Having conquered the action-pic genre and, more surprisingly, kiddie comedy (The Pacifier), basso-voiced thesp Vin Diesel is about to get into the animation business.

The actor’s One Race Films production company is partnering with Blur Studio to make a CGI feature based on Blur’s short Rockfish. Diesel will voice the main character in the sci-fi action pic. Diesel also voiced the giant in Warner Bros. Iron Giant ani feature.

One Race plans to finance the film’s projected $30 million budget independently. Diesel is set to produce with One Race partner George Zakk and Blur creative director Tim Miller. Miller, who directed the short, will helm the feature. The short subject Rockfish is about a man on an alien planet trying to catch a giant “rock fish” that lives underground and disrupts the planet’s miners.

CGI production will be created at Venice-based Blur. The company was nominated for an Oscar for its short Gopher Broke and has worked on Disney direct-to-video pics and videogame animation.