Point Richmond, California-based Pixar Animation Studios has announced that
it is releasing version 3.9 of PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its Academy
Award-winning visual effects software, and version 4.0 of the complete
RenderMan Artist Tools suite. The new software version, scheduled for
shipment in September, makes RenderMan easier and more powerful for
creative artists, and for the first time provides support for rendering on
render farms running the Windows NT operating system. Some other advanced

An Evening with the Professionals: TV Animation. Takes place at Walt Disney
TV Animation Studio, Frank Wells Building. The speakers will include Cindy
Marcus who (with her husband Flip Kobler) wrote POCAHONTAS II: JOURNEY TO A
NEW WORLD and THE LION KING II: SIMBA'S PRIDE. Cost per monthly event is
$10 for Women In Animation members, $20 for non-members. RSVP required to
Kellie-Bea Cooper at e-mail: kellie-bea@kellie-bea.com; or Tel:
818-623-0020. The events takes place Thursday, August 19, 7-9 pm in
Burbank, California.

Women In Animation's Computer Animation Group meets at the Rhythm & Hues
Studio. For more information contact Pauline T'so at Tel. (310) 448-7500.
This month's meeting takes place Saturday, August 21, 7-9 pm in Los
Angeles, California.

A lively evening of discussion with the women directors at Klasky-Csupo
including Becky Bristow, Sylvia Keulan, Cathy Malkasian, Carol Millican,
Bonita Versh, and special guest Jeff McGrath, creative producer for THE
WILD THORNBERRYS. Location: Klasky Csupo, 6353 Sunset Blvd. RSVP: Tel.
(310) 535-3838. The event takes place Wednesday, August 25, 6:30 pm in
Hollywood, California.

This October MIPCOM and MIPCOM Junior will once again bring together the
television producers, distributors, buyers, and programmers of the world in
Cannes, France. MIPCOM Junior takes place October 2-3, and MIPCOM takes
place October 4-8. MIPCOM will also include for the first time a three day
conference on the convergence of TV and Internet from October 4-6.
Featuring special keynotes, strategic panels and case studies/workshops,
MIPCOM will bring together players from the TV industry, new media networks

Cinequest San Jose Film Festival is accepting submissions of features and
short films (16mm & 35mm all genres) of artistic, social, or stylistic
merit. The festival is celebrating Maverick Films, Filmmakers and
Technologies. The festival takes place in San Jose, California from
February 24 to March 5, 2000. The entry deadline is October 29, 1999. For
more information contact Cinequest 2000, P.O Box 720040, San Jose, CA
95172-0040, USA; Tel: (408) 995-5033; Fax: (408) 995-5713; E-mail:
cineqst@wenet.net; or visit www.cinequest.org.

Pratt Institute's Department of Computer Graphics & Interactive Media (CGIM) has begun the development of a Research Lab to explore the development of virtual worlds, stereoscopic 3D imaging, and other outside-the-box possibilities.


CGIM is also pleased to announce that Professor Claudia Herbst joined our fulltime faculty. Prof. Herbst's previous position was at the Walt Disney Company, where she trained the company's computer graphics artists.

Key members of Pratt Institute's Department of Computer Graphics & Interactive Media (CGIM) faculty and student body will be participating at SIGGRAPH 99 as follows:


Prof. Michael O'Rourke has been invited to conduct a full-day 3d computer animation workshop at SIGGRAPH 99.


Two of Prof. Don Ritter's interactive installations have been accepted into the Millennium Motel program at SIGGRAPH 99. The installations are "Intersection" and "TV Guides," described at:


www.users.interport.net/~ritter/intersection.html

The six month Bristol Animation Course is now available at the University of the West of England, Bristol. It is supported by several animation studios in the region, including Aardman Animations. The course aims to train animators in the craft skills of character and performance animation, enabling them to work in a professional animation studio. The course delivers a Post Graduate Certificate in Extension Studies. According to UWE, 85% of past students have been employed in the industry. There are five places for 2D and five for model animation.

One of the fastest growing areas of the booming entertainment technology industry is special effects, and with standards being raised daily by innovative uses in TV, film, and computer games the need for qualified effects artists increases. The Center for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS), a private technical arts college celebrating 20 years in operation in British Columbia, has jumped on the opportunity.

The Visual Communication Design department of Austin Community College offers a work intensive program in the areas of Graphic Design and Multimedia production. The two year Associate of Applied Science degree includes classes in Computer Production Art, Typographic Design, Illustrative Techniques, Graphic Design and Basic Drawing. The Applied Multimedia Technology certificate offers extensive training in 2D and 3D Computer Animation, Motion Graphics, World Wide Web Design, Multimedia Authoring, Interface Design and Photoshop Techniques.

Vicon has announced the latest in motion capture technology - Vicon 8Rt. The final reduction in the production pipeline has been achieved with the Vicon 8 system, producing accurate optical motion capture in real-time. This marks a significant breakthrough in motion capture technology as Vicon 8Rt is not a previewer, but actually produces full body motion capture data without the wait.

Commotion, the award-winning visual effects application, is now available for Windows NT. Commotion version 2.1 marks Puffin Designs' first release for Macintosh and Windows NT. This highly anticipated release is a direct result of requests from thousands of NT-based effects artists who wanted to use Commotion on their platform of choice. Both versions are functionally and visually identical, enabling users to work in either environment without having to find work-arounds for interface or workflow differences.

Actor Leonard Nimoy, who has gained worldwide recognition portraying the legendary character Mr. Spock in the science fiction juggernaut "Star Trek," narrates the new feature length documentary film "The Story of Computer Graphics."


"The Story of Computer Graphics" which premiered Sunday, August 8th at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, will also be shown during SIGGRAPH 99 in Room 501 of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Screening times are: 9-12 August at 9 am, 10:45 am, 12:30 pm, 2:15 pm and 4 pm; and 13 August at 9 am, 10:45 am and 12:30 pm.

Sierra Design Labs will be demonstrating its industry leadership in switchable multi-format high definition and standard definition video disk recorders. Ultra SCSI and Fibre Channel connectivity, as well as 1080P /24 support will be shown for the HD1.5Plus. The new HDCAM-compatible HD270, developed in conjunction with Sony, joins the Panasonic HD D5-compatible HD360 disk recorder in Sierra's family of versatile HD/SD recorders.

AvatarME wants YOU!‚ is the battle cry of London-based AvatarMe Ltd. at this year's Siggraph in Los Angeles. Unveiling its revolutionary AvatarBooth, the company plans to incubate hundreds of 3D avatars from willing public at the exhibition.

Viewpoint Digital will be showing its new Premier Catalog and updated Library Program. In addition, Viewpoint will be featuring its new textures library as well as the popular Model Bank, and will also be demonstrating its Interchange 3D file format translator. For more information, contact Viewpoint Digital at www.viewpoint.com or via phone at (800) DATASET.

Crater Software, a Spanish-Canadian software development collaboration, announced plans to launch a series of "satellite" versions of CTP, the company's 2D animation software, at this years' Siggraph. The launch of four CTP Satellites - Paint, Scan, Render and the already-released Pencil-test - will coincide with the release of CTP Version 1.3, also being showcased at the show.

Crater Software, a Spanish-Canadian software development collaboration, announced plans to launch a series of "satellite" versions of CTP, the company's 2D animation software, at this years' Siggraph. The launch of four CTP Satellites - Paint, Scan, Render and the already-released Pencil-test - will coincide with the release of CTP Version 1.3, also being showcased at the show.

Commotion, the award-winning visual effects application, is now available for Windows NT. Commotion version 2.1 marks Puffin Designs' first release for Macintosh and Windows NT. This highly anticipated release is a direct result of requests from thousands of NT-based effects artists who wanted to use Commotion on their platform of choice. Both versions are functionally and visually identical, enabling users to work in either environment without having to find work-arounds for interface or workflow differences.