filming, the Director can get an idea of what shots work well, the pacing of the scene, ideas of camera angles and suchlike.  This can save time and money when it comes to actually filming.<br />
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Animatics can also be used to pre-render all-CGI sequences, with simpler realisations of space battles and other similar sequences giving an idea to the Director of how he wants the sequence handled.<br />
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Of course, all this computer pre-rendering requires some pretty spiffy computers.  Animators