And the nominees are...
MEN IN BLACK IIJohn Berton, Tom Bertino STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES John Knoll, Ben Snow, Pablo Helman, Rob Coleman LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall Cook, Alex Funke
GANGS OF NEW YORK Michael Owens, Camille Geier, Edward Hirsh, Jon Alexander
THE top awards for online/broadband films, animations, and websites that incorporate motion! Visit the Website for information about submitting your film.
RE:Vision Effects has announced that they now offer Mac OS X support for ReelSmart Twixtor and ReelSmart Motion Blur, the company's effects plugins for Apple's compositing software Shake. ReelSmart Twixtor enables users to speed up or slow down image sequences. Twixtor synthesizes unique new frames by warping and interpolating frames of the original sequence employing RE:Vision's proprietary tracking technology that calculates motion for each individual pixel.
House of Moves motion capture studio (HOM) will now provide facial scanning services at its Los Angeles studio, thanks to a newly signed deal with 3Q inc., a developer of 3D scanning technology. In addition, HOM is now the first non-exclusive third party distributor of 3Q products to the entertainment industry. 3Qs unique scanning approach projects a random light pattern on the subject and captures it with precisely synchronized digital cameras set at various angles. The scan itself takes only two milliseconds per frame.
Graphics studio and publisher Marlin Studios released PEOPLE N MOTION, two new libraries in its series of texture libraries created for use by 2D and 3D graphics artists. The texture maps can be used in any 3D program that makes use of animated textures, and can be composited onto backgrounds in 2D programs. No special software is required beyond the user's particular 2D or 3D program. Each PEOPLE N MOTION library has a set of sequential animation files that allows the graphics user to create the illusion of moving or standing people.
Twenty-one Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievement will be presented on March 2, 2002 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Out of the 14 Technical Achievement Awards, presented as certificates, the following recipients will be honored for creating technology used in the field of animation and visual effects. The awards are presented based upon recommendations from the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, chaired by Academy visual effects branch governor Richard Edlund.
MoCap systems manufacturer Motion Analysis Corporation has hired Jeff Thingvold as VP of application engineering and Napoleon Hambrick as VP of new media sales for North America, South America and Japan. Focusing on the new media animation sector of the motion-capture industry, Jeff Thingvold will coordinate the development of all software tools and incorporate customers' current and future needs into software technology designs. Prior to joining Motion Analysis Corporation, Jeff was the chief technology officer at Lambsoft.
On Wednesday, October 17th 2001, The Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg will host the second annual ARTimation Festival at the AMC Barrington 30 Theatres, 175 Studio Drive from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. There will be two theatres devoted to the showing of Animation and Multimedia programs.
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.
Motion Theory designed, animated and finished three 30-second TV spots for Suzuki motorcycles, ATVs and street bikes. Creative director Mathew Cullen described the style of the spots as reminiscent of "vintage boxing posters." In the commercials, the use of animated stills of the vehicles make posters seem like they come to life. Once the footage was color timed the final compositing and onlining was done by Motion Theory.
The Second Annual International Festival of Time-Based Media is being presented by the University of Southern California School of Fine Arts, in collaboration with the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The festival will take place on both the USC Campus, Los Angeles and at the SMMoA, Santa Monica. Art In Motion is organized around a central theme, and the only criteria for submission is that works be "time-based." This year's theme is "The Vanishing Author?" an exploration of the changing view of whom is "The Author" of modern artwork. Entries may address the festival theme directly or indirectly.
* March 2001. World Wide Web
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. For more information visit Web: www.pitchtv.com.
RE:Vision Effects Inc. recently released Shake, Spark and AVX plug-ins of ReelSmart Motion Blur 1.8. This now lets Nothing Real Shake; Avid Media Composer, Symphony and Xpress; and Discreet inferno*, flame*, flint*, fire* and smoke* users take advantage of the plug-in. ReelSmart Motion Blur applies natural-looking motion blur to a video sequence by automatically tracking every pixel and applying blur in the amount and direction of the calculated movement. RE:Vision's tracking technology is at the heart of ReelSmart Motion Blur, so there is no handwork involved.
Stop Motion Pro recently announced that version two of their popular stop-motion software is now available. Stop Motion Pro 2 is a program designed to make creating stop-motion animation easier, while giving animators the power to do things that they may previously not have been able to accomplish. The new version now features a frame looping with capture tool, onion skinning and rotoscoping with onion skinning. The real-time preview, frame toggle and frame editor tools from version 1 have also been overhauled, creating a versatile and powerful package for any stop-motion animator.
* Thursday, February 15 Saturday, February 17, 2001. Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
House of Moves (HOM), a world-leader in motion capture services and technology, has released its custom software plug-in Dominatrix for Maya 3.0 on Windows NT, with Win2k and Irix shipping soon. The Dominatrix plug-in addresses several problems by allowing animators to use traditional Inverse Kinematic "key-frame" animation techniques in conjunction with all of the nuances of motion-captured performance and allowing animators to compensate for differences in proportion between live performers and CG characters.
Blur Studio, a leading animation and visual effects production studio, has completed a major expansion, which added a state-of-the-art motion capture production studio to their facilities. In addition, Blur has gained a digital edit bay and a clean room for networking and digital storage hardware. The expansion comes as Blur Studio is embarking on the production of a 3D ride film for Paramount Studios and Stan Lee Media, entitled STAN LEE'S 7TH PORTAL 3D SIMULATION EXPERIENCE. "Blur is evolving and evolving quickly," said Tim Miller, the company's president.
While this book was written with dog enthusiasts in mind, Jim Bradrick uncovers this text's excellent use for animators.
Avid Technology, Inc. has announced the acquisition of Fremont, California-based Motion Factory, Inc., an applications company specializing in interactive 3D software for character-driven games and the Web. Along with the deal, Avid named Motion Factorys former president and CEO, David Pritchard, as the new general manager of Softimage Co., Avids graphics and effects arm.
Digital humans are right around the corner accordingto Giant Studios and Webbie Tookay couldn't be more delighted. Laura Schiff explains. Contains Quick Time movie clips!
RE:Vision Effects recently released ReelSmart Motion Blur, a plug-in for
After Effects 4.0, Commotion 2.0+ and Final Cut Pro. The plug-in is
designed to apply more natural looking motion blur to effects shots and
video sequences within After Effects. ReelSmart Motion Blur automatically
tracks every pixel in the shot which takes the handy-work out of the
process. Features include reduced strobing, fewer artifacts, and a tool
which lets one blur one image sequence using the motion of another
RE:Vision Effects recently released ReelSmart Motion Blur, a plug-in for
After Effects 4.0, Commotion 2.0+ and Final Cut Pro. The plug-in is
designed to apply more natural looking motion blur to effects shots and
video sequences within After Effects. ReelSmart Motion Blur automatically
tracks every pixel in the shot which takes the handy-work out of the
process. Features include reduced strobing, fewer artifacts, and a tool
which lets one blur one image sequence using the motion of another
* Friday, January 28, 2000. Los Angeles, California, USA.
Art In Motion focuses on innovative content and diversity. The criteria for
entry is time rather than medium based, and therefore video, film and
digital projects, animations, Websites, CD-Roms etc. are all eligible.
Hybrids are particularly welcome. There will be a $1000 "Best of Show"
award and "first place" allocations in each exhibition category. For more
information contact Jim Keller or Janet Owen, festival organizers at:
Art In Motion focuses on innovative content and diversity. The criteria forentry is time rather than medium based, and therefore video, film anddigital projects, animations, Websites, CD-Roms etc. are all eligible.Hybrids are particularly welcome. The festival will take place on January28, 2000 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Thedeadline for entries is November 1, 1999. There will be a $1000 "Best ofShow" award and "first place" allocations in each exhibition category. Formore information visit www.usc.edu/go/aim.
Animators in the TV, Film, and Video Game industries are achieving realistic 3D character animation economically and quickly using the suite of motion capture tools available from Motion Analysis Corporation of Santa Rosa, California. At SIGGRAPH 99, the company demonstrated the latest versions of its products.
"We have customers using our ExpertVision system to capture 1,000 moves aweek to produce a 22-minute TV show in only 10 days using just a dozenanimators. The economy and efficiency of producing digital entertainment
