects without the “After.” So you took this platform and blended it with gaming. Is this common in the software world, or is it a leap that you made on your own?
Ryutaro Sugiyama: That's our unique style. As a professional video creator, I’ve always felt the need for a place to freely put materials, like an infinite workspace plane. LoiLoScope gives you that. That was the beginning of our interface.
Tom's Hardware: What’s so wrong about conventional editing and what have you done to remedy it?
Ryutaro Sugiyama: Non-rendering editing! LoiLoScope can edit movies without rendering. Usually you have to wait for rendering after editing movies to see the results, but with LoiLoScope you can play and edit video at the same time. In other words, you can concentrate on being creative without interruption. It’s a much more enjoyable experience.
