Visual Evolution: Creating Zoic Studios
Loni Peristere discusses how he and three other partners created a new effects studio for television, which now works on such hits as Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
VFXWorld Magazine
Power to the People: Animation:Master Makes 3D Work Possible for Everyone
Yes, it is possible to spend only $300 and make a great CGI film! Alien Song proved that. Here four animators talk about how Hash Animation:Master has unleashed their potential.
Inside the Icebergclub
When Jean Pascal Princiaux's film, Icebergclub, screened at the 2002 International Animated Film Festival at Annecy, the crowd went wild. Find out why in this interview with the filmmaker by Annick Teninge.
A New Dimension In Animation
Steve Oedekerk fresh off his experience of making his first IMAX film in 3D like the type of 3D where you need glasses! explains his love of these mediums and the new challenges he found.
Getting Into Gaming
Three game designers working for Sucker Punch and SCEA discuss how they got to where they are today.
Comic Wars: How Two Tycoons Battled Over the Marvel Comics Empire -- And Both Lost
Danny Fingeroth reviews Dan Raviv's book on the legal wrangling between two businessmen for control of Marvel Comics, which reveals the power of dollars and its impact on the art.
Big Idea Productions: A Success Story Anyone Can Believe In
Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea Productions, explains how he turned a bunch of God loving vegetables into one of the hottest commodities around. Let's face itthese legumes are cute! Really cute! Rick DeMott reports.
Software Piracy Sails Despite Rough Seas Ahead
Software piracy is costing the animation industry millions if not billions. Brett Rogers explains why the cost of software piracy goes beyond the losses suffered by the software manufacturers and affects everyone.
Sparx* -- A Rising Studio
Annick Teninge profiles Sparx*, one of France's leading CG studios that seems to be following in the path of the U.S. majors -- turning commercial and service work success into short film success and then moving into the feature realm.
Reign of Fire: Breathing Life Into Dragons
Pamela Kleibrink Thompson sits down with co-visual effects supervisor Dan DeLeeuw to talk about one of The Secret Lab's last effects projects, Reign of Fire, and creating the film's horrible winged creatures.
Combustion 2 in Action
Scott Jenkins reviews Combustion 2 and checks in with a production in progress to see how Combustion stacks up against key competitor After Effects.
Mix and Match: Animation Techniques
Today's hybrids that combine traditional techniques and new digital tools are creating some fascinating looking animation. Fred Patten asks a number of innovators how they created their animation.
Star Wars Episode II: Creating Clones Is Harder Than It Looks
Bill Desowitz finishes our series on the computer-generated effects of Star Wars Episode II. This time he goes behind the motion-capture process to discover the challenges of creating a clone army.
R2-D2: From Helpful Droid to Hero
We all knew R2-D2 was cool...but in Star Wars Episode II he turns into a swash-buckling, damsel saving hero. Bill Desowitz speaks with Billy Brooks of ILM's "rebel unit" to find out about the transformation.
Doing Whatever a Spider-Man Can
Rick DeMott swings in on Sony Pictures Imageworks to find out how they created visual effects amazing enough to match Spider-Man.
Yoda As We've Never Seen Him Before
We've all been waiting to see Yoda in a light saber duel and Star Wars Episode II does not miss the mark. Bill Desowitz speaks with ILM on how they created Yoda in CGI and brought him to action.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones -- Catching Up With Rob Coleman, Animation Director
Karl Cohen sits down with Rob Coleman, Episode II's animation director, and learns how the ILM team combines many different techniques into one seamless digital world.
DVD Review: Waking Life
Chris Lanier reviews the new Waking Life DVD. If you liked the film, or haven't seen it yet, this DVD is the way to go. Extra audio tracks, missing scenes, technology demonstrations, the short film Snack and Drink and more, are all included.
Waking Life and Liquid Caricature
Chris Lanier explores the purpose and meaning of caricature from its very inception to its latest use in the "rotoscoped" Waking Life.
Crafting A Career In A Time Of Change
Gregory Singer sits down with industry veteran Frank Gladstone and learns that it isn't all gloom and doom when facing a career in today's market. The trick is to be flexible.
The New Gold Standard: Spider-Man the Movie
Surprised that Spider-Man is racking up such huge sums at the box office? Danny Fingeroth isn't, as he explains, there's a little Spidey in all of us.
The Producers of Spider-Man Speak
In the midst of Spider-Man mania, Danny Fingeroth caught up with two of the most popular producers in showbiz Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad to talk about box office success, becoming a geek, creative changes and the new animated television show.
Re:vitalizing Animation Through Virtual Studios
In building a more personal, varied animation future, Greg Singer offers perspective for collaborating online.
Here We Go! Gorillaz Takes Music By Storm
Paul Feldman goes behind the animated personas of the band Gorillaz to discover the creative team that put such a dynamic group together and the record label brave enough to take it on.
The Games That People Play
Greg Singer visited this year's Game Developers Conference and reports on the breadth of events and insights. From testing out the latest games to discussions of Wittgenstein as a means for simulating sophisticated social activity among game characters, there was something for everyone.
