The Industrial Giant Reborn

"The price is almost 20,000 US dollars, and we have also developed such a host at the same time." Lei Shengli said.

"What about this software? What's the price?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"It has not been decided yet, but the initial price will not be very cheap, because judging from the hardware demand, there is no way to increase the volume. Potential customers are comic companies like Disney." Lei Shengli paused and said. : "But if the performance of home computers is improved several times, it is estimated that in about five years, many high-end civilian computers will be able to run this software. By that time, many advertising design companies, printing companies, or some related Industry may purchase our software on a large scale.”

"So confident?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Yes, because our software can improve work efficiency. We have worked with Disney's painter team before. Many repeated portraits can be transferred directly. They only need to change the changes. This almost makes their The efficiency has more than doubled, and when drawing on a computer, if you make a mistake, you can delete it and continue drawing, but this cannot be done on paper. If you make a mistake, you can only redraw it. In other words, the more complex the content of the drawing is, the more complicated it is. , using computer software to operate is more cost-effective, saves time, and allows these painters to save more energy, so in the long run, it is inevitable that this kind of painting software will replace simple manual labor." Lei Shengli said.

"It's really good to be able to save the painter's time." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "Disney, are you interested in buying it?"

"There was no clear reply from Eisner, but they took away a few sets, probably for testing," Lei Shengli said.

"Well, although I am also the boss of Disney, I will not interfere in this matter. If Eisner thinks that buying this set of things is not cost-effective, it may be that it really does not meet the market, or that the price-performance ratio is currently, It’s still not cost-effective,” Chen Zhiwen said.

In the future, it is inevitable that painting software will replace manual work. The meaning of a painter's existence is not just painting. Painting is just one of their abilities. What is more important is their wild imagination and how to show better comics. , these two points cannot be replaced by computers, but computers can help them get rid of tedious hand-drawing and improve efficiency.

It is even because of the improvement of computer computing power that computer-edited animation movies or cartoons appeared in front of the world. Before that, due to the huge workload of painting, the picture quality and coordination ability of cartoons were very poor. After the popularization of computer painting, various smooth pictures will truly appear.

However, as the first generation of painting software, it is the most basic in terms of performance and will definitely have many shortcomings. Cost is also a top priority. Chen Zhiwen can naturally arrange for Disney to purchase a batch, but this will not promote further optimization of the Midea team. , only when it is recognized by the market can it develop and continue to iterate.

"Chen Sheng, don't worry. I understand this very well, and I have absolute confidence. Although the current Photoshop is not very advanced in terms of functionality, at least it can save painters' working time. , even if you save a thousand dollars a month, you can basically make back the cost in two years. The most important thing is that this can greatly improve efficiency. If companies like Disney can develop their own products earlier, Comics or TV movies can actually bring higher benefits to customers, which may be dozens of times their own value." Lei Shengli said with a smile.

"Your analysis from this perspective is very good and makes sense. Then let your subordinates use this reason to see if they can convince Eisner." Chen Zhiwen nodded with a smile.

If time can be saved, it would be of great significance. For example, if the movie "The Lion King" can be released even half a year in advance, with hundreds of millions of dollars in box office plus peripherals, plus the subsequent impact, the potential income may be In terms of billions of dollars, compared to this value, purchasing these painting software and hardware is nothing.

For large companies, money may not matter, but time is particularly important, especially for financial, technology, cultural and other enterprises. As far as Chen Zhiwen knows, it took nearly two years to complete the filming of "Beauty and the Beast". It was because of Eisner's high requirements that many drawings had to be redrawn. If everyone could use a computer, that would be too much. Save time.

"It should be fine, but we still need to wait. It's still under internal testing, and maybe it can be optimized a little bit more." Lei Shengli said that for this software, the boss only made requests in this regard, but the specific situation was unknown. Now that you know it, you can only rely on your own people to figure it out.

"Okay, if we can win this market, we at Midea can take a step closer in the computer field. You also need to focus on what is the demand in the market and any corresponding development-related software." Chen Zhiwen said, although it is only a niche software , it may be possible to develop such software, which is actually more difficult than word. With this ability and experience, it will be much easier to optimize or develop other software in the future.

Software, like Internet companies, has a certain first-mover advantage. First-mover software will cultivate user habits, register patents to block competitors, and can also prioritize subsequent updates based on market feedback.

"Yes, we are also developing a lot of software that the market demands." Lei Shengli said. As a large-scale electronics and software company, Midea does not completely rely on Chen Zhiwen. In the gaming field, Midea started its own business a long time ago. Most of the creation of new games ended in failure in the early days. However, in the past two years, with the accumulation of experience, some achievements have gradually been made. It is a bit behind compared to the ones arranged by the boss, and the software is also Similarly, Midea itself is constantly launching various software to test market response. Even in the field of home appliances, it makes its own decisions, trying kitchen appliances, simple household appliances, etc.

"Then give it a try. Let me see how this software works and draw an animated person." Chen Zhiwen said to an engineer operating the computer.

"Sheng Chen, don't know who to draw? This way we can make a comparison and see if our drawings look alike?" the engineer asked.

"Find a Hong Kong female star? Draw whoever you like." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, which also made the people around him laugh softly. However, the engineer who was operating the machine was suddenly stunned. He was only 30 years old. It's normal to like female celebrities, but it would be embarrassing to draw it in front of your boss and so many colleagues.

"Just Hong Gu." Chen Zhiwen also suddenly realized that this was a bit embarrassing and said to help him.

"Okay." After receiving the accurate reply, the machine operator immediately started the operation.

Everyone watched from behind. About ten minutes later, a comic character similar to Hong Gu was born in the computer.

"It's very similar." Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked: "Then if I want her to move, such as the simplest speech, just moving her mouth and eyebrows, try how quickly you can do it."

It doesn't matter if you can draw it, many skilled painting masters can draw it very fast. But if you want to draw action, you need to redraw the normal drawing, but computers can copy and paste.

"Okay." The machine operator agreed, and then with a quick mouse and keyboard operation, he created another dozen paintings, each with a different mouth shape, and then said: "If these paintings pass The effect of movement can be reflected by the continuous playback of animation, but a dozen pictures may not be enough, it will take several hundred pictures. If I draw them all, it may take two hours."

"Two hours is already very fast, very good." Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked someone to paint. It is estimated that he would not be able to paint in 24 hours, and his hand would be broken. And with the labor cost in the United States, it will definitely be difficult for the company. It's even worse. As long as you draw a lot, it is cost-effective to buy your own equipment at once, and you can correct it if you make a mistake.

"Show me the other functions." Seeing that his boss was very satisfied, Lei Shengli added.

"Okay, Chen Sheng, now I want to show off our software's ability to modify photos," the machine operator said again.

Chen Zhiwen and others were watching from behind. When PS was first developed, Chen Zhiwen required that the ability to modify photos must be available, because this function is so unbelievable that many media may need this function.

However, after watching it for a while, Chen Zhiwen also discovered that although the current PS can modify photos, the degree of "simulation" after the modification is obviously not very satisfactory, but this is normal. How can the first generation What can be so powerful, a good software or even various industrial hardware, is actually the result of countless people using it, summarizing the problems, and then slowly changing it.

After reading the PS, Chen Zhiwen and Lei Shengli went to an office at the top of the building alone.

"With the speed of construction of Midea Building, it is estimated that it will be completed in more than a year. By then, you will have your own office in Central." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Even during the real estate crisis, Chen Zhiwen still demolished the building. Hilton came to build a headquarters for Midea, and it cannot affect the development of Midea just because of the interests of the real estate market.

"Actually, I'm not in a hurry. It's the same everywhere." Lei Sheng said with a smile.

"Well, if you have good ones, you still have to use them. Just like when we have money, we have to spend it." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Lao Lei, in addition to taking a look at the PS software this time, I also came to Midea. There is another thing, I want Midea’s game department to develop another game called King of Fighters.”

PS: Ask for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month (end of this chapter)