The Gnomon Workshop has released four new training DVDs that focus on modeling and kinematics in Alias|Wavefront's Maya. This series includes two DVDs on Polygon modeling and two more titles on Maya's Kinematics engine. Each title has 110 minutes of instruction, lecture notes, scene files, resource spotlights and bonus materials. The DVDs were produced by Alex Alvarez, director of the Gnomon Workshop and Gnomon School of Visual Effects; and Darrin Krumweide, associate director of Gnomon.

Detroit, Michigan's College for Creative Studies (CCS) Animation and Digital Media department will welcome a group of industry experts in 2002. Lanfranco Aceti, Thom Gillespie and Bill Tomlinson will be guest speakers at a series of presentations hosted by the college. Lanfranco Aceti is a digital artist and a Ph.D. researcher in fine art at Central Saint Martins in London. He has been focusing on the cross-platform media as expression of the contemporary avant-garde. Aceti will be giving an open presentation on November 25, 2002 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm.

Continuing its worldwide expedition, the LightWave 7.5 Character Animation Tour consists of in-depth training on intermediate and advanced methods and techniques including modeling as related to character setup, character rigging, animation concepts and features, and advanced animation techniques. After being well received at its first two stops, Tour presenter Ford Entertainment Group has announced that the Tour will continue through spring 2003 with additional Canadian, U.S. and worldwide dates.

Starting February 2003, VanArts (Vancouver Institute of Media Arts) will launch a new full-time diploma and certificate program in Game Art & Design. Worldwide, the video game industry is worth an estimated $40 billion, out-grossing other traditional forms of entertainment including film and music.

Side Effects Software will be offering a new round of trainer certification courses for Houdini Version 5.5. Certification testing will take place November 21, 22 and 23, 2002, in Santa Monica, California. In addition to having a fully enabled license of Houdini Master for non-commercial use while certified, Houdini trainers are eligible to teach Houdini at the level certified; are invited to participate in beta testing of upcoming versions/products; have access to special Houdini technical support; and receive a listing on the Side Effects Website as a certified Houdini trainer.

Lost Pencil Animation Studios Inc. has released two new training CDs in their Just Animate series, "Lip Sync" and "Facial Expressions and Body Language." Both CDs demonstrate techniques using Lightwave 7.5, "Lip Sync" offers instruction on how to create multiple phoneme mouth morph targets and an animation of a character speaking.

Teletoon, Canada’s 24-hour animation station, has announced the twelve Canadian students who have won this year's Teletoon Animation Scholarship Award. The award is one of the few for arts students and the only formal national contest for students of animation. Since the launch of the scholarship program five years ago, Teletoon has awarded more than CAD $160,000 to students studying animation. This year’s group of winners represents a wide range of applicants from major animation schools to smaller, rural high schools.

The Gnomon Workshop has released nine new training DVDs on modeling, dynamics and expressions in Alias|Wavefront's Maya. This series includes three DVDs on NURBS modeling and four more titles on Maya's Dynamics engine produced by Alex Alvarez, director of the Gnomon Workshop and Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and Darrin Krumweide, associate director of Gnomon. Andrew Orloff, head of CG at newly opened visual effects studio Zoic and a new instructor at Gnomon, has produced two DVDs on using expressions in Maya.

Anzovin Studio has shipped Animation:Master QuickStart (A:M QuickStart), a complete CD-ROM training course for Hash Inc.'s popular Animation:Master 3D character animation software. Designed for the beginning user, A:M QuickStart is a 4 hour tutorial that takes users through the operations and techniques required to build, texture, rig, animate and render an A:M character. The tutorial is based on the character animation curriculum developed by J.P. Wilson and Raf Anzovin for the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Just in time for the start of the school year, Alias|Wavefront has released eight new learning tools -- two books and six DVDs -- that target all levels of Maya user. Beginners will benefit from the Learning Maya / Beginner's Guide DVD, a one-hour guided tour of Maya aimed at the novice user, while intermediate and advanced users can further develop their skills with tools such as the Learning Maya / Dynamics book and the Maya Techniques / Rigid Body Simulations for Visual Effects DVD.

In keeping with the ever-growing popularity of video games, and the increasing technology behind them, the Illinois Institute of Art -- Chicago recently announced it is offering a new bachelor’s degree program in Game Art & Design for students who want to prepare for entry-level positions in the game development field. Students will learn character animation techniques, complex modeling, computer mapping, game level design and how to script within a game.

The Oregon3D Center for Visualization Technologies has added instruction of Alias|Wavefront Maya software to its core curriculum. Starting August 26, 2002, Portland-based Oregon3D will offer its first Maya class, a five-day Maya Basics course. Taught by 3D guru Jason Busby of the tutorial Website 3D Buzz, this course is designed to provide a solid foundation to those new to Maya, and allows beginners to explore more challenging concepts such as modeling, animating, texturing, lighting and rendering.

The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, will offer a bachelor of science in Game Art & Design beginning in fall 2002. The Art Institute Online currently offers programs in graphic design and multimedia and Web design in an interactive, faculty-facilitated, asynchronous format that allows students to log in to complete their classes 24 hours a day, seven days a week at their convenience, making it ideal for students with irregular schedules or those who live in areas far from a brick-and-mortar school.

dvGarage has released THE COMPOSITE TOOLKIT, a disk dedicated to teaching production level keying and compositing techniques using Adobe After Effects. The package includes 14 tutorials that cover nearly every aspect of keying and compositing live-action actors into computer graphics scenes. Using a pseudo light saber scene to serve as the basis of the tutorials, three behind-the-scenes movies take viewers through the entire process of shooting a blue-screen scene, while the step-by-step tutorials explain how to composite effectively the entire scene, light sabers and all.

Alberta, Canada's
Lost Pencil Animation Studios Inc. is now offering a training DVD
focusing on character animation. THE ANIMATOR'S GYM contains nearly 4
hours of training video that teaches the fundamental principles of
character animation. Using Maya 4.0 Complete, THE ANIMATOR'S GYM
provides viewers with examples of completed short animations to
discuss how and why it was animated, where there are still problems
and room for improvement. The DVD also includes sections where the

Anzovin Studio has released a new title in its training video series for Hash Inc.'s Animation:Master 3D animation software. SECRETS OF A:M 2002 provides more than 100 minutes of instruction for the newest version of Animation:Master. The training video covers topics including: getting familiar with the new interface; applying nonlinear animation tools to characters; creating and working with relationships; constraint tricks using delay and lag; animating with deformation cages; and building an explosion with spriticles.

Representatives from Sony, Black Ops Entertainment and face2face animation will be at E3 this Wednesday, demonstrating new methods of character animation for game platforms. The American Film Institute (AFI) Enhanced Television (eTV) Workshop's "Anatomy of Animation" will highlight the latest developments in face and body animation for game developers.

Magnet Media's latest training title in its Digital Media Training Series (DMTS), INSIDE FLASH MX PRODUCTION ESSENTIALS, is now available in both its Limited and Complete Versions on CD-ROM format. The 40-minute Limited Version CD-ROM is available free through the company's Website. The 3-hour Complete Version, also available from the Website, instructs viewers on the essential topics that need to be mastered in order to get up and running quickly with Macromedia Flash.

Beginning September 2002, Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) will offer a full-time, 48-week diploma program in Game Art Production. Alan Phillips, president of VanArts, explained that the new program was designed to compliment the school's existing CG program, allowing students to concentrate on CG for film and television or games development.

The Gnomon Workshop has released new titles in their training video series and cut prices on existing video titles. Video titles previously priced at US $69 are now US $59 and many of the Workshop's titles are available for purchase in discounted bundles. In addition, the Workshop is scheduled to release four new titles on April 30, 2002 in response to customer demand. "We've gotten so many requests for tapes on Character Skinning. It was time," said Alex Alvarez, director of the Gnomon Workshop, who also developed and teaches the material on the new videos.