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Digimation has started shipping Cluster-O-Matic, a new clustering and animation plug-in for Discreet's 3ds max 3 and 4. Developed by Di-O-Matic, Inc., Cluster-O-Matic is designed for clustering collections of vertices together and linking them to other objects directly within 3ds max scenes. According to the company, Cluster-O-Matic can be used for modeling and animation, and it is especially suited for doing facial animation and touching up 3D models. "Cluster-O-Matic is a very handy tool! This plug-in gives you so much more control over your models than anything 3ds max provides!

UPN has ordered a pilot for an animated sketch series from Urban Entertainment. The untitled project will feature Webtoons bridged together by an animated host. Urban Entertainment plans to license some content from other sites for the series. Company founder and CEO Michael Jenkinson said to the DAILY VARIETY, "It will be a broad sweep of the best stuff that's out there on the Internet. It will be youthful and hip and will definitely have an attitude." This deal isn't the first between UPN and Urban Entertainment.

On March 25, 2001 in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the winners for this year's Oscars. Taking home the prize for outstanding animated short was Michael Dudok de Wit's lyrically elegant FATHER & DAUGHTER. The big winner for the evening was the visual effects epic GLADIATOR, which received five Oscars for best picture, best actor Russell Crowe, best visual effects, best costume design and best sound. Oscar was also kind to the other big visual effects film of the year CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. In this week's installment a humorous short by Steve Martin, a new Bill Plympton Webtoon and the winners of the Thugs on Film Tosser Awards. Plus, much, much more.

Get your Web Animation Guide here!

Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"

Curious Pictures has wrapped on a new CGI spot for Lugz athletic shoes entitled "Pirate Radio." In the 30-second commercial, after the Lugz's Blue Man subverts the city power, the hero must avoid the electric company's thugs in order to run a pirate radio station for rooftop parties across the city. "In the Lugz spot, we created characters with a lot of personality surrounded by computer-animated environments that are rich and beautiful," said Chel White, Curious Pictures' director.

Blur Studio has hired Tim Brown as their new co-creative director of the design division. Prior to Blur, Brown served as creative director of the design and animation house, RezN8. Brown's work on CBS's coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics helped the project earn two Sports Emmy Awards for graphic design and technical innovation. Brown said, "Here, we have a design engine that is integrated with a production engine. Very few design firms have direct access to 3D animation and visual effects production, or to artists of the caliber we have at Blur.