XBIZ World discusses the current and future state of 3D adult entertainment, with Loki, “The Godfather of 3D Toon Porn” and owner of LokiCash.com
XBIZ: Tell us about the beginnings of online 3D Toon porn and how these factors helped shape the current marketplace.
With today’s more powerful computers and the advancement of the software titles we use to create our artwork, more and more artists are not only jumping on the bandwagon, but they are totally changing the landscape of the 3D niche.
LOKI: 3D Toon Porn (also known as Poser Porn, CGI Porn or Rendered Porn) first came about in the late 1990s, spurred on by artists such as Compdoctor, Bestat, Casette and me. Our content was lumped in with hand-drawn cartoons, Anime, Manga and Hentai content, and after a few years of begging and pleading, the big-link list and TGP owners created a stand alone category for 3D Toons and thus began their rise.
In mid 2001, I launched the first all-3D Toon sponsor program. Prior to my program there were less than five other programs offering 3D Toons, but mixed with regular porn. My program was the first one to cater exclusively to the 3D Toon niche and was driven by member requests. By 2004, most of the big programs had at least one cartoon site in their networks, and a few companies were dedicated exclusively to 3D Toons — such as Thrixxx, ThrillBucks and ShinyDollars — three of the first companies to launch with their own in-house artists or dedicated artists who could create fresh content.
In the following years more and more sponsors saw the genre’s potential, jumping on the polygon bandwagon, adding 3D Toon content to their existing paysites, or creating sites from the small library of content available at the time. Then larger companies such as CE Cash, HentaiKey and Sextronix got into the niche, increasing the competition.
Today, LokiPorn (www.lokiporn.com) offers a range of content for website owners.
XBIZ: What are the unique challenges that operators face in the 3D Toon market?
LOKI: The biggest problem back then is still a problem today: not everyone knows how to promote 3D Toons — either because they don’t understand the niche, or they just don’t like it themselves. It’s easy for me to understand both of those issues, as even after 13 years in this niche that I helped create I still don’t fully understand it.
XBIZ: Do people really jack off to this material?
LOKI: Some do. I have found through my research and years of talking to customers, that the average 3D Toon consumer is more of a “fantasy art lover,” then is your average Kleenex jockey. They were raised on seeing the art of Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell; they read the magazine Heavy Metal. A good portion of the people I’ve talked to are either artists themselves looking for inspiration, or people that are just curious as to how they can make it themselves.
XBIZ: What other appeal does 3D Toon porn offer to fans?
LOKI: If porn itself is meant to help the viewer live out their fantasies, then 3D Toon porn takes that to the next level entirely. A 3D Toon artist can create the perfect model, and then ‘shoot’ it in any setting — the only real limit is the artist’s imagination, and that I believe is another big draw to the content. There is really only so many ways you can shoot a live model, and lets face it, all models, no matter who they are, have some sort of a “shelf life” — they age, retire, gain weight, find God, get married, have kids, etc., but with a 3D Toon model, they never age (unless you make them) and they will work every day in any scene you put them in. It is something that when handled correctly can allow the viewer to totally direct their own fantasies, and be given a totally unique experience tailored just for them.
XBIZ: Where do you find your inspiration?
LOKI: My sites are driven by member requests. A member can tell me exactly the kind of girl they want, where they want her to be, and what they want her to be doing. I then create that exact scene for them, which is something that “real porn” simply can’t do — not cost effectively, anyway.
XBIZ: Many adult consumers prefer video. How does that transcend to 3D Toons?
LOKI: 3D Toons is a niche where though there is not much video content available, it has not hurt sales. Most consumers know that it takes time to create the content and they know and understand that it takes even more time to create video content. Sans several studios such as Pornotopia, run by husband and wife team “Karynna & Sagemonn,” and Private Video’s “2 funky 4 u” by Michael Ninn, no one else has really taken on the video portion of the niche.
XBIZ: That seems like an opportunity for growth. Would the marketplace support it?
LOKI: I’ve said for years that the 3D Toon market will not only grow, but it will continue to grow. Some would have you believe that there is no money in Toon porn, but believe they are either lying in the hopes of keeping all the sales for themselves, or they are not properly promoting or marketing their sites — and that is a big piece of the puzzle regardless of the niche you’re promoting.
With today’s more powerful computers and the advancement of the software titles we use to create our artwork, more and more artists are not only jumping on the bandwagon, but they are totally changing the landscape of the 3D niche. Companies such as Thrixx are still going strong today, creating interactive 3D Toon games where the users are able to select and control the scene, while Grooby just launched Grooby3D.com, where users can create their own shemale model and then direct her in scenes. Hustler also recently launched its own 3D Toon site, Hustler3Dgame.com.
XBIZ: Do you see any crossover opportunities, or are 3D Toon consumers a totally different breed than the typical “porn” consumer?
LOKI: In terms of crossovers between the 3D Toon porn and the “real porn” worlds, for the past few years, 3D Toon artists have had the tools available to turn any real person into a 3D Toon. While few people have stepped up to take advantage of this technology, I see that changing in the near future. My studio, for example, offers such services.
XBIZ: What would be a target application for this service?
LOKI: Imagine being a solo model running your own site, and being able to offer your members the chance to virtually fuck you: The member sends you a few head shots of themselves and you create a 3D Toon of them, putting the member in a scene with your own 3D Toon model. It’s creepy, I know, but I also think of the monetary possibilities.
XBIZ: Where do you see the 3D Toon market today and where is it headed?
LOKI: I feel there are some holes that need to be filled, which is one of the reasons I’ve chosen to relaunch my program and new sites. I see the market as being stable, but many longtime artists have retired or moved on to non-porn related things, leaving a hole in the fresh content arena. Some older sites seem to have stopped updating, while others just don’t seem to be promoting the way they should be.
As for the future, expect many big things to come into the 3D Toon niche, including more “artist owned and operated” sites to pop up, plus more interactive content and more 2D/3D crossovers to appear. All I can say for now is, stay tooned!
XBIZ: Tell us about the beginnings of 3D video porn. How did the technology shape the current marketplace for this niche offering and is it ready for prime time?
LOKI: 3D porn is one of the most overlooked niches in the porn industry. Many people think of it as only a passing fad, but they forget that 3D and porn trace back to the 1960s.
Starting around the early 2000’s, the first 3D site I remember seeing was 3DOrgasm from AdultLounge. When it launched, webmasters thought it was either the coolest thing they had ever seen, or something that would never last.
Within six months, another company popped up with its own 3D site and webmasters said the exact same thing (oddly enough, some of these same webmasters must have forgotten what they posted six months prior, as they said again, “I’ve never seen 3D porn before, and this will sell!”). This trend followed off and on over the next several years, sparking a somewhat lively debate each time a new company or site would launch, and the debate continues to this very day.
3D porn is what I would call a double-edged sword. It definitely has the “wow factor” and it also has the potential for staying power, but it comes with its own long list of cons that pretty much outweigh the pros.
XBIZ: What are some of the main problems and solutions that operators should be aware of when discussing 3D porn?
LOKI: Shooting in true 3D was until recently an expensive venture. Using true dual-lens cameras, making sure your depth-of-field (DOF) was correct, and rendering out the final product, was both a costly and timeconsuming process. Now, the consumer market is embracing 3D more and more, with home cameras that not only capture true 3D video, but also 3D webcams that are now available for less than $100.
The Kinect for Xbox has an active forum where PC drivers are available, allowing consumers to connect Kinect to their home computers and create their own software — and yes, someone has already made porn with it. For those who might not be aware of it, the Kinect is not only a 3D camera, but a motion capture camera as well: Think of it as your own 3D motion capture suit in webcam format.
XBIZ: Some say that “up-converting” is an easy way to create 3D content from an existing library of 2D footage. What are your thoughts on this?
LOKI: Up-converting is the process of taking a standard 2D movie and running it through specialized software that converts it into a 3D movie. The problem with this is the quality, as you will never get true 3D quality by converting 2D: the 3D visual “pop” is much less, and the colors tend to “dry up,” giving everything an odd hue.
XBIZ: What about the high cost of 3D hardware — are prices getting any lower?
LOKI: The price of home 3D systems and glasses are coming down year by year. What once cost upwards of $4,000 is now available for under $2,000 (and that drop is over a two-year span). Imagine what will happen to the prices in say two more years from now.
XBIZ: What is your prediction for the future of online 3D porn?
LOKI: Using the Minoru cam (www.minoru3d.com) more and more webcam sites will follow IMLive’s move and offer 3D Cam Girls inexpensive glasses sent directly to their end user and a $90 cam for the model, generating huge profits for the company.
