A Taste of TV
Begins: January 10, 2006
The Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH along with Autodesk and nVidia presents "A Taste of TV
All AWN Content
Annie Awards Nomination Screenings
Begins: January 10, 2006
ASIFA-Hollywood is pleased to present special Annie Award Nomination screenings on the DreamWorks Animation Campus.
Tuesday, Jan. 10
'Battlestar Galactica': Season 2 — Bigger, Bolder, Feature Style VFX
Tara DiLullo follows up last years report on Battlestar Galactica with a look at the uniquely creative and chaotic method to the madness surrounding the much-anticipated second season.
Enter Your Spots in the AICP Show
AICP Show 2006New York, New York, USAJune 2006Deadline: February 15, 2006
Joe Barbera Directs New Tom and Jerry Theatrical Short
Legendary animator Joe Barbera just directed a brand new TOM AND JERRY theatrical short that will make its world television premiere on Cartoon Network Jan. 27, 2006, at 9:00 pm. The seven-minute cartoon, THE KARATEGUARD, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, has already been submitted for a 2006 Academy Award nomination in the animated short film category, and is the 162nd theatrical short in the 66-year career of the Academy Award-winning cat and mouse duo.
Academy Announces Scientific and Technical Achievements
Pixar's Ed Catmull is among the recipients of Technical Achievement Certificates, which will be handed out among the 17 achievements to be honored at the Academy's annual Scientific and Technical Awards dinner on The Beverly Hilton Feb. 18, 2006.
He shares the honor for his original concept with Tony DeRose and Jos Stam for their scientific and practical implementation of subdivision surfaces as a modeling technique in motion picture production.
Subdivision surfaces has become a preferred modeling primitive for many types of motion picture computer graphics.
In Anime, Awards, Visual Effects, Anime, Awards, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All
Wacom Offers New Intuos3 12x19 Pen Tablet
Wacom Technology Corp.s new Intuos3 12x19 pen tablet is specifically designed for photographers, designers, artists and engineers that use multiple large monitors or large widescreen displays such as the 30 Apple Cinema HD display. Like the recently introduced Intuos3 6x11, the Intuos3 12x19 features an active area with an aspect ratio that is a great match to the screen aspect ratio of either a widescreen display or standard displays used together. This provides optimal pen control and efficient use of the entire tablet.
Alienware Now Offers New AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 Dual-Core Processor
Alienware is now featuring the new AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 dual-core processor on both the Aurora ALX and Aurora 7500 desktop platforms.
Zoic Contributes to Bolder Battlestar Galactica VFX
For the climactic Jan. 13 episode of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA titled "Resurrection Ship, Part 2," Zoic Studios worked on a scale greater than anything previously imagined for the small screen. Choreographing and executing all the effects for the episode, Zoic relied on a combination of live-action greenscreen and CG animation. The episode airs at 10:00 pm on SCI FI Channel.
Autodesk Completes Acquisition of Alias
Autodesk Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Alias for $197 million in cash. This acquisition extends Autodesk's 3D software leadership in the manufacturing and media and entertainment industries.
DC Comics Adds More Artists & Writers to the New York Comic-Con Lineup
DC Comics announced that 10 renowned creators will join the growing roster of celebrities and comicbook creators slated to appear at the upcoming New York Comic-Con. The artists and writers added to the show are:
* Brian Azzarello The writer of Vertigo's award-winning series 100 BULLETS and the new spaghetti western-noir series LOVELESS.* Keith Giffen The layout artist of DC Comics' highly anticipated forthcoming weekly mini-series 52.
Wubbcast Podcasts for Preschoolers
The Wubbcast is the world's first video podcast for pre-schoolers. It packages together some of the world's nicest cartoons for pre-schoolers and makes them available for the iPod or PSP each week.
The Wubbcast is free and will launch in March with a 10-minute episode featuring the characters and music from the upcoming Nick Jr. show WOW! WOW! WUBBZY! and two other great cartoons.
Filmmakers submitting shorts to the Wubbcast will keep all the rights and retain complete ownership of their work.
Boondocks Nabs Best Comedy Nod at the NAACP Image Awards
The 37th NAACP Image Awards Nominations were announced during a press conference at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. Randy Jackson, Aisha Tyler, Kimberly Elise, James Pickens Jr., and Kevin Frazier joined NAACP president/ceo Bruce Gordon, chairperson, NAACP Image Awards Committee Clayola Brown, and Vicangelo Bulluck, exec producer, NAACP Image Awards to announce 38 categories, which included a new award for Directing.
King Kong Wins Acting Awards
The Broadcast Film Critics' 11th annual Critics' Choice Awards honored KING KONG with a special Distinguished Achievement in Performing Arts Award to recognize the blend of visual effects with Andy Serkis' motion capture performance. This honor coincides with the VES nominating Kong for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture, citing Andy Serkis, Atsushi Sato, Guy Williams and Eric Saindon.
BET Hires Three Execs, Launches Toon Unit
BET has hired three new execs, which includes a head for its new animated programming division, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Denys Cowan has been hired for the new position of svp animation. Previously, Cowan worked with Hudlin on the Adult Swim series THE BOONDOCKS as producer and supervising director for Sony Pictures Television Animation. Hudlin is one of the exec producers of BOONDOCKS.
Paris International Short Film Festival
Begins: January 9, 2006
Paris International Short Film Festival is open to filmmakers from all countries entering a recent short work (less than 60 minutes), of all kinds (fiction, documentary, animation, experimental). Films are selected to one of the following sections: French-speaking competition, International panorama, First European films and Night UFO. For more information, visit www.paristoutcourt.org/.
Maya and AfterEffects Training Program starts January 9th
Begins: January 9, 2006
Studio Arts, in collaboration with LAUSD's Venice Skills Center, will be hosting a special, full-time computer animation training program beginning Monday, January 9th, 2006.
This intensive, high-end, low-cost animation program will meet daily, Monday through Friday from 8am to 3pm and will consist of daily lectures, demonstrations, lab time and aditional video support in award-winning Alias Maya, the industry standard for computer animation and visual effects. The course runs for 20 weeks and costs only $75 for the entire semester. The semester ends Friday, June 24th.
Warner Bros. Turns To Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are
Warner Bros. has snatched up the rights to WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, which was in turnaround at Universal, according to VARIETY. Warner wants to put the Spike Jonze-directed, Dave Eggers-written adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book into production later this year. Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary GGoetzman will produce with Sendak and John Carls.
Career Coach: Big Project? Go to Pieces
The Career Coach addresses how to manage your time better so that you can finally finish that big pet project youve always wanted to do.
Nintendo's Electroplankton Turns Music Novices Into Mixing Maestros
Nintendo's new musical experience ELECTROPLANKTON has launched exclusively for Nintendo DS, letting users score music by using the touch screen or speaking into the microphone. Sounds can be sampled, manipulated, changed and rearranged to help even novices create engrossing beats and harmonies.
Marvel Axes Toy Biz, Moves to Hasbro
Hasbro Inc. and Marvel Ent. Inc. announced a license under which Marvel has granted Hasbro toy and game rights to its superhero universe that includes franchises such as SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR, X-MEN and CAPTAIN AMERICA. Through the agreement, Hasbro has obtained the rights to develop products based on Marvel's globally-known universe of more than 5,000 characters in a wide range of toy and game categories including action figures, role play and preschool toys, board games and puzzles.
A Hostel Takeover at the Box Office
Horror ruled the box office once again with the debut of Lionsgates HOSTEL (with vfx by Precinct 13 Ent.), which captured $19.5M for the weekend ended Jan. 8, 2005.
This Week’s Animation Trivia Quiz for January 9, 2005
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
AWN Discussion Forums - What's New? for January 9, 2005
This week in AWN's Forums, a vet of the entertainment industry wants to make a move into the animation and visual effects fields and needs some advice.
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
VES Doles Out 4th Annual Awards Nods
The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the nominees for the 4th Annual VES Awards recognizing outstanding visual effects in 20 categories of film, television, commercials, music videos and games.
