TeamWorks Digital recently completed work on Warner Bros.' TORQUE, the hyper-real motorcycle racing film that opens Jan. 16. "TORQUE is a project that enabled us to provide constant input to the visual effects of the show," says TeamWorks Digital owner David Allen. "We contributed in such a way that translated the director's unique style and vision to the screen." TORQUE is directed by music video honcho Joseph Kahn, making his first feature film debut.

Pixologic's ZBrush 1.5 software received GAME DEVELOPER magazine's sixth annual Front Line Award for Excellence and Innovation in Tools for Game Development. Selected by a panel of industry-leading game developers, ZBrush 1.5 receives this award in the art category based on criteria such as utility, innovation, value and ease of use.

Guy Hudson, who worked on the visual effects for such notable projects as ALIEN, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, JURASSIC PARK and the DINOTOPIA TV series, passed away suddenly on Dec. 24, 2003 from a brain hemorrhage. He was 45 years old.

Hudson first came to Northern California in 1987 to work for Chris Walas Inc. Since then he has worked for such facilities as Disney, Henson Prods., Industrial Light & Magic and Western Images.

Sci Fi Channel and Tribune Ent. Co. have entered into a program license agreement for the GENE RODDENBERRY'S ANDROMEDA, starring Kevin Sorbo. In addition to presenting the fifth and final season of ANDROMEDA (with VFX by Northwest Imaging & FX, Rainmaker Digital Pictures and Lost Boys Studios) next fall as an original series, Sci Fi will also have the television rights to the series' first four seasons. The Tribune deal also includes all 66 episodes of BEASTMASTER, starring Daniel Goddard and Monika Schnarre, which will begin airing sometime in 2004 exclusively on Sci Fi.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the nominations for its 2004 VES Awards.

VES membership viewing of the nominees and voting will take place on Feb. 7. Winners will be announced at the second annual VES Awards event on Feb.18 at the Hollywood Palladium. The evening will be highlighted by the presentation of the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award to George Lucas. Making the presentation will be Academy Award-winning director James Cameron.

The nominees are:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture

Celebrating its 10th anniversary year, Video Symphony, a TV & Film College and Career Center in Burbank, California has been awarded National Accreditation by Washington, D.C.'s ACCET (The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training.)

Paramount Pictures confirmed that it is developing a live action version of THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN, based on E.B. White's final children's book, which would include some CGI animation. Katie Ford (co-writer of MISS CONGENIALITY) will script. This marks the second film adaptation of THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN. Back in 2001, Rich-Crest Animation produced an animated feature directed by Terry Noss and Richard Rich.

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, the last of the Wachowski brothers' groundbreaking trilogy and vfx feast (supplied by ESC Entertainment a host of other houses) debuts on DVD April 6, 2004 (Warner Home Video, $29.95). The two-disc set will include the following bonus features in an attempt to top its predecessors:

Media 100 Inc., a leading provider of advanced media systems, will release the "Visual Effects" release--new version 3.0 software for 844/X in January 2004. The largest software expansion of 844/X since its inception in 2002, Version 3.0 advances 844/X with many new realtime, multi-stream capabilities:

- Advanced keying
- 3D digital video effects (DVEs)
- Shadow and glow effects
- XML-based metadata interchange
- New performance optimizations for editing longer-form, layer-intensive projects

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held Jan. 8-11, 2004, in Las Vegas was huge, glitzy and overwhelming, as it should be. Whereas many of the products were more-of-the-same-slightly-better, some gadgets and trends stood out.