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Santa Monica, California-based R!OT has wrapped on the visual effects and post-production for "Rexall," the first video from Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist Dave Navarro's debut solo album "Trust No One." R!OT artists, headed by visual effects supervisor Deak Ferrand, created a 180-degree pan of a fire engulfed city. "We mapped the matte painting onto a sphere so that we could reframe it and match the angles of the live shots," Ferrand explained. "That gave us the freedom to move the camera through it in any way that we wished.

San Francisco-based Western Images has created a completely CGI spot entitled "Balloon Art" for Cingular Wireless and ad agency BBDO South. The commercial opens with the sound of stretching rubber and an expanding blue toy balloon. The following scene reveals the orange Cingular "X" logo named Jack blowing air into the balloon. At the end, Jack whips out a remarkable likeness of George Washington crossing the Delaware. The spot was directed by Mark Dippé, of Pandemonium, SF.

Cartoon Network U.K. has acquired 26 episodes of X-MEN: EVOLUTION from Warner Bros. The Film Roman-produced series follows the exploits of the X-Men as teenagers. The series will hit U.K. airwaves in September. Finn Arnesen, VP of programming, development and acquisitions for Cartoon Network Europe, said, "This series will appeal to X-MEN fans as well as drawing in new viewers with the strong story lines and an updated take on the X-MEN franchise. X-MEN popularity is building; X-MEN The Movie came out last year, there's a second movie coming in 2002.

Riding on the success of SHREK, DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg has announced that two CGI films will go into production simultaneously at PDI/DreamWorks. Three films are currently in pre-production, and once solidified, will go into production. The first project is TUSKER, which has been floating round the studio for years. The action-adventure story is set in Southeast Asia and will follow a herd of elephants.

Moving up to 33rd, THE SIMPSONS secured a 5.5 rating/10 share. KING OF THE HILL was crowned in 60th place, garnering a 4 rating/8 share. Holding steady at 66th, FAMILY GUY grabbed a 3.7 rating/6 share. The traditionally high-ranking SIMPSONS Wednesday special only scored 76th place with a 3.4 rating/7 share. Jumping up a slot to finish 77th, FUTURAMA forged a 3.2 rating/6 share. The U.S. universe estimate used for calculating ratings for the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, PAX and WB) is equal to 100% of all TV households.

Side Effects Software has announced that Walt Disney Feature Animation made a significant purchase of the company's Houdini 3D animation software package. Houdini has been used in many projects at the Walt Disney Company including FANTASIA 2000, GONE IN 60 SECONDS and TARZAN. "Houdini's flexible procedural paradigm helps our artists be more creative, while maintaining an efficient production environment," said John Carey, VP of technology at Disney.

The Sydney design and animation studio, alkamy has launched phase 2 of its Website, which includes 8 new works in the interactive section. Netizens can also catch new shorts featuring Dr. Leechfingers, who is the star of a series of short films alkamy has in development. Check it all out at www.alkamy.com Professional British cartoonist/animator Bill Greenhead was launched the new Flash toon CAPTAIN POINTY at his site www.billgreenhead.demon.co.uk Augenblick Studios' DRUNKY can be seen on CampChaos.com.

Total Training has released WHAT'S NEW IN ADOBE AFTEREFFECTS 5, a new training series covering the new AfterEffects capabilities. Previously, Total Training had produced a complete training study program for the beginning user. In addition, the new series includes tips, techniques, hidden features and tricks. WHAT'S NEW IN ADOBE AFTEREFFECTS 5 stars Brian Maffitt, Total Training chief creative officer, AfterEffects expert and long-time AfterEffects evangelist. "My enthusiasm for AfterEffects is very well known," he said.

WildTangent has announced that their direct-to-Web exporter for 3ds max will be packaged along with the software. WildTangent's integrated solution gives artists the ability to pull animated scenes directly from 3ds max into a Web page. The encryption options allow artists to pinpoint where Web page assets can be viewed. If someone attempts to copy and paste an artist's page into a new source, they will receive a refuse to load response.

Exluna, a new start-up dedicated to developing affordable 3D tools, is releasing Entropy, an advanced 3D rendering product. Entropy is the first offering of Exluna's "Look Development" tools and technologies, which allow digital artists to manipulate the appearance of 3D objects, using shading, lighting, painting and rendering techniques. Entropy will be unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2001 in Los Angeles on August 14-16, along with a first look at Exluna's bridge product for Discreet's 3ds max and 3D Studio VIZ scheduled for release this fall. Entropy will sell for US$1,500.

Oakland, California-based technology company Digital Element, with the help of NewTek and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under the auspices of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Cities Initiative, has been working to open up "Closed Cities" in Russia. These cities do not appear on maps and up to now have been strictly military R&D and production sites. Digital Element trainers and engineers have helped form new Russian software development teams in Snezhinsk and other closed cities to help the towns integrate into the Western market.

Neptuno Films is launching a new animated show, 2020. Aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, the show is centered on a middle-class family, The Campbells, who live in a futuristic city where synthetic food and clones are in fashion. Josep Viciana will direct with a team of comic book designers. Production will start in 2002. Viciana said, "We are very excited with the challenge ahead. We have been able to set up for this project one of the most talented teams in Spain ever.