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Di-O-Matic's new facial modeling and animation tool Facial Studio for 3ds max 4.x is now shipping. With a regular price tag of US$699, Facial Studio is now available at the introductory price of US$499 until March 25, 2002. Facial Studio is a suite of plug-ins featuring more than 500 controls over the head creation process, allowing the user to deform anything from the facial features to the overall head shape including teeth and tongue, as well as controlling the shading, textures, wrinkles, deformations and muscle animation.

Two weeks ago HARTS WAR barely made a blip in the box office and quickly dropped out of the top ten, but viewers seem ready to welcome a new military drama. WHEN WE WERE SOLDIERS, with visual effects by Digital Domain, made a big debut this weekend, earning $20.2M. In second place was the teen flick 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS with $12.5M. Last weeks number one film THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, with visual effects by Grey Matters FX and Manex, suffered a major drop this weekend, falling all the way to sixth place earning just $5.8M a 60% drop from last weekend.

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom Inc., is launching Nicktoons TV, a new 24-hour channel for kids, along with three new music channels -- MTV Jams, MTV Hits and VH1 Mega Hits. Nicktoons TV will offer 24-hours a day of Nickelodeon animation, featuring everything from classic Nick originals like DOUG and REN & STIMPY to more recent offerings like JIMMY NEUTRON. Nicktoons TV will replace Nick Too in some areas on the West Coast. Cablevision is the first operator to sign on for Nicktoons TV, adding it and MTV Hits to their digital service line-up.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: "Missing Persons" - 3D Animated Feature Film Premiere: Friday, March 01 - Saturday, March 02, 2002, San Jose, California USA . . . In Person: Cordell Barker Presents "Strange Invaders": Sunday, March 03, 2002, San Francisco, California USA . . . DigiFest 2002: Wednesday, March 20 - Tuesday, March 26, 2002, Toronto, Ontario Canada . . . Animation Generation 2002: Thursday, April 11 - Friday, April 12, 2002, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey UK . . .

Raven Moon Entertainment, Inc. is collaborating with Hacker-Rumsey Entertainment to develop and market a slate of three projects for television over the next two years. The first project on tap is a CG-animated kids' project called THE ICELY BROTHERS, a mix of live-action and animated characters. Hacker-Rumsey is completing the pilot and will begin domestic and international marketing in spring 2002.

As part of Oxygen's "Addicted To Love" week, the cable network will premiere BEHIND THE KISS, a one-hour special created by animator Corky Quakenbush. Created in stop-motion animation, this special features a spoof of talk show host Charlie Rose interviewing actors Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Barbra Streisand, Richard Gere, Ellen DeGeneres and Julie Andrews at the premieres of Hollywood movie parodies, including XENA, WARRIOR PRINCESS DIARIES, ROMEO AND J. LOET, AN OFFICER AND A YENTLMAN, HANNIBAL: YOU'VE GOT MEAL and BITANIC.

Hollywood, California's boutique animation house Super 78 created the animated cinematics for the recently released videogame titles PAC-MAN PARTY and PAC-MAN WORLD 2 for Namco and game developer Mass Media. The titles feature 8 1/2 minutes of animation by Super 78 featuring some of the game's popular characters including Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man. Creative director Brent Young's interest in video games helped Super 78 conceive and complete the project.

NewTeks Video Toaster 2, a Windows 2000-based live video production environment, is now available. The Video Toaster 2 includes a real-time nonlinear editor, live Web streaming, character generation, 2D painting and compositing, 3D animation and effects, real-time keying, video and audio processing, and a full range of production tools in an integrated package. It retails for US$2995 with a switcher expansion module available for US$1995. The upgrade from Video Toaster 1 is US$495. For more information about the Video Toaster 2s capabilities, visit www.newtek.com.