NXN Software, a leader in asset management solutions for the digital entertainment and computer graphics industries, recently announced that Vanguard Animation is implementing NXN alienbrain VFX for the production of VALIANT, the first fully animated CG feature to be made in the U.K.
NXN alienbrain VFX, the only digital asset and production management system specifically designed for high-end computer graphics projects, will be used throughout the production lifecycle. VALIANT, to be distributed by Disney in North America, is due for completion in fall 2004.
"The scale of this project is unprecedented in Europe, and NXN alienbrain VFX will play a vital role in ensuring our team successfully hits all our critical dates," said Tom Jacomb, U.K. line producer at Vanguard Animation.
Vanguard recently entered into a joint venture with Digital Productions Solutions, which also bought a minority stake in the company. Vanguard was founded by ceo and SHREK producer John Williams and president Neil Braun. Europe's first full-scale digital animation studio is being created in London to manage the project and will leverage NXN alienbrain VFX to track all digital assets throughout the $40 million production about a heroic wartime carrier pigeon.
"We are proud to be an integral part of this landmark production and look forward to working with the VALIANT team to deliver this CG feature on time and within budget," commented Steve Tyson, vp of sales, NXN Software Ltd.
NXN alienbrain VFX will enable the 85 CG artists, modelers and managers working on VALIANT to track the dependencies between scenes, models and textures, manage large volumes of film frames efficiently and optimize versioning and archiving for all digital assets.
Based on the asset management technology of NXN alienbrain, NXN alienbrain VFX was specifically adapted for computer-animated features and high-end visual effects productions. It is a terabyte-scalable system for large teams in heterogeneous hardware environments. In contrast to traditional asset management systems that focus primarily on archiving completed assets, NXN alienbrain VFX will help the creative teams at Vanguard Animation manage their digital assets from concept to completion.
Vanguard Animation (www.vanguardanimation.com), located in Los Angeles and the Ealing Studios in London, intends to produce one release per year. Co-producing duties and pipeline design will be handled by Buckley Collum and Curtis Augspurger.
NXN Software (www.nxn-software.com) is a leader of asset management systems for the digital entertainment and computer graphics industries. NXN products provide designers, programmers and project managers with a powerful framework to manage all assets throughout the development process. Companies using NXN Software include many of the world's most renowned entertainment studios, such as Sony, Electronic Arts, LucasArts and Atari. NXN Software has offices in Los Angeles, Paris, London, Munich and Tokyo.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
