YIN YANG YO!, has received an order for a second season of 26 half-hours, to air on Jetix, Toon Disney's comedy/action/adventure programming block.

In the second season, Yin and Yang will discover they possess more powers, additional mythology of Woo Foo will be uncovered, some of the old villains will have new motivations and new villains will be added to the landscape.

UCLA Extension is offering two new courses in animation. "Make It, Move It" is for designers and artists who want to make their art move. UCLA Extension is also offering a new online course that deconstructs 3D opening title sequences, on screens and graphic sequences.

Starting by storyboarding their animation, "Make It, Move It" students design and create a character, animal or object using mixed media and collage.

This week in AWN's Forums, debate has begun on the live-action TRANSFORMERS movie. There's a thread on storyboarding in Flash. Moderator Larry L. shares an article and thoughts about classic animated holiday specials. A member has a question about ink and paint on a PC. Others debate the pros and cons of moving to California. Lots of members debate their thoughts and memories of Joe Barbera. As well as, tools for teaching animation, the business of animation and, as always, brand new stuff to check out in show and tell!

Digital Video released TAB Kids, a software tool that introduces kids to the animation process.

Based on Toonz technology, TAB kids allows kids to create a cartoon using a user- friendly interface based on graphical elements instead of menus and commands. Any task can be performed by simply operating on icons and buttons that are self-explanatory, and by following simple steps that come from the professional production workflow. Features include:

FlickerLab, the New York-based design and animation studio, has created a pair of humorous, line-drawn, animated commercials for Frangelico, the distinctive premium hazelnut liqueur, and its distributor Osborne (Spain). Conceived by agency TBWAMadrid (Madrid, Spain), the two branding spots, the :30 "Comida empresa" and the :10 "Con Frangelico, nunca se sabe" will begin airing throughout Spain, on television and on the Internet, in mid-December.

Preparations for fmx/07, the 12th International conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content, has a new advisory board, and The Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart will once again host the international digital community from May 1-4, 2007.

The website has been updated and companies are welcome to participate in fmx/forum, fmx/workshops or fmx/recruiting. You can receive a special offer until Dec. 31.

Joining the fmx/07 team are:

This week in AWN's Forums, members continue to address the myth that to succeed in animation one has to move to California. Another member is looking for good human anatomy books. There's a thread on good documentaries about animation. There's a question about storyboarding in Flash. Others are talking about character animation in Beijing. A member needs some help with a line test. And there's buzz forming about which film will win the Best Animated Film prize at the Golden Globes.

Kids 4 Truth has releases its latest "Dynamation" (dynamic animation) titled, LIFE OF CHRIST. Each "Dynamation" blends music, artwork, narration and scripture to present a Christian message. LIFE OF CHRIST tells a three-minute version of Christ's life, using Flash animation. The short can be views at www.kids4truth.com/gospel.

The latest Acrobat edition of Animation World Magazine is now online. Download your copy today while its still available for free. This issue we cover many topical subjects surrounding television. John Cawley looks at how, in a matter of a few years, TV animation production has moved to rely on Flash more and more as a cost alternative. Cawley also charts the changing landscape of Saturday morning animation programming in the U.S., which used to be the primetime for toons on TV.

CamTrack Animation Contest
World Wide Web
Jan. 5, 2007
Deadline: Dec. 31, 2006

DigitalPeers (www.digitalpeers.com), an industry-leading developer of video chat applications, has announced a Flash animation contest for CamTrack with $1,250 in prizes for winning animations. CamTrack is webcam add-on software that allows users to personalize their appearance in video chat environments with Flash animations that are overlaid on the webcam video.

Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film 2007
Stuttgart, Germany
April 26 - May 1, 2007
Deadline: Dec. 1, 2006

Aaron Erkenswick, a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison computer science program, has given back to his alma mater by creating an advanced campus map using Flash animation. Erkenswick finished the project with three other students and was supervised by geography professor Mark Harrower.

"Every other school map that I've seen, aside from maybe one, is a PDF or a very primitive interactive map," says Erkenswick, originally from Evanston, Illinois. "Our map goes beyond even Google Maps."

On Jan. 24, 2007, Channel Frederator (www.channelfrederator.com) will present "The Freddies," Channel Frederator's first annual awards ceremony. Held at Cinespace in Hollywood, the awards will recognize a wide array of achievements seen on Channel Frederator's weekly podcasts throughout the year. The awards, which range from "Cartoon of the Year" to "Cartoon Most Likely to be Censored by the FCC," will be distributed in the form of an eight-inch replica of Joe Robot, the spokesrobot for Channel Frederator.

VisualMedics, founded by the Italian born medical illustrator Lara Laghetto, has become an international network of medical drawing freelancers that turns medical content into interaction and e-learning environments for specialized and lay audiences.

Last year they tried 3-D, this year the producers of NBC's hit supernatural drama, MEDIUM, returns a special two-hour episode, "Four Dreams," with a 2D-animated scene by Van Partible (JOHNNY BRAVO). The special episode, starring Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, will air Nov. 15, 2006, 9-11:00 pm, before resuming the following week in its regular day and time, Wednesdays, 10-11:00 pm

To celebrate Channel Frederator podcast’s first anniversary, Frederator Studios has created Fred-Ex, an ongoing experiment in animation collaboration exploring the existence of robots. Frederator has assembled a global group of enthusiastic animation directors and creators to answer in a toon an age-old question: "What is it like to be a robot?"

Sustainable Table, a leading resource designed to celebrate the sustainable food movement and educate consumers on food related issues, and Participant Prods., a socially conscious film company, launched an animated short, THE MEATRIX II 1/2 online (www.moremeatrix.com) to promote the live-action theatrical, FAST FOOD NATION, and its social action campaign, produced by Participant. FAST FOOD NATION will be released Nov. 17, 2006, by Fox Searchlight. Sustainable Table produced THE MEATRIX films with Free Range Studios.

MoonScoop and Classic Media announced that they will produce and distribute a brand new CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST animated series. India’s DQ Ent. has also come on board as co-production partner and the series will be developed with TF1 in France. Production on the new 52x11 series is set to commence in February 2007. Distribution of the new series will be shared between the co-production partners.

Cape Town-based Strika Ent. debuted its first Flash-animated series, SUPA STRIKAS, at this year’s MIPCOM Jr.

The animated series is based on Strika’s most popular comic, SUPA STRIKAS. The comic follows the ups and downs of an African soccer team. The comic is a huge success with 1.5 million copies distributed every month to eight African countries and South America.

Strika Animation completed 13x1 Flash animated episodes that were broadcast in South Africa and in the rest of Africa.

For October, Animation World Magazine is tackling the topic of TV animation while VFXWorld is looking at global market trends. Specifically, AWM is looking for suggestions in regards to Flash being used for TV series and religious programming utilizing animation. For VFXWorld, we’d like to learn more about VFX work being done in the Middle East and India. For AWM, send all inquires to Sarah Baisley at sarah@awn.com and for VFXWorld, send suggestions to Bill Desowitz at bill@awn.com.