In this month’s “Mind Your Business,” Mark Simon tackles the ins and outs of a freelancers dreaded necessity — invoicing.

Mary Ann Skweres looks into an essential part of the animation production process — sound.

Alain Bielik wraps himself around the CG creatures and other creepy vfx that inhabit Slither.

Janet Hetherington looks at how advancements in technology are providing new ways for architects to design, plan and build the places where we live, work and play. Includes a QuickTime clip!

Tara DiLullo talks with Tippett Studio’s Tom Schelesny about the transformation vfx that transpire in Disney’s The Shaggy Dog.

Chris Robinson digs up It Pains Me to Say This by George Griffin for close inspection in this month’s “Animators Unearthed.”

Tara DiLullo tackles the vfx commercials, which wowed viewers during Super Bowl XL, to see how the top artists scored such magic.

Mary Ann Skweres shoveled her way through the snow and crowds of Sundance to discover the spotlight on animation.

VFXWorld presents the first excerpt from Learning Maya 7 | Foundation from Alias|Learning Tool. This excerpt begins a close-up look at how to animate a polygonal orb.

In the first edition of the new monthly column, The Animated Scene, Joseph Gilland talks about balancing the eclectic mix of personalities on an animated project to create a successful team.

Barbara Robertson flies to Genzano, Italy, for the I Castelli Animati festival and says bravo to what she found there.

Upon the sad news of Wendy Jackson Hall’s passing, Animation World Network collected the thoughts of the community in tribute to her career in animation.

Peter Plantec explores recent advances in facial animation and crowd simulation software to see how different forms of virtual acting are converging in vfx-driven works.

Greg Singer sat down with Drew Carey in October of last year to discuss his experience of creating Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show.

Tara DiLullo talks with Academy Award nominated ILM visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman about winning the invisible visual effects war with their work on Jarhead.

After a chat with Sony’s lead artist and designer Fumito Ueda, Fred Galpern enters the Shadow of the Colossus videogame and reports back on whether this PS2 title holds up to the hype.

In the first part of his in-depth report on the fourth Harry Potter blockbuster, Alain Bielik discusses several of the eye-opening vfx performed by various companies.

This month Dr. Toon plays the “What If” game to see how the world of animation would be different if in an alternative reality Dick Tracy was an animated star, Bob Clampett lived longer or Walt Disney never lost Oswald the Rabbit.

Bill Desowitz chats with ILM’s Joel Aron about the challenges of converting Chicken Little into the all-new Disney Digital 3-D process.

With the holidays comes holiday parties. The Career Coach gives some quick tips on how to get more out of the festivities than just chips and dips.