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1st Annual Portfolios.com Awards Show will highlight the best advertising, graphic design, Web design, photography and illustration of 2003. An international panel of judges will judge online, and the Winners' Showcase will be announced and shown online. For more information, visit www.portfolios.com/award, e-mail customerservice@portfolios.com or call (800) 303-9277 ext. 261.

Call for Entries in our 2006 Summer Competition. All categories, amateur or professional, best film, documentary, horror, comedy, musical, best actor, stunt, editing, music, commercial, weddings, animation, voice over, etc. We even have a category for best promo kit and packaging design. Send in your best work today and win the prestigious ADVA Award of Excellence.

Join Softimage for the Online XSI 7 Launch Event, Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 12:00 Noon (Eastern time-New York). Watch the Webcast from www.CGSociety.org.

Sponsored by Microsoft, HP, Intel, and NVIDIA , the online launch event is your chance to see Softimage demonstrate XSI 7 and the revolutionary ICE development platform.

Just visit www.cgsociety.org, starting July 17 at 12 p.m. (EDT) to catch this special presentation.

See the new SOFTIMAGE ICE platform (Interactive Creative Environment), a groundbreaking technology that transforms XSI from just another 3D product into a powerful and flexible open platform.

ICE greatly improves collaboration between artists and technical directors, allowing them to create custom tools and effects visually, see the results interactively, and do it all without scripting, or writing a line of code. Effects built or modified in ICE are performance tuned and multi-threaded, so they perform at maximum efficiency across all available processors.

You’ll see the brand-new ICE particles system in action, find out how to use ICE to create custom deformations, and more. Learn more about XSI 7 and ICE at softimage.com.

The Gnomon Workshop will rebroadcast ten lectures from their past Weekend Live events. Join their private event forum from December 12-26, 2008 and view HD quality video of these amazing lectures and interact with instructors Brom, Erik Tiemens, Iain McCaig, George Hull, Marc Gabanna, William Stout, Wayne Barlowe, James Clyne, Tyruben Ellingson and Kenneth Rocafort.

Attendees to this online event will be given access to a private forum for the entire week. During the event, all ten presentations will be viewable online. Within the forum, questions can be asked of the speakers who will do their best to answer questions regarding their presentations. Each presentation ranges from 60-120 minutes and is delivered at both 720x405 (SD) and 1280x720 (HD).

A week of 18 exclusive online classes taught by working professionals in the visual effects and games industries December 12-26 2008. Join the Gnomon School of Visual Effects for a special week of new exclusive classes in an interactive, online event. Each two-three hour class focuses on a different element of the VFX/games industries and allows individuals to discuss the content with the instructors throughout the week. One ticket purchase gives you access to all 18 classes. Each class is offered online in a private forum, allowing you to participate in discussion with the instructor and other students. Each instructor will check the forums daily and do their best to answer students' questions. One ticket allows access to all 18 classes offered on this page. Purchase your ticket before December 1 and save $50. Students save an additional $70. Studio discounts are available, check www.gnomonschool.com for more information.

NewTek Inc., manufacturer of video and 3D animation products, will offer free live demonstrations of its products at http://demo.newtek.com beginning on March 18 and 19. Produced and streamed using NewTek TriCaster portable live production systems, each session will be held every two weeks and will focus on one NewTek product line. Visit http://demo.newtek.com for session focus information, dates, start times and sign-up form. The products to kick off the NewTek DEMOS are: NewTek TriCaster (March 18, 3 p.m. EST): With TriCaster, anyone can produce network-style live video and distribute the event simultaneously to Web, video and projector. A single operator or small team can produce a live show while switching between as many as six cameras with two VCR's, multi-channel effects and NewTek's proprietary LiveSet virtual sets. TriCaster is used by sports organizations, government agencies, broadcasters, schools and others to provide a new level of extended programming and content to their audiences. NewTek 3PLAY (March 19, 3 p.m. EST): A multi-channel High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) instant replay and slow motion system that delivers simultaneous display, recording, and instant replay of up to three video streams and four digital or analog audio streams per input. 3PLAY supports both NTSC and PAL formats and can be connected to any production switcher. 3PLAY gives sports broadcasters, leagues, teams and schools an affordable option to deliver instant replay and slow motion for broadcasts, webcasts, arena scoreboard displays and more. The TriCaster family of products in NTSC is available in North America starting at $3,995. The TriCaster family of products is available in multi-standard internationally beginning at $5,995. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, visit www.NewTek.com or call NewTek Sales at 800-368-5441, international callers dial +1-210-370-8000. NewTek 3PLAY is slated to ship at the end of Q1 2009. 3PLAY will be available in North America at $21,995, and internationally starting at $24,995. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, visit www.NewTek.com or call NewTek Sales at 800-368-5441, international callers dial +1-210-370-8000.

Save the date and plan to join free webinar on April 18 when eBook contributors and animators Wayne Gilbert and Keith Sintay share their professional knowledge, personal tips and answer questions from the audience. Gilbert, animation director and writer, has animated for films, television, and commercials and is the winner of two Clio Awards. In addition to working as an animator at major studios, he has also designed and taught classes for other animators at Disney, Industrial Light & Magic, and Electronic Arts. Gilbert's book, SIMPLIFIED DRAWING FOR PLANNING ANIMATION, has been a leading resource for animators since 1999. Sintay is a senior animator at Digital Domain and a mentor at Animation Mentor. He has worked on the films POCAHONTAS, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, MULAN and TARZAN at Disney, and SPIRIT, SINBAD and SHARK TALE at DreamWorks Animation. Most recently, he worked as a senior animator on OPEN SEASON, SURF'S UP, MONSTER HOUSE, BEOWULF and I AM LEGEND at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Having just finished work on G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF THE COBRA, he is currently working on TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. The webinar is hosted by Microsoft Live Meeting. They support only PCs not Macs, and only the following countries: U.S., Canada, U.K., Finland, Japan, France and India. If you are from an unsupported system or country sign up for the replay, available after April 22.

From December 1-5 Autodesk will host a series of 3December events to celebrate 3D artists and their work. For the tenth consecutive year, these events provide Autodesk 3D software users with the opportunity to share their art, learn and network with their peers. 3December 2008 will include 3D art contests, live events in numerous cities around the world, and a virtual celebration on Autodesk's online user community -- the AREA. Autodesk will host live events on December 3 in London, Paris, Seoul, and Tokyo. Live events will also be hosted in New York City and Las Vegas on December 2 and Melbourne on December 5. In New York, free MasterClass Tips & Tricks sessions for Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Mudbox software will be offered by Derald Hunt and Erik Paynter from Turner Studios, renowned 3ds Max VFX artist Allan McKay, and Bill Harper from The Dreamhive. At the New York evening event, Harper will also offer a demonstration of Mudbox modeling techniques, while other high-profile artists will present tips and tricks for Maya and 3ds Max. The program line-up for the London event includes presentations by artists from Double Negative and The Mill. Registration is required for these events. For more information, or to register, visit: http://area.autodesk.com/3dec. Approximately ten Autodesk Animation User Group Association chapters will hold meetings in conjunction with 3December, including Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Oklahoma City. This year's Los Angeles meeting, at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, features Blur Studio discussing the cinematic pipeline used to create Warhammer Online. The user group chapter in Oklahoma, based at Digital Tutors, also promises a stellar line up of guests for its meeting, including Greg Punchatz, senior creative director at Janimation. Autodesk's AREA community website will serve as an online venue for the weeklong celebration. The site will offer free content including, tutorials, demonstrations and show reels. With the support of HP, Intel, and Wacom, Autodesk will also offer videos and images of 3December events online. Artists can register to become a member of the AREA community free-of-charge year-round at http://area.autodesk.com. During 3December, Autodesk will launch two contests, which will run until the end of January 2009. The "Alien Landscapes" contest invites artists to use Maya, 3ds Max, Mudbox and/or Softimage|XSI software to design an alien landscape. The grand prize winner will receive an HP DreamColor LP2480zx Display, courtesy of HP and a Dual Quad Core Intel Xeon based HP xw8600 workstation, courtesy of Intel. The winner will also receive one license of Mudbox 2009 software, as well as his or her choice of one license of Maya Complete 2009, 3ds Max 2009 or Softimage|XSI software. To celebrate the event's tenth anniversary, the "3December Logo Design Challenge" requires artists to design a logo for 3December using Autodesk SketchBook Pro software. Among other requirements, the 2D design submitted must be transferrable to 3D and easily animated. The grand prize winner will receive a Wacom Cintiq 12 tablet, provided by Wacom. On December 1, more information, including contest terms and conditions, are to be available at http://area.autodesk.com/3dec.