Tagged With: Animation

Sydney, Australia-based visual effects and animation company GMD (Garner MacLennan Design) has completed its latest character animation project with the launch of a series of commercials for telecommunications company Telstra. Produced for the Singleton Ogilvy & Mather (SOM Sydney) agency and the Flying Fish production company, the 30-second spots show people in various situations interacting with animated numbers, the message being that Telstra can make numbers work for people, not against them.

Pixar Animation Studios executive vice president, creative and animation director John Lasseter (Toy Story, A Bug's Life) will be joined by Lee Unkrich (co-director Toy Story 2) and Pete Docter (director, Monsters, Inc.) for a discussion and demonstration of the creation of computer animated graphics, featuring clips from the soon-to-be-released Monsters, Inc. Director Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Proof of Life) will guide the conversation, covering the production process from beginning to end.

New Riders Publishing has released a new series of books for CG professionals. The "digital" series features DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION 2, VOLUME II: ADVANCED TECHNIQUES by George Maestri, a follow up to Maestri's classic, DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION. The new volume is written directly for CG professionals, with more non-software-specific approaches to character animation. According to its creator, DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION 2, VOLUME II is a book on how to really think like an animator.

Boxershorts Cartoons, a division of The Chris Moujaes Company, Inc., has created The Boxershorts Academy to provide an opportunity for education in animation studio arts to students who reside between the West and East Coasts. The Boxershorts Academy's classes are available to the general public in both live and electronic formats. Live courses are held in Austin, Texas at various locations and the online independent study courses are held at BoxerAcademy.com.

Midlands, England-based animation production house, PS Creative has moved to new, larger premises -- a building called The Doghouse in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England. With this expansion they soon hope to be recruiting more staff for both freelance and permanent in-house positions. PS Creative is currently furthering their 3D character animation and on-screen typography work developing a Europe-wide marketing campaign for a major pharmaceutical company.