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Headline News

Ascension Previews ReActor At GDC

Ascension Technology Corporation will preview their new infrared active-optical motion-capture system, the Ascension ReActor, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose this month. The ReActor delivers extremely smooth, real-time optical data for a broad range of animation applications at less than half the price of existing systems. ReActor captures the motions of an untethered performer free to spin, kick or jump in a capture area delineated by modular snap-together bars.

April Headline News

Bill Plympton Around The World

Bill Plympton has updated his appearances page. In the upcoming months, "Mutant Aliens" will be screening at: SXSW Festival, Austin, Texas, March 12-20; Arizona International Film Festival, Tuscon, Arizona, April 19-29; and Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26-May 7. Bill will be attending all of these events. "Guns on the Clackamas" will be appearing at CineAmbigu, Barcelona, Spain, in April.

Headline News

pmG Launches New Website

pmG (project:messiah Group), the producers of the award-winning project:messiah 3D animation package, have recently revamped the company Website. The re-launch expands greatly on the previous version, adding strong news and informational components, a library of 25 easy to download MPEG-1 sample animations and promotes and sells online the company's full line of products, including project:messiah 1.5, the messiah:studio suite, messiah:animate and messiah:render.

Point Headline News

Affiliate Animator News: Arthur's Vision Point In "Best Of The Northwest" Tour

Stephen X. Arthur's experimental animated short, "Vision Point," was chosen to go on tour in "The Best of the Northwest," a program of highlights from the 27th Northwest Film and Video Festival, Portland, Oregon. The tour will be running for the rest of the year, visiting various cities in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and other states. For a schedule, contact the festival coordinator, Thomas Phillipson, at thomas@nwfilm.org. You can discover Stephen's work in the Animation Showcase.

Film Headline News

Oniria Starts Production On 2nd CGI Feature

Luxembourg-based Oniria Productions has announced that work has started on RENART, THE FOX, a new computer-animated feature film. RENART will be directed by Thierry Schiel, who has helmed Oniria's nearly completed CGI feature TRISTAN & ISOLDE. Along with Schiel, Sophia Kolokouri will produce the film. RENART, THE FOX, based on the widely-known fable LE ROMAN DE RENART, spells out the hilarious adventures of the cunning Renart, an outlaw who pursues riches to support his children.

Headline News

Clifford Leads All Toon Nods At Daytime Emmy

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 28th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Leading the toon nominees is CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG with five nominations including three in the voice acting category. Receiving nods for Outstanding Children's Animated Program were ARTHUR, CLIFFORD, DRAGON TALES, MADELINE and THE WILD THORNBERRYS. Nominated for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program were ANGELA ANACONDA, BATMAN BEYOND, BUZZ LIGHTYEAR OF STAR COMMAND, ROUGHNECKS: THE STARSHIP TROOPER CHRONICLES and SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE 22ND CENTURY.

Animation Headline News

This Week's Web Animation Guide For Friday, March 16, 2001

AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. In this week's installment a new NAPSTER BAD! toon, Elmo Aardvark's Mondo Mini Show debut and a hilarious PSA spoof on Hotwired Animation Express. 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!"

Short Headline News

Store Specials: Time to rock!

- Wake up and rock with cult animator Ralph Bakshi´s "American Pop!" Go deep inside the evolution of popular music in America through the story of various generations of a musical family. Soundtrack includes George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Herbie Hancock and Dave Brubeck.

Motion Events

Mogra Festival 2001

By Guest (not verified) | Thursday, March 15, 2001 at 11:00am
Begins: March 15, 2001

The Mogra Festival 2001 is an online exhibit highlighting work from motion designers from around the globe. The idea is to create a comprehensive gallery of both creative and corporate work created in After Effects and motion graphics. The online gallery will be located at www.pitchtv.com, similar to the Interactive Playground. There are plans in the works to create a physical exhibit in New York City.

Cartoon Events

Cartoon Movie 2001

By Guest (not verified) | Thursday, March 15, 2001 at 11:00am
Begins: March 15, 2001

The third annual Cartoon Movie is the European market for animation feature film. The market gives European production firms the chance to meet and exchange ideas, even create co-production partnerships. Increasing the attending number of feature film distributors, as well as international reach for European animated feature film is a high priority for the third edition of Cartoon Movie. This annual event is organized by AEFA Cartoon, the European Association for Animated Films.

Effects Headline News

Cinesite Names New Executive Producer Of Visual Effects

Scott Dougherty has been appointed executive producer of visual effects for Cinesite, Inc. Dougherty will be responsible for managing the creative and technological resources needed to complete visual effects projects. After freelancing as an art department assistant and production manager, Dougherty joined Cinesite in 1993 and has played various roles including visual effects coordinator, associate producer and producer. His filmography includes RED PLANET, AIR FORCE ONE, DEEP BLUE SEA, PRACTICAL MAGIC, SPACE JAM, OUTBREAK and dozens of other projects.

Japan Headline News

ExpressionTools Releases English Version Of ETShade

Japanese software developer ExpressionTools, Inc. has released ExpressionToolsShade Professional R4/E (ETShade Pro R4/E), an English language version of their high-end 3D graphics application. With a fifteen-year history behind it, Shade offers an outstanding and intuitive user interface, leveraging Bezier curve modeling and high speed/high quality rendering. In Japan, Shade has been the leading tool for professional graphics, 3D design, industrial design and architecture, with user-base numbers in excess of 200,000.

Disney Headline News

Former Disney Exec Blows Whistle With $20M Lawsuit

Former Walt Disney senior VP for worldwide anti-piracy, Judy Denenholz, has filed a US$20 million lawsuit, alleging she was terminated after refusing to sign a fraudulent IRS audit. The suit also alleges that Disney's assistant general counsel Peter Nolan sexually harassed Denenholz since she joined the company in 1981. The suit claims that Disney's general counsel Lou Meisinger held a grudge over legal bills before he became Disney's general counsel. In 1990, Denenholz advised Disney that Meisinger's law firm was overcharging the studio for their anti-piracy work.

Planeta Headline News

EM.TV Teams With Spain's Planeta 2010 On 9 Series

German EM.TV has signed a co-production deal with Spain's Planeta 2010. Already EM.TV has signed deals on four series and negotiations are in progress on five additional shows including 13 new episodes of DRAGON TALES, which is co-produced with Children's TV Workshop and Columbia TriStar TV Group. The signed deals include: 26-episodes of kids' comedy MR. BABY; 13 episodes of PIGS NEXT DOOR, co-produced with Fox Kids Int. and Magma Films; THE WORLD OF TOSH based on a Swedish fable; and NICK AND PERRY, co-produced by Germany's WDR and France's Ellipse Animation and M6.

Animation Headline News

Spain's Filmax Opens Ani Arm

Madrid production house Filmax has formed a new animation arm entitled Filmax Animacion. The new arm will have three divisions: production services, production and distribution. Filmax plans to integrate its animation studio Bren Entertainment into this new venture. In October 2000, Filmax gained animation production-distribution house PPM Multimedia's Francisco "Paco" Rodriguez to head Bren. Rodriguez formed PPM Multimedia in 1990 and quickly transformed the small company into a major force in the Spanish market.

Headline News

WB Dumps Manex For Matrix F/X

Warner Bros. has decided not to award the US$30 million visual effects contract for the MATRIX sequels to Manex Entertainment, despite its Oscar-winning work on the original film. Warner has decided to go with ESC Entertainment, which officially formed on Friday, March 9, 2001 and employs many of the technicians and artists that worked on the original MATRIX. In turn, Manex is seeking a judicial order to assure it has a role in the film, due to its extensive pre-production good-will work already completed. The company has developed a proprietary facial-scanning system for the sequels.

Headline News

EyeballNYC Adds Color To Spirit 2001 Spots

Creative design boutique EyeballNYC has produced two 30-second promotional spots for the Bravo Networks' Independent Spirit Awards 2001 coverage. Inspired by the Independent Film Channel's Spirit 2001 poster, Eyeball used a syncopated hot pink, orange and purple photo-box grid effect. In "Sweepstakes" and "Tune-In," hot-colored cubic boxes flip, slide and pop into view to reveal details of the Spirit Awards program, which will air March 25, 2001. In addition, EyeballNYC handled the on-air package for the Spirit Awards, including the design of the show's opening and graphic packaging.

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