Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Incredibles Muscles In On Video

    With the latest Disney/Pixar animated smash hit, moviegoers got to see what superheroes do when they’re home and off the job. Now fans of the super-powered Parr family can bring them into their own homes with today’s highly anticipated release of the Oscar-winning The Incredibles. The two-disc collector’s edition comes packed with bonus features, including an all-new animated short.

    Directed by Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, TV’s The Simpsons), The Incredibles is the story of a family of undercover superheroes trying to live a quiet, suburban life when they are forced back into action in order to save the world. Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist, TV’s Coach,) stars as the voice of Mr. Incredible and Holly Hunter (Thirteen, Raising Arizona) takes on the role of his wife, Elastigirl. Author and NPR contributor Sarah Vowell lends her voice to incredible daughter Violet, and Daryl Sabara Jr. from the Spy Kids movies plays her speedy brother, Dash. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also bring star power to the voice cast and Brad Bird himself won an Annie Award for providing the voice of one of the film’s funniest characters, Edna ‘E’ Mode.

    What you didn’t see in theaters is a new short titled Jack-Jack Attack, which uncovers some unknown superpowers of the youngest member of the Parr family while he’s home alone with the babysitter. There’s also a never-before-seen "lost" cartoon featuring Mr. Incredible, Frozone and their rabbit sidekick, Mr. Skipperdoo. Titled Mr. Incredible and Pals, the short is fashioned to look like a retro cartoon where actors’ lips move behind hand-drawn images.

    Other DVD extras include an alternate opening and other deleted scenes; feature commentary with Bird, producer John Walker and several key Pixar animators; bloopers and outtakes; character dossiers and interviews; making-of featurettes; an essay by Sarah Vowell; Pixar’s Academy-Award nominated short, Boundin’, and a brief biographical piece of Boundin’ creator, Bud Luckey.

    Distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, The Incredibles lists for $29.99 on DVD and VHS.

  • Iger Named Disney CEO

    It comes with little surprise that the Board of Directors for the Walt Disney Co. crowned Robert Iger to replace Michael Eisner as CEO of the Magic Kingdom. Iger’s reign will go into effect Sept. 30, 2005, when Eisner’s contract expires.

    Eisner’s right hand man was widely considered the heir apparent, though the company says it conducted a "thorough and exhaustive" search, hiring the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles to assist with the process.

    Iger comments, “It is truly an honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of guiding this great company that occupies such an important place in the hearts and minds of millions the world over toward a very bright future.”

    Before becoming president and chief operating officer of The Walt Disney Co. in January of 2000, Iger served as chairman of the Disney-owned ABC Group, where he guided the complex merger of ABC with The Walt Disney Co. and held the post of president of Walt Disney International.

    In a letter to the board supporting Iger’s appointment, Eisner notes that he is excited about a book I wrote, titled Camp, which is set to hit stores on Father’s Day. On that subject, he mentions, perhaps jokingly, that he would like to return to Keewaydin, the camp of his youth, as a counselor. Eisner also expressed joy over the engagement of his son, Breck, who made his directorial debut with Sahara, an action/adventure comedy Paramount is releasing next month. He concludes the letter with, "Beginning October 1, I expect to clean off my hiking boots, re-stock my Mickey Mouse backpack and start surveying some of the other peaks that are on the horizon."

  • Roy Disney Scolds Disney Board

    While Bob Iger’s appointment as CEO of the Walt Disney Co. was not surprising, neither was the reaction from Mouse House dissident Roy E. Disney. Walt Disney’s nephew and his Shamrock Holdings business partner, Stanley P. Gold, today issued a statement in which they take partial credit for Eisner’s resignation but express grave disappointment in the Board’s choice of a replacement.

    “We find it incomprehensible that the Board of Directors of Disney failed to find a single external candidate interested in the job and thus handed Bob Iger the job by default," Disney and Gold comment. "We find it very telling that [Disney Co. Board chairman George Mitchell] refused to answer repeated questions about whether the entire Board had interviewed more than one external candidate. The Board has failed in what is clearly one of their most important responsibilities, the selection of the Company’s CEO."

    Gold and Disney go on to say that the Walt Disney Co. needs to make "a clean break from the prior regime," and suggest that the appointment of someone who has worked so closely with Esiner for a number of years can only serve to maintain the status quo. They also accuse the Board of using a bait-and-switch tactic when it promised a "bona fide" search at the 2005 annual meeting. "Mr. Mitchell’s approach to good governance is no better than a carny at the fair, enticing words but in the end the game is rigged," say Disney and Gold. "Shareholders have been conned and their trust in this Board abused." The statement concludes with a plea for shareholders to consider replacing the Board entirely.

  • Robots Controls Box Office

    The latest computer-animated feature from Twentieth Century Fox rolled over the competition at the North American box office over the weekend. Heavy marketing and the inclusion of toon-voice favorite Robin Williams paid off handsomely as Robots pulled in an estimated $36.5 million to claim the top spot.

    Directed by Chris Wedge (Ice Age), Robots stars Ewan McGregor as the voice of Rodney Copperbottom, a young inventor who goes to Robot City to meet his hero, Bigweld (Mel Brooks). His adventures lead him to take on corporate baddie Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), while being seduced by femme-bot Cappy (Halle Berry). Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, and Amanda Bynes also lend their voices to the film, which is based on a book by William Joyce (Rolie, Polie, Olie; George Shrinks; A Bug’s Life).

    Robots took the title of #1 family film from Buena Vista’s The Pacifier. The surprisingly successful Vin Diesel comedy drops to No. 2 with around $18 million for the weekend and an impressive two-week total of approximately $54 million.

    MGM’s Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool, chilled down 56% in its second week out with just north of $10 million. Still, that take was enough to beat newcomer Hostage, Miramax’s suspense actioner starring Bruce Willis, which fell just short of $10 million. Meanwhile, Sony’s Hitch is still hanging tough after five weeks. The Will Smith romantic comedy rounds out the top five with an estimated $8.7 million as it approaches the $150 million mark.

  • When Cat’s Away, Will Mouse and Pixar Play?

    With Michael Eisner vacating the CEO post a year early to make way for new Disney topper Robert Iger, pundits are speculating that the Mouse House will renew efforts to strike a new deal with CG animation juggernaut Pixar. The current contract between the companies expires after 2006’s Cars, and all future Pixar productions will self-financed.

    A lack of mutual admiration and willingness to compromise stalled talks between Esiner and Pixar head Steve Jobs. Now it seems that Disney is looking to Iger to save the relationship, which would mean losing out on a share of profits generated from future films in exchange for keeping Pixar a part of the Disney brand.

    With Pixar batting a thousand with its string of animated family films, rounded out at present by megahit The Incredibles, Jobs and company hold all the aces should they go in for another round of talks. Though Disney is building its own computer animation studio in Burbank, Calif., it risks looking like a loser if its first in-house CG toon, Chicken Little, performs below expectations when it debuts this holiday season.

    Still attractive to Pixar is Disney’s robust distribution and marketing pipelines. Jobs has been pursuing a deal similar to that which George Lucas has with 20th Century Fox. Under such a partnership, Pixar would pay Disney a distribution fee but keep all profits and rights to its properties.

    Jobs recently told investors not to expect reconciliation between his company and Disney. However, Pixar has yet to choose a distributor to take Disney’s place, suggesting that Jobs and his crew may be waiting to see what happens at the Mouse House during this changing of the guard.

  • E3 2005 Program Unveiled

    Tech freaks can start planning their E3 activities with the agenda for the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo conference and workshop program now available.

    Scheduled to take place May 17-19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the expo will see more than 150 leading industry experts discuss the latest trends, innovations and business practices that define today’s thriving global computer and video game industry.

    Conference sessions will focus on such topics as strategies for next-generation consoles, in-game advertising, the mobile marketplace, digital distribution and international opportunities. The program is broken up into three tracks–Creativity and Technology: Building the Framework for Innovative Gameplay; Business Strategy: Navigating New Avenues of Success; and Marketing Analysis: How to Read the Market Ahead of the Competition.

    The day-long workshops will take place on Tuesday, May 17. Representatives from Electronic Arts, Vicarious Visions, THQ, Midway Games, SEGA, Bioware, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Activision and others will be on hand to offer insight on a variety of topics concerning game creation, the job market, advertising and more.

    The full E3 2005 program and online registration forms can be found at www.e3expo.com.

  • GDC CoverageEpic Games Gets Unreal with SOFTIMAGE

    Avid Technology Inc. and Epic Games announced at GDC that they have teamed up to co-develop the UnrealActor X Exporter, a tool designed to allow professional developers and hobbyists to create interactive titles using Epic’s Unreal Engine and SOFTIMAGE|XSI animation software.

    The Unreal Actor X Exporter for the XSI toolkit will allow users to export any type of model or character created with SOFTIMAGE|XSI directly into the upcoming Unreal Engine 3. Unreal’s mod community can also use the toolkit with the SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool to create their own characters, props and environments to modify titles powered by the Unreal Engine. The free SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool includes multiple toolsets for texturing and animating characters, as well as designing and previewing real-time effects.

    "Using production-proven middleware solutions like Epic’s Unreal Engine as the foundation for their games allows professional developers and designers to focus more on the art and story-telling for their titles," comments Gamers Gareth Morgan, senior product manager for Softimage. "By working together, Softimage and Epic are democratizing the game development process and making best-of-breed professional-level products available to all game developers."

    Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Epic Games is best known as the creator of hit PC action games Unreal and Unreal Tournament. In addition, its Unreal Engine has been employed in the creation of such award-winning, best-selling games as Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Ion Storm/Eidos’ Deus Ex, the United States Army’s America’s Army: Operations and EA’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for PC.

  • The Robots Are Here!

    After several weeks of domination by live-action comedies, the box office is ready for animation to once again move in and take over with today’s debut of 20th Century Fox’s Robots. With a simultaneous IMAX release. the heavily promoted CG family flick should easily claim the top spot as it rolls out in more than 3,700 theaters, nearly twice the number of venues claimed by fellow newcomer Hostage starring Bruce Willis.

    Robots is the second feature from Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age), now the resident toon shop for 20th Century Fox Animation. Ice Age director Chris Wedge is back at the helm of this latest computer-generated flight of fancy that introduces moviegoers to Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor), a young inventor who goes to Robot City to meet his hero, Bigweld (Mel Brooks). His adventures lead him to take on corporate baddie Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), while being seduced by femme-bot Cappy (Halle Berry). Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes and Robin Williams also lend their voices to the film, which is based on a book by William Joyce (Rolie, Polie, Olie; George Shrinks; A Bug’s Life).

    To help drive box office receipts, Fox is throwing in some extra goodies for Robots ticket buyers. In addition to an all-new animated short film starring the Scrat character from Ice Age and the exclusive final trailer for the eagerly awaited Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith, the studio is offering a chance to win a walk-on role in X-Men 3. After watching Robots, film fans can enter the sweepstakes by logging onto www.robotsmovie.com and answering five trivia questions about the movie.

    Fox and Blue Sky are working on Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, slated for a March 2006 release. Also planned for 2006 is Open Season, a woodland critter buddy comedy featuring the voices of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing and Gary Sinise. Close behind in the production pipeline is Surf’s Up!, a comical, animated look inside the competitive world of penguin surfing. Directing duties go to Ash Brannon, who co-developed and co-directed Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 2, and fellow animator Chris Buck, who made his feature directing debut on Disney’s Tarzan.

    It was reported in 2003 that Fox and Blue Sky have optioned film rights to Wainscott Weasel, a HarperCollins children’s book written by Tor Seidler and illustrated by Fred Marcellino. If the adaptation goes into production, it is likely to be directed by Wedge, who earned an Oscar for his 1998 short film, Bunny.

    Be sure to read our cover story on Robots in the March issue of Animation Magazine, available now by subscription and at Barnes & Noble locations.

  • Toon Band Gorillaz Back

    Not since Josie and the Pussycats has an animated rock band generated heat like Gorillaz, which sold six million copies of the debut 2001 release, Gorillaz. Now virtual bandmates Noodle, 2D, Murdoc and Russel Hobbs are back by popular demand with Demon Days, a new album set to hit shelves int U.S. on May 24.

    For this outing, Gorillaz creator Damon Albarn of the British band Blur teamed up with Danger Mouse, who masterminded The Grey Album, an unlikely melding of hip-hop artist Jay-Z and The Beatles. Demon Days is being hyped as a darker and more intense affair than the first CD, which featured the hit single "Clint Eastwood."

    A music video for the first single from Demon Days, “Feel Good Inc.,” is in production and will feature the animated quartet and guest artists De La Soul. Other contributing musicians will be masked and somewhat anonymous behind the digitally created pop stars.

    Jamie Hewlett, creator of the Tank Girl comics, drove the art design for the first Gorillaz incarnation. It appears the art style will remain the same, even though the musical lineup has changed. Aiding vocalist Albarn on the first album were Del the Funkee Homosapien (rap vocals), Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto (vocals), former Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club bass player Tina Weymouth, former Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer Chris Frantz and Kid Koala (turntables).

    For more information about Groillaz and the upcoming release, visit Kong Studios at Gorillaz.com.

  • Cartoons on the Bay to Honor Aardman, Rainbow

    British studio Aardman Animation, home to the clay-animated Wallace and Gromit property, and Italy’s own Rainbow, producer of the TV series Winx Club, will both be named Studio of the Year at the 2005 Cartoons on the Bay. Rai Trade’s poplar TV animation festival is set to return to Positano, Italy, from April 7 to May 1.

    This year, a total of 40 nominated works will compete for the coveted Pulcinella Awards in the categories Preschool Series, Children’s Series, Action and Adventure Series, All Audiences’ Series, TV Series Pilots, Short Films, TV Specials and Social and Educational Programs. The international jury will also select Grand Prize winners for Best Animated Character of the Year, Best Series of the Year and Best European Program of the Year.

    Receiving this year’s Career Award will be Oscar-winning maverick American cartoonist/animation director Gene Deitch and Italian brothers Roberto and Gino Gavioli. The Gaviolis worked for Gamma Film to create hundreds of Carosello episodes and a series of indelible characters that played a significant role in Italian culture in the 1960s and 1970s.

    During the 1950s Deitch revitalized Terrytoons studios, providing early animation experience to many future notable talents including Ernest Pintoff, R.O.Blechman, Jules Feiffer, Ralph Bakshi, and James Flora. Creator of the Tom Terrific character, Deitch moved to Czecholoslovakia in the late 1950s and produced theatrical and television shorts, including his Oscar-winning film, Munro and a series of faithful Krazy Kat cartoons for TV. Still working, Deitch recently completed a new film, Bark George, with Jules Feiffer.

    In addition to providing a showcase for international TV productions, Cartoons on the Bay will host previews of upcoming movies, special events, conferences, presentations and a bevy of celebrated figures from the world of animation and entertainment. For more information, go to www.cartoonsbay.com.

  • Indies Honored at GDC

    Wednesday night’s awards ceremony at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco began with the seventh annual Independent Games Festival, presentd by igda. The event included a few surprises that made it even more exciting than the Game Developers Choice Awards that followed.

    The Behemoth’s Alien Hominid abducted a number of awards in the Open category, including Audience Choice, Excellene in Visual Arts and Technical excellence. Upon accepting one of their awards, the team mentioned that the completely hand-drawn and hand-animated 2D side-scroller has logged 10 million downloads on the site and that they are excited to finally see it come to consoles. Not bad for a company formed by a bunch of artists who were laid off a couple years ago.

    The ceremony even included a wedding proposal when a member of the Chronic Logic team took to mic to accept the Seamus McNally Award (Open category) for Gish. His girlfriend, seated in the audience, tearfully accepted. Gish also took the award for game design in the Open category.

    The Seamus McNally winner in the Web/Downloadable category was Refletive Ent.’s Wik and the Fable of Souls. The action title also earned kudos for game design and visual arts. Both Reflexive and Chronic Logic received $15,000 for their achievements.

    This year’s Cartoon Network Project Goldmaster winner was Digital Builders, Developer of Protothea, a top-view action game that has players pilot a flying ship. The Digital Builders crew will get to develop a downloadable game for Cartoon Network’s web site.

    Other winners:

    Audio (Web/Downloadable)

    Global Defense Network

    Evertt.Com LLC

    Audio (Open)

    Steer Madness

    Veggie Games

    Technical Excellence (Web/DL)

    Rocket Bowl

    Large Animal Games

    Audience Choice (Web/DL)

    N

    Metanet Software

  • NaturalMotion unveils endorphin 2

    U.K.-based dynamic motion synthesis technology developer NaturalMotion today launhed the latest version of its endorphin 3D animation software at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Now shipping to retail, endorphin 2.0 adds multi-layer behaviors, support for the Avid Alienbrain Studio asset management and Perforce software configuration management systems, an improved GUI and enhanced adaptive behaviors.

    Based on AI and dynamics research, endorphin synthesizes 3D character animation in real-time. The software has been used in such films as Warner Bros.’ Troy, and has been adopted by Sony Europe, Sony America, Moving Picure Company, The Mill, Namco, Konami and more.

    According to NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil, the added ability to apply multiple adaptive behaviors to a character is something game developers, animation houses and vfx studios have been requesting. The new feature is designed to allow animators to do more, more quickly as they bring more realism to character movement and reaction to stimuli.

    Support for Avid Alienbrain Studio and Perforce adds seamless back-end security and versioning, allowing endorphin 2.0 to fit into established animation workflows in the game, film and vfx industries.

    endorphin 2.0 is now available from NaturalMotion (www.naturalmotion.com) and at appointed resellers for $12,795.

  • Fender, Napoleon Dynamite in Dance-off

    In an interesting effort to cross-promote its properties, 20th Century Fox has launched a web site that features a dance competition between the animated Fender character from Robots and the title character in the Fox Searchlight indie sensation, Napoleon Dynamite.

    Directed by Chris Wedge (Ice Age), Robots hits the big screen on Friday, March 11. Sleeper hit Napoleon Dynamite debuted over the summer and became one of the hottest-selling home video releases for the holiday season.

    Napoleon’s groove skills may have won Pedro the class presidency, but does he meet his Waterloo in this dancing duel? Decide for yourself at www.napoleonvsfender.com, if only to kill a minute or two while you’re supposed to be working. Gosh!

  • Fonix Talks Up Voice Interface at GDC

    As video game developers look new ways to bring innovation to gameplay and the way players interface with the hardware, Fonix Speech is bringing the latest upgrade in its Voiceln voice command and control solution to the 2005 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Fonix will demonstrate an upgraded version of Fonix VoiceIn for cross-platform video game developers at Available for Xbox, PlayStation 2, PC and Mac developers, Fonix VoiceIn allows for the integration of functionality.

    Upgrades to Fonix VoiceIn include grammar support to allow for multiple word recognition in a single utterance, in addition to single-word recognition. Also, Italian language support joins existing support for English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese.

    New developer tools integrated in Fonix Voiceln include a solution for identifying words that are phonetically similar to cut down on word confusion. In addition, a pronunciation adaptation tool allows developers to make voice recognition of their vocabularies even more accurate. To make the neural network-based technology even more accurate for younger players, the company has built a new neural net designed for children’s voices.

    Fonix, an operating division of Salt Lake City-based integrated communications carrier Fonix Corp., will be located at Booth 532 March 9-11. Developers interested in setting up meetings with company representatives at the show can call (801)-553-6600 and say “games.” For more information about Fonix VoiceIn, go to www.fonix.com/games. Learn more about the Game Developers Conference at www.gdconf.com.

    March 8, 2005

  • Playmakaz Contest Has Indies Vie for $50,000

    Hoping to do for independent games what Sundance and Project Greenlight do for independent film, online content provider Zango has launched its Game Playmakaz Contest. The company has issued a call for submissions and is offering up a $50,000 game development contract for the winner. Finalist submissions will also be considered for Zango licensing agreements.

    All game entries will be played and tested by an in-house Zango Games team, and 12 finalists will be chosen for review by the judges. Game experts Mark Long, from Seattle-based Zombie Studios, and Paul Steed, author of books on creating and modeling characters for video games, will then judge finalists based on overall design, creativity, fun factor, playability, stability, size, music and sound.

    Zango is accepting entries through July 31, 2005. The winning game will be announced on Sept. 9 during the Austin Game Conference in Austin, Texas. Game developers can access contest rules and an application form at the Zango booth (Mar. 9-11) during the Game Developers Conference at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. Contest rules are also available at http://partner.zango.com. Submissions can be sent to Zango online, via e-mail at games@zango.com, or by snail mail to Attn: Game Playmakaz Contest, Zango, 3600 136th PL SE, Bellevue, WA, 98006.

    March 8, 2005

  • AGEIA Introduces Hardware-Accelerated Physics

    Silicon Valley chip maker AGEIATechnologies Inc. today introduced its Physics Processing Unit (PPU) at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). The company’s debut product, the AGEIA PhysX, will be the first dedicated physics semiconductor chip to be used in next-generation game platforms. Major game companies such as Ubisoft and Epic Games are developing titles that take advantage of the new hardware.

    While most game developers use software-based physics engines to enable objects and characters to interact in a realistic way, AGEIA asserts that dedicated physics hardware is needed to maximize the potential of today’s gaming platforms. The company says that by performing advanced physics simulations in real time, the PPU can respond to environments and gamer actions in a way that makes for a more immersive experience. AGEIA is likening the debut of the PPU to the introduction of the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) in the late 1990s.

    PhysX will offer a host of advanced features including universal collision detection, rigid-body dynamics, soft-body dynamics, fluid dynamics, smart particle systems, clothing simulation, soft-body deformation with tearing and brittle fracturing for destruction of objects in gaming environments.

    AGEIA has also released a software development kit designed to help game developers create hardware-accelerated titles. The company says the NovodeX Physics SDK is already in wide use by game developers, many of whom expect to have hardware-accelerated titles available by Christmas, 2005. AGEIA boasts that NovodeX is also the only multithreaded physics SDK on the market today and says that it will give developers a head start in preparing for tomorrow’s multiprocessor PCs and game platforms.

    Demonstrations of the PhysX PPU will be on display by appointment only at GDC in ExpoSuite 30. For more information, go to www.ageia.com or e-mail info@novodex.com.

  • MTV2’s Wonder Showzen is Not Kids’ Stuff

    This Friday, cable network MTV 2 will debut the new series Wonder Showzen (formerly Kids’ Show), an absurdist comedy/variety show featuring animation, puppets, live action and old educational films. Created and written by John Lee and Vernon Chatman, the series spoofs Sesame Street and features kid performers but is anything but a kid’s show.

    Episodes will contain skits featuring the main puppets, Chauncey, Wordsworth, Sthugar and Him, as well as news segments with A.P. Gibralter and Clarence’s “puppet on the street.” MTV is calling the series "delightfully dark, yet smartly subversive." Advanced word suggests that some viewers will find it repulsive while it builds a cult following with others.

    The debut of Wonder Showzen has been long delayed, perhaps due to the recent wave of indecency lobbying. Apparently, eight episodes have been produced but it is uncertain if all installments will make it to air.

    Since producing the pilot, co-creator Chatman has reportedly gone on to write episodes of Late Night with Conan O’Brien and is listed as a series consultant for Comedy Central’s South Park.

    Wonder Showzen will air at 9:30 p.m. ET during MTV 2’s Sic’Em Friday block.

  • NVIDIA Releases Developer Tools, Source Book

    As this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) kicks off in San Francisco, Calif., NVIDIA Corp. announces the immediate availability of the NVIDIA Developer Toolkit, a suite of content creation, code integration, performance analysis and educational resources for game developers. Designed to help developers take advantage of the latest advancements in graphics hardware technologies, the NVIDIA Developer Toolkit can be downloaded for free at http://developer.nvidia.com.

    Also new from NVIDIA is GPU Gems 2: Programming Techniques for High-Performance Graphics and General-Purpose Computation, the sequel to the company’s widely-used source book for programming tips and techniques. Published by Addison-Wesley and written by experts in real-time graphics programming, the book offers development strategies and provides programmers with tips and techniques for creating advanced visual effects. The 880-page, hardcover book carries a suggested retail price of $59.99 and is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the Addison-Wesley web sites.

    Tools and resources featured in the NVIDIA Developer Toolkit include:

    • NVIDIA SDK 9.0, a collection of hundreds of code samples, effects, plug-ins, and whitepapers for developers working with latest-generation NVIDIA GPUs.

    • NVPerfHUD 3, an advanced performance analysis tool for Microsoft DirectX 9-based applications that allows users to freeze applications and get detailed information about the graphics pipeline for each scene.

    • NVShaderPerf, a performance analysis tool that delivers shader performance metrics for Microsoft DirectX and OpenGL applications across NVIDIA GPUs.

    • FX Composer 1.6, an integrated development environment for creating, debugging and tuning high performance shaders.

    For more information these and other NVIDIA products, go to www.nvidia.com.

    March 7, 2005

  • Nicktoons Goes to Shuriken School with Xilam

    Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons digital cable channel has teamed with Paris-based Xilam Animation to enroll young viewers in ninja classes with Shuriken School, a new 26×30 series produced by Xilam and based on an original idea by Zinkia Ent. The show is slated to debut on Nicktoons in 2006.

    Aimed at kids 6-11, Shuriken School blends elements of Japanese and European design and employs digital 2D animation to tell the story of 10-year-old Eizan Kaburagi and his first year at Ninja school. The action takes place in the fictional town of Tokirohama, a melting pot of eastern and western cultures. When they’re not getting into altercations with kids from a rival school, Eizan and best friends Jimmy B. and Okuni are learning how to melt into the walls, fly over rooftops, disappear in a cloud of smoke and move as stealthily as an invisible cat.

    While Shuriken School is the first Xilam production to be picked up by Nicktoons, the animation house has achieved international successful with such animated series as Oggy and the Cockroaches, Ratz, The New Adventures of Lucky Luke and Space Goofs (aka Home to Rent). In 2002, Xilam broke ground with the release of Kaena: The Prophecy, France’s first major feature-length, computer-animated 3D film.

  • Motley Crue in Stop-Motion Disaster!

    The bad boy rockers of Motley Crue are taking their legendary antics to the world of animation with a cameo role in Disaster! The Movie, an upcoming stop-motion comedy feature film from Los Angeles-based production company Dream Ent. A specially created animated short and footage from the film will also be incorporated into the band’s eagerly awaited “Red White & Crue Tour 2005–Better Live than Dead,” presented by VH1 and VH1 Classics.

    An animated spoof of such films as Armageddon, Twister and Apollo 13, Disaster! The Movie has a rag-tag team of space cowboys on a mission to stop a giant planetoit from colliding with Earth. The film takes cues from the Airplane! movies, firing jokes in rapid succession and relying heavily on visual gags. The irreverent and raunchy humor aims mostly below the belt with plenty of jokes about sex and other bodily functions. We’ve seen much of the movie and can tell you it’s really funny.

    Disaster! is directed by Roy Wood, who worked on MTV’s Celebrity Death Match. Wood brought other Death Match alumni on to animate the feature, which has a similar look and feel as the series. The animation puppets are constructed with a combination of clay, silicone and foam over wire armatures.

    The screenplay by Paul Benson and Matt Sullivan has been circulating around Hollywood for a number of years and has generated a lot of interest but was widely considered too expensive for live-action. After seeing Wood’s reel, Dream Ent. founders Ehud Bleiberg and Yitzhak Ginsberg saw a way to do it fairly inexpensively with animation. Bleiberg and Ginsberg produced the film and the Crue tour short, along with John Glen, Travis Wright and Even Astrowski.

    Members of Motley Crue lent their voices to the feature and short film, which will open each show on their tour. The group’s involvement with the picture came about when band member Nikki Sixx saw clips of the movie and asked Dream Ent. to create animation for their stage shows.

    “These guys are f***ing brilliant,” Sixx comments. “With their help, the Crue is out to save the world from imminent disaster. Disaster! The Movie just adds to the circus atmosphere surrounding this tour.”

    Motley Crue is currently working with MTV Films/Paramount on a film based on their best-selling biography, Dirt. Several major directors are said to be interested.

    Disaster! is scheduled for worldwide release later this year, with several distributors in the U.S. and Europe currently bidding on the finished production. We recently visited the set and will have more behind-the-scenes information for you soon. Until then, you can check out clips from the film at www.disasterthemovie.com. To stream the Motley Crue footage, go to www.motley.com.

    March 7, 2005