Niagara firm takes a visual step forward

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE — Peggy is an irrepressible girl, with a keen eye for adventure and discovery.

As created by Niagara-on-the-Lake's Keyframe Digital Productions, the character is a seven-year-old who seems to dance across an iPad screen in 3-D.

Her story, Peggy's Little Harbour — What Friends Are For, uses the iPad's internal gyroscope to tilt inside that world and its ocean-views, river creatures and stunning visuals.

Keyframe's recently released App is the first in a new iBook series, and four months in the making.

The firm itself is becoming a player of note in Niagara's growing new media sector. Founded in 1997 by Darren Cranford and Clint Green, it is now a full-service digital art, animation and visual effects studio with 26 employees.

Productions include award-winning animated TV series (Pinky Dinky Doo, Hugglers) and feature-length films (The Littlest Light on the Christmas Tree).

"As an animation company, we're always interested in doing our own intellectual property," said Cranford, president of the Glendale Ave. company. "And Peggy's Little Harbour is an idea we've had for a long time."

Its spark was the iPad and its instant, low-cost ability to market an application worldwide.

"It was like the best of all worlds," Cranford said. "Once we tapped into a new technology we came up with — being able to tilt the iPad and make the book look 3-D — we said, 'This is a no-brainer, we've got to do this.'

"That's how it was born."

Work on the project took place at their Niagara studio, with coding by Industrial Brothers of Toronto.

Downloads cost $2.99 and are available on iTunes/ Apps. Cranford said it's a little early yet to determine its success through download numbers.

If it catches on, Keyframe will consider making the story and further Peggy adventures compatible with the iPhone and other e-readers.

For more information, visit www.keyframe.ca.