Andrea Romano, an acclaimed voiceover and casting director who has brought to life dozens of beloved animation projects over the past three decades, has announced her intention to retire this week. The decision follows a diagnosis of optic neuropathy in one eye, which has caused blindness in that eye — Romano had since been wrapping up current projects.
Romano said in a statement:
“I shall miss so many aspects of this industry – particularly the people I’ve worked alongside, and all the fun that happens on both side of the glass. From the bottom of my heart, I extend my sincere gratitude to every actor, producer, director, engineer and colleague that has helped make this run so incredible … Doing this job, working with all these wonderful people, has been my ultimate blessing. I couldn’t have hoped to spend the past three decades with a better group. I’ve truly been the luckiest person on Earth.”
As a voiceover director, Romano played a crucial role in polishing immensely popular animated titles, from her start on the original DuckTales, through ’90s hits including Animaniacs and Batman the Animated Series, to Avatar: The Last Airbender and beyond. She was also a regular collaborator on the DC Universe Original Movies (and their direct-to-video precedents) from the first release, Superman Doomsday. Romano’s most recent work can be heard on Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the upcoming third season of DreamWorks’ Voltron: Legendary Defender.
By the numbers, Romano’s credits tot up to more than 40 TV series covering 1,600-plus episodes; over 50 films, including 23 of the DC movies; and 20 video games. She also took quite a few turns behind the mic, racking up more than 30 voice acting credits — often as a computer interface, and notably as “Andrea Romano the Magnificent” in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. Over her career, Romano has won eight Daytime Emmy Awards with an additional 35 nominations, and received the 2016 Friz Award from the International Family Film Festival.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower, the highly anticipated debut feature from Japan’s Studio Ponoc will be coming to North American theaters this winter thanks to GKIDS. The deal was negotiated by Mike Runagall for Altitude Film Sales and Eric Beckman for GKIDS.
The story of Mary and the Witch’s Flower centers on an ordinary young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night. As she is whisked into an exciting new world beyond belief, she must learn to stay true to herself. The film is based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 children’s book, The Little Broomstick, with a script by Riko Sakaguchi. It was released in Japan on July 8 by Toho.
This inaugural feature is directed by Academy Award nominee Hiromasa Yonebayashi (When Marnie Was There, The Secret World of Arrietty), and produced by Studio Ponoc founder and two-time Oscar nominee Yoshiaki Nishimura (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There), also a Studio Ghibli alum. GKIDS handled the US distribution of both Princess Kaguya and Marnie, and Arrietty remains the highest grossing Ghibli release in the US to date.
This Friday, August 4, DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender returns to Netflix streaming with an all-new third season set of seven episodes. Check out a brand new trailer below to get pumped for all the exciting Paladin action!
Season 3’s adventures pick up in the wake of Zarkon’s defeat and Shiro’s disappearance, as the Paladins struggle to move forward with no one able to pilot the Black Lion or the ability to form Voltron. The team must quickly devise a plan as the ascension of Prince Lotor (voiced by AJ Locasio) and his generals pulls the team into a perilous game of cat-and-mouse that tests their unity and abilities more than ever before.
Two animated series concepts won over the judges of the 2017 Just For Laughs pitch competition in Canada, which this year comprised two separate programs: the CBC Comedy Originals Pitch Program and Stand Up ‘N Pitch. Four winning projects were selected, with the contest receiving over 200 pitch submissions this year.
The first of the toons with potential was Diversity League: Social Justice Division, from Toronto-based comedy writing team Christophe Davidson and Courtney Gilmour. As the winner of the CBC Comedy Originals Pitch Program selected by the judges’ panel, the show will see further development as part of CBC Digital Originals.
The pitch: Diversity League: Social Justice Division tells the story of the most culturally, politically and sexually diverse crime fighting team in the universe. Co-creator Christophe Davidson is a comedian-writer who has toured throughout Canada, including appearances at the Just For Laughs Festival and JFL42. His project partner, Courtney Gilmour, is a comedian-writer and was this year’s co-winner of the ‘Homegrown’ Comics Competition.
The other animation sensation was stirred by Doug and Devi, created by LA-based writer and comedian Courtney Karwal and animator Natalie Young. The cryptozoological comedy concept won the From Set to Screen: TV, OTT, SVOD & More program.
The pitch: Doug and Devi centers on an unlikely partnership between two monstrous lovers: Devi, a Yeti, and Doug, a Sasquatch. Courtney Karwal studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, has written for Comedy Central, and is the co-creator of a web series called Check Your Surroundings (Funny or Die). Natalie Young has worked on several animated productions, including Bojack Horseman, Lucas Bros. Moving Co., Mr. Pickels, Axe Cop and Major Lazer.
The From Set to Screen winners (which also includes tie winner, Angry Black Women from Dahéli Hall and HaJ) will be invited to participate as Official Artists at the 2017 New York Television Festival in October, enjoying exclusive benefits through NYTVF Connect. This contest program was presented by Project 10 Productions in conjunction with NYTVF.
The other live-action winner was Hit on Me from Marvin Kaye and Elizabeth Whitmere, which came out on top in the Beyond the Box: Playing It Short category.
Learn more about Just For Laughs online; the 2018 pitch competition will open in March.
Courtney Gilmour and Christophe Davidson – Diversity League: Social Justice DivisionNatalie Young – Doug and Devi
Conductor Technologies launched its Conductor cloud rendering platform for VFX, VR and animation studios. The first enterprise-grade rendering service of its kind, Conductor is able to offload regular workloads and burst renders in whatever configuration works best for a particular pipeline or project. Fine-tuned through an extensive beta development cycle, it has already enabled productions to scale to more than 36K simultaneous cores and render over 30 million core hours for big-time flicks like Deadpool, Star Trek Beyond, Transformers: The Last Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and The Walk. Studios which have used Conductor include Vrtul, Riot Games, Atomic Fiction and Magnopus.
Conductor is a cloud-agnostic platform, initially backed by Google Cloud Platform. Support for Microsoft Azure is now in private preview. The platform currently supports Autodesk Maya and Arnold, Foundry’s NUKE, Cara VR, KATANA and Ocula, Chaos Group’s V-Ray, Golaem, Ephere’s Ornatrix, and Miarmy. New partnerships with Isotropix for Clarisse and Pixar for Renderman are being announced at SIGGRAPH, with more to come. Stop by the Microsoft Azure booth #923 for live demos or earn more online.
Epic Games revealed advancements in real-time CG production workflows. Datasmith, a workflow toolkit to simplify moving data into Unreal Engine for architectural and design visualizations (private beta in August; unrealengine.com/beta) was previewed publicly for the first time at the Unreal Engine User Group. Using data from Italian architects Lissoni and designers at Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, Epic’s Chris Murray showed how Datasmith’s 3ds Max plugin and CAD importers enable users to import files that retain visual fidelity to the source, saving hours in data transfer and preparation time, taking the user most of the way to creating a fully interactive, photoreal, real-time visualization experience.
And an Alembic-based pipeline for the creation of high quality animated content in real time was demonstrated. This workflow enables the integration of quality animated mesh transformations with skeletal deformations in the engine, in real time. Developed for the Fortnite cinematic trailer “A Hard Day’s Night,” the tools are available in Unreal Engine v4.17, due early August. More on Epic at SIGGRAPH here.
Google Spotlight Stories is showcasing amazing animated VR projects at the show. In the new VR Theater, catch work-in-progress screenings of Son of Jaguar from Jorge Gutierrez and Sonariaby Scot Stafford and Chromosphere. On Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. in South Hall K, the directors will be joined by Kevin Dart (director, Sonaria), Theresa Latzko (Technical Art Lead, Chromosphere), Cassidy Curtis (Technical Art Lead, GSS), with Max Planck and Chris Horne from Oculus Story Studios’ Dear Angelicafor the “Behind the Headset” Production Session. Gutierrez will also feature in the VR Theater Director Q&A with Eugene Chung (Arden’s Wake), Eric Darnell (Rainbow Crow) and Tyler Hurd (Chocolate) that day from 2:50-3:30 p.m. in Theater 411, and hold a Production Gallery Meet & Greet at 4:30 p.m. in the Concourse Foyer, Level 1.
OptiTrack has delivered the “missing links” for arcade VR with two key advancements on display at SIGGRAPH, which mark a huge leap forward in quality of experience and usability for single and multi-site deployments of out-of-home VR.
Designed to deliver accurately moving avatars for each of the participants in a multiplayer VR game, the latest in Full-Body Motion Tracking delivers a low latency, real-time stream of every player’s position, orientation and skeletal pose in the entire playing area. Now participants will see other players through their VR HMDs, significantly enhancing multi-user experiences. OptiTrack Active “pucks” are attached to the hands and feet of each participant, delivering real time animation for each player present in the experience. The pucks are small (3.75″ x 3.75″) and lightweight (3 ounces), powered with a rechargeable battery and are designed for the rigors of VR Arcades.
Significantly reducing the day to day operational complexity, as well as the staffing expertise required to run even the largest VR arcades, OptiTrack’s Self Calibrating Tracking Systems remove the need for the “wand wave” that has been a daily component of motion capture and tracking systems for over 30 years. No calibration maintenance is required following initial installation, and there is no longer a deterioration of the calibration over time. It simply produces the very best accuracy that OptiTrack is well known for 100% of the time. Stop by booth 731 or visit OptiTrack online to learn more.
Reallusion revealed real-time face and body motion capture for its iClone 7, following the tech’s award-winning debut. Created in partnership with industry leaders, the dedicated tools turns a single PC into a streamlined (and affordable) ig for character creation, animation and live mocap.
Faceware RT for iClone is a totally independent face mocap tool that uses a highly accurate markerless capture using a regular PC Cam and iClone 7 to achieve real-time facial motion capture recording. This gives indies and studios of all levels access to tools geared for ease of use and performance results for any project, previz, or production. (Available from Reallusion September 2017.)
In order to fully animate the facial capture detail, iClone 7 updated the Character Creator 3D Character Generation Systems to Faceware standards, with up to 60 Facial Morph capability. Features include: compatibility with iClone, Character Creator and DAZ Genesis characters; custom character import via FBX; two face simultaneous capture; feature-based facial strength filters; live face capture and imported image sequence face mask for selected capture; optional mouth blend with audio lipsync viseme; refinement and face key timeline editing; and character morph animation export via FBX.
In partnership with Xsens, iClone 7 is enabled with the Xsens mocap suits and MVN motion capture software. The forthcoming Xsens Mocap Plugin for iClone will join the currently available plugin for Noitom Perception Neuron and add to the live motion capture options for indies and studios.
Check out the new toolsets at booth #1219 or see more online.
iClone 7iClone 7Epic DatasmithFortniteSonariaSon of JaguarOptiTrack ActiveOptiTrack Active Puck
At the Television Critics Association Press Tour this weekend, PBS KIDS announced that a classic cartoon star will return this fall in The Ruff Ruffman Show, an all-new short-form digital series produced by WGBH Boston which teaches science concepts; and a brand-new animated global exploration series, Luna Around the World, produced by 9 Story Media Group and created by Emmy winner Joe Murray (Rocko’s Modern Life, Camp Lazlo).
The Ruff Ruffman Show stars canine host extraordinaire Ruff Ruffman, who, along with his assistants Blossom and Chet, answers questions from real kids, takes on challenges and learns the value of perseverance—all while modeling science inquiry skills for viewers ages 4-8. Ruff Ruffman is voiced by five-time Emmy-nominated actor/writer Jim Conroy, the voice of every character in the Ruff Ruffman family since its debut in 2005. The key production team is Carol Greenwald, executive producer; Marcy Gunther, senior producer; Bill Shribman, digital executive producer; and Glen Berger, script writer.
The Ruff Ruffman Show will launch with 20 videos on September 28 across PBS KIDS digital platforms — including the PBS KIDS Video App, pbskids.org — and begin a rollout on the PBS KIDS YouTube channel the same day. Segments will also air on the new PBS KIDS 24/7 channel/livestream. Ruff Ruffman content will also feature on the PBS KIDS Games App (including highly individually adaptive game Fish Force) and a dedicated app.
“At PBS KIDS, we’re always looking for ways to innovate across platforms through new formats and interactive content to meet the needs of today’s kids,” said Lesli Rotenberg, SVP & General Manager, Children’s Media and Education, PBS. “We’re excited to offer The Ruff Ruffman Show through digital shorts to introduce children to a variety of science concepts that allow them to learn from challenges and failure. Ruff is a character kids can relate to, modeling skills they can apply to their own daily curiosities.”
Luna Around the World (kids 4-7) follows the adventures of three friends – Leo, a wombat from Australia; Carmen, a butterfly from Mexico; and Andy, a frog from the U.S. – as they traverse the globe with their parents’ traveling performance troupe, “Circo Fabuloso.” At each of the Circo’s stops, Luna the moon guides the trio as they experience the local language, music and daily life. The gang’s adventures take them across continents – from London to Cairo to Beijing – where they explore the food, architecture and other features that make each region unique. Each episode includes interstitials like live-action segments on arts and culture, animated folktales and songs.
“Luna Around the World is designed to ignite kids’ curiosity about the world and inspire them to learn about the many different cultures that call it home,” said series creator Joe Murray. “Through this show, my goal is to give all children the opportunity to explore cultures other than their own, and to learn about the similarities that unite all of us – through challenges that kids can relate to, with the universal language of laughter woven into each story.”
Set to debut nationwide in fall 2018 on PBS stations, the PBS KIDS channel and digital platforms, Luna is currently in production on 38 two-part half-hour episodes and a one-hour special. PBS KIDS is also planning digital Luna content, parent/teacher resources, games and dedicated app. 9 Story Distribution International manages worldwide distribution and merchandising rights outside Canada.
“We are thrilled to be working with PBS KIDS and the incredibly talented Joe Murray to bring Luna Around the World to life,” said Vince Commisso, President & CEO of 9 Story Media Group. “We’ve had the pleasure of working with PBS KIDS over the years on several shows, including Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Peg + Cat, Wild Kratts and Nature Cat, and it’s exciting to take our partnership to the next level. The PBS KIDS team is best-in-class at what they do, and showcasing Luna Around the World across their various platforms will have tremendous reach with kids.”
BBC Worldwide has set a multi-year licensing deal with Amazon Prime Video, giving the SVOD service’s subscribers in the UK and Ireland access to a slew of TV series from CBeebies and CBBC. The agreement marks BBCW’s first children’s package available on Prime in the territory.
“The deal reflects the growing investment that leading streaming services like Amazon Prime Video are making to offer world-class, high quality children’s programming to their subscribers,” said Jonathan Newman, Sales & Business Development Director at BBC Worldwide, who agreed the deal.
Over 520 episodes will be heading to the streaming platform, with series start dates staggered over the year. The non-exclusive agreement covers popular animated titles such as CBeebies’ International Emmy-winning Hey Duggee, Go Jetters, Sarah & Duck, Charlie & Lola and the new Clangers, as well as live-action fare including Gigglebiz (CBeebies), The Story of Tracy Beaker and Horrible Histories (CBBC).
Hey Duggee and Sarah & Duck season 1, Tracey Beaker season 1, and Horrible Histories seasons 2-4 are available now.
With more than 30 years of promoting kindness and acceptance under its saddle, Hasbro’s My Little Pony franchise is the perfect fit for the International Day of Friendship. The holiday was celebrated Sunday, July 30, which was marked by the release of special videos, on-the-ground events and digital extensions from the Pony-verse.
“Friendship transcends age, gender, geography and background,” said Tyla Bucher, VP Franchise Lead for My Little Pony at Hasbro. “As we work to celebrate friendship across every aspect of the My Little Pony brand, we’re proud to continue to support and celebrate the International Day of Friendship. We hope this program brings people together as they are reminded of how special and important friendship is to everyone around the globe.”
To celebrate the big day, the brand hosted special events in 12 different markets around the world, including the US, Italy, Brazil, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Russia, Mexico and Singapore. Stateside, everypony at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN was invited to a “Celebration of Friendship” featuring multiple experiential themed events. Fans in Italy, Taiwan and Singapore celebrated friendship and fitness with Friendship Runs. In Brazil, Dia Da Amizade featured an outdoor event and Friendship Bus Tour. And in the UK, fans could give the gift of friendship with a special Buy One, Give One promotion in partnership with a local charity and accessories designers Pop & Suki.
And all this week, a branded lens is bringing the Mane 6 into the Snapchat community, with Hasbro supporting an interactive World Lens — when users use the rear-facing lens (that would be the non-selfie one), they’ll be able to see the Ponies’ homeland of Equestria, and move the camera around to see the characters come to life.
Fans were given even more to celebrate with the Day of Friendship release of Hasbro’s new toy line inspired by the characters and adventures in the upcoming My Little Pony: The Movie (out October 6 through Lionsgate). The toys and figures feature the Mane 6 as well as new characters introduced in the theatrical feature, which sends the ponies on an incredible journey beyond Equestria. The movie boasts an all-star voice cast including Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba, and Zoe Saldana, and Sia who also performs an original song for the movie.
Multiple award-winning Indian studio Green Gold Animation (Chhota Bheem, Mighty Raju) is pursuing an aggressive expansion plan with the planned launch of a new sister studio in Mumbai, dubbed Golden Robot Animation. Designed to cater to the growing global demand for content, the full-service shop will share a common management structure and expects to staff up to a 200-artist team.
“Green Gold is amongst the leaders in the animation industry today in India,” notes Rajiv Chilaka, founder and Managing Director of Green Gold Animation. “Launching Golden Robot Animation in Mumbai is a big realization, which will help promote leading-edge expertise in the production of animated shows. This investment acknowledges the talent, creativity and quality of Mumbai’s team.”
Golden Robot will be located in a brand-new facility in the heart of the city, boasting world class infrastructure able to serve diverse markets, large-scale and complex projects. The studio currently has senior artists and department heads in place. The experienced studio leadership is comprised of RK Chand as Head of Business, Ritesh Kumar as Creative Head and CG Supervisor, and Abhishek Chandra as Animation Director.
An official website is forthcoming; you can connect with Golden Robot via LinkedIn to see hiring opportunities.
Rajiv Chilaka, founder and Managing Director of Green Gold Animation
MAXON announces the next generation of its professional 3D application, Cinema 4D Release 19, which offers both tools and enhancements artists can put to use immediately, and provides a peek at the future. MAXON will debut Cinema 4D R19 during SIGGRAPH 2017 in LA, where the developer can be found at booth #701.
“For more than two decades, MAXON has been dedicated to delivering 3D graphics solutions with rock-solid stability, outstanding ease-of- use, a fast workflow, and cross platform capability,” said Harald Egel, managing partner at MAXON Computer GmbH. “Cinema 4D Release 19 expands on those core values with outstanding new features and a first look at foundations for the future.”
Cinema 4D R19 features powerful improvements to viewport performance, a new Sound Effector and additional features for Voronoi Fracturing added to the MoGraph toolset, a new Spherical Camera, the integration of AMD’s ProRender technology, and more. Designed to serve individual artists as well as large studio environments, R19 offers a fast, easy, stable and streamlined workflow to meet today’s challenges in the content creation markets; especially general design, motion graphics, VFX, VR/AR and visualization.
MAXON also introduces a number of re-engineered foundational technologies in R19, which the company will continue to develop and bring to maturity in future versions. These include core software modernization efforts, a new modeling core, deeply- integrated GPU Rendering for Windows and Mac, and OpenGL capabilities in BodyPaint 3D, MAXON’s professional paint and texturing toolset.
Cinema 4D R19 highlights below; a complete list of features is available online.
+ Viewport improvements provide artists with added support for screen-space reflections and OpenGL depth-of-field in addition to the screen-space ambient occlusion and tessellation features (added in R18). Results are so close to final render that client previews can be output using the new native MP4 video support.
+ MoGraph enhancements expand on Cinema 4D’s state of the art toolset for motion graphics with faster results and added workflow capabilities in Voronoi Fracturing – break objects progressively, add displaced noise details for improved realism or glue multiple fracture pieces together more quickly for complex shape creation. An all-new Sound Effector in R19 allows artists to create audio-reactive animations based on multiple frequencies from a single sound file.
+ New Spherical Camera allows artists to render stereoscopic 360° virtual reality videos and dome projections. Artists can specify a latitude and longitude range, and render in equirectangular, cubic string, cubic cross or 3×2 cubic format. The spherical camera also includes stereo rendering with pole smoothing to minimize distortion.
+ New Polygon Reduction works as a generator, so it’s easy to reduce entire hierarchies. The reduction is pre-calculated, so adjusting the reduction strength or desired vertex count is extremely fast. Polygon Reduction preserves vertex maps, selection tags and UV coordinates, ensuring textures continue to map properly and providing control over areas where polygon detail is preserved.
+ Level of Detail (LOD) Object features a new interface element that lets customers define and manage settings to maximize viewport and render speed, create new types of animations or prepare optimized assets for game workflows. Level of Detail data exports via the FBX 3D file exchange format for use in popular game engines.
+ AMD’s Radeon ProRender technology is now seamlessly integrated into R19 providing artists a cross-platform GPU rendering solution. Though just the first phase of integration, it provides a useful glimpse into the power ProRender will eventually provide as more features and deeper Cinema 4D integration are added in future releases.
+ BodyPaint 3D now uses an OpenGL painting engine giving R19 artists painting color and adding surface details in film, game design and other workflows, a real-time display of reflections, alpha, bump or normal, and even displacement, for improved visual feedback and texture painting. Redevelopment efforts to improve the UV editing toolset in Cinema 4D continue with the first-fruits of this work available in R19 for faster and more efficient options to convert point and polygon selections, grow and shrink UV point selects, and more.
R19 also reflects MAXON’s rich development legacy and offers a first glimpse at the company’s future modernization efforts, such as the revamped media core (completely rewritten software core to increase speed and memory efficiency for image, video and audio formats; native support for MP4 video without QuickTime delivers advantages to preview renders, incorporate video as textures or motion track footage for a more robust workflow; export for production formats, such as OpenEXR and DDS, has also been improved) and a new modeling core (improved support for edges and N-gons can be seen in the Align and Reverse Normals commands; more modeling tools and generators will directly use this new core in future versions).
Cinema 4D Release 19 is scheduled to ship September 2017; see the MAXON shop for pricing.
Massive, makers of the Academy Award-winning crowd simulation software Massive Prime, have announced the upcoming release of Version 9.0 of its flagship product, as well as its brand-new “Horse & Rider Agent” offering new possibilities for crowd sims. Massive will be displaying both at SIGGRAPH 2017 in LA by appointment.
Massive Prime Version 9.0 builds on the recent introduction of the Massive Parts Library and Ready to Run Agents with several new features, including a new universal plugin allowing nearly any third-party vendor, 3D animation tool or rendering application to implement its own Massive support.
“Every year we receive multiple requests to support various animation and rendering applications,” said Stephen Regelous, Massive’s CEO and founder. “We want to make it easy for anyone to utilize Massive’s tools, which is why we decided to make a straightforward ‘universal’ plugin that would allow Massive agents to appear in renders, or even directly in software viewports.”
Version 9.0 will also introduce a shader network feature that allows users to import, edit or build shading networks directly within Massive. When importing a shading network from a third-party tool, such as Autodesk Maya or 3ds Max, these networks will look and function the same in Massive, enabling artists to continue to edit and improve an agent’s look without interrupting their workflow. The architectural visualization market will also get a new “Lanes as Generators” option, which combines and simplifies lane following and agent generation location — plus, there will be new crowd movement options, including a convenient way to incorporate escalators and travelators.
All updates introduced to Version 9.0 will be applied to both Massive for Maya and Massive for Max as well, at no additional charge.
The Horse & Rider Agent promises artists the ability create the best film-quality equine locomotion ever seen in a commercial product. Capable of approximately 100 individual movements and actions, the new tool can cut fully rendered shot turnaround down from a months-long team project to a day’s work for a single artist.
“There have been a lot of films and movies featuring dozens of horses at full gallop, but filming the real animals is difficult and dangerous, and animating them is cost prohibitive for many studios,” said Regelous. “Using a single Horse Agent, an artist can get the film-quality results at a fraction of the cost and control the action in a way filming real horses could never hope to achieve.”
The Horse & Rider Agent joins Massive’s AI-controlled “Ready to Run Agents” series, which operate using fuzzy logic to automate character responses. Artists working in Massive can choose the type of agent they want to rent or purchase – human, machine or animal – set parameters, customize appearance, plot a route and watch them go. All agents are pre-built with a skeleton, motions, brains, geometry, cloth, textures, shaders and controls. Agents can also be customized to create a unique physical appearance. In the case of the Horse & Rider, the pre-built package includes dynamic hair simulation for the manes and tails.
To capture the equine movements, Massive turned to motion capture shop Profile Studios, which has worked with major Hollywood outfits including Lucasfilm, Legendary Ent. and Marvel Studios. The team at Profile spent two days capturing and mapping the movements of horses at various speeds both in an indoor arena and outdoors in a large, open space. Dozens of biometric motion capture sensors monitored every muscle and movement on the horse, resulting in the Horse & Rider Agent’s ability to gallop, canter, jump, dressage, walk, trot and more.
“The film-quality realism and actions comprising the Horse & Rider Agent are simply incredible,” commented Dave Levy, Group CG technology director at The Mill. “I am continually impressed at how easy and fast it is to use what, in reality, is an incredibly smart and sophisticated software application.”
The “Ready to Run” series currently includes the Locomotion, Stadium, Ambient, Mayhem, Combat Sword and Car Agents. Each agent can be purchased outright or rented for a limited time. Costs range from $500 to rent and $3,000 to purchase, depending on the agent.
Massive for Max is available for $595/quarter or $1,995/year, and includes the Ambient Agent and one-year of maintenance. Massive for Maya can be purchased for US $3,500, including the Ambient Agent and maintenance for one year. Massive Prime is USD $16,000, which includes one year of maintenance and support. Customers who purchased Massive within one-year year of Version 9.0 release will receive the new software at no additional cost. A 30-day free trial of Massive is available upon request.
Massive Prime Version 9.0Massive Prime Version 9.0Horse & Rider Agent
Animators and VFX artists are some of our favorite people because they never lose the ability to make-believe. And you can see that in this exclusive clip that uncovers the VFX work behind one of the kookiest scenes in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul — courtesy 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Hear from author/screenwriter Jeff Kinney and visual effects supervisor Chris LeDoux on how the cast and crew worked together to create a believable seagull siege for this lighthearted family comedy.
Available on Digital HD August 1, followed by Blu-ray and DVD on August 8, The Long Haul, follows a Heffley family road trip to Meemaw’s 90th birthday celebration, which takes a wild detour thanks to Greg’s scheme to attend a video gaming convention. This is the latest film based on the best-selling book series written and illustrated by Kinney.
Blu-ray and DVD special features include “Making a Scene,” “Greg Heffley’s 10 Rules for the Perfect Road Trip,” “Road Games,” “Learn to Draw,” “A Decade of Wimpy Fun,” bloopers and deleted scenes, deleted animation, and “Haulin’ Through Georgia.”
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long HaulDiary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
SIGGRAPH 2017 is nearly upon us, and pretty much all the big players in CG imaging will be there to show off the latest stunning achievements under their belts. One of these is MPC Film, which is sending its R&D team to LA to present on the technical and creative challenges of water simulations as seen in the new Pirates of the Caribbean, the future of VR in film production, and the advantages of cloud-based resources — to name a few choice topics.
Here’s where you can find MPC around the conference!
It’s Complicated: Cloudy With a Chance of Rendering
Sunday, 30 July, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 403AB
Hannes Ricklefs, Daniel Bergel, Craig Dibble, Pauline Koh, James Pearson
Disney’s The Jungle Book required MPC to deliver work of unprecedented visual complexity. The main challenges was to ensure that excess capacity was provided through the flexible and scalable nature of cloud-based resources, while meeting the client’s strict security requirements.
Wet and Wild: The Water Effects of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Monday, 31 July, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm, Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 150/151
Rob Hopper, Kai Wolter
In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, ships emerge from the bottom of the ocean, an ocean parts and collapses, a ship floats in a bottle, and dozens of characters interact with the surrounding sea. This talk discusses MPC’s approaches to these epic full-CG shots.
When Film Meets VR
Wednesday Aug 2, 11-11:30am, SIGGRAPH Theater Talk, NVIDIA Booth #403
Francesco Giordana
MPC present their journey to creating real-time VR experiences leveraging film VFX workflows and assets. They’ll illustrate this by talking work in projects including the Passengers: Awakening VR Experience and ground-breaking research and development in the virtual production space. The presentation will detail some of the challenges that face developers, from asset building technique complexity to major differences in offline rendering and 90 fps real-time VR workflows. Concluding with a look at future work and discuss where these VR workflows can directly apply to film visual effects and virtual production.
Autodesk Exhibition Sessions: How MPC Brought the Sea to Life in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Wednesday, 2 August, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 409B
Kai Wolter
For Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales MPC faced the creative challenge to produce highly believable ocean and water effects interacting with full-CG ships and characters. In this talk they will present the team’s approaches to animate, simulate and rendering these using a newly developed ocean toolkit and tighter integration of Autodesk Bifrost into MPC’s FX and rendering pipeline.
NVIDIA Exhibitor Sessions Path Tracing in Production – Part 2: Making Movies
Wednesday, 2 August, 2:00 pm – 5:15 pm, Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 408AB
Rob Pieke
MPC’s Head of New Technology Rob Pieke joins the Path Tracing in Production course as an instructor, taking a closer look at the workflows that have emerged at a number of large production facilities. While path tracing was introduced at most VFX and animation studios at a time when a physically based approach to rendering and especially material modelling was already firmly established, the new tools brought with them a whole new paradigm, and many new workflows have evolved to establish a new balance in the production process.
Pipe Dreams: From VFX Project Management to Predictive Forecasting
Thursday, 3 August, 9:00 am – 10:30 am, Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 402AB
Hannes Ricklefs, Stefan Puschendorf, Brian Eriksson, Sandilya Bhamidipati, Akshay Pushparaja
This talk proposes a novel solution centered around a general-evaluation data model and APIs that convert production data (job/scene/shot/schedule/task) to business-intelligence insights enabling performance analytics and predictive analytics for accurate forecasting of future VFX production-process performance.
Tools of the Trade: Optical Flow-based Face Tracking in The Mummy
Thursday, 3 August, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 402AB
Curtis Andrus
To simplify the addition of CG elements (runs, split eyes, torn skin, etc.) on Ahmanet in The Mummy, MPC’s software team built several usability tools around its optical-flow system.
Computer Animation Festival
Mon, 31 Jul, 6-8 pm, Wed, 2 Aug, 8-10 pm, Electronic Theatre South Hall K
The Electronic Theater showcases outstanding achievements in animated feature and short films, scientific visualization, visual effects, real-time graphics, game excerpts, and more from the past 12 months. This year the theatre will include a behind the scenes look at the MPC’s Academy Award winning work on Disney’s The Jungle Book.
’The Problem with Apu’ Trailer Asks: Is Apu from ‘The Simpsons’ a Minstrel?
Comedian and astute social commentator Hari Kondabolu funnels decades of dislike into a feature-length documentary on the impact of perhaps the best known “Indian” TV character of the last 30 years. Featuring interviews with Aparna Nancherla, Kal Penn, Aasif Mandvi, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Hasan Minhaj, Maulik Pancholy, Simpsons writer Dana Gould, Whoopi Goldberg, and others, the doc will be released on truTV.
’The Simpsons Movie’: 10 Stories on the 10th Anniversary
Speaking of Matt Groening’s record-smashing series, producer Al Jean and director David Silverman hint that a second feature could show up one day in their reminiscences with EW this week — but not any time soon.
Pre-Orders Open for Atari/SEGA Flashbacks
Hurry up and click over to BestBuy.com, Target.com or GameStop.com to place your order for the new
Atari Flashback 8 Gold — featuring 120 built-in games and styled on the Atari 2600 — and/or SEGA Genesis Flashback, featuring 85 built-in games plus Genesis and Mega Drive-compatible cartridge port. Both carry a retail price tag of $79.99.
CLIPS: Rooster Teeth’s Summer of Animation
Scroll down for a tempting trio of clips revealing what you will find in the latest installments of your favorite Big Kid Cartoons: Camp Camp, RWBY Chibi, and Red vs. Blue — now in its unbelievable 15th season. Or, sign up at roosterteeth.com and never miss out!
Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has inked a deal with NBCU’s Universal Kids network Sprout to bring the animated preschool series Ranger Rob to screens across the US. Seasons one and two — totalling 40 episodes — began airing on the pre-k channel July 8 and can be seen Monday through Friday at 8 a.m ET, and Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 a.m.
“We are thrilled to work with leading broadcaster Sprout and bring the wonder of Ranger Rob to audiences in the US,” said Pam Westman, Head of Nelvana Enterprises. “The series is all about igniting a sense of adventure and curiosity in kids, and we are delighted to share Ranger Rob’s adventures to a new set of fans and encourage even more kids to explore and discover the world around them.”
The series follows ranger-in-training Rob around the Big Sky Park, the coolest natural adventure park imaginable, as he ziplines, swings, and snowboards discovering and exploring all that the park has to offer. Big Sky Park is a one-of-a kind place with every kind of outdoor environment within its borders and each episode takes viewers on a new adventure, cultivating the spirit of exploration and curiosity, and inspiring kids to get outside to play and discover.
Through winter and spring 2017, Ranger Rob ranked #3 on Corus’ Treehouse network in Canada with boys 2-5 and 2-11 — the series airs in multiple timeslots on Treehouse Monday through Friday. The show is also a top performer on international channels such as TF1 in France, Super RTL in Germany, Disney Channel in Australia, Nickelodeon in Italy, Canal Panda in Portugal, YLE/TV2 in Finland, and HOP in Israel.
Actor and comedian Orlando Jones — who most recently appeared as the trickster Anansi in American Gods for Starz — is pioneering a new kind of animation content with the launch of HOT Chocolate Studios. Jones and his partners Harold Moss and Tom Vedel are tapping into Animgram technology to offer a proprietary live-animation platform for timely original content, and inspire fans to create their own. The studio is named for the trio’s first initials.
“I’ve been a hard-core animation fan since MAD magazine. Nearly pissed myself when I got to audition for MADtv. Then Jeffrey Katzenberg and Leslie Feldman cast me in Father of the Pride on NBC. Suddenly, I was working on the most expensive CGI animated TV show ever produced. I learned so much from the Dreamworks animation team,” Jones in the announcement. “In 2005, I started producing diversity focused animation for mobile, digital, and broadcast TV. The adventures of Chico & Guapo on MTV2 was the first multicultural, multi-platform content Viacom ever put on iTunes. It still airs throughout Latin America.”
Harold Moss, who is head of production for HOT Chocolate, is an award-winning animator and founder of New York studio FlickerLab, who has collaborated with Michael Moore and Stephen Colbert, with credits spanning film, TV, political campaigns, interactive and games projects, and more.
Co-founder Tom Vedel is a pioneer in media technology who has created several live-animation and broadcast production platforms, culminating in the studio’s core technology, Animgram. (More info in the platforms’ MIPTV Market Showcase from this spring.)
“Our tech is pretty magical, and helps us pull off the impossible. But tech on its own isn’t entertainment. It’s the combination of the technology, with my background in storytelling and the incredible network of writers, actors, and comedians I’ve spent my career working with, that gives HOT its super powers,” added Jones. “What’s special about our studio is the joining of this network of talent, the tech that lets us make timely animation, and how it empowers fans by giving them the tools to tell their stories and make animation along with us.”
The founders have created thousands of hours of animation and mixed-media content for major global broadcasters, including Adult Swim, BBC, BET, Comedy Central, Disney, MTV and Nickelodeon. They are currently working on a number of new projects, including a daily animated series centered on the upcoming German federal elections in September. This type of daily show is among the variety of new formats HOT Chocolate is developing, which will also see toons based on social media, shows where fans contribute to the animation, and a late night show featuring Jones and fellow comedians.
“Entertainment moves blindingly fast these days, and fans want to stay engaged 365 days a year. But animation hasn’t been able to deliver on that. I’ve spent the last decade looking for the way to solve this problem,” Jones continued. “When I saw Animgram, and met Harold and Tom, it was clear to me that we could finally create on-demand, timely animation in a way that scaled and worked. Our proprietary live-animation platform lets us create original projects specifically designed to fuse with the way people are watching their media today.”
Because if there’s one thing Americans haven’t seen enough on television, it’s the 45th PotUS. Showtime has given the go-ahead for an animated mockumentary series set in today’s White House. The untitled 10-episode series is created by Stephen Colbert, who will executive produce with Late Show showrunner Chris Licht. CBS Television Studios is producing.
Produced with a tight turn-around in order to lampoon the latest news from Washington, the show will present the “tru-ish adventures of Trump’s confidants and bon vivants — family, top associates, heads of government, golf pros, and anyone else straying into his orbit — intrepidly exploring their histories and their psyches, revealing insights into what makes them so definitively Trumpian,” per a statement from Showtime.
“I know a lot of people wanted to do this, and I’m honored that the Cartoon President invited our documentary crew into his private world. I’ve seen some of the footage, and I look forward to sharing the man behind the MAGA,” Colbert joked.
The series is based on the animated intro to Colbert’s Emmy-nominated special Stephen Colbert’s Live Election Night – Democracy’s Series Finale: Who’s Going to Clean Up This Sh*t? and the cartoon caricature which has continued to pop up on The Late Show. The character’s co-creator, Tim Luecke, will be lead animator and co-EP on the show — it has not been confirmed whether writer-actor Brian Stack will continue to provide the voice.
Martin A. “Marty” Sklar, a key creative force in Disney Parks who worked closely with Walt Disney, died at his home in the Hollywood Hills on Thursday at age 83. Sklar was named a Disney Legend in 2001 in recognition of his 54-year career as an Imagineer, and continued to be involved with the studio’s legacy, recently appearing at the D23 Expo to meet fans.
“Everything about Marty was legendary – his achievements, his spirit, his career,” said Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company. “He embodied the very best of Disney, from his bold originality to his joyful optimism and relentless drive for excellence. He was also a powerful connection to Walt himself. No one was more passionate about Disney than Marty and we’ll miss his enthusiasm, his grace, and his indomitable spirit.”
Born February 6, 1934 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Sklar attended UCLA and was editor of its Daily Bruin newspaper. He was recruited to create The Disneyland News for the brand-new theme park in 1955. When Sklar graduated in 1956, he became a full-time Disney employee.
Sklar became indispensable to Uncle Walt, turning his gift for storytelling toward speeches, marketing material, and a film presentation of the visionary’s plans for Walt Disney World and EPCOT. Sklar also joined WED Enterprises, which would later evolve as Walt Disney Imagineering, and later became creative head of the department. For three decades, Sklar lead the development of Disney parks and attractions around the world.
“Marty was the ultimate Disney Imagineer and Cast Member. From his days working as an intern with Walt to just two weeks ago engaging with fans at D23 Expo, Marty left an indelible mark on Disney Parks around the globe and on all of the guests who make memories every day with us,” said Bob Chapek, Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “He was one of the few people that was fortunate to attend the opening of every single Disney park in the world, from Anaheim in 1955 to Shanghai just last year. We will dearly miss Marty’s passion, skill and imaginative spark that inspired generations of Cast, Crew and Imagineers.”
Sklar retired as EVP and Imagineering Ambassador in 2009, which time his lifetime of contributions were recognized with a dedicated window on Disneyland’s City Hall. His achievements earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Themed Entertainment Association, induction into the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions Hall of Fame, and the Professional Achievement Award from UCLA. Sklar also penned Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms (2013) and One Little Spark!: Mickey’s Ten Commandments and the Road to Imagineering (2015) from Disney Editions.
Sklar is survived by his wife of 60 years, Leah; son Howard and his wife, Katrina Koski-Sklar; grandchildren Gabriel and Hannah; daughter Leslie; and grandchildren Rachel and Jacob. He and his wife were two of the founders of the Ryman Program for Young Artists, a nonprofit project to teach and mentor “traditional” drawing and painting skills to talented young artists in Southern California. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Marty Sklar’s name to Ryman Arts at www.rymanarts.org.
VIDEO: ‘IT’ Official Trailer 1
Stephen King’s creepy clown returns to the big screen to traumatize a whole new generation of moviegoers on September 8. This spot promises some interesting VFX elements to really sell the scares.
VIDEO: ‘American Horror Story: Cult’ Season 7 Bubble Bath Preview
Speaking of coulrophobia, FX is really pushing my buttons with this teaser. Why are clowns so terrifying? And why is a clown in water even scarier?? FX seeks to answer these questions when the new season debuts September 5.
VIDEO: ‘Puppy!’ Trailer
Here’s a good palate cleanser, unless you have a phobia of giant smoosh-face dogs. The new Hotel Transylvania short from Sony Pictures Animation launches in theaters Friday, playing ahead of The Emoji Movie.
BLERD City Con “Celebrates the Nerdiness in You” This Weekend in Brooklyn
July 29 and 30, the black nerd community will carve out a slice of the Big Apple for a slew of screenings, readings, talks, workshops and more covering all manner of fandoms. The schedule offers a mix of serious topics and serious fun (and yes, there’s a cosplay ball).
’The Art of Spider-Man Homecoming’ Panel & Book Signing
Swing on over to SoCal’s Gallery Nucleus this Saturday from 2-5 p.m. to pick up your copy of the behind-the-scenes book and pick the brains of the film’s awesome artists. Participants are author Eleni Russo, Ryan Meinerding (head of visual development), Jay Oliva (storyboard artist), Phil Saunders (concept artist), Paul Ozzimo (character design) and Alex Mandradjiev (cinematic illustrator).
A fifth season of DreamWorks Animation’s The Adventures of Puss in Boots is kicking off on Friday, July 28 — exclusively on Netflix. And after all the craziness that happened last season, fans are certainly in for a wild ride.
Synopsis: With the portal to the Netherworld wide open, Puss, Dulcinea and their fellow San Lorenzans must horde off a stream of monsters wreaking havoc in town. Together, along with the Junior Puss Squad, they swing into action as they battle these creatures and the mysterious force behind them, travel to the mystical Netherworld, and try to save San Lorenzo from destruction, only on Netflix.
