Budapest, Hungary’s Cartoon Webworks recently completed three commercials for TEAM Hungary, a Young & Rubicam subsidiary. These are the first three in a series of twelve animated spots that will begin airing this month on Viva+, Hungary’s music television channel. The commercials are among the first TV ads in Europe produced entirely in Macromedia Flash.

Lombard, Illinois' Big Idea Productions, a family media company now branching out into feature films, is looking for a LIGHTING ARTIST, RENDERER and TD/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER. . . London, UK's Cubicspace Studios Limited, developers of real-time technologies for the real estate industry, is looking for a 3D CHARACTER MODELLER/ANIMATOR. . . Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's Dynomight Productions, a full-service animation studio creating original content for global entertainment properties, is looking for a DIRECTOR, LINE PRODUCER and PRODUCER for their upcoming slate of proprietary television series. . .

Cambridge Animation Systems has announced Animo 4.0, the newest version of their flagship cartoon animation system. Available this month from Cambridge and their distributor network, the new version includes a number of new features, greater performance and the ability to output work in Flash format. Animo 4.0 users now can reduce their Flash file output size and optimize their content for the low bandwidth of the Internet through special controls such as disabling filter nodes and disabling animation of any bitmap image.

Worthington, Ohio's Big Fish Animation needs a CLEAN-UP ARTIST for a
feature film. . .North Vancouver-based Capilano College is looking
for a new INSTRUCTOR. . .Munich, Germany's Dowsing & Leonard Film
Production Gmbh seeks a 2D/3D ANIMATOR. . .Edgar Productions, Inc. is
looking for an ASSISTANT ANIMATOR & CLEAN UP as well as a COMIC STRIP
ARTIST. . .Toronto-based Imarion Inc. needs a VFX SUPERVISOR. .
.Milano, Italy's Neo Network is seeking a 2D (FLASH) & 3D ANIMATOR. .
.New York-based Stargiving is looking for a summer INTERN. . .The

Acme Filmworks is looking for a temporary PRODUCTION ASSISTANT. . .An
Interactive Entertainment Company is seeking an EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT.
. .The Center for Advanced Digital Applications needs a CLINICAL
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR. . .Flyboy seeks a WRITER for series being
pitched to MTV, HBO and Comedy Central. . .New York's HEAVY is
looking for a FLASH ANIMATION INTERN. . .Klasky Csupo, Inc. wants a
RECRUITMENT INTERN. . .The Lansing Community College needs to fill a
faculty position for ANIMATION/ MULTIMEDIA/ WEB DESIGN FACULTY. .

Toon Boom Technologies has announced the release of ToonShader, the latest addition to the USAnimation system. ToonShader lets Alias|Wavefront's Maya users import their 3D models and motion capture data directly into USAnimation, giving animators the ability to bring a 3D flair to their 2D animation as well as ouput to all media platforms including the Internet. "Alias|Wavefront is very pleased to welcome USAnimation and ToonShader to the family of integrated plug-ins available for Maya," said Tom Reyburn, developer relations manager for Alias|Wavefront.

Italy’s Digital Video S.r.l., developers of the 2D animation package Toonz, has started shipping the new 4.5 release for the Windows NT/2000, Irix and Linux operating systems. The new version of Toonz provides a number of new features, including Flash support, a new palette extraction tool, native support for new scanners, DDR to VCR control, new effects, a new “wizard” button to make batches more efficient and others.

Warner Bros. Online has announced the launch of ZETA QUEST 3D, a "walk-through" online video game based on the popular Warner Bros. Animation's series THE ZETA PROJECT. Players assume the identity of Zeta, an anti-terrorist synthoid who has escaped government operators and gone in search of Dr. Selig, the scientist who created him. Classified as a high-tech menace-at-large, Zeta is pursued by his captors while trying to clear his name.

The International Animation Festival of Brazil, Anima Mundi, presents
its second Web animation competition, Anima Mundi Web. The
competition is open to all international works in Flash format and
under 500 K. The deadline for entries is June 1, 2001. There is no
entry fee. The festival will pre-select twenty works that will be
displayed on the festival Website for viewing and voting from June 15
to July 20, 2001. Viewers can vote for the public prize. A group of
animation professionals will be invited by the curators of Anima

3D authoring technology vendor Caligari Corporation has released trueSpace 5.1, the newest version of its 3D modeling program that now features new support for Macromedia Shockwave3D and other web output capabilities. The company lowered the price for the stand-alone version of trueSpace, as well as launched a new paid subscription-based "proTeam" program of online tools, training programs, libraries and support services.

* Tuesday, May 1 – Sunday, July 22, 2001, Online.

Leading independent animation house Film Roman announced increases in revenue and operating income for the their most recent quarter. Company revenue increased by 51% or $6.5 million, to $19.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2001 from $12.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2000. The company attributed the increase to the delivery of more fee-for-services episodes and a movie-of-the-week special.

BLOOP.tv, a syndicated science-fiction Web cartoon series, announced their launch on more than 40 science-fiction, cartoon and general-interest entertainment Websites, including Time Warner Cable's Road Runner networks, GALAXY.tv, BMonster.com, TOONORAMA.com and MEDIAJONEZ.com. According to company founder Steve Conley, BLOOP.tv was created specifically for web distribution with an eye toward the mainstream movie-going audience. The character designs and stories were built with the limitations of web animation in mind.

SHIRLEY TEMPLE, the third and last installment of Augenblick Studios' Flash animated DIGNIFIED DEVIL adventure series, premiered Tuesday, May 1, 2001 on Hypnotic. This time: Abandoned and reeking of vomit, gin-soaked Franklin Raine ponders life's mysteries.



You can discover AWN Animator Affiliate Aaron Augenblick's work in the Animation Showcase.

Tigar Hare Studios has expanded its corporate offices into a new 5,000-square-foot, 20 workstation digital facility in Sherman Oaks, California. The company has also expanded its operations internationally through the establishment of a Flash division in Malaysia and an affiliation with Shanghai Digital Studio in Shanghai, China. The companies in Malaysia and China offer an additional 100 workstations and a real-time optical motion-capture system. Tigar Hare has arranged the alliance with China to create 3D animation at lower costs for U.S. producers.

Sharon Katz, creator of HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH (Audience Choice Award, Chicks 'n Flicks Film Festival), has finished her newest animated short, THE ANGEL'S FOOT CAKE / DER FUS TORT. In the film, Drinkeleh Fresserkeh decides to make a cake in the shape of an Angel's foot. The Angels take umbrage and the fun begins in this delightfully raucous modern Yiddish animated tale. The film premiers April 29, 2001 at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.

Lombard, Illinois' Big Idea Productions, a family media company, is
having an OPEN CALL for 3D ANIMATION DIRECTORS, 3D CHARACTER
ANIMATORS, ART DIRECTORS, ANIMATORS, CONCEPT ARTISTS and MODELERS. . .
Halifax, Canada's Collideascope Digital Productions, Inc., a new
media and convergence company, is looking for an ANIMATOR and 2D
ANIMATOR. . . Wiesbaden, Germany's Die Kolonie GbR, a talent and
recruiting agency, is looking for a TV-DESIGNER & ANIMATOR 2D & 3D. . .
Bregenz, Austria's KE Consult is looking for a FLASH SPECIALIST to

We've started compiling information about new short films for our AWN
readers, appropriately titled "Where's My Shorts?" Lest we get too
jovial, each week, we'll provide a brief compilation of new short
films premiering during that week, either at a festival, exhibition,
screening or online. They could be gems, they could be industrial
effluent, we hazard no guess. However, we can tell you that the
works are supposedly "new," which gives us hope that someone,
somewhere is doing something besides lying around their den, eating

SHIRLEY TEMPLE, the first installment of Augenblick Studios' Flash
animated DIGNIFIED DEVIL adventure series premiered Tuesday, April 17
on Hypnotic.
A new episode will debut each week. Many have mistaken Franklin Raine
for the devil, dignified or not. Appearances are
deceiving though. He's not the devil. He's actually a pretty nice
guy. A drunk and a drifter, Frank is always somewhere he shouldn't

UNDERGRADS, a new animated series, will premier on MTV this Sunday, April 22, at 8 pm. Co-produced by Toronto’s Decode and MTV Animation, the series launch also includes a Website featuring Flash animated series out-takes, interactive animated games, character home pages, downloadable applications, weekly video clips, message boards and a chat area. Decode, which also owns the international television and video distribution rights, is launching a companion UNDERGRADS Web page for the international market.