In 1999, a company was founded in the Modena area involved in the production of 3D videos and photorealistic rendering. It was set up by a former fighter pilot who became an entrepreneur out of passion. A company serving the industrial districts of the area. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Vittorio Manzini, General Manager of Tredigraph, for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
“Believe in your dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem.”
This mantra of Walt Disney guided the choices of Vittorio Manzini, a former
fighter pilot in the Air Force and then later an industrial designer. Then in
1999 his "life change", which was necessarily linked to a new company
born from scratch. Vittorio with strength, determination and a hint of
recklessness decided to follow a passion that had always fascinated him. That
of animated 3D graphics and photorealistic rendering. In those years - we were
at the dawn of the new Millennium - it was truly novel. An activity full of
complexity and filled with all sorts of limitations, difficult to explain to
customers and perhaps even to oneself. But Vittorio was a tough guy. So he
quitted the company where he was working and threw himself head first into the
world of entrepreneurship. Together with his sister Carlotta, he founded a
company that produced 3D renderings and videos. Tredigraph was born on 11th
January, 1999, on a cold mid-winter morning. Vittorio dedicated himself to
operational development and production, while Carlotta was responsible for the
administrative management. Because ultimately life makes sense if you deal more
with remorse than with regrets. To try to succeed, even if the wind is
stubbornly in the opposite direction and blows hard. Actually, even more. To
try to succeed even against the wind. The business evolved quickly. Then, Marco
Bertini and Alessandro Roli joined the company. Followed by Luca Bertini.
Company profile. We are based in Spilamberto, a beautiful town of thirteen
thousand inhabitants south of Modena on the road to Vignola in the heart of
Terre di Castelli. The company today has around ten employees and some trusted
external professionals and long-standing collaborators for a turnover of 1.2
million euros. What connects the team is a strong personal bond. So all choices
are made by mutual agreement. The videos - and more generally the services -
are aimed at the B2B world of medium and large companies located in central and
northern Italy. This is the profile of Tredigraph, a video agency that designs
and develops videos, 3D animations and renderings for communication and
industrial marketing. One speaks also of projects related to immersive virtual
reality. The company is a stone's throw from Vignola, a district which is in
the centre of the Po Valley. «Being here has allowed us to evolve in a varied
context with a high potential. A context that is at the same time challenging,
of high-performance and competitive, which, although always putting us to the
test with customers and competitors, has also helped us to better define
ourselves as a company to maintain a high level of our services.» So says
Vittorio Manzini, General Manager of Tredigraph. At the beginning the economic
resources were limited, if not zero. But a strong passion shone through from
that tiny 12 square metre office. A crucial turning point for Tredigraph came
in 2006: after various unsuccessful attempts to offer 3D animations to
customers who did not yet perceive their usefulness, a very well-known and
visionary robotics entrepreneur from Emilia understood the potential and gave
the company confidence. What was the request? To create an animation that made
his ideas understandable and immediate, which anticipated the concepts of
Industry 4.0 by several years. The video was so successful that it opened the
doors to many future collaborations. Then came the first big projects with
Barilla, Bottega Veneta, E80 Group.
The company manifesto.“We
shape companies' projects and visions with videos, 3D animations, rendering and
advertising”: this is what the manifesto says. From 2023, special drones
defined as FPV (First Person View) also arrived and that allow you to create
very exciting cinematic videos. Then in February 2024 the rebranding occurred
with the new logo and the new website. As regards 3D animations, the company
has an internal render farm, i.e. a very high-performance corporate server park
made up of around 30 multiprocessor rendering servers that are always working
to produce the frames necessary for 3D animations. «Here at Tredigraph there is
a passion for technology in all its forms. For mechanics, mechatronics, for
industrial robotics. Then there is the desire to create videos with great
visual impact. Twenty-five years of experience in various areas of industrial
and mechanical automation and the substantial portfolio of completed projects
allow us to communicate with customers who intend to develop videos and 3D
animations of complex systems in a direct and competent way», specifies
Manzini. Here is the strength: being interlocutors who speak and understand the
industrial language with transversal technical skills to interpret the topics
and propose the best creative ideas. «The company is a delicate, interconnected
organism, sensitive to external stress and that must be cared for with love»,
concludes Manzini. That dream that was locked in a drawer for a long time and
then forcefully emerged was love at first sight.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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