3D House Wimze Studios Opens in New Jersey
Award-winning animator Cleber Redondo has launched Wimze Studios, a full-service animation house specializing in 3D character animation for the TV programming, home video, commercial, Web and game markets. Redondo will head the new turnkey flagship studio in Fairview, New Jersey, which has brought together a highly qualified team of animators able to take an animation project from concept through completion.
Wimze is in production on the pilot for the studio’s first project, THE FIRECRACKERS. This 26-episode animated children’s series showcases the studio’s new style in a culturally diverse storyline geared to the 8-13 audience. Also in production is a second Wimze property, DINOMITES, about a cartoon-style family of dinosaurs and targets a preschool audience.
“Wimze’s mission is to raise the bar for television and direct-to-video animation,” says Redondo, “as well as to offer top-caliber services to outside projects. We’ve brought together the best talent and technology the industry has to offer, and our commitment to R&D allows us to further increase our capabilities with proprietary software. All of these resources combine to create a fresh style of animation and a new look that people haven’t seen before.”
The studio features numerous Maya seats running on SGI and BOXX Technologies workstations, as well as an extensive PC-based render farm running Maya and mental ray, maintained by chief engineer Marc Glenn. The studio also has proprietary animation and rendering software, developed by an in-house team of technical directors, to solve the next level of creative challenges with innovative solutions that go well beyond conventional out-of-the-box tools. When needed, Wimze calls upon its network of affiliated global resources to expedite efficient, high-volume animation production.
A native of Sao Paulo with a degree in Fine Arts, Wimze’s president/animation director, Redondo, immersed himself in cel animation working on spots for Brazil’s and Latin America’s leading advertising agencies. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1988 and quickly found work as an animator for several production houses and television networks. Redondo mastered the latest in 3D technology and went on to teach Maya at New York University. Redondo landed a position as an animation director at 20th Century Fox Television in New York City where he remained for the next four years.
He struck out on his own in 1996 and launched Clever Image, which attracted a steady stream of high end projects such as Walt Disney Interactive games; effects and 3D animation for THE CAT IN THE HAT: THE RIDE in the Seuss Landing attraction at Universal Studios Orlando; and five 30-minute English and Portuguese-language episodes of MONICA’S GANG for Brazil’s Mauricio de Sousa Produções, for the home video market.
Redondo produced four 30-minute episodes of THE STORY TELLER CAFE for CBN under the Clever Images banner. The series, which features tales about Biblical heroes, such as Jonah and David, earned 2000, 2001 and 2003 Telly Awards for Best Children’s TV Program, the 2000 Axiem Award for Best Children’s Animation, and the 2000 Omni Intermedia Award for Best Animation. The programs have gone on to become best sellers in the home video market.
Redondo also created the character animation performed inside the Gameboy Advanced game, ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE from 3D6 Games, and developed a 3D pilot and promos for a German kids’ TV show, TIMBER TEE WORLD, an innovative project designed to build children’s interest in golf.
Wimze is in production on the pilot for the studio’s first project, THE FIRECRACKERS. This 26-episode animated children’s series showcases the studio’s new style in a culturally diverse storyline geared to the 8-13 audience. Also in production is a second Wimze property, DINOMITES, about a cartoon-style family of dinosaurs and targets a preschool audience.
“Wimze’s mission is to raise the bar for television and direct-to-video animation,” says Redondo, “as well as to offer top-caliber services to outside projects. We’ve brought together the best talent and technology the industry has to offer, and our commitment to R&D allows us to further increase our capabilities with proprietary software. All of these resources combine to create a fresh style of animation and a new look that people haven’t seen before.”
The studio features numerous Maya seats running on SGI and BOXX Technologies workstations, as well as an extensive PC-based render farm running Maya and mental ray, maintained by chief engineer Marc Glenn. The studio also has proprietary animation and rendering software, developed by an in-house team of technical directors, to solve the next level of creative challenges with innovative solutions that go well beyond conventional out-of-the-box tools. When needed, Wimze calls upon its network of affiliated global resources to expedite efficient, high-volume animation production.
A native of Sao Paulo with a degree in Fine Arts, Wimze’s president/animation director, Redondo, immersed himself in cel animation working on spots for Brazil’s and Latin America’s leading advertising agencies. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1988 and quickly found work as an animator for several production houses and television networks. Redondo mastered the latest in 3D technology and went on to teach Maya at New York University. Redondo landed a position as an animation director at 20th Century Fox Television in New York City where he remained for the next four years.
He struck out on his own in 1996 and launched Clever Image, which attracted a steady stream of high end projects such as Walt Disney Interactive games; effects and 3D animation for THE CAT IN THE HAT: THE RIDE in the Seuss Landing attraction at Universal Studios Orlando; and five 30-minute English and Portuguese-language episodes of MONICA’S GANG for Brazil’s Mauricio de Sousa Produções, for the home video market.
Redondo produced four 30-minute episodes of THE STORY TELLER CAFE for CBN under the Clever Images banner. The series, which features tales about Biblical heroes, such as Jonah and David, earned 2000, 2001 and 2003 Telly Awards for Best Children’s TV Program, the 2000 Axiem Award for Best Children’s Animation, and the 2000 Omni Intermedia Award for Best Animation. The programs have gone on to become best sellers in the home video market.
Redondo also created the character animation performed inside the Gameboy Advanced game, ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE from 3D6 Games, and developed a 3D pilot and promos for a German kids’ TV show, TIMBER TEE WORLD, an innovative project designed to build children’s interest in golf.
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