AWN Headline News

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has approved the final rules for the new Best Animated Feature Film award. According to an Academy Board press release, the new category will be governed as follows:

Midway Games Inc. has announced that as a result of decreasing demand in the coin-operated arcade videogame market, it is getting out of that business. The company is now focusing its game development efforts exclusively on games for next-generation home videogame platforms, including the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. The move is expected to mean a layoff of fewer than 60 people, and a primarily non-cash pretax charge of less than $8 million in the quarter ending June 30, 2001.

Veteran animator and instructor Lee Mishkin, who won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short for his 1970 film IS IT ALWAYS RIGHT TO BE RIGHT?, passed away on June 19, 2001. He was 74. Mishkin suffered heart failure and died in his sleep with his family at his side. He had formally retired just six weeks ago, moving to a care facility in Seattle after having spent the last seven years in Vancouver, where he developed the classical animation curriculum and taught at VanArts. The school has started the Lee Mishkin Scholarship Fund to honor the late animator.

Animation software developer DigiCel, Inc. has released FlipBook SE (Standard Edition), a 2D animation software program. The program give animators the ability to scan or shoot their drawings under a camera, in addition to drawing them on the computer itself using the programs built-in light table feature. As the drawings are captured, they are automatically positioned in a traditional style exposure and can be played back the moment capturing is completed. An editable exposure sheet lets animators experiment with timing changes while the scene is being played.

According to a June 21, 2001 report in the Los Angeles Times, Ben Stein, host of the Comedy Central TV game show "Win Ben Stein's Money" has sued Shockwave.com for breach of contract. In the suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Stein claims he is owed $212,250 for his work in helping to develop an online quiz show. In exchange for the use of his name, voice and likeness, Stein reportedly was to receive 75,000 shares of Shockwave stock valued at 50 cents a share, with an option to sell back the stock at nearly $3 per share. The show has yet to launch on the Web.

Electric Rain, Inc. announced the release of two new plug-ins for LightWave 3D and Discreet 3ds max users. The Swift 3D LW plug-in allows LightWave 3D users to render 3D scenes directly to a variety of vector-based file formats, including Flash (SWF), AI, EPS and the new XML-based SVG. Similarly, the Swift 3D MAX plug-in allows 3ds max users the ability to render 3D scenes directly from the 3ds max interface to the same set of vector-based file formats. Both plug-ins provide high accuracy 3D scene rendering, while staying true to colors, lighting schemes, camera views and animations.

Hollywoods REZN8, a leading digital design company, has produced the graphics and animation package for the first annual World Stunt Awards telecast. Working with the Taurus World Stunt Awards Foundation, REZN8 was responsible for the design, production and animation of the computer-generated opening sequence and transition segments for the event. The opening sequence for the telecast began with a shimmering star that releases the Taurus and returns it to Earth cast as a gleaming golden statuette.