Animation production house Acme Filmworks and director Bill Plympton have hit a grand slam with three spots for Wilson Sporting Goods by way of ad agency Euro RSCG McConnaughty Tatham of Chicago. The three spots revolve around tennis players mistreated by opponents using a Wilson Triad tennis racket. Their experience on the court becomes so traumatizing that the athletes seek psychological help. "The agency had these psychological Freudian subconscious drawings," said director Bill Plympton. "The concept was to not make the drawings realistic.

Visit all of AWN's Discussion Forums to stay in touch with the animation community! This week, hot forum discussions include a debate about visual effects-heavy summer blockbusters like SPIDER-MAN and STAR WARS: EPISODE II, which 2D ink and paint software is best and how to break into gaming. In The Animator's Desktop, Tony White has posted his third introductory lesson on the fundamental principles of 2D animation, entitled "Making Things Move Well." Over in Show and Tell, check out Dr.

Washington, DC's Capital Children's Museum is looking for a CARTOON ANIMATION INSTRUCTOR . . . Clay Pixel Studios is looking for a MOTION PICTURE TRACK LEAD and a WEB DESIGNER - LEAD . . . HoChiMinh, Vietnam's Demen Animation Studio is looking for an AGENT . . . Manhattan Beach, California's Digital Aftertime Studios is looking for a 3D FREELANCER . . . Glendale, California's DreamWorks Animation is looking for a TECHNICAL WRITER . . . Atlanta, Georgia's Fathom Studios is looking for a LEAD ANIMATOR . . .

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

Seoul Net Festival 2002.

Seoul, South Korea.

Wednesday, July 03 - Saturday, August 03, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Saturday, May 25, 2002.

Visit all of AWN's Discussion Forums to stay in touch with the animation community! This week, hot forum discussions include CG vs. stop-motion monsters and animating in Flash 5.

Anima Mundi Web Calls For Entries.

Third Annual Web Animation Competition, Online.

Tuesday, May 01 - Sunday, July 21, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Monday, May 27, 2002.

Visit all of AWN's Discussion Forums to stay in touch with the animation community! This week, hot forum discussions include the on-going debate about rotoscoping, MONSTERS, INC. vs. SHREK and information about copyrights and licensing. Over in Show and Tell, check out "Rebel Without A Claus," plus demo reels and portfolios posted by Forum users. Don't miss the Animation Flea Market, where you'll find a Lightwave 6.5/Aura 2.0 bundle with the 7.0 upgrade and an inside Lightwave 7.0 book for sale. Visit all of AWN's Forums.

The 9th BAF! Bradford Animation Festival, Bradford, UK.

Thursday, November 14 - Saturday, November 16, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Friday, July 26, 2002.

Visit all of AWN's Discussion Forums to stay in touch with the animation community! This week, hot forum discussions include a "spirited" talk about SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON, animation production in HDTV and what's not hot in animation. Plus, a special forum edition of The Animation Pimp. Over in Show and Tell, check out Simeon Rex - The Monkey King, and some new Flash animation from slycoart and zodiacmedia, plus demo reels and portfolios posted by Forum users.

Van Nuys, California's Brain Zoo Studios is looking for a MAYA CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . Washington, DC's Capital Children's Museum is looking for an INTERN . . . Culver City, California's Creative Oxygen is looking for a MAYA ANIMATOR/CHALICE COMPOSITOR . . . ezx is looking for a HEAD ANIMATOR/CARTOONIST . . . Mumbai, India's Famous Cine Labs & Studios Ltd. is looking for an AGENT / REPRESENTATIVE . . . Canton, Connecticut's Funnybone Interactive is looking for a MAYA ARTIST . . . Philter Media is looking for a FLASH ANIMATION (UNPAID) . . .

At the 2002 NAB show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Discreet announced plasma -- its professional 3D animation software for creating 3D content for Web interface, graphics and interactive 3D. Discreet's plasma software will provide a 3D-animation toolset to create imagery for both Macromedia Flash Player and Shockwave Player. plasma has integration with all versions of Macromedia Flash including the recently released Macromedia Flash MX and Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio.

Canadian-based animation company Bardel Animation has a new digital production division comprised of two core departments utilizing Flash and 3D Maya. "Traditional animation is by no means dead," said Bardel's president Barry Ward. "It's alive and well and living digitally.

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania's A.C.Coy is looking for a SENIOR MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPER . . . Hollywood, California's Acme Filmworks is looking for a CG ARTIST . . . B1 Media is looking for a PRODUCER and a PRODUCTION MANAGER . . . New Paltz, New York's BASSARTS is looking for an AGENT . . . blackSHEEP is looking for a 2D/3D ANIMATOR & DIGITAL PRODUCTION TEAM . . . Classic Black is looking for a PROGRAM DEVELOPER . . . Toronto, Ontario's Cuppa Coffee Animation is looking for a STOP MOTION ANIMATOR . . . London, England's Datascope Recruitment is

Electric Rain, Inc. has released a special edition of their Swift 3D plug-in line, which includes Swift 3D MAX and Swift 3D LW. This special edition offers an additional rendering format allowing users of Discreet 3ds max and NewTek LightWave 3D to export their scenes to a format that imports natively into USAnimation.

San Diego Asian Film Festival 2002, San Diego, California USA.

Thursday, October 03 - Sunday, October 06, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Friday, June 07, 2002.

Toon Boom Technologies Inc. has released the Toon Boom Studio Importer (TBSi) for Macromedia Flash MX. TBSi provides integration between Toon Boom Studio and Macromedia Flash MX, resulting in a streamlined workflow for adding interactivity to professional quality 2D animations. And what is this Flash MX you ask? Read on.



Eric Oldrin reviews a new way to create animation for the Web. Toon Boom Studio brings USAnimation's expertise to vector-based animation.

Barcelona-based animation house Neptuno Films and Megatrix, a Spanish kids' content multi-platform provider, have sealed a co-production deal to produce the animated series 2020. Aimed at 8 to 12 year-olds, the series focuses on the everyday life of a middle-class family in the year 2020, but the series' creators say it is an ironic reflection on what is happening now. 2020 will consist of 26 half-hours animated in Flash for broadcast on television and the Internet. The first episode will be launched in April 2002 at MipTV, and the remaining episodes are scheduled for delivery in fall 2003.

From a boy whose love is real, even if he is not, to a singing, bell-ringing hunchback, March video releases have something for everyone.

March 5, 2002

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Special Edition.

Adobe Systems LiveMotion 2.0 software, the company's professional Web graphics and Flash (SWF) animation tool is now available. It debuted at the MacWorld Conference earlier this year. The new version provides expanded content creation features, improved integration with Adobe's Web and dynamic media tools, and new scripting capabilities.