ILM has done some incredible work with robots on TRANSFORMERS and IRON MAN and has come up with some new shading, lighting and rendering tools on TERMINATOR SALVATION to make the CG work on those shiny metal guys more efficient and accurate.

Judging by STAR TREK and TERMINATOR SALVATION, this appears to be the summer on VFX steroids.

The creative spark creates some magic in AWNtv's latest collection of animated wonders -- Touch of Magic. Embrace FREE SPIRIT.

This week in AWN's Forums, a member wants to know the pros and cons on hosting your own site vs. paying someone to host the site for you. A student would like guidance as to portfolio requirements for MA in Animation at SCAD. Someone wants to pitch an animation series in Australia and is looking for places to do so.

As well as, tools for teaching animation, the business of animation and, as always, brand-new stuff to check out in show and tell!

It's STAR TREK week on VFXWORLD, as we look at how ILM helped J.J. Abrams put the franchise on steroids with his bold reboot.

To coincide with the release of ANGELS AND DEMONS, AWNtv celebrates the good side and dark side of animation.

This week in AWN's Forums, be sure to check out National Public Radio's "On The Media" program for their "fair uses" show -- how it's changing and what will change in the near future.

This week Alain Bielik finds out how Logan becomes Wolverine in the new X-MEN ORIGINS spinoff, in which 17 vendors assisted with the vfx challenges. Among the highlights: Hydraulx recreating and then partially destroying the Three Mile Island nuclear plant for the finale, Rising Sun's infamous adamantium injection sequence and a some nifty slashing with the powerful claws themselves. And in the latest MAYA PLUGIN POWER excerpt, author Mark Jennings Smith shows us how to use RenderMan with Maya.

Bill Desowitz
Editor

This week in AWN's Forums, a newly-graduated animator wants to know how to start their career from scratch. Does anyone have any kind of Excel budget for an animation series? A member wants to put one together. An animator asked to do a music video wants to know the going rates are for animation work? It would be a 2D computer animation (PS/Flash/AE), about three minutes long. The conversation continues on what constitutes adult animation and how that differs from pornography.

With STAR TREK arriving in theaters this week, AWNtv gets spaced out with a collection of interstellar animation.