Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Hair High to Screen in L.A.

    Hair High, the latest feature film from independent animation guru Bill Plympton, will have a limited engagement at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in West Hollywood from April 13 through April 19. Plympton will appear in person on opening night and will create a free, original sketch for every guest.

    Blending ’50s nostalgia and campy zombie action, Hair High tells the story of a small town terrorized by the corpses of a teenage couple who were murdered on prom night one year prior. The movie’s star-studded voice cast includes Dermot Mulroney (The Family Stone), Sarah Silverman (Jesus is Magic), David Carradine (Kill Bill Vol. 2), Keith Carradine (Deadwood), Justin Long (Accepted), Beverly D’Angelo (Entourage), Ed Begley Jr.(Arrested Development), Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer), Craig Bierko (Scary Movie 4) Eric Gilliland, Zak Orth (Prime), Tom Noonan (Manhunter), Simpsons creator Matt Groening and animator Don Hertzfeldt (Rejected).

    Plympton wrote, directed, produced and self-financed Hair High, which had its world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival and enjoyed a successful run on the festival circuit in 2005. The filmmaker has been touring the country with the movie, and the Los Angeles run will serve to qualify the pic for Oscar consideration.

    Never one to rest on his laurels, Plympton is currently working on a new feature titled Idiots and Angels, which he describes as the least commercial movie he’s ever made and likens it to a David Lynch film. It will tell the story of a man who wakes up one morning to discover he has wings growing out of his back, a development that kicks off a struggle with his good side.

    More information about Hair High is available at www.hairhigh.com or www.plymptoons.com. And, if you haven’t read it already, be sure to see our interview with Plympton regarding the film and upcoming projects at www.animationmagazine.net/article/5907.

  • CG Contest Launches at SIGGRAPH ’07

    SIGGRAPH 2007 will see the debut of the international FJORG! Competition, an iron animator event that will have teams competing to create the best character-driven animation within a 32-hour period as various staged distractions test their skill, talent, creativity and physical endurance. Sixteen three-member teams will be selected from a pool of demo reels received from around the world and will have their meddle tested during the computer graphics conference, which takes place Aug. 5-9 in San Diego.

    The FJORG! Competition will be held “Gladiator style” at the San Diego Convention Center before a crowd of attendees and a panel of judges that may include recruiters and talent from top graphics, feature film, animation and game companies. The qualifying teams will be asked to create an animated sequence of at least 15 seconds in length, based on a provided theme. They will then ahave a limited time to finish using only those assets supplied at the event.

    The FJORG! organizers, dubbed the ‘Viking Lords,’ will supply teams with sound and voiceover selections, a rigged model, hardware, software, meals, entertainment and a nap area. The animators will need to focus and hone their time management skills in order to do the best work they can manage while coping with various unexpected challenges conjured by the Viking Lords.

    Entrants will compete for the title of FJORG! Viking Animator and the winning team will receive a trophy and other prizes. All contestants whose teams successfully create a 15-second animated sequence in the time allotted will be awarded a full conference pass for the remainder of SIGGRAPH 2007 and a ticket to the Electronic Theater, a showcase of some of the best CG-animated short works from around the world. The official rules, including submission information and guidelines, are expected to be posted on March 1 at www.siggraph.org/s2007.

  • Fox Atomic Charged for NY Comic-Con

    Fox Atomic, the genre shingle of 20 Century Fox, will unveil new graphic novels and a machinima contest at the 2nd annual New York Comic-Con, which kicks off this Friday and continues through Sunday, Feb. 25. The company will offer attendees the first detailed look at the graphic novels based on the 28 Days Later and The Hills Have Eyes horror film franchises, as well as a chance to take part in the first fully-functional animated film studio in Second Life.

    Scheduled for release on April 3 and Aug. 7, respectively, the 28 Days Later: The Aftermath and The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning graphic novels will be showcased during a panel on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 6 p.m. Fox Atomic Comics will also offer a gander at a horror anthology titled The Nightmare Factory, which is slated to hit bookshelves on August 8/07). Editor-in-chief R. Eric Lieb and newly signed editor Heidi Macdonald will be joined on stage by Jimmy Palmotti, co-writer of The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, and Steve Niles, writer of 28 Days Later: The Aftermath.

    A virtual representation of the Fox Atomic booth will be featured in Linden Lab’s Second Life, a virtual environment where users worldwide will be able to sample the Comic Con experience by visiting the Fox Atomic Island. There, visitors can a machinima movie or take photos using Atomic-provided avatars based on upcoming films. The participant can choose to use the custom soundstages, any of the move-specific ‘sets’ scattered around the island, or chose to film anywhere within the world of Second Life. Submission for both the machinima and photo contests can be made anytime before Feb. 26. The top three winners will be announced on March 2. Prizes include round trip tickets for two to Costa Rica, a spring break trip for two and $100,000 Linden Dollars.

    Other Comic-Con plans for Fox Atomic include a sneak peak at never-before-seen footage from the upcoming film The Hills Have Eyes 2, a panel featuring the horror icon Wes Craven and a ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2 15 Gigs of Fear’ music video mash-up contest. For more information go to www.nycomiccon.com.

  • Ghost Rider Cruises to Victory

    Ghost Rider from Sony Pictures and Marvel Ent. revved up the North American box office over the holiday weekend, taking in an estimated $51.5 million to easily claim the top spot and set a new Presidents Day opening record. Bridge to Terabithia from Disney and Walden Media earned around $30 million to debut at No. 2, pushing last week’s champ, the Eddie Murphy comedy Norbit, to third place with approximately $20.7 million in its sophomore outing.

    Based on the Marvel Comics property, Ghost Rider stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who gives up his soul to become a flaming-skulled avenging demon in order to defeat the power-hungry son of Satan. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil), the pic may not end up being the most profitable comic book adaptation of recent years, but it did well for a lesser-known superhero property. The film’s opening gross is on par with that of Daredevil, which starred Ben Affleck and opened to $40 million in February of 2003. With Cage’s star power lending credibility to the production, Ghost Rider managed to outshine such other marginalized comic creations as Constantine, Hellboy and Spawn.

    With kids out of school for holiday, Bridge to Terabithia did respectable business despite a confusing advertising campaign. Sold as an effects-laden fantasy-adventure yarn, the coming-of-age tearjerker based on the kid lit favorite by author Katherine Paterson debuted to positive reviews and provided distributor Buena Vista with its biggest February opening to date. The family pic also serves as a successful first live-action outing for director Gabor Csupo, who is best known for producing the Rugrats and Wild Thornberrys cartoons.

    Warner Bros.’ romantic comedy Music and Lyrics opend at No. 4 with an estimated $16 million, while Lionsgate’s relationship comedy Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girl took in around $14.3 million to edge out Universal’s true-life espionage thriller, Breach for the No. 5 spot. Despite critical acclaim, Breach only managed an estimated $12.3 million over the four-day holiday frame.

  • Flushed Away Surfaces on DVD

    The third and final collaboration between DreamWorks Animation and the U.K.’s Aardman Animations comes to home video today with the release of the CG comedy Flushed Away. After a disappointing North American theatrical run during a busy year for toons, DreamWorks is hoping the well-reviewed pic finds a sizeable audience on disc, especially after its strong showing at the Annie Awards (six wins). Also arriving at retail today are the first season of Warner Bros. Animation’s What’s New Scooby-Doo? and a limited-edition version of the 2005 animated feaure Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

    Flushed Away stars Hugh Jackman as the voice of Roddy St. James, a pampered, high rise-dwelling rat who leaves the posh life when he gets flushed down the toilet and into the sewer where he makes new friends and learns how the other half lives. Kate Winslet is Rita, a tough-as-nails sewer boat driver who captures Roddy’s heart and Sir Ian Mckellen is the frog villain, Toad. The voice cast also includes Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy and Shane Ritchie.

    Bonus features on the disc include the featurette From Clay to CG: A Technical Journey, commentary by directors David Bowers and Sam Fell, two animated songs from the popular slug characters, an animator’s gallery, a Jammy Dodger fly-thru, a behind-the-scenes interactive tour and featurette’s on the film’s crew and music. Kids can also learn how to draw Roddy, try their hands at a pipe maze, build their very own slug and play the DVD Rom game Flushed Away Underground Adventure. The DVD retails for $29.99.

    The complete first season of What’s New Scooby-Doo? comes packaged as a two-disc set containing 13 episodes from the 2002 run. Scooby and the Mystery Inc. gang take on more supernatural cases in this slate of installments, which boasts such guest stars as baseball greats Mike Piazza and Luis Santiago and pop stars JC Chasez and Lindsay Pagano. Extra features include the bonus episode “A Scooby-Doo Valentine” and a backstage blooper reel. The Warner Home Video release carries the suggested retail price of $19.98.

    After releasing the best-selling special edition in April of 2006, Sony today debuted a new, two-disc limited edition of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue, and animated in CG by Square Enix, the futuristic action thriller takes place two years after Cloud Strife and company saved the world from Sephiroth. The story finds Strife haunted by his past and living a secluded life while a strange disease spreads throughout the planet and old enemies hatch schemes.

    The limited edition release comes with 10 collectible postcards, an English-language movie script and a biographical character booklet. For approximately $49.95, fans also get a story digest titled “Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII,” deleted scenes, Venice Film Festival footage, a making-of featurette with all new English voice cast interviews, the anime featurette Last Order Final Fantasy VII and a sneak peek at upcoming Final Fantasy VII games.

  • BCI Recruits Jason of Star Command

    Navarre Corp.’s BCI Eclipse and Entertainment Rights Plc. are releasing the cult-favorite ’70s Saturday morning sci-fi series Jason of Star Command on DVD for the first time on May 8. The three-disc set will contain all 28 episodes from the show’s two seasons, along with a brand-new documentary, a special effects commentary track and other bonus materials.

    A spin-off of the 1977 series Space Academy, Jason of Star Command is set in a secretive section of Space Academy, where a daring soldier of fortune named Jason combats a self-proclaimed “Master of the Cosmos’ named Dragos. Airing form 1978 to 1979, the series is one of several space adventure shows to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars, which came out the previous year. The cast of characters even includes two robots, Peepo and W1K1, who join Jason on his missions. Veteran TV actor Craig Littler plays Jason, leading a cast that includes James Doohan (Star Trek), Sid Haig (The Devil’s Rejects) and Tamara Dobson (Cleopatra Jones).

    Employing visual effects artists from the Star Wars and Star Trek camps, Jason of Star Command was the most expensive children’s show on television when it debuted on CBS. The show is notable for its use of stop-motion animation to bring a variety of monsters and other fantastic elements to the screen. Visual effects supervisor Chuck Comisky, stop-motion technician Jim Aupperle and live-action creature effects artist John Carl Beuchler provide a special effects commentary track for the season two episode ‘Beyond the Stars!”

    Produced and hosted by Andy Mangels, author of Animation on DVD’The Ultimate Guide, the slate of bonus materials includes a new half-hour documentary titled The Adventures of Jason of Star Command, featuring interviews with the producer, stars, and visual effects artists. Exec producer Lou Scheimer and actors Craig Littler and John Berwick have recorded commentary tracks for the season-one episodes “Attack of the Dragonship” and “The Disappearing Man.” There will also be a special effects demo reel, three different photo galleries, a booklet with an episode guide and trivia, episode scripts on DVD-ROM, Easter eggs and an art gallery style guide for a proposed Jason of Star Command animated series. The disc set will carry a suggested retail price of $29.98.

  • Cartoon Movie Names Tribute Nominees

    The European Association of Animation Film has announced the 12 nominees selected for this year’s Cartoon Movie Tributes, the awards segment of the featival and market taking place March 7-9 in Potsdam, Germany. The awards recognize outstanding achievements, companies or personalities that have had a positive influence on Europe’s animated feature film industry and will be given in the categories Director of the Year, Producer of the Year and Distributor of the Year.

    Up for director of the year are Luc Besson for Arthur et les Minimoys (Arthur and the Invisibles), Philippe LeClerc for The Princess of the Sun, Michel Ocelot for Azur et Asmar and Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich for The Ugly Duckling and Me!.

    Leclerc’s The Princess of the Sun, an adaptation of a novel by Christian Jacq, will be previewed at the opening night screening. The film is a production of Belokan Prods., which is up for the award for European Producer of the Year. The other nominees in the category are Alphanim, Europool, Nelvana Int. and StudioCanal for Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure, BAF Berlin Animation Film for Happily N’Ever After and Eesti Joonisfilm and Rija Films for Lotte from Gadgetville. The nominees for European Distributor of the Year are France T’l’visions Distribution (France), Rezo Films (France), Scanbox Denmark (Denmark) and Universum Film (Germany).

    The winners will be selected by the 500 professionals who participate in the sixth annual forum aimed at advancing the production, distribution and financing for European animated feature films. More information on the finalists for Cartoon Movie Tributes 2007 can be found at www.cartoon-media.be.

  • Jetix Europe Picks Up Iggy Arbuckle

    Jetix Europe has acquired the European Pay TV rights to Iggy Arbuckle, a quirky animated series produced by Blueprint Ent. in association with National Geographic Kids’ Ent. and C.O.R.E Toons. The Flash-animated adventure-comedy show will air on all Jetix Europe Channels starting this August.

    Tailor-made for kids 6 -11, Iggy Arbuckle follows the adventures of a nature-freak piglet named Iggy, whose one mission in life is to protect and care for the awesome Kookamunga National Park. Along with pal Jiggers the beaver, Iggy always manages to turn an ordinary outing int a full scale avalanche of chaotic comedy. The show is created by Guy Vasilovich (Kangaroo Jack G’Day USA!, Moville Mysteries, Hey Arnold! The Animated Feature) who based the series loosely on his own experiences growing up in rural Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

    Jetix Europe has also acquired TV distribution rights (with the exception of free TV distribution in Germany and all French-speaking rights), and home video and consumer product agency rights for the series across Europe (with the exception of Scandinavia and Central Eastern Europe). Disney’s Buena Vista International Television will service distribution of television rights on behalf of Jetix Europe and will launch the 26 episodes half-hour at MIPTV in April 2007.

  • Ghost Rider, Terabithia Blaze On Screen

    A lesser-known Marvel superhero and a classic kid lit favorite come to the big screen today as Sony/Columbia Pictures releases Ghost Rider and Disney and Walden Media debut Bridge to Terabithia. Both films are showing off their CG animation and other vfx work in trailers as they make a bid to capture the top spot at the box office over the long Presidents Day weekend.

    Ghost Rider stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who gives up his soul to become a flaming-skulled avenging demon and defeat the power-hungry son of Satan. Hulk co-star Sam Elliot returns to Marvel territory in a supporting role and the Easy Rider himself, Peter Fonda, shows up for some more two-wheeling action in a villainous role. Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Dream are handling the bulk of the visual effects work, including Cage’s fiery transformations.

    The film is directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who previously helmed the Marvel adaptation Daredevil and wrote the screenplay for the less successful Daredevil spin-off, Elektra. Johnson penned the Ghost Rider screenplay with David S. Goyer, the scribe behind such comic-to-screen treatments as Batman Begins, Blade II, Blade: Trinity and the upcoming Batman Begins sequel. So far, critics haven’t been kind to the supernatural action flick, which may appeal more to fans of camp treatments such as Fantastic Four than lovers of serious comic-book fare like Batman Begins.

    One of the better reviewed films of late is Bridge to Terabithia, a character-driven coming-of-age tale that Disney is trying to sell as a magical adventure epic like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The film is based on Katherine Paterson’s 1987 Newbery Award-winning novel and is directed by Gabor Csupo, co-founder of Klasky-Csupo, the animation company behind Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. Csupo’s most recent film work involved producing the animated features Rugrats Go Wild (2003) and The Wild Thornberry Movie (2002), but this marks his live-action directorial debut. While not a CG-loaded production, Terabithia does involve some imagined fantasy elements that are brought to the screen by Weta Digital.

    Other films opening in wide release this holiday weekend are Warner Bros.’ Music and Lyrics, a romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Drew Berrymore, Universal’s Breach, a true-life espionage thriller with Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe, and Lionsgate’s Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girl, the latest relationship comedy from the creator of Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Media’s Family Reunion.

  • Oscar Shorts Hit Theaters

    If you haven’t made the festival rounds this year, you still have a chance to catch all the Oscar-nominated short films on the big screen. Magnolia Pictures and Shorts Intl. today released two separate compilations of the animated and live-action contenders in 40 theaters across the U.S. Both the live-action and the animated programs will feature some extra shorts to fill out their feature-length runtimes.

    The animated nominees in the shorts category are Roger Allers and Don Hahn’s Disney production The Little Matchgirl, Gary Rydstrom’s Lifted from Pixar, Torill Kove’s The Danish Poet, Geza M. Toth’s Maestro and Chris Renaud and Michael Thurmeier’s No Time for Nuts, which Blue Sky Studio made to accompany Fox Animation’s Ice Age: The Meltdown. Rounding out the 82-minute program are Bill Plympton’s Guide Dog, A Gentleman’s Duel from Blur Studio and directors Francisco Ruiz Velasco and Scott McNally, SIGGRAPH winner One Rat Short from Charlex Films and director Alex Weil, The Passenger by Chris Jones and Sundance winner Wraith of Cobble Hill from Adam Parrish King.

    A synopsis of each film can be found at:

    www.magpictures.com/profile.aspx?id=7bbddf08-5843-42cb-b62a-16eb7f38fa36.

  • San Fran Museum Readies Tezuka Exhibit

    The San Francisco Asian Art Museum will present a major exhibition on the works of respected manga and anime artist Osamu Tezuka this June. Best known in the U.S. as the creator of Astro Boy, the late Tezuka is regarded in Japan as ‘The God of Comics’ and ‘The God of Animation.’ Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga will run from June 2 through Sept. 9 and will feature more than 200 pieces that trace the evolution of his work in both mediums.

    Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, two of the enduring properties to emerge from the 700 plus manga titles Tezuka created during his lifetime, were serialized as animated television shows in the 1960s. Tezuka’s work in both youth-and adult-oriented manga is acclaimed for its complexity and originality and his drawings showcase an extraordinary calligraphic dynamism.

    The Asian Art Museum will serve as the only U.S. venue for this exhibition, the largest of its kind outside of Japan. The installment will include original drawings, covers and posters from his manga creations and the television and anime series inspired by his work. An accompanying resource room will offer activities and anime screenings, and a fully illustrated, 156-page catalog has been published by the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.

    Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga is organized by the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, and will also be seen at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia from Feb 23 through Feb. 29. 2 June – 9 September 2007.

    The Asian Art Museum is located at 200 Larkin Street in San Francisco. Operating hours are 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours until 9 p.m. every Thursday. Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for youth 13’17 and free for children under 12. For more information, call (415) 581-3500 or go to www.asianart.org.

  • Animator Ryan Larkin Dies

    Ryan Larkin, the troubled, Oscar-nominated animator who was the subject of Chris Landreth’s Academy Award-winning 2005 short film, Ryan, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 63. The National Film Board of Canada standout was diagnosed with brain cancer while trying to put his life back on track after years of substance abuse and homelessness.

    Larkin earned his first Oscar nomination for his 1969 short Walking, and garnered another nomination in 1972 for Street Musique. He produced animated films with the National Film Board of Canada until 1978, honing his talents under the tutelage of famed experimental animator Norman McClaren.

    Ryan, a 14-minute, CG-animated documentary, drew attention to the fact that Larkin’s drug and alcohol abuse reduced him to begging for spare change on the streets of Montreal. The support he had since received helped him get back to work on a handful of projects. In addition to producing a series of short bumpers for MTV Canada, he had begun work on a new animated short film titled Spare Change in collaboration with composer Laurie Gordon of the band Chiwawa. The two formed Spare Change Prods. in 2005 and Larkin was to create animation for three Chiwawa songs for the film, which was still in need of funding.

  • SCI FI’s O.Z. Gets Dorothy

    SCI FI Channel has announced that Zooey Deschanel (Elf) has been cast to play the Dorothy role in Tin Man, the network’s upcoming six-hour miniseries based on L. Frank Baum’s classic tome The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The psychedelic re-imagining is slated to begin production in March in Vancouver and will premiere in December.

    Deschanel will play DG, a young woman plucked from her humdrum life and thrust into The Outer Zone (a.k.a. the O.Z.), a fantastical realm filled with wonder but oppressed by dark magic. Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United) will also star as Glitch, the Scarecrow-like character described as an odd man missing half his brain.

    As she struggles to fulfill her destiny, DG will reportedly battle evil monkey-bats and other magical elements, so expect a fair share of CG effects from this television event. Baum’s Cowardly Lion is replaced by Raw, a wolverine-like creature longing for inner courage, while the Tin Man goes by the name of Cain, a heroic former policeman who is seeking vengeance for his scarred heart. Ultimately, DG must square off with the wicked sorceress Azkadellia.

    Tin Man is being directed by Nick Willing, whose credits include Hallmark’s TV treatments of Jason and the Argonauts and Alice in Wonderland. Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. (Dinotopia) will exec produce, along with co-writers Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle (TV’s The Pretender).

  • National Geographic Clips Roach to Licensing Gig

    National Geographic has hired Betsy Roach as director of licensing for television and film properties, a job that was previously outsourced to agency Lisa Marks and Associates. Based in Washington, D.C., Roach will oversee the development of product licensing programs for the network, Kids’ Programming and Production unit produces such animated shows as Adventures in Color, Loco Starburn and Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies.

    Prior to joining National Geographic, Roach spent six years as the global licensing manager for the National Football League, where she was responsible for implementing licensing strategies for international markets, managing sales, heading marketing and merchandising efforts and developing product across a variety of categories including apparel and video games. Before that, she was the international marketing and sales manager for New Era Cap Company Inc.

    In February of 2003, the National Geographic Society’s television and film arm hired Donna Friedman Meir to serve as president of kids’ programming and production. The unit dove into kids’ programming by first picking up Guy Vasilovich’s and Peter Burns’ Iggy Arbuckle, which first appeared as a comic strip in National Geographic Kids magazine, and continues to seek animated content to join its growing lineup of educational and entertaining shows for children. The National Geographic Channel is broadcast in 27 languages reaches more than 290 million households in 164 countries.

  • Skymatter Sculpts Free Trial of Mudbox 1.0.4

    Skymatter Limited (www.skymatter.com), a developer of 3D software tools, has announced the immediate availability of a free trial of Mudbox 1.0.4, its 3D sculpting software. The trial offers all the capabilities of the professional version and can be downloaded at www.mudbox3d.com/downloadTrial.html.

    Mudbox is a high-resolution, brush-based software application designed for the professional digital sculptor. Since its public beta debut in December of 2005 and official release in December of 2006, Mudbox has been adopted by top visual effects and game development companies, and recently received the highest ranking of any software on CG Society’s prestigious retrospective top 20 list for 2006.

    According to Skymatter co-founders Andrew Camenisch, Tibor Madjar and Dave Cardwell, all professional CG artists formerly of Weta Digital, their work on projects such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy highlighted the need for better 3D sculpting and Mudbox is a direct result. The toolkit boasts an intuitive user interface and seamless integration with such applications as Autodesk Maya and SOFTIMAGE|XSI.

    Key features and capabilities of Mudbox 1.0.4 include 3D layering, level streaming technology, local subdivision, a true 3D camera, ‘Tangent Space” symmetry for symmetrical sculpting on asymmetrical models, and high-quality texture baking that generates normal and displacement maps between multiple arbitrary meshes.

    Mudbox software is available for purchase directly from Skymatter at www.mudbox3d.com. Mudbox Professional pricing starts at $649. Floating

    (network) seats and Gold Support options are also available. A non-commercial version, Mudbox Basic, is available for $299.

  • Bell Canada Dials Up Disney Pics

    Bell Canada today announced the launch of Mobile Movies, the first service in Canada to deliver full-length, pay-per-view movies directly to video-capable mobile phones. Users can watch full-length new releases or choose from a wide selection of movie classics from major distributors including The Walt Disney Co.’s Buena Vista International Television division and Sony Pictures Television International. The deal marks Disney’s first mobile agreement for full-length movies outside of the U.S.

    Mobile Movies are streamed directly to client phones using the Bell wireless high speed network. The interactive movie software application can be downloaded directly from the phone’s menu, and clients can use it to browse movie information, including trailers and plot summaries, before they choose a title. The software features intuitive DVD-like playback controls and allows users to exit movies at any point and resume watching at a later time.

    Powered by mSpot, Bell’s Mobile Movies service is now available on Samsung models a920, a900 and m500, the Sanyo 7500 and the LG 550, with more movie-capable phones set to launch this year. Individual movie titles start at $5.99, plus a subscription to the Unlimited Mobile Browser service or any Fun Bundle. Clients can view a movie an unlimited number of times within a rental period, which ranges from 24 hours to a week depending on the title.

  • Art Institute Gets Second Life

    The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, has opened a student campus in Second Life, virtual social community created by San-Francisco-based Linden Lab. The service will play host to online classes for a new Business Communications course. The online society uses real-time 3D streaming technology and runs on proprietary software that students can download from the Second Life web site at www.secondlife.com.

    Second Life is a rapidly growing and evolving 3D MUVE (multi-user virtual environment) where visitors assume animated avatars and socialize, play games and even buy and sell real estate and virtual goods with real money. A number of Hollywood studios and other companies have acquired space in the environment for the purpose of advertising through billboards and other avenues.

    Through Second Life, Art Institute Online students and faculty can interact with one another by controlling their avatars via keyboard and mouse. The course will be primarily asynchronous and will involve both constructivism (learning by doing) and simulation-based learning. By providing real-world objects, structures, and scenarios, the curriculum will allow students to apply knowledge of business processes and techniques in a virtual environment.

    “Students will always know they’re taking a course, but they’ll be playing a game in the process, which is what serious gaming is all about,’ says Jeannie Novak, academic program director for The Art Institute Online’s Game Art & Design/Media Arts & Animation department. “I believe The Art Institute Online is truly revolutionizing online learning by developing this innovative course.”

    One of a number of colleges and universities that have set up campuses in virtual environments, The Art Institute Online offers associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs in a vaiety of disciplines including graphic design, interactive media design, advertising, fashion, retail management, game art and design, interior design, media arts and animation. For more information, go to www.aionline.edu.

  • New Bee Movie Trailer Online

    DreamWorks has released another teaser trailer for its upcoming feature film, Bee Movie. Like the first one, this ad features voice star Jerry Seinfeld in a bee costume trying to deal with the hardships of making a live-action movie about insects living in New York City. Famed director Steven Spielberg shows up and suggests that they make it a cartoon, and then we get a brief glimpse at how the film’s animation will look.

    Sated for release on Nov. 2, Bee Movie is co-written and produced by Seinfeld, who voices the role of Barry B. Benson, a recent college graduate who wants to do more with his life than make honey. He ventures out of the hive, meets a florist named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger) and decides to sue the human race for stealing honey from bees.

    The film’s all-star cast also includes Chris Rock (Madagascar), John Goodman (Monsters, Inc.) Kathy Bates (Popey’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Matthew Broderick (The Producers) and Patrick Warburton (The Emperor’s New Groove).

    Bee Movie is being directed by Simon J. Smith (the Shrek 4-D amusement park attraction) and Steve Hickner (The Prince of Egypt), with Christina Steinberg (National Treasure) producing with Seinfeld. The family comedy will follow the debut of DreamWork’s Shrek 3, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 18, 2007. To see the latest Bee Movie trailer, go to http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1555175&sdm=web&qtw=480&qth=300.

  • Disney Legend Ellenshaw Dies at 93

    Oscar-winning matte painter and visual effects pioneer Peter Ellenshaw passed away at his home in Santa Barbara on Monday at the age of 93. Known for his work on such classic Disney films as Mary Poppins, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Darby O’Gill and the Little People, he joined the Disney team in 1947 to contribute to the studio’s first live-action film, Treasure Island, and continued working for the studio until 1979.

    Ellenshaw retired from Disney after completing effects for the sci-fi thriller The Black Hole, but later returned to produce several matte paintings for the 1990 film Dick Tracy. He was designated a “Disney Legend” in 1993 and was recognized for his achievements at the Visual Effects Society’s inaugural VES Awards in 2003.

    “Peter was a Disney legend in every sense of the word and played a vital role in the creation of many of the Studio’s greatest live-action films from the very beginning,’ says Roy E. Disney. ‘He was a brilliant and innovative visual effects pioneer who was able to consistently please my Uncle Walt, and push the boundaries of the medium to fantastic new heights. Outside of the Studio, he was a fantastic painter in his own right, and I always loved his Irish paintings and felt that he did the best seascapes in the world.”

    Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin adds, “People never knew how he accomplished his visual feats. Darby O’Gill and the Little People remains one of the most amazing, eye-popping achievements in all of film history. And when you think that Mary Poppins was made without anyone ever setting foot outside a soundstage’let alone visiting London’you get some idea of what he was able to pull off.”

    Born in Great Britain in 1913, Ellenshaw began his film career in the early 1930s when he apprenticed for visual effects pioneer W. Percy Day, O.B.E. He worked on such productions as Things to Come, Rembrandt, Elephant Boy, Sixty Glorious Years, A Matter of Life and Death, and the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger classic Black Narcissus. After serving his country as a pilot in the RAF during World War II, he created matte paintings for MGM’s Quo Vadis and soon after caught the attention of an art director for the Walt Disney Studios.

    “Walt had the ability to communicate with artists,” Ellenshaw once commented. “He’d talk to you on your level’artist to artist. He used to say, ‘I can’t draw, Peter.’ But he had the soul of an artist, and he had a wonderful way of transferring his enthusiasm to you.”

    Ellenshaw’s other projects at Disney include the television shows Davy Crockett and Zorro, and such classic feature films as The Sword in the Rose, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, Third Man on the Mountain, Swiss Family Robinson, The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. He also painted the iconic first map of Disneyland that was featured on all the early amusement park postcards and souvenir booklets.

    Ellenshaw’s wife of 58 years, Bobbie, passed away in 2000. He is survived by his two children, Lynda Ellenshaw Thompson and Harrison Ellenshaw, as well as his two grandchildren, Michael and Hilary. Daughter Lynda is a veteran visual effects producer and son Harrison is a visual effects artist who received an Oscar nomination for The Black Hole and was matte supervisor on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, and visual effects supervisor for Tron. Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Direct Relief International, Santa Barbara, Calif.

  • BOXX Supports Windows Vista

    BOXX Technologies Inc. today announced a plan to help visual effects and design professionals make a smooth transition to Microsoft Windows Vista by fully testing and certifying all BOXX Workstations and renderBOXX products for use with the new operating system. BOXX Labs has established a certification and optimization program specifically for Vista and is completing testing on a long list of professional applications for the 3DBOXX 8300 Performance Series workstation.

    ‘We believe Vista has many features that will positively impact both creativity and workflow for digital artists who work in sophisticated creative environments,’ says Francois Wolf, director of marketing for BOXX Technologies. As always, our primary concern is to deliver reliable professional computing tools designed to run advanced applications. Professionals can come to BOXX to get dependable advice during technology transitions so as to fully leverage innovations for their business.’

    Only the Ultimate version of Microsoft Windows Vista is currently available on BOXX Workstations. This version includes all the features found in the other Vista versions, but also provides protection against data loss with Windows BitLocker Drive encryption.

    Headquartered in Austin, Texas, BOXX Technologies Inc. develops and manufactures high-performance workstations and render nodes specifically designed to meet the requirements of digital content creators working in the 3D, animation, visual effects, digital film, architecture, game development and broadcast markets. For more information go to www.boxxtech.com.