Autodesk University is primarily a training conference.  There are over 500 classes that fill four floors of the convention center for almost a week.  Seeing the list of classes demonstrates just how broad and deep Autodesk’s design software reaches.  Everyone from architects to product designers to engineers to animators had something to attend.  In addition to classes, Autodesk used the show as a way to introduce products and reveal future directions for the company.

James Cameron's Avatar

Tuesday night proved to be a big highlight of Autodesk University.  The Media and Entertainment keynote featured the first public screening of footage from James Cameron’s highly anticipated 3D feature “Avatar.”  

Simply put, “Avatar” was as stunning as it was rumored.  The 3D works incredibly well, but what impressed this animator more was the level of realism in the virtual characters.  The facial animation/capture was impeccable, the faces no longer looked like rubber masks as they have in so many movies that use facial capture.  In Avatar, the characters truly came to life and were believable in every way.  The audience identified with the characters and that made the story work on a much deeper lever.  The characters inhabited a world that was just as believable.  Much of it was lush jungle with fantastic creatures.  Some of the little details I noticed were highly realistic water, mud, and other subtle effects that helped to make the world that much more engaging.

Entering the show floor

Autodesk is taking over Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for the week to stage Autodesk University.  The event is mostly dedicated to training Autodesk’s customers in their wide array of products, particularly people interested in AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor.  In addition, there’s a trade show as well as keynote addresses and other special events that makes this more like a yearly Autodesk conference than just a week of training. 

Over 5500 people found their way to Las Vegas this week for over 500 classes.  An additional 20,000 will attend virtually.  People started arriving on Monday for various related events, such as the developers conference, but the main conference started on Tuesday with the main keynote.  Being Las Vegas, the keynote started with none other than Elvis Presley (or a reasonable facsimile) singing the disclaimers to the tune of “Glory Glory Hallelujah.”  After that, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass took the stage and talked a bit about Autodesk’s future direction.  A lot of this centered on the idea of the computing cloud, centralized high powered banks of servers controlled by remote workstations.  Users would interface to this computing power by Autodesk software running not only on high-end workstations, but also net-enabled devices such as netbooks and iPhones.

Grand Prize winners Pritt and Olga Parn

The grand prize went to "Life Without Gabriella Ferri" by Pritt and Olga Parn. This is a complex, sensual, poetic film. "Wallace & Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf And Death" by Nick Park took the special jury prize. Even though they are masters of the art, these filmmakers were pleased and genuinely touched by the recognition. (For the rest of the award winners see I Castelli Animati's website.)

So what about the films?

... after all this is a film festival.

First of all I want to say that it's really hard to make an excellent film.

I'm just completing my fifth film, and believe me it's very easy to fall in love with your work, not so easy to see it with some objectivity.

All the films that made it into competition are here for a reason - there is something about them that is excellent. It could be the story, or the animation, or a unique voice and style, perhaps it's the way the story and music interplay, it could be an unusual technique, or a particularly superb sense of timing.

So what is it about I Castelli Animati that makes it one of the most loved animation festivals in the world?

The answer is simple... and evident from the first moments of arrival. It's the people.

Luca Raffaelli, the artistic director, is a warm, intelligent man who is captivated by animation. The author of two books on the subject, his delight in cartoons and animation shapes the overall feel of this festival.

Emanuela Marrocco is the operations director. Thanks to her and her hardworking team of Liz Fairs, Sabrina Perucca, Maurizio Quattrini, and Vincenzo Silvestri, the festival runs smoothly.

I Castelli Animati takes place about an hours drive from Rome, in the large and bustling ancient Roman town of Genzano on Lake Nemi. Narrow cobbled streets, ancient stucco buildings with red tile roofs, black iron gates, shuttered windows... in other words the original Mediterannean (sic?) style. This area has been a busy center since before the birth of Jesus.

But there is a vibrant modern overlay to the town... banks, schools, chic shopping, all housed in ancient buildings but the goods and services as current as the cutting edge. (Well, almost ... the hotel has no wireless internet support for Apple computers.)

I'm sitting here in the KLM lounge in Toronto waiting for my flight to Paris so I can make my connection to Rome where I'm on the jury of this year's I Castelli Animati.

At the entrance door to this lounge is a reproduction of Rembrandt's "Night Watch." How ironic. Rembrandt died pretty much a pauper, rejected by the cognizenti and collectors who hungered after work that was more fashionable. It wasn't always like that for Rembrandt. His work was popular in years previous. But fashion changed, while he stuck to his vision.

The CTN Animation Expo is a new animation event based at the Burbank Convention Center in California. The Expo is mixed with traditional artist, computer artists, schools, software companies, book publishers, Women in Animation and ASIFA, recruiters from well established companies, and several other animation related companies.

I attended on Saturday, November 21^st 2009.  Young men stood outside the convention center spinning bright yellow signs directing patrons to the parking lot. The parking lot was full and I had to park across the street in another lot.  The inside of the convention hall was no different, packed full of people, slowly moving from one seminar room to the next. Clusters of people formed in different corners of the main lobby watching live art demonstrations and lectures.  Lines of people curved around every corner of the building with patrons trying to squeeze into main rooms to watch the seminars.  The expo floor was crammed with people slowly shuffling from one booth to the next. The booths were packed tightly into the expo area, allowing only a little room for foot traffic.  It was a claustrophobic's nightmare.

VFX Animation Supervisor Keith Roberts.

written by Rick DeMott

CTN-X kicked off its first edition on Friday. Nov. 20^th, bringing a new animation conference to Los Angeles. In it's first year, the event had quickly outgrown its home at the Burbank Convention Center with attendees lined up to attend various standing-room only panels. As can be expected from a first time event, there were a few hiccups I heard of from some attendees, specifically regarding registration lists, but overall the event ran smoothly and was put together with an desire to give people the biggest bang for their buck. In the halls of the convention center, there were animation demonstrations from 2D artists. Panels were broadcast in the halls for people to casually watch. A pirate was on hand for artists to sketch. There was plenty to do in between panels and walking the convention floor.

Sessions ran in two rooms in either 45-minute or 20-minute intervals. In a wonderful move, participants went outside after the panel to meet one-on-one with attendees to answer their questions. This gave attendees a more intimate time with panel members and also allowed for a steady flow between panels.