Adobe Systems has announced a new Plug-In Power Pack for Adobe After Effects 5.5 incorporating 16 new effects and Advanced Windows Media support. The After Effects 5.5 Plug-In Power Pack works with Adobe After Effects 5.5 software to produce motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the Web. The new Windows Media output module offers a comprehensive set of controls to create Windows Media streaming video content. Users can customize settings, embed metadata, create multi-stream movies and independently optimize audio and video.

Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. This week, we're asking questions about anime. Who has often been referred to as the "Walt Disney of Japan"? Which film outperfomed Return of the Jedi in 1988? What is Ghibli Studio's latest Japanese box office success? Good luck...you'll need it!

The Walt Disney Studios has acquired all domestic theatrical, home entertainment and television rights to Hayao Miyazaki's animated blockbuster SPIRITED AWAY, Japan's all-time top grossing film with a total to date of 29.3 billion yen ($234 million). The film, which recently received the coveted Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, is scheduled to be released theatrically in the U.S. fall 2002. Pixar's John Lasseter will serve as creative consultant for the newly dubbed version.

Bicoastal production company Picture Park and visual effects and design company Radium have added designer/director Tuesday McGowan to their respective rosters. At Picture Park, McGowan will direct commercials, music videos and film projects while at Radium she will utilize her talents to create motion graphics and title design. Prior to her posts at Picture Park and Radium, McGowan spent four years directing live-action and design/graphics commercial projects with New York City-based Curious Pictures while remaining creative director at WIG, the design arm of Western Images in San Francisco.

Artifact Entertainment is looking for a MAYA ANIMATOR and a TEXTURE/MAYA MODELER . . . Chilliwack, British Columbia's Beauwest Productions is looking for a 3D ANIMATOR . . . Chelsea, Massachusetts' Big Ape Entertainment is looking for a MODELER/ANIMATOR/FX SPECIALIST . . . Spain's Black Maria Studios is looking for an ANIMATION SCRIPTWRITER . . . Victoria, British Columbia's Digital Dimension Animation School is looking for a MAYA INSTRUCTOR/DIRECTOR . . . EmailYourCV is looking for a GAME DESIGNER and a UK GAMES ARTIST . . . High Road Productions is looking for an ARTIST/ILLUSTRATOR . . .

Production company Super 78 created a graphics package for the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on February 28, 2002. Drawing on the inspiration of the early 1980s gaming experience as the aesthetic foundation, Super 78 creative director Brent Young developed the look for the awards presentation. "Our goal was to create a vibe that was both retro and contemporary, TRON meets MATRIX, connecting the fact that this is an industry with a history and a future," Young explained.

Visit THE ANIMATION CAFÉ, THE BUSINESS OF ANIMATION and THE ANIMATOR'S DESKTOP to stay in touch with the animation community! New threads this week include:
Who do you think will win the Oscar? Also, post your thoughts about "Ice Age" and the upcoming DreamWorks 2D feature "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."

Threshold Entertainment, producers of the MORTAL KOMBAT film franchise, has acquired the rights to NINJA SCROLL from Japanese anime studio Madhouse. Threshold is currently in development on a $60 million live-action feature film based on the 1994 anime film by director Yoshiaki Kawajiri (VAMPIRE HUNTER D). The company hopes to cultivate the property into their next martial arts franchise and plans to produce a television series, live stage tours and video games based on the film.

Twentieth Century Fox has acquired the rights to DRAGONBALL and plans to produce a live-action feature film based on the manga property. DRAGONBALL began as a graphic novel and has become a multimedia phenomenon, including home video, video games and the popular DRAGONBALL Z animated series currently airing on Cartoon Network. The various DRAGONBALL properties relate an epic story between good and evil, involving super-powerful beings from another planet, known as the Saiyans, who protect Earth from the forces of darkness.

Santa Monica-based visual effects house R!OT recently created visual effects shots for the current Warner Bros. release QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. The 114-shot workload of 3D computer graphics, digital matte paintings and 2D compositing was completed using SoftImage|XSI, Maya and Inferno as well as Armada, R!OT’s artificial intelligence system (AI) for character/object animation and texture management. Originally used for the studio’s work on THE ONE, the application was co-developed by R!OT and SoftImage as a solution for scenes with extensive animated geometry.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week:



- TV Review: "Welcome To Eltingville"

Jerry Beck finds his rightful place in "Welcome to Eltingville," one of Cartoon Network's latest additions to their Adult Swim block.



- New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews

From a boy whose love is real, even if he is not, to a singing, bell-ringing hunchback, March video releases have something for everyone.

March 5, 2002

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Special Edition.

Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Tuesday, June 25 - Sunday, June 30, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Thursday, April 25, 2002.

Adobe Systems LiveMotion 2.0 software, the company's professional Web graphics and Flash (SWF) animation tool is now available. It debuted at the MacWorld Conference earlier this year. The new version provides expanded content creation features, improved integration with Adobe's Web and dynamic media tools, and new scripting capabilities.

A Los Angeles, California-area Animation Production Company is looking for a PRODUCTION ASSISTANT . . . San Francisco, California's Cinema Dept. San Francisco State University is looking for an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN ANIMATION . . . Atlanta, Georgia's Fathom Studios is looking for a LEAD ANIMATOR . . . Nottingham, Nottinghamshire's Free Radical Design is looking for a CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . New Delhi, India's GameEDU is looking for an ANIMATION PROJECT LEADER and a GAME DEVELOPER . . . Lexington, Massachusetts' Helixe is looking for a 3D CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . .

The January 2002 Acrobat issue of Animation World Magazine is now online! In this issue, we honor animation legends that passed away in 2001. Read tributes to Bill Hanna, Robert Abel, Maurice Nobel, Faith Hubley and Jan Lenica. Gene Deitch gives us a few tips about luck. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman takes on live-action animated features, with a vengeance. Plus, take a look at four studios that have decided to produce their own independent animated features and find out why Lille, France is a hotbed of cutting-edge Web animation.

One of Japan's top animation studios, Production I.G., has launched a new English-language Website as part of an international campaign aimed at raising people's awareness of anime, and introducing the works and history of Production I.G. The new site includes news, updates, detailed descriptions and pictures from past I.G. films as well current projects.

Hayao Miyazaki's SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI (SPIRITED AWAY) was awarded The Golden Bear, the top prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival. SPIRITED AWAY shared the award with Paul Greengrass's live-action film BLOODY SUNDAY. Winning the coveted award, and acceptance of the film by Western audiences, may mean the film will finally be seen in the U.S. SPIRITED AWAY broke box office records in Japan, where it was the number one film of all time, earning 29.4 billion yen (US $221.5M). But as recently as summer 2001, Disney (who released Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE in the U.S.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special
features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of
animation. New this week:

- Find the Right School for You

We are always asked, "What's the best animation school to attend?" And the answer is..."It depends on you." Dan Sarto offers a checklist of advice to find the right school for you.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special
features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of
animation. New this week:

- No LAAF-ing Matter

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman takes on LAAFs, or Live-Action Animated Features, with a vengeance. How come Hollywood insists on making these flops!?

- Lille, France: Hotbed of the North