Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Spielberg Declares War

    Like the towering extraterrestrial machines that ravish planet Earth in H.G. Wells’ 1898 sci-fi masterpiece, The War of the Worlds, director Steven Spielberg’s big-screen adaptation has arrived to demolish all box office contenders. The visual effects extravaganza opens today and aims to jumpstart the flagging summer movie season and send a certain caped crusader back to the Batcave.

    War of the Worlds stars Scientology poster boy Tom Cruise as dockworker Ray Ferrier, whose weekend with his kids turns into a nightmare as New Jersey is besieged by an alien threat. The cast also includes child actor de jour Dakota Fanning and the always interesting Tim Robbins, but the real star is the extensive visual effects work completed by Industrial Light & Magic under vfx supervisor Pablo Helman (Star Wars: Episodes I and II, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). Helman previously worked with Spielberg as a compositing supervisor on The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

    Marking Spielberg’s third theatrical blockbuster about visitors from another planet, War of the Worlds takes a complete 180-degree turn from 1977’s optimistic Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1982’s cuddly E.T. the Extraterrestrial. This latest all-too-close encounter reflects our post-9/11 paranoia and explores the more frightening possibilities of alien visitation, which Spielberg flirted with in Taken, the 2002 SCI FI Channel mini-series he produced. Fanning also stared in that project.

    Released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, War of the Worlds will go unchallenged in its opening frame, but 20th Century Fox is hoping moviegoers will take another look at Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith over the long Fourth of July weekend. The studio is offering one free admission with the purchase of three tickets. Next week, Fox will dare to take on Spielberg’s juggernaut with the latest comic-book superhero adaptation, Fantastic Four.

  • Ren & Stimpy, Game Over on Disc

    A Nickelodeon classic and a short-lived TV action-comedy headline this week’s animated home video releases as retail shelves are graced by The Ren & Stimpy Show: Seasons Three and a Half-ish and the first and only season of UPN’s Game Over.

    The Ren & Stimpy: Seasons Three and a Half-ish DVD includes all episodes from the third season and half of the fourth. In addition to 17 cartoons, the three-disc Paramount Home Entertainment release features audio commentary from series creator John Kricfalusi and members of his Spumco Animation team. There is also in-character commentary from Ren and Stimpy themselves, as Stimpson J. Cat and Ren Hoek provide their own unique insight into their wacky adventures. The un-rated set offers 373 minutes of cartoon fun and lists for around $30.

    After a limited primetime run, Game Over is getting extended play as Anchor Bay releases all six episodes, including one that never made it to air, in a two-disc set. Created by David Sacks and produced by Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, the CG-animated series follows the misadventures of The Smashenburns, a family of video game characters living in suburban America. Patrick Warburton (The Tick, Seinfeld, The Emperor’s New Groove) voices patriarch Rip Smashenburn, a Grand Prix racecar driver, while Lucy Liu (Kill Bill Vol. 1, Charlie’s Angels) plays his tomb-raiding wife, Raquel. Game Over: The Complete Collection features character bios, a trivia game, a "production secrets" featurette, a storyboard-to-layout-to-animation-to-final picture progression reel and crew photos. It carries a suggested price of $19.99.

    Also hitting shelves today are two Duel Masters titles form Paramount Home Entertainment and Hasbro. Duel Masters: Go Ahead Make My Duel and Duel Masters: Show Me the Mana bring the hot-selling trading cad game to life with the continuing adventures of Shobu, a spiky-haired boy on a quest to become a Kaijudo Master commanding powerful battle creatures. Retailing for $19.99, each disc includes two bonus episodes, Japanese versions of episodes, blooper reels and a Duel Masters trading card game demo.

  • West Reprises Batman Role for Dave School

    A new Batman movie starring both Adam West and Mark Hamill? And it’s animated? We’re there! The graduating class at Dave School of Digital Animation and Visual Effects in Orlando, Florida, have put together an entertaining, 11-minute short film titled Batman: New Times, a CG-animated romp set in a Gotham City that looks like it was built entirely with LEGO’s Batman C3 toyline.

    Batman: New Times was co-written and co-directed by Dave School instructor William Vaughan and school founder and director Jeff Scheetz. Featuring tongue-in-cheek dialog and harrowing action sequences, the film has Batman squaring off against old adversaries The Joker (Hamill) and Catwoman (Courtney Thorne-Smith of Melrose Place fame). Dick Van Dyke rounds out the all-star cast as Commissioner Gordon, the Dark Knight’s longtime ally on the police force.

    Released in time to capitalize on the theatrical success of Warner Bros.’ Batman Begins, Dave School’s Batman: New Times can be downloaded from the school’s web site at www.daveschool.com, along with other student projects.

  • Softimage Supports Xbox 360

    Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology Inc., today announced support for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 next-generation game system with the release of the .FX plug-in, a free effects creation tool for SOFTIMAGE|XSI 3D animation software. The new plug-in for XSI allows developers to create high-definition characters, props and elements for their Xbox 360 titles designed for HD television resolutions (720p and 1080i) in 16:9 widescreen.

    "The features found in XSI, including the advanced character tools, make the software an ideal choice to harness the creative possibilities now being offered with the Xbox 360 platform," says Tracey Frankcom, program manager for Xbox Tools and Middleware. "Softimage has also long been a valued Xbox development partner, from native DirectX viewing to support for the .X file format in the software. Today’s availability of the .FX plug-in is a testament to Softimage’s focus on the future for next-gen game development."

    "XSI delivers a unique combination of the industry’s most advanced 3D character animation system, integrated support for the latest realtime effects and the extreme scalability that teams need to meet next generation production requirements," adds Gareth Morgan, senior product manager for Softimage.

    The .FX plug-in for XSI, which includes support for sophisticated DirectX real-time shaders, allows the use of third party shader/development tools for applying those effects to XSI models and taking full advantage of XSI’s normal mapping and animation tools. Imported effects can be refined and animated with real-time visual feedback.

    Softimage has also taken steps to help game development studios manage larger teams as the staff up to produce next-gen titles. Earlier this year, the company announced support for Microsoft’s XNA software architecture, which is designed to enable enhanced collaboration between content creators, programmers, management and quality-assurance staff to speed the game production process.

  • Activision Unleashes Fantastic Four

    Before you see the movie, play the game. That’s what Activision is hoping you’ll do as its Fantastic Four game hits retail today. Based on Twentieth Century Fox’s highly anticipated live-action feature film, opening July 8, the team-based action adventure title puts the fate of the world in players hands as they control Marvel’s first family of superheroes.

    The game promises to offer an interactive version of the movie, but will also feature a completely original storyline co-written by Zak Penn, who co-wrote the story for X2: X-Men United and is co-writing the screenplay for the upcoming third installment in the X-Men saga, also based on a Marvel comic-book series.

    Through team-based combat and two-player co-op mode, gamers control all four team members and can dynamically switch between characters to wreak havoc in a variety of destructible environments inspired by popular comic-book locales. As Mr. Fantastic, fans use brainpower to hack computers, override security systems and outsmart their enemies as they deliver stretch attacks from a distance, squeeze into tight spaces and go where no one else can. Meanwhile, The Invisible Woman can be utilized for stealth moves and force fields as The Human Torch creates super nova fireballs and The Thing uses brute force to pick up heavy objects and savagely obliterate foes.

    The movie’s five leading actors reprise their roles for the game. Jessica Alba (Dark Angel, Sin City) provides the voice of Sue Storm, Emmy award winner Michael Chiklis (The Shield) is Ben Grim, Chris Evans (The Perfect Score, Cellular) plays Johnny Storm and Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur) portrays Reed Richards and Julian McMahon (Charmed, Nip/Tuck) is Victor Von Doom/Dr. Doom.

    Fantastic Four was developed by Seven Studios for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, while the PC version was developed by Beenox and the Game Boy Advance title was created by Torus Games. More information on Activision and its products can be found at www.activision.com.

  • Fantastic Four Marathon to Flame on Boomerang

    It’s a good time to be a fan of Marvel’s Fantastic Four comics. With 20th Century Fox’s big-budget, live-action feature set to debut in theaters in July 8, Cartoon Network’s Boomerang is gearing up for primetime airings of the classic 1967 Fantastic Four animated series. The mini-marathons will air on Saturday, July 2 and Sunday, July 3, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. (ET).

    Boomerang’s Fantastic Four tribute will feature all 19 half-hour episodes from the original production without commercial interruption. Produced for the ABC network by Hanna-Barbera in association with Marvel Comics, the series brought to animated life the adventures of Reed (Mr. Fantastic) Richards, Sue (the Invisible Woman) Richards, Johnny (the Human Torch) Storm and Ben (The Thing) Grimm. Long before The Incredibles was conceived, this superhero family created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby thrilled fans with their legendary battles against the evil Doctor Doom.

    More information on Boomerang programming can be found at http://Boomerang.CartoonNetwork.com.

  • Ryan, City Paradise Earn Top L.A. Film Fest Nods

    The Chris Landreth award juggernaut continued last weekend as his Oscar-winning short, Ryan, received the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The trailblazing pic, which also took top kudos at SIGGRAPH and Annecy in 2004, pays homage to Ryan Larkin, the pioneering animator who now panhandles for spare change in Montreal.

    The festival’s award for Best Animated Short Film went to Gaelle Denis’ City Paradise, another Annecy favorite which centers on a Japanese girl’s eye-opening experiences in London. The inventive short utilizes a mix of live-action and animation techniques to tell its original story.

    "Standing out among a selection of outstanding animated shorts including a bona fide classic, Ryan, City Paradise proved an exciting and imaginative mix of live action and animated filmmaking that realized a story-telling landscape that was both brilliantly strange and uniquely expressive," says the Shorts Competition Jury.

    Other top fest favorites include Mark Banning’s Jellysmoke (Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature), Beth Bird’s Everyone Their Grand of Sand (Best Docuementary Feature), Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know (Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature), David Zeiger’s Sir! No Sir! (Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature) and Luc Jacquet’s March of the Penguins (Audience Award for Best International Feature).

    A total of 266 films including 77 features representing more than 30 countries screened at the festival, which took place June 16-26. This year the fest received more than 3,700 submissions from filmmakers around the world, with the final selections representing several premieres. The Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent (FIND). For more info, visit www.lafilmfest.com.

  • Chicken Little to Christen Disney Digital 3D

    In addition to being Disney’s first in-house CG theatrical release, the upcoming Chicken Little will mark the first deployment of Disney Digital 3D, a new, state-of-the-art technology providing a stereoscopic three-dimensional theatrical experience. Slated for release on Nov. 4, the animated comedy will be rendered in 3-D by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and exhibited via Dolby Digital Cinema servers at approximately 100 selected theatres in 25 top markets.

    Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, comments, "Disney Digital 3D is a truly groundbreaking technology that combines the latest innovations of science and art, and we are proud to be a part of filmmaking history. Our proprietary, state-of-the-art CG animation process used to make Chicken Little and future animation projects will finally allow moviegoers to experience true digital three-dimensional entertainment in theaters."

    To experience Chicken Little in 3-D, viewers will don special glasses designed to offer greater clarity and more comfort than conventional 3D glasses. "We are pleased that Chicken Little is the first animated movie to use our new process using Disney’s actual 3D models, animation and camera data," says ILM president Chrissie England. "This process allows us to provide a richer, more nuanced viewing experience for moviegoers than any existing postproduction techniques. We feel audiences will embrace this experience as the new standard in animated features."

    The process ILM developed to bring Chicken Little and other films into the stereoscopic 3-D space is similar to what is being used to make 3-D versions of George Lucas’ original Star Wars films.

  • Ta Ta for Now, Paul Winchell

    Paul Winchell, the original voice of Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh cartoons, passed away Friday morning at his home in Moorpark, Calif. The 82-year-old entertainer also made a name for himself as a television ventriloquist, finding early fame with his Jerry Mahoney puppet.

    Winchell created the Tigger voice for the 1968 Academy Award-winning short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. He continued to provide the bouncy tiger’s lispy voice for then next 31 years, while also voicing other TV cartoon characters including The Smurfs’s Gargamel, Heathcliff’s Marmaduke and Wacky Races’ Dick Dastardly. His feature film credits include Disney’s The Fox and the Hound and The Aristocats.

    Born in New York, Winchell attended Columbia University and studied acupuncture and hypnosis, among other things. In addition to entertaining children, he was quite the inventor, patenting the disposable razor and the artificial heart, among other things.

    In 1974, he earned a Grammy for best children’s recording with The Most Wonderful Things About Tiggers from the feature Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

    Shrek director Kelly Asbury wrote in length about Winchell’s ventriloquism career in his book, Dummy Days, published in 2003 by Angel City Press. Fans can also see Winchell’s original dummies on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

    Winchell is survived by his wife of 31 years, the former Jean Freeman; five children and three grandchildren.

  • Piglet Voicer Fiedler Dies

    As fate would have it, John Fiedler, the original voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh cartoons, died on the same weekend as Tigger talker Paul Winchell. The two created their roles for 1968’s Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, but Feidler never retired, staying with Piglet through the recently released Pooh’s Heffalump Movie. Fiedler was 80.

    On the big screen, Fiedler also worked with Winchell on Diensy’s The Fox and the Hound, playing the porcupine to Winchell’s Boomer. In addition, he voiced roles in the animated Disney pics Robin Hood and The Rescuers. Other voiceover credits include the Pokémon TV series and Buena Vista Games’ Kingdom Hearts video game.

    Fiedler also found on-screen work, appearing in the big-screen classics 12 Angry Men (1957) and True Grit , as well as such television shows as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, The Odd Couple, Star Trek, The Bob Newhart Show, Buffalo Bill, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and One Life to Live.

    Fiedler was born in Platteville, Wisconsin and appeared on Broadway before starting his film and television career. After a 20-year stint in Hollywood, he returned to New York, living in Brooklyn until the time of his death.

  • Vi Ly Upped to Art Institute Dean

    L.A.’s The Art Institute of California has tapped Vi Ly to serve as the dean of academic affairs effective June 22. Ly has served as assistant to the dean of academic affairs since 2004, and has worked with The Art Institute since 1998. Previous positions include department chair for the Media Arts and Animation program, as well as the Game Art and Design sector.

    Over the years Ly has made a wealth of contributions to the school’s community, cultivating one of the Art Institute system’s most extensive animation programs. Students under her instruction have had their work featured in highly regarded animation and film festivals with a few garnering regional Emmys. Former pupils have also gone on to work at major studios such as Sony Pictures Imageworks, Disney Features Animation, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Feature Animation and Activision.

    A widely exhibited artist with work on display in multiple private and public collections, including the Permanent Collection of the San Jose Museum of Art, Ly has a Bachelor’s degree in drawing/printmaking from the University of Cincinnati, and a Masters in painting courtesy of San Francisco’s Art Institute. Before her arrival at The Art Institute of California, she was a department chair at Learning Tree University, a Clarity Station graphics artist and a member of the drawing faculty at Monterey Peninsula College, Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz and San Jose City College.

  • Game On for MTV Games

    MTV, the cable network that virtually cornered the youth market first with music videos and later with reality programming such as The Real World, has set its sights on the video game industry. The network today announced the launch of MTV Games, a new division dedicated to developing, producing and promoting interactive titles that resonate with its core audience.

    MTV Games has also entered into a strategic relationship with interactive entertainment publisher and developer Midway Games. The two entities will work together on three upcoming games, collaborating on marketing, in-game advertising efforts and soundtrack development, operating within a mutually beneficial royalty sharing structure. The first title to be produced through the partnership will be L.A. RUSH, described as a high-octane arcade racing game that taps into the car-tuning culture with creative design assistance from West Coast Customs, the automotive customization shop featured in the hit MTV series, Pimp My Ride. Two other titles will be announced at a later date.

    Titles created by MTV Games will be heavily marketed through MTV Networks’ various broadcast, online, wireless and theatrical outlets, including MTV, MTV2, mtvU, Spike TV and MTV Films.

    MTV Games is overseen by Jeff Yapp, exec VP of MTV Networks Music and Logo Enterprise Group, who reports to Rich Eigendorff, chief operating officer of MTV Networks Music and Logo Group. Tony Calandra, senior director of MTV Interactive Products, will manage the new division and Joseph Varet, director MTV business development and strategy, will oversee MTV Games’ business partnerships and strategic relationships. Jamie Leece, formerly president of Take Two’s Gotham Games division, will serve as exec producer as Marc Nesbitt oversees all project production and creative as senior producer.

  • War of the Worlds Comic Pegged for TV

    Publisher Best Sellers Illustrated has announced that its War of the Worlds graphic novel is being developed as a television mini-series. Richard G. Murphy (Universal Soldier: the Return, Timecop) is producing the adaptation of Stephen Stern’s comic book take on H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi yarn.

    “This is an entirely fresh take on War of the Worlds which focuses on how a diverse group of New Yorkers fights back against the Martians,” says Murphy.

    “Steven Spielberg has opined that War of the Worlds is a reflection on how scared we are in the aftermath of 9/11," adds Stern. "I like to think that we’ve conquered our fears of an attack on our soil, and are prepared to deal with whatever the future holds.”

    Murphy said the graphic novel is “an ideal blueprint for a television mini-series event” and imagines following the book closely, in the same fashion that the graphic novel ‘Sin City’ was adapted for the big screen.

    The TV project, being produced under the working title Alien Attack-from the War of the Worlds’ Graphic Novel, joins a growing list of adaptations that have emerged since George Pal first brought the story to the screen with groundbreaking special effects in 1953.

    Best Sellers Illustrated’s War of the Worlds graphic novel has just been released in time for the opening of Spielberg’s big-budget feature, which DreamWorks and Paramount are releasing on Wednesday, June 29.

  • Giamatti to Head SCI FI Toon

    Having brought underground comic creator Harvey Pekar’s life story to the big screen in American Splendor, actor Paul Giamatti (Sideways) is reportedly returning to the world of comic books for a new animated series. Daily Variety reports that he has inked a deal to voice the lead role in Amazing Screw-On Head, a SCI FI Channel pilot based on the Dark Horse comic book by Mike Mignola (Hellboy).

    Giamatti will voice the title character, a robotic secret agent who can screw his head onto a wide variety of bodies as he serves the Lincoln administration during the Civil War. The cast also includes David Hyde Pierce (Frasier, Treasure Planet), Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live, Superstar) and Patton Oswalt (Blade: Trinity, Zoolander). Bryan Fuller, creator of the Showtime series Dead Like Me and co-creator of the short-lived FOX show Wonderfalls, is exec producing with Jason Netter of Kickstart Prods.

    Amazing Screw-On Head will be the second Mignola project for Hyde Pierce, who provided the voice of Abe Sapien in director Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy. In the show, he will lend his voice to Emperor Zombie, while Shannon plays Patience the Vampire and Oswalt voices Mr. Groin.

    The project has been shepherded at SCI FI by exec VP of programming Mark Stern, who was a fan of the comic book before he joined the network. He brought it to USA/SCI FI president Bonnie Hammer and the piolet was greenlit in April of last year.

    SCI FI is actively developing an original animation component to accompany such live-action fare as Stargate SGI and Stargate Atlantis. The CG-animated space comedy Tripping the Rift returns for a second season on July 27 and Home Movies creator Brendon Small is developing something called The Barbarian Chronicles for the cabler.

  • Giamatti to Head SCI FI Toon

    Having brought underground comic creator Harvey Pekar’s life story to the big screen in American Splendor, actor Paul Giamatti (Sideways) is reportedly returning to the world of comic books for a new animated series. Daily Variety reports that he has inked a deal to voice the lead role in Amazing Screw-On Head, a SCI FI Channel pilot based on the comic book by Mike Mignola (Hellboy).

    Giamatti will voice the title character, a robotic secret agent who can screw his head onto a wide variety of bodies as he serves the Lincoln administration during the Civil War. The cast also includes David Hyde Pierce (Frasier, Treasure Planet), Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live, Superstar) and Patton Oswalt (Blade: Trinity, Zoolander). Bryan Fuller, creator of the Showtime series Dead Like Me and co-creator of the short-lived FOX show Wonderfalls, is exec producing with Jason Netter of Kickstart Prods.

    Amazing Screw-On Head will be the second Mignola project for Hyde Pierce, who provided the voice of Abe Sapien in director Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy. In the show, he will lend his voice to Emperor Zombie, while Shannon plays Patience the Vampire and Oswalt voices Mr. Groin.

    The project has been shepherded at SCI FI by exec VP of programming Mark Stern, who was a fan of the comic book before he joined the network. He brought it to USA/SCI FI president Bonnie Hammer and the piolet was greenlit in April of last year.

    SCI FI is actively developing an original animation component to accompany such live-action fare as Stargate SGI and Stargate Atlantis. The CG-animated space comedy Tripping the Rift returns for a second season on July 27 and Home Movies creator Brendon Small is developing something called The Barbarian Chronicles for the cabler.

  • Batman Still Flying High

    Witches, zombies and a big bug couldn’t bring down the Bat over the weekend as moviegoers continued to flock to Warner Bros.’ Batman Begins. The franchise reviver brought in an estimated $26.7 million in its second week, easily outdoing a batch of newcomers that includes Sony’s Bewitched, Universal’s George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead and Disney’s Herbie: Fully Loaded. The latest theatrical outing for the Dark Knight has earned around $121 million domestically to date.

    Bewitched debuted at No. 2 with an estimated $20.2 million. Featuring vfx by Rhythm & Hues, the new take on the classic TV series failed to make a significant splash despite the bankable talents of Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. However, it did considerably better than the kid flick Herbie: Fully Loaded, which opened to an estimated $12.7 million to put it in fourth place behind 20th Century Fox’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie vehicle has earned north of $125 million over the past three weeks.

    Rounding out the top five is Land of the Dead, the latest zombie epic from the man who revolutionized the genre with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. While it only made around $10.2 million, the film had one of the most lucrative debuts of the weekend, considering it was made for approximately $15 million. The fright flick features visual effects by K.N.B EFX Group, SPIN, Switch VFX and J.M.S. Special Effects.

    Batman’s reign is sure to end on Wednesday when DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures unleash War of the Worlds, director Steven Spielberg’s mega-budget, CG-laden adaptation of the beloved sci-fi novel by H.G. Wells. The latest retelling of the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories promises to offer some groundbreaking effects work by the pros at Industrial Light and Magic.

  • Alias Ships 64-bit mental ray Standalone

    Alias has announced the shipping mental ray Standalone 3.4 64-bit, the first offering to come from its greater 64-bit plan. Fully compatible with the Maya 6.5 modeling and animation software, the release promises faster processing times and the ability to create and accurately render more complex scenes and images for film, games, broadcast, digital publishing and design visualization.

    "This is an important first step in our plans to deliver a new Maya-based product that taps the power of 64-bit hardware," says Kevin Tureski, director of engineering for Maya at Alias. "An alpha version is currently being evaluated at several leading studios."

    In addition to the ability to render massive scenes, the 64-bit version of mental ray Standalone offers quality and control, according to Alias. Complete programmability allows users to create custom shaders and produce any desired rendering effect. Furthermore, physically accurate lighting through global illumination means that advanced lighting effects, indirect lighting, light focusing, translucency, glossy reflectors and radiosity can be achieved and combined automatically.

    Alias says the mental ray Standalone product and the adapting of Maya software to run optimally in 64-bit mode have been the focus of extensive customer-driven development efforts at Alias in cooperation with industry leaders such as HP, Microsoft, Red Hat, Intel and AMD.

    Hardware and operating system combinations supported by 64-bit mental ray Standalone are: Enterprise Linux WS 3 (x86_64) and SUSE 9.1 (x86_64), running on Intel EM64T, AMD Opteron, or AMD Athlon 64 processors. Support for the Windows XP operating platform is expected at a later date. For more information on Alias and its products, go to www.alias.com.

  • VICON Forms Feature Unit

    VICON, an Academy Award-winning leader in motion capture technology, has announced the formation of the VICON Feature Unit (VFU). The Los Angeles, Calif.-based entity will be dedicated to on-the-ground consulting, custom service, development and pipeline building for VICON’s film, video-game and television clientele.

    “The VICON Feature Unit is yet another industry first for VICON: a focused business unit aimed at delivering radical new technology, service and customization for high-end vfx clients,” says Gary Roberts, the newly appointed VP of the VICON Feature Unit. "With the rise of performance capture, first unit on-set motion capture and camera counts in the hundreds, the creative and technical aspirations of the market are demanding this type of complete service."

    Having blended a passion for traditional animation with development at IBM’s Scientific Research Center in conjunction with Oxford University, Roberts spent a number of years using motion-capture technology at EA, DreamWorks, Motion Analysis Corp. and other production companies before designing and managing Performance Capture Studios in Los Angeles.

    Brian Nilles, CEO of VICON Motion Systems, comments, “Gary and his team will be bringing their wealth of studio experience directly to customers, and, in a related move, we will also be building a new VICON development team, based in Los Angeles, focused on the entertainment and visual effects community. This will enable development efforts to be aimed squarely at our customer needs and requirements, and managed right in the heart of the industry.”

    The VFU team of developers, specialists and technical directors will have access to VICON’s engineering teams, as well as the motion-capture services and facilities at VICON company House of Moves, also in Los Angeles.

    VICON systems have been employed on such high-profile projects as Titanic, the Star Wars prequels, Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express and last year’s Best Visual Effects Oscar winner, Spider-Man 2. The company’s next-generation VICON MX real-time optical motion capture systems boast ultra-high-resolution, virtually artifact-free capture with VICON MX40, the world’s first four-million-pixel motion capture camera. For more information about Vicon go to www.vicon.com.

  • Nick.com Launches Pay-to-Play Games

    Nickelodeon is positioning itself to be a leader in the exploding downloadable casual games market. The kid network has teamed with Big Fish Games and TryMedia to re-launch Nick Arcade with paid downloadable games at Nick.com and Nickjr.com. The "state-of-the-art gaming platform," as Nickelodeon describes it, will be ready to welcome toon-loving gamers on July 1.

    At re-launch time, Nick Arcade will feature more than 60 premium downloadable games for kids. The lineup will include Nick.com-published games such as SpongeBob Obstacle Odyssey, The Fairly OddParents Big Superhero Wish, Jimmy Neutron Invention Revenge, and such Nick Jr. titles a Dora’s Rapido River Rafting Race. There will also be a number of titles from third-party developers and a “Games for Grown-Ups” section at http://nickjrgrownupgames.com.

    Most games will be priced at $20. For a $7.99 a month, users can join a membership program that allows them to receive one free game every month. The "Nick Arcade Pass" also entitles players to coupons and discounts on games, as well as other benefits.

    Nick Arcade will be frequently updated with original paid downloadable games published by Nick Online, which will be released beginning third quarter 2005.

  • New York Minute Film Fest Wants Entries

    Think you can tell a story in 60 seconds? The 2005 New York Minute Film Festival is looking for minute-long animated and live-action films for online presentation. Films will be evaluated by a panel of judges including acclaimed filmmaker Joel Schumacher (Tigerland, Phone Booth) and winners will be honored during a New York City gala on November 17, 2005.

    The New York Minute Film Festival aims to be the first major online film festival to give both established and emerging filmmakers an opportunity to create, submit and earn widespread recognition for new works in a 60-second format. The event is made possible with the generous support of founding sponsor Convergence, an award-winning visual media company based in Manhattan.

    Films of exactly one minute will compete in five categories: drama, comedy, experimental, animation and music video. Submissions are now open, with online viewing and voting scheduled to begin on August 8. This round will narrowi the field to 10 finalists in each category by November 2.

    The cost to enter one submission is $20. There is no limit to the number of one-minute films a contestant may enter. Part of the proceeds from the fest will benefit charities dedicated to closing the digital divide.

    For complete information on festival prizes, rules and submission guidelines, go to www.newyorkminutefilmfestival.com or email info@newyorkminutefilmfestival.com.