Cghub blog

Happy Holidays from CGHUB.com!

admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:52:39 -0600

From everyone here at CGHUB.com, we would like to wish you a Happy Holidays and hope that you are all enjoying time with friends and family, wherever you may be!

It's been an eventful 2008, CGHUB has been live now for about 5 months and we want to thank everyone who has contributed to this new community, taken time to send in bugs and suggestions, and helped out in other ways. We couldn't have done it without you!

So much has happened this year, from our first Challenge, to our Drawing Jams and other activities, and we have a lot of things on the road map for 2009, which should prove to be an exciting year as we roll out new features and continue to make our existing ones work better for you.

If you have enjoyed using CGHUB and are wondering how you could help us, this would be a great time to place a link to the site on your webpage or blog, and invite your friends to join the site. You can use one of our existing buttons or badges (click here for an assortment) or make your own.

Also, just in time for Christmas is our new "User Blogs" feature, which should satisfy many people's desire to have a journal or blog incorporated into CGHUB. You don't have to sign up for anything new, you can simply go to "Edit Profile" and click "Add Post" and start blogging away. We hope you enjoy this new feature, and since it is brand new, please let us know if you run into any difficulties or need help using it.

We hope that you have all enjoyed the site and look forward to sharing many more holidays with you in the future!

Best wishes,

The CGHUB.com Team

The Tale of Despereaux opens Friday!

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:49:59 -0600

The Tale of Despereaux is a computer-animated film directed by Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen. Based on the 2003 fantasy book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo, the movie is narrated by Sigourney Weaver and stars Matthew Broderick and Emma Watson.

Relevant Links
The Tale of Despereaux Official Site
The Tale of Despereaux on Quicktime.com
Collider.com - 6 Movie Clips, 2 Featurette’s and the Trailer
The Tale of Despereaux on Wikipedia
The Tale of Despereaux on IMDB
The Tale of Despereaux on Trailer Addict - Trailers and Clips

Japan Demo of Resident Evil 5

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:25:58 -0600

Capcom released a Japanese Marketplace only demo, Gamersyde has the latest on Resident Evil 5.

Resident Evil co-op gameplay
Japan Demo of Resident Evil 5

Here is the original trailer for Resident Evil 5

26 Brand New Photos From The Day The Earth Stood Still

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:16:22 -0600

26 Brand New Photos From The Day The Earth Stood Still over at Filmofilia.com. Link

45 New Harry Potter 6 Photos

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:13:08 -0600

45 new Harry Potter 6 images over at Filmofilia, go check them out! Link

Two exclusive Bolt articles

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:08:41 -0600

Walt Disney Animation Studios Bolt premieres tomorrow and Comingsoon.net has the inside scoop.

The first exclusive is an interview with the film's voice actors. Travolta, Cyrus & Walton on Bolt! The second exclusive is an interview with John Lasseter. John Lasseter Talks Bolt and More.

Relevant Links
Bolt Movie Homepage
Bolt on Rotten Tomatoes
Bolt Trailers and Clips on Quicktime.com

Astro Boy Teaser Trailer

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:58:10 -0600

Watch the first teaser trailer for Imagi's upcoming computer animated feature film Astro Boy!

Astro Boy is a new 3D computer animted film based on the Japanese animation of the same name. Originally created by Osamu Tezuka, the theatrical version is being produced by Imagi Animation Sutdios, the studio who created the recent TMNT animated film, along with the upcoming Gatchaman movie. Announced in 2006, Astro Boy is set for release October 23rd, 2009 and will be directed by David Bowers (Flushed Away). Freddie Highmore is lined up to voice the lead character Astro Boy.

View the trailer online in several formats, including HD:
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/astro-boy/30167/main

Below are some still frames from the trailer.

New Wall-E Concept art and Production Photos

JenniferYu — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:04:04 -0600

Disney released some new visual developmet and production photos to help promote the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Wall-E next week.
Click the images to see higher resolution versions (not available on some images).

Adolie Day's "The Butterfly Hunter" arrives November 18

JenniferYu — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:10:32 -0600

Adolie Day is a French illustrator. Her new children's book "Le Chasseur de Papillons" or "The Butterfly Hunter" will be available Novemeber 18, with text by Bernard Villiot.

Whether you are living in France or anywhere else in the world, this delightful book would make a great addition to anyone's artbook collection and could make a fantastic gift for children or adults this Christmas! You can learn more about Adolie Day at her blog or website.

Relevant Links
Adolie's Blog
Adolie's Website
Adolie's ETSY shop
Adolie on CGHUB.com

CGHUB.com is dedicated to promoting artists worldwide. If you have an item that you would like to share with our readers, please send it our way and we will review it for inclusion on the blog. While we cannot list every item, we will do our best to give the spotlight to talented artists who would like to promote their work and products.

New Coraline Poster Revealed

JenniferYu — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:05:00 -0600

IMPAWARDS shares a new poster for Coraline.
Based on Neil Gaiman’s novella of the same name, the animated stop-motion fantasy is slated for a February 6, 2009 release, Coraline is the first stop motion animated film to be shot steroscopically.

4 new publicity shots of Pixar's short BURN•E

JenniferYu — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:53:32 -0600

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Click Communications bring you 4 new publicity shots of the upcoming Pixar short, BURN•E!

WALL•E is coming soon to Disney DVD and Blu-ray, November 18th! Click the images for full resolution versions.

Dreamworks releases new Monsters Vs. Aliens trailer

admin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:20:39 -0600

Dreamworks Animation has released the first Monsters Vs. Aliens trailer, set for release March 27, 2009.

Monsters Vs. Aliens will be Dreamworks first animated feature to be presented stereoscopically, in Real 3D and in Imax 3D. Looks promising! View the trailer on the Monsters Vs. Aliens website, available in beautiful HD as well!

Pixar releases new Up trailer

admin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:05:50 -0600

Disney has released a new trailer from the upcoming Pixar animated film "Up." The trailer opens with clips from past Pixar films and then trasitions into shots from the film, giving us an up close look at two of the main characters from the film, Carl, a 78 year old man and Russel, and 8 year old Wilderness Explorer.

Click here to view the trailer on Trailer Addict.com.

From the Pixar website "Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russel) gives him a new lease on life. Up takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villians and jungle creatures."

Up is scheduled for release May 29, 2009 in Disney Digital 3D. Directed by Pete Doctor (Monsters Inc.), Up is the first Pixar film to be presented steroscopically.

Relevant Links
View the new trailer on Trailer Addict.com
View the new trailer on Disney.com
Up on Pixar.com
Pixar
Up on Wikipedia

Softimage Enters Strategic Development Relationship with Exocortex Technologies

JenniferYu — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:14:19 -0600

Industry-renowned innovator Ben Houston to develop next-generation fluid dynamics simulation technology leveraging the Softimage Interactive Creative Environment.

MONTRÉAL, Québec, October 7, 2008 — Softimage Co., a part of Avid Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVID), today announced it has entered into a strategic development relationship with Exocortex Technologies, a privately held software company that develops graphics, information visualization and simulation software and services for government and private industry. Ben Houston, chief technology officer and founder of Exocortex, has numerous patents in the physical simulation field, and will focus his development on next-generation interactive fluid simulation solutions that utilize the new Softimage® ICE platform—a visual, multi-threaded, node-based programming model, designed for high-performance 3D effects and deformations. Ben and his team will develop and introduce new techniques for solving interaction between fluids and objects in a 3D environment built on the Softimage ICE platform.

Simulation of liquids and gases is one of the most compute intensive processes in 3D production today, and requires massive computation resources to achieve high-quality results in a reasonable amount of time. With the convergence of core density in the standard computing workstation and new techniques for multi-threading, Softimage is engaging Exocortex to develop next-generation interactive fluid technologies utilizing the new, multi-threaded ICE platform, introduced in SOFTIMAGE|XSI® 7, the company’s professional 3D modeling, animation, character creation and rendering software package.

“The Softimage ICE platform offers a development environment ideal for next-generation fluid simulation. Combined with the Gigacore 2 interactive processing power in SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7, we believe we will be able to reach new levels for real-time fluid interactivity,” said Ben Houston, founder and chief technology officer, Exocortex Technologies. “Softimage has always been an innovator, and we are delighted to be working with them to advance the state of the art for 3D visual effects—for linear media, such as film and television, interactive and gaming applications.”

“XSI has become a platform for innovation with the release of SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7, and our customers are extending the ICE framework to suit their individual production needs,” said Marc Stevens, general manager of Softimage and vice president, Avid Technology, Inc. “Our development relationship with Exocortex will help expand the use of XSI as an aggregator of industry-wide innovation”.

Softimage and Exocortex Technologies are currently in a technology development relationship, and at this time have no product announcements.

About Exocortex Technologies and Ben Houston
Exocortex is a privately held technology company specializing in the development and deployment of graphics, information visualization and simulation software and services for government and private industry. The company has a demonstrated track record of success and we are considered subject matter experts in these fields with numerous patents and publications.

The company is now developing new applications that were traditionally thought to be too computationally intensive or too complex. Areas of expertise include real-time fluid simulation and visualization tools to aid the analysis of intelligence data. Target markets include the gaming industry, simulation software applications for the fluid simulation applications and government agencies, intelligence communities, legal community and organizations that have a requirement to analyze relationships of unstructured data for data visualization software.

Ben Houston is a senior systems and development architect with an impressive list of accomplishments. Prior to founding Exocortex in February 2005, Ben was the Lead Architect & Commercial Strategist at Frantic Films. Ben contributed to a number of films including Paycheck (2003), Italian Job (2003), Scooby Doo 2 (2004), Cursed (2005), Stay (2005), Poseidon (2006), and Superman Returns (2006). Ben also contributed to several research publications and patents, and is recognized as an industry expert in graphics and fluid simulation amongst his peers.

About Softimage
Softimage is a part of Avid Technology, Inc., and develops leading-edge 3D technology used in customer-centric solutions that enable professionals in the games, film and television industry to realize their creative vision. Award-winning feature films, television productions and top-selling video games are made using Softimage software. Its flagship product, SOFTIMAGE|XSI, is an extensible 3D animation software solution built on the most modern architecture in the industry and is used by leading media and entertainment companies such as Digital Domain, Ubisoft, SEGA Corporation, CAPCOM, Animal Logic, and The Mill. Other solutions from Softimage include: SOFTIMAGE|FACE ROBOT®, lifelike facial animation software; SOFTIMAGE|CAT™, a complete character animation plug-in; and SOFTIMAGE Alienbrain®, a digital asset management solution for artists; For more information about Softimage, visit www.softimage.com.

About Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid is a worldwide leader in tools for film, video, audio, 3D animation, gaming and broadcast professionals – as well as for home audio and video enthusiasts. Avid professional and consumer brands include Avid®, Digidesign®, M-Audio®, Pinnacle Systems®, Sibelius®, Softimage and Sundance Digital®. The vast majority of primetime television shows, feature films, commercials and chart-topping music hits are made using one or more Avid products. Whether used by seasoned professionals or beginning students, Avid’s products and services enable customers to work more efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar® statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid® Film Composer® system for motion picture editing. For more information about the company’s Oscar, Grammy® and Emmy® award-winning products and services, visit www.avid.com.

E-on Software Announces Vue 7 Product Lineup

DeniseMichael — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:00:34 -0600

INTRODUCING VUE 7 PIONEER AND VUE 7 COMPLETE.

October 17, 2008. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, makers of Vue, the leading solution for natural3D environments announces two new entries in the Vue product lineup, Vue 7 Complete and Vue 7 Pioneer.

Introducing Vue 7 Complete

"Our market research showed that, among independent users who were purchasing our professional solutions, many were doing so for a limited number of highly desirable features, such as, for instance, EcoSystem painting and wind effects. However, other production or workflow oriented features - that they were paying for - were of lesser interest to them", said Nicholas Phelps,president of e-on software.
Phelps adds: "This is why we decided to add Vue 7 Complete to the Vue line. This version of Vue, specifically designed for expert 3D artists and small studios, represents a cost-effective alternative to Vue Infinite".
The following features (among many others) are now available out of the box in Vue 7 Complete: wind and breeze effects, ventilators, EcoSystem painting, 3D export, etc. A detailed feature list and more information will be made available soon.

Vue 7 Pioneer and Vue 7 Bundles
Vue 7 Pioneer is the new entry-level version of Vue. Vue 7 Pioneer supersedes the former Vue Easel.

Newcomers to 3D and casual artists will find in Vue 7 Pioneer all the landscape-creation tools they need to easily create and render amazing images of their own 3D worlds. Vue 7 Pioneer is the perfect introduction to the world of 3D.
Vue 7 Pioneer can be extended with a number of independent modules that add specific functionality to the base product. "We decided to extend our modular approach, because it is a nice way of letting users build the 3D product that best fits their requirements and budget, then gradually add features as their level of proficiency increases", said Nicholas Phelps. By adding modules, users can progressively upgrade all the way from Pioneer up to Complete. Esprit, Pro Studio and Complete represent pre-bundled, cost-effective alternatives to the modular approach of Pioneer.

Vue Product Lineup
The Vue 7 line of products is distributed in 2 sub-lines:
- Vue for 3D Artists and Small Studios, now comprised of Vue 7 Pioneer, Vue 7 Esprit, Vue 7 Pro Studio and Vue 7 Complete.
- Vue for Professionals, comprised of Vue 7 xStream, Vue 7 Infinite and Ozone 4.

Products for 3D Artists and Small Studios
Vue 7 Pioneer
Price   $49.95
Description: Lets 3D-newcomers and casual artists easily create realistic 3D landscapes

Vue 7 Esprit
Price: $199
Description: Serious creative power for 3D artists, with full 3D import capability

Vue 7 Pro Studio
Price: $399
Description: Extended creative power for advanced 3D Artists

Vue 7 Complete
Price: $599
Description: Complete natural scenery solution for expert 3D artists and small studios

Products for Professionals
Vue 7 Infinite
Price: $895
Description: The standalone solution for natural 3D environments. For multimedia and entertainment professionals, architects and graphics designers

Vue 7 xStream
Price: $1,495
Description: The integrated solution for natural 3D environments. For production houses and digital content creators working with other 3D packages

Product availability, detailed pricing and upgrade options (including special offers), as well as a complete comparative chart will be announced soon.

About e-on software
E-on software is the leading developer of high quality solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments. With products specifically targeted for the different market segments, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software professional solutions are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, game, science, education and entertainment industries. E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of the designer's creativity. By investing significant resources into research and development, e-on software is able to deliver cutting-edge technologies that significantly improve usability and workflow. E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon with a European office in Paris, France. Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

Press Contacts
press@e-onsoftware.com
971-327-6008 (US) or +33 1 43 14 28 15 (Europe)

First Look at Disney's The Princess and the Frog Teaser and Visual Development Artwork

DeniseMichael — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:35:14 -0600

The Princess and the Frog is an upcoming animated musical, scheduled for release in 2009, based upon the classic fairy tale The Frog Princess. The Princess and the Frog, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, will be the first traditionally animated feature film in Disney's repertoire since Home on the Range in 2004.

Originally titled The Frog Princess, the film will introduce the first black Disney Princess, Tiana, voiced by Dreamgirls actress, Anika Noni Rose. In the initial plans for the animated feature film, Tiana's character was named Maddy but due to controversy surrounding the film, Disney changed her name to Princess Tiana and changed the name of the film to The Princess and the Frog.

Amid all the controversy surrounding The Princess and the Frog, the film has developed into a beautiful fairy tale with vibrant, breathtaking scenery and enchanting backgrounds. Set in Jazz Era in New Orleans in the 1920's, the mystery of the bayous is brought to life by the hand drawn animation skills of Eric Goldberg, the animation supervisor for this magical Disney film. You can see the trailer for the Princess and the Frog at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/.

The Princess and the Frog brings to life other memorable characters such as a trumpet playing alligator and a love sick Cajun firefly. This unforgettable tale of love and enchantment is written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, creators of the Little Mermaid and Aladdin. The songs and score for this Disney musical are written by Oscar winning songwriter/composer, Randy Newman, a native of New Orleans. Randy is known for his contributions to the Toy Story Films and Pixar hits, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. and Cars.

The Princess and the Frog is scheduled to be released in theaters on Christmas Day 2009.

Relevant Links
Official Sites
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/
Walt Disney Animation Studios
The Princess and the Frog at Walt Disney Animation Studios

Articles & Information
Wikipedia - The Princess and the Frog
ComingSoon.net - The Princess and the Frog

Disney Veteran Eric Goldberg's Character Animation Crash Course! Book Review

DeniseMichael — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:48:28 -0600

Character Animation Crash Course! hit the shelves July, 2008. The book was written and fully illustrated by veteran director, designer, and animator Eric Goldberg making it an absolute must have for anyone interested in animation. Goldberg's drawings pop off the page with life and are filled with inspiration. Character Animation Crash Course! is unique because Goldberg teaches with the assumption that you already know the basics of animation so he can show you how to make your animation come to life with style and fluidity. He doesn't hold back in sharing the wealth of knowledge he's accumulated throughout his 30 plus year career as a professional animator.

Character Animation Crash Course! covers all the fundamentals, yet this book can be a valuable resource to all students, teachers, and veteran animator. Advanced concepts that are required of all animators, such as 3D, traditional paper and stop motion are demonstrated. Principles of character movement; antics, overshoots, settles, squash and stretch, break downs, in-betweening, timing, spacing and all the other knowledge needed for any classical or CG animator are covered in Eric Goldberg's book.

The book is accompanied by a DVD featuring examples of Eric's entrancing, hand drawn animation. These can be viewed real time, or frame-by-frame. Included are X-sheets, in-between charts, circled keys, and underlined breakdowns, which makes it possible to analyze the tests while you read the book which reveals how the principles actually look in movement and why they appear as they do.

Eric Goldberg was born and raised in New Jersey and studied at the Pratt Institute, majoring in illustration. He entered the animation industry in the mid 70's working on Raggedy Ann and Andy for the Richard Williams Studio. Goldberg eventually moved to William's London studio and rose up through the ranks from assistant to director. Eric started his own London based studio in the eighties, Pizzazz Pictures to produce television commercials.

A few years later he jumped on every animator's dream, to work for the wonderful world of Disney! Goldberg moved back across the ocean to California where his first assignment at Disney was no small task; he was asked to animate the Genie in Aladdin where he did a superb job of bringing the Genie to life. A collaboration of Eric's pencil and Robin Williams' vocals created a truly memorable character. Eric was also the lead animator for "Phil" in Hercules in 1997 and the co-director of Disney's Pocahontas.

Goldberg has a rich background in animation; he also served as the director of animation for Warner Bros. 2003 live-action/animated hybrid feature Looney Tunes: Back in Action and also provided the voices of Marvin the Martian, Tweety, and Speedy Gonzalez. He animated the title sequence of MGM's 2006 remake of The Pink Panther, with Bob Kurtz of Kurtz and Friends. Goldberg is currently a supervising animator for The Princess and the Frog, which is scheduled for release in 2009. A fairy tale centered on a young girl named Princess Tiana, the first black Disney movie princess, who lives in New Orleans' French Quarter during the Jazz Age. Once again, Goldberg is breaking new ground in animation!

Character Animation Crash Course! debuted in July at the San Diego Comic-Con and is published by Silman-James Press. Goldberg's animation crash course also contains a forward written by the Oscar winning director of the Incredibles, Brad Bird.

Relevant Links
Animated Views.com - Interview with Eric Golberg about his new book Character Animation Crash Course!
Jim Hill Media - "Character Animation Crash Course !" is a terrific how-to-toon book
Amazon.com - Buy Eric Goldberg's Character Animation Crash Course!

Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs Teaser Trailer

DeniseMichael — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:41:26 -0600

Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs Teaser
Bluesky has recently released a teaser trailer for their next movie, Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which has a release date of July 4, 2008.

Synopsis - from the Ice Age 3 Website
Ice Age 3, to be fully produced in 3-D, is the latest installment to the hit Ice Age franchise, which has grossed more than $1.2 billion around the world.

Ice Age 3 will be directed by Oscar-nominated Carlos Saldanha, who directed Ice Age: The Meltdown and co-directed Ice Age. The film is being produced by Academy Award-winning Blue Sky Studios, the creative force behind all the Ice Age films and the upcoming Dr. Suess' HOrton Hears a Who.

Relevant Links
Bluesky Website
Ice Age 3 Website
Apple - Trailers - Ice Age 3 Quicktime

The Last of Disney's Nine Old Men - Ollie Johnston

DeniseMichael — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:34:22 -0600

Saying Goodbye to an Era in Animation
The passing of Ollie Johnston, the last of Walt Disney's original hand-picked team, the "Nine Old Men," marks the end of an era of animation pioneers who created some of the best animated movies of all time. It is a time of sad transition for everyone who grew up watching Disney films. Ollie passed away on April 14, 2008 in Sequim, Washington at the age of 95.

A tribute was held at Disney’s El Capitan Theatre this past week to remember Ollie Johnston. The presentation was divided into the three areas of Ollie’s life: his home life, his life as an artist and animator, and his lifelong love of steam locomotives. The discussion of Ollie as a master animator was presented by those artists who came to the Disney studio in the 1970s, Glen Keane, John Musker, Ron Clements, John Lasseter, and Brad Bird.

Ollie Johnston is known for his role in pioneering film animation with the Walt Disney Studios creating, drawing, and developing story lines for some of the most endearing characters on the big screen. Ollie was born in 1912 in Palo Alto, California; Ollie attended Stanford University and the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. He studied art at Stanford, where he met Frank Thomas, his lifelong friend and another of the Nine Old Men. They were hired by Disney and paid $17 a week; Frank and Ollie both worked on the first full length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

Ollie's first assignment at Disney was as an in-betweener on the cartoon short, Mickey's Garden. This is an artist that creates the drawings that appear in between the extremes of an action that is drawn by animator. Johnston was promoted to apprentice animator the following year, working under Fred Moore on short features such as Pluto's Judgment Day in 1935 and Mickey's Rival in 1936. Ollie's first full length film was Snow White and Seven Dwarfs followed soon after by Pinocchio.

Ollie's talent along with his humor, sensitivity and acting abilities earned him a spot as proved to have lasting appeal and his skills at communicating these qualities in his drawings earned him a spot as one of Walt Disney's "nine old men." The reference had nothing to do with the age of the men but rather referred to the studio's elite inner circle of animators.

Though his contributions to the short features was important, "The Tortoise and the Hare," even won an Academy Award for Best Cartoon, his fame came from his work on the Disney features, beginning with the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. Ollie helped to create loveable characters such as Bambi and Thumper in “Bambi,” the Three Good Fairies in “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959, Pongo and Perdita in “101 Dalmatians” in 1961; and Mowgli and Baloo in “The Jungle Book.” He went on to work as animator and directing animator on more than 24 feature films including, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Song of the South," "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Lady and the Tramp," and among others.

Johnston was proudest of his work on the film Bambi in 1942, which pushed animation art to new levels with its portrayal of animal realism. Johnston became a directing animator for the film, Song of the South in 1946 and served in that role until his retirement from Disney in January 1978 following work on The Fox and the Hound.

Ollie met his wife of 62 years, Marie at Disney where she worked in the ink and paint departments at both Warner Bros. and Disney from 1940 to 1941. Their first big date was attending the premiere of Fantasia in November, 1940. The couple was married on January 23, 1943 in the chapel at Stanford University. Marie passed away in 2005 at the age of 87.

Johnston was a lifelong railroad enthusiast, a passion he shared with Walt Disney; Ward Kimball, one of the Nine Old Men; and John Lasseter, the director of “Toy Story”. Ollie built a one inch scale steam-driven train and a track that ran around his yard in Flintridge in 1946. In 1968 he bought a seven ton 1901 HK Porter steam locomotive, which he restored and christened the Marie E., after his wife Marie. The full-sized train ran on a half-mile of track at the vacation property that Ollie and Frank Thomas' families shared in the hills in California.

After retiring from Disney studios, Ollie found success as the author of several books on Disney animation written in collaboration with his friend and colleague, Frank Thomas. His first book, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life written in 1981 is sometimes called an animator's" Bible". Other books followed -- Too Funny for Words (1987), Walt Disney's Bambi, The Story and The Film (1990), and The Disney Villain (1993). Ollie and Frank were the subjects of the 1995 documentary "Frank and Ollie," which chronicles their friendship, which began at Stanford, and lasted throughout their careers at Disney and beyond.

Johnston inspired and helped teach a new generation of animators to continue the Disney tradition. The concepts Johnston developed are the basis for animation courses taught in schools today. In 2005 Ollie was presented the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush and First Lady, Laura Bush.

Johnston was the last living member of "Disney's Nine Old Men" — the animators who created an abundance of the great Disney classics. The last of the old men of Disney is gone but their work will long live in the hearts of children and the young at heart. Thanks Guys!

Kung Fu Panda DVD Artwork Revealed

DeniseMichael — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:02:44 -0600

The DVD cover art for Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks exciting animated comedy, is starting to appear on the web and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. The cover art for a bonus DVD titled Secrets of the Furious Five, an all new animated short featuring characters from the original film has also appeared online. Kung Fu Panda hits shelves on November 11th. Details about any other extras included with the set are not available yet.

Kung Fu Panda was released in June 2008 in over 4000 theaters, grossing over 20 million dollars on its opening day and over $60 million for the weekend. This put the film in the number one position at the box office and was DreamWorks Animation's biggest opening for a non-sequel film. Kung Fu Panda also had the third-largest opening weekend overall for a DreamWorks animated film surpassed only by Shrek the Third and Shrek 2. It is the first animated film to make more than 100 million Yuan in Chinese box offices confirming its worldwide appeal. The DreamWorks film has so far made more than $576 million dollars worldwide. It is reported that DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is planning to bring a sequel to this summer's box office hit.

Images from DVD Active

Kung Fu Panda sets itself apart from the rest with eye popping vibrant artwork and features the talented voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Dan Fogler. The film is directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne and the story is by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. Melissa Cobb is the producer along with executive producer Bill Damaschke. Co-producers are Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger and the screenplay is by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Kung Fu Panda received a PG rating due to sequences of martial arts action.

The movie about a panda bear who becomes a kung fu hero has been nominated for the 2008 Teen Choice Award and the 2008 Golden Trailer Award for Family Best Animation Movie. This beautiful animation movie was produced by DreamWorks Animation's studio in Glendale, California and is distributed by Paramount Pictures.

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an independent American animation studio, producing primarily computer animated films. In addition to Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks has produced the animated box office hits Shrek, Shark Tales, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, and the Bee Movie. It was formed by the merger of the feature animation division of DreamWorks SKG and Pacific Data Images, PDI. Originally formed under the banner of DreamWorks SKG, it was spun-off into a separate public company in 2004.

Paramount Pictures is the exclusive distributor for DreamWorks animated films. Paramount is owned by Viacom who acquired the rest of DreamWorks SKG in February 2006. DreamWorks Animation maintains two studios, the original DreamWorks feature animation studio in Glendale, California and the PDI studio in Redwood City, California.

Relevant Links
The official Kung Fu Panda webiste
Dreamworks Animation website
PDI's website
DVD Active Feature on Kung Fu Panda DVD
Pre-order Kung Fu Panda at Amazon.com on DVD and Blu-ray
Watch the Kung Fu Panda Trailer at Apple Quicktime

Disney/Pixar President to Accept First Randy Pausch Prize

DeniseMichael — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:45:45 -0600

The first Randy Pausch Prize from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center will go to Ed Catmull, president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. The Pausch prize is in remembrance of computer scientist and game veteran Dr. Randy Pausch. Dr. Pausch passed away July 25, 2008 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 47; leaving behind a loving wife and three young children.

Pausch may be best remembered in the game community for co-founding the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU and for creating Alice, a non-profit, innovative 3-D environment that teaches programming through storytelling and interactive game-playing.

The ETC plans to present this award annually. Dr. Pausch was a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist and co-author of the best-selling book “The Last Lecture.” The Disney-owned publisher Hyperion has paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish the book about Pausch called The Last Lecture, co-authored by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Zaslow. Randy achieved worldwide fame for his "The Last Lecture" speech on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon. Dr. Pausch conceived the lecture after he learned that his previously known pancreatic cancer was terminal.

Pausch was passionate about the need for computer technologists and artists to work together and usually was successful in making these collaborations of the mind work. In May 2008, Pausch was listed by Time as one of the World's Top 100 Most Influential People. The Randy Pausch Prize will honor entertainment industry experts who embody his spirit and way of thinking.

“We couldn’t think of a more fitting person to receive the first Pausch Prize than Ed Catmull,” said Don Marinelli, also a co-founder of the ETC and is its executive producer. “Eleven years ago, when the ETC was just a vision that Randy and I were trying to make a reality, Ed generously shared with us his thoughts about how to prepare students for the new world of interactive digital media. His suggestions, including the idea of having everyone in the program study improvisational acting, were priceless. He helped us make the ETC a place where right-brained and left-brained individuals can work together successfully.”

Ed Catmull is a co-founder of Pixar, which has produced such films as “Wall-E,” “The Incredibles” and “Toy Story.” He also created two other leading computer graphics research centers, the computer graphics laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology and the computer division of Lucas Film Ltd. These organizations are home to many academically respected researchers in the computer graphics field. Catmull earned a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Utah.

Catmull helped build the RenderMan rendering software which has been in use for over 20 years The Renderman software has been used in 44 of the last 47 films nominated for an Academy Award in the Visual Effects category. Catmull has also had the honor of receiving four Academy Awards, including a Technical Achievement Award, as well as the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for his lifetime contributions in the computer graphics field. He also earned the IEEE’s John von Neumann Medal for his contributions to computer graphics and being a pioneer in the use of computer animation in motion pictures.

Recipients of the Randy Pausch Prize, which includes a $2,500 cash award, will present a lecture at Carnegie Mellon. Catmull will accept his prize and present the Pausch lecture at 9:15 am, September 26, at the site of Pausch’s famous “last lecture', the McConomy Auditorium in Carnegie Mellon’s University Center.

The lecture will also serve as the keynote address for the ICEC, which is being hosted this year by the ETC. The ICEC is the largest and most prestigious conference for entertainment computing, where leading experts present their newest insights, products and demonstrations. In addition to Catmull, speakers include Stan Szymanski, senior vice president of Digital Production and Creative Resources for Sony Pictures ImageWorks; Jesse Schell, assistant professor at the ETC, president of Schell Games and author of the new book “The Art of Game Design;” and Keiji Yamada, director of NEC Corporation’s C&C Innovation Research Laboratories. It is expected that approximately 300 researchers will attend the ICEC September 25 through September 27.

Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a unique mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education focused on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon's 144 acre campus in Pittsburg is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. Considered a global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, California, and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, and Europe.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
-Randy Pausch

Relevant Links
Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center
http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/
http://www.thelastlecture.com/
http://www.alice.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/RandySept18TalkPoster.jpg
http://www.etc.cmu.edu/icec2008/
Randy's lecture on YouTube
Watch ABC's special: Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Wall•E Blu-ray Release Details

DeniseMichael — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:34:54 -0600

To confirm previous rumors, Disney has announced a November 2008 Blu-ray debut for Pixar's 'Wall•E'. The critically acclaimed animated film is coming to Blu-ray with exclusive bonus content and digital copy. Written and directed by Andrew Stanton, WALL-E, which was released June 27, 2008, will be released November 18, 2008 in the US and November 24th in the UK, on Blu-ray as a two disc set, as well as a single disc and three disc DVD configuration.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray release will be additional picture-in-picture commentary, deleted scenes, and a suite of three interactive games. The extras on the WALL-E Blu-ray will also contain all of the DVD bonus features. These are reported to include audio commentary with writer/director Andrew Stanton and a "Lots of Bots" storybook. Also the long awaited animated short feature "Burn-E" based on a character that was briefly seen when WALL-E and EVE fly around the Axiom Starliner will be included in the extras.

Extras also expected are five mini features --"Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds from the Sound Up," "Sneak Peek: WALL-E's Tour of the Universe," "The Pixar Story by Leslie Iwerks," "BnL Shorts," and "Wall-E's Treasures and Trinkets". Disney File Digital Copy which allows you to put a copy of the movie on your computer and other portable devices like iPod and iPhone will be included on the three disc DVD and the Blu-ray set.

WALL-E grossed $23.1 million on its opening day and $63 million during its opening weekend in 3,992 theaters, ranking #1 at the box office. This ranks the third highest-grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film as of July 2008. WALL-E achieved an overall approval rating of 97% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Most of the characters, being robots, do not have actual human voices, but instead communicate with body language and robotic sounds, designed by Ben Burtt, that resemble voices. In addition, it is the first animated feature by Pixar to have segments featuring live action characters. Reviews of WALL-E find it to be a heartwarming but intense animation movie that is also filled with humor. It has been reported that praise for the film has been so overwhelming there is even talk of an Oscar. WALL-E has been nominated for the 2008 Teen Choice Award as the best Summer Comedy Movie.

WALL-E opens seven centuries in the future. Earth is now a wasteland and humans who have evacuated the Earth are now cruising through the sky in a spaceship while the clean-up process has been put into operation. After all the robots sent to clean up the planet are removed, only one little robot remains, WALL-E who runs along on tracks, collecting trash and compacting it into cubes. He creates these into mountainous skyscrapers of trash. WALL-E's life changes forever when a space probe lands and discharges EVE, another robot that was sent to Earth to look for any signs of life.

Academy Award winning Writer/Director Andrew Stanton said he wanted to "show a future in which people had lost track of what matters in life". Stanton won the Academy Award for "Finding Nemo;" Pixar's most lucrative film to date.

Pixar Animation Studios is based in Emeryville, California. To date, the CGI animation studio has earned thirteen Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and one Grammy. Pixar started in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division of Lucas Film before it was bought by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986 and given its current name. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 through an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The merger brought together Disney's historic franchise of animated characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, with Pixar's list of cartoon hits, including the "Toy Story" films, "The Incredibles and the box office hit "Finding Nemo"."

Relevant Links
IMDB Wall•E News
High Def Digest Wall•E Announcement
Movie Web Wall•E
Rotten Tomatoes Wall•E
Daily Mail Wall•E
CNN Money Disney buys Pixar

Blizzard Entertainment's Wrath of the Lich King Cinematic

JenniferYu — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:55:12 -0600

Blizzard Entertaiment
Blizzard Entertainment released their cinematic trailer for the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack yesterday, August 21 2008, to much acclaim from fans around the world.

Storyline
In the cold, harsh northlands...
The Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth. With the armies of the undead and the necromantic power of the plague threatening to sweep across the land, only the mightiest heroes can oppose the Lich King's will and end his reign of terror for all time.

Watch the Trailer
View the trailer in Flash format on Blizzard's website, or download the high resolution version with Blizzard's bit torrent downloader. The trailer is getting a huge response at Digg.com and the eternal question still burns, when is the Blizzard cinematic team going to make a movie? It looks like they are closer than ever, with a quality level that surpasses most feature animation from the big studios. Once again Blizzard sets a high watermark for quality in animation, storytelling, and visuals, leaving fans wanting more.

More about Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment is headquartered in Irvine, California, and was founded in 1991 by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse. You can learn more about Blizzard and their history at Wikipedia.

Oktapodi Wins Best of Show Siggraph 2008

DeniseMichael — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:26:11 -0600

Gobelins, l'ecole de l'image, France

Gobelins' third-year students direct this animated short about two octopi in their comical escape from the grasps of a stubborn and determined restaurant cook.

Visit the official Oktapodi website. If you have some time make sure to check out the making of video. Also visit Gobelins English translated website.

More about Gobelins - A school of visual communication

Our professional and personal environments are filled with images. Whatever the media, presentation format, or technology used, images remain above all the creation of specialists responding to the precise needs of companies from every professional sector.

These kinds of future specialists, capable of analysing the demands of the clients and finding creative as well as pertinent solutions, are trained in Paris, at GOBELINS, one of the schools of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris. The training offered here is done either via full-time courses, parttime apprenticeship schemes, or continuing education programs for adults in the fields of interactive multimedia, animation, graphic and printing communication, photography and video.

Colin Stimpson's New Book

JenniferYu — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:52:12 -0600

Exerpt from John Nevarez blog:

I'm so pleased to announce that my friend and uber-talented designer Colin Stimpson just completed illustrating a new book titled "How to Cook Children". Here are some images from the book. It is available through "Pickabook". Looks absolutely beautiful!!!!

More about Colin from his website:

Colin was born in England in 1964. He studied illustration at the Kingston School of Art where he gained a First Class Honors Degree. At college his work was influenced by Edwardian illustrators such as Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham.

After graduating he worked as an illustrator for a year before entering the animation industry. Having thought the age of animated films had passed he was delighted to be part of the animation boom in the 1980’s. He worked on numerous commercials during his time at Hibbert Ralph Animation before moving to work for Disney in London and Paris.He then gained valuable experience with Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation where he worked as a Background Artist and Art Director.

In 1994 he moved to California to work on “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Colin loved the experience of working at the heart of Disney, the highlight of which was the opportunity to view original artwork from Disney’s classic animated movies. During his time at Feature Animation Colin also worked on “Hercules” and went on to become Art Director for “The Emperor’s New Groove”.

After nearly seven years in the U.S. Colin and his family moved back to England. He continues to work for Disney as a freelance Production Designer.

In the summer of 2004 Colin was approached to illustrate a book called “Poison Diaries” for the Duchess of Northumberland. It proved to be wonderful opportunity for him to return to illustration. He thoroughly enjoyed working with the Duchess and the publisher Pavilion Books.

Colin’s goal is to continue to work in both animation and illustration and he hopes at some stage to develop one of his book projects into an animated movie.

You can view more of the books illustrations at John Nevarez's blog, and on Colin's website.

Wall-E on Blu-ray November 18th

JenniferYu — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:34:42 -0600

From Blu-Ray.com. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring the Pixar animated film 'WALL-E' to Blu-ray on November 18th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Little is know about this release except that it will be a two-disc set with BD-Live interactivity and a digital copy of the film via, what Disney is calling, "Disney File".

No word on what Pixar catalog title might accompany 'WALL-E' on release day. Originally, 'Finding Nemo' was to be released, but has since been delayed until 2009.

Here is the final packaging you can expect to see when the film is released.

Pixar Releases RenderMan Pro Server 14.0

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:49:45 -0600

Pixar Animation Studios has announced full details of the latest version of its Academy Award-winning RenderMan Pro Server software to mark the occasion of RenderMan's 20th anniversary.

RenderMan Pro Server 14.0 introduces significant performance enhancements including accelerated ray-tracing, faster processing of large polygon datasets, optimized hair performance, faster AOV's, and enhanced threading scalability. New core features that facilitate the development of custom tools include a re-rendering mode for accelerated interactive shading and lighting, a new SDK for easy linking, a Python binding for simplified integration, user-defined structures in the RenderMan shading language, (RSL 2.0) an API for reading brick maps, and a new format for point clouds.

RenderMan Pro Server 14.0 also offers full compatibility with 64-bit Windows Vista desktop and 64-bit Windows HPC Server 2008, increasing the choice of available render-farm pipeline configurations. RenderMan Pro Server 14.0 will ship in the fall of 2008.

The product of 20 years of continuous research, development, and production usage, RenderMan with its singular focus on high performance photo-realistic imagery has played a pivotal role in the ongoing revolution in cinematic special effects and animation. Pixar's family of RenderMan products is currently the most comprehensive, dependable, and production tested rendering solution available.

"What began as an interesting artistic exercise is now an indispensable tool," said George Lucas. "It's notable that 20 years after putting its first pixels on the screen, RenderMan remains the benchmark for all rendering technology."

"The fact that RenderMan's REYES architecture can now take full advantage of the performance offered by 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows HPC Server 2008, means that extremely large datasets, impossibly large for 32-bit systems can be rendered. This makes it possible to create images with incredible complexity and raises the bar once again for cinematic imagery and visual effects." said Turner Whitted, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research.

"RenderMan's widespread use among facilities whose reputation depends on creating consistently excellent imagery is telling." said John Knoll, VFX Supervisor at ILM. "RenderMan's extreme flexibility, quality, robustness and scalability, has made it the gold standard for film production."

RenderMan Pro Server 14.0 is compatible with Mac OS X, Linux, Windows XP, Windows Vista 64 bit, and Windows HPC Server 2008. Upgrade pricing from RenderMan Pro Server 13.5 will be available. In addition, Pixar's maintenance program benefits customers with access to ongoing support and upgrades for an annual fee. For more information visit www.pixar.com or contact rendermansales@pixar.com.

HP Introduces World’s First Affordable Color Critical Display

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:21:04 -0600

The HP DreamColor Display features a new liquid crystal display (LCD) that provides a range of more than 1 billion colors in a 30-bit, LED-backlit display. The display is now shipping worldwide for a U.S. list price of $3,499.⁽¹⁾

The display is the result of an unprecedented technology collaboration with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA) and addresses an increasingly critical need for affordable and consistent color accuracy in the animation, game development, film/video post, broadcast, product design and graphic arts categories.

The HP DreamColor display is expected to disrupt the economics of color management, making it possible, for the first time, to have a color-critical LCD display on every desk to make color checks, redesigns and multiple proofs a thing of the past.

“With the new DreamColor display, HP has broken through barriers that have existed in display technology for the past decade,” said Ed Leonard, chief technology officer, DreamWorks Animation. “The new DreamColor display packs a list of significant advances into one amazingly powerful display, enabling an unprecedented level of color management and fidelity in our production process. It’s a digital filmmaker’s dream.

Designed for professionals for whom accurate color management is essential and consumers who seek to use only the best in technology innovations, the HP DreamColor display achieves more than 64 times the colors available on mainstream LCDs. Reds, blues and greens are visibly deeper, blacks are four times darker and whites are adjustable.

The DreamColor display is designed to match the requirements of professional industry standards and includes one-button access to seven pre-sets covering all the important color space standards. The display also includes a night vision interface for darkroom working conditions.

“Until now, accurate and standout color has been out of reach for the majority of digital content creators,” said Jun Kim, vice president and general manager, Displays, Personal Systems Group, HP. “Our DreamColor display advances color accuracy for the world’s storytellers – our most demanding of customers of performance technologies.”

The new HP DreamColor display includes the HP DreamColor engine software, which manages the display to deliver reliable, accurate, easy color, every time, and the DreamColor calibration kit for precision calibration.

The HP DreamColor LP2480xz is the first display to be introduced under the HP DreamColor Technology initiative, a two-year technology collaboration between HP and DreamWorks Animation that aims to deliver accurate color that remains consistent from application to application, device to device, and medium to medium. HP introduced the first printers built on the DreamColor engine in March 2007.

The DreamColor display was announced at the HP Connecting Your World event in Berlin. More information about the display and other products announced at the event is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/connectingyourworld2008.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $110.4 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

You can read more about the HP DreamColor monitor at Gizmodo or visit HP's website to learn more. Add to cart anyone?

Autodesk Maya 2009 - What's New

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:57:47 -0600

What's New

Create breathtaking 3D with Autodesk® Maya® 2009 software. Ten years since its industry-redefining launch, Autodesk Maya software continues to push the envelope, with a feature-packed release. Addressing the increasingly difficult challenges faced today by everyone from one-man shops to chief technology officers managing a complex production pipeline, Maya 2009 delivers a host of new features and enhancements intended to maximize productivity, optimize workflows, and offer new creative possibilities for users in film, television, games, and design.

New Selection Paradigm
Powerful new selection features in Maya 2009—including true soft selection, and pre-selection highlighting—mean fewer mouse clicks, and less trial and error for common tasks.

Improved Modeling Workflow
Maya 2009 delivers intuitive, productive modeling enhancements, including symmetrical modeling with soft seams, a tweak mode for rapid modifications, and a new Merge Vertex feature that enables you to combine parts of a mesh.

Maya Assets
With Maya Assets, complex data can be effectively organized, shared, referenced, and presented. Maya Assets enables you to encapsulate a set of nodes into a container so that they can be treated as if they were a single node from a user’s perspective (selected attributes of interest from the contained nodes can be published to the container). This new feature also supports customized and user-specific views, flexible referencing, and the creation of customized libraries.

Animation Layering
A powerful new animation layering paradigm, built on technology from Autodesk® MotionBuilder®software, gives you more flexibility as you nondestructively create and edit animation. This toolset works with any attribute: animation layers can be blended, merged, grouped, and reordered, and can override or add to preceding layers.

Maya nParticles
Maya 2009 introduces the second module built on the highly acclaimed Maya Nucleus unified simulation framework: Maya nParticles. This newest toolset gives you an intuitive, efficient workflow for simulating a wide range of complex effects, including liquids, clouds, smoke, spray, and dust. It features particle-to-particle collisions, particle and nCloth bidirectional interaction, powerful constraints, cloud and “blobby” hardware display, preset rendering, and dynamic behaviors.

Maya Muscle
Maya 2009 includes the comprehensive Maya Muscle software, which helps you create life-like muscle and skin motion. This toolset allows you to direct muscle and skin behavior precisely, with secondary motion, collisions, wrinkles, sliding, and stickiness.

UV Layout Enhancements
The ability to preserve UVs (when making modeling edits after the fact) as well as new UV unfolding and layout options —including an interactive mode—can increase your productivity by streamlining the otherwise time-consuming task of creating optimal texture coordinates.

Render Proxy
A new Render Proxy feature in mental ray® enables you to replace scene elements with a simple low-resolution mesh, and only load the pre-translated data when required for rendering.

Render Pass Enhancements
A completely updated Render Pass feature set provides precise control over render output, making it easier to optimize integration with compositing packages such as Autodesk® Toxik™ software.

Autodesk Unveils Mudbox 2009

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:30:31 -0600

Some may be unware of the fact the Mudbox has been aquired by Autodesk. The new features, such as real time ambient occlusion, HDRI lighting and depth of field are amazing, and make working with models more like working on a realtime render rather than an openGL preview. The new version also supports higher resolution meshes and realtime painting. It may just become the only solution you need for sculpting and painting, and will definitely turn up the heat on Zbrush this year.

View the Autodesk Mudbox 2009 website and check it out!

Laika's Coraline Sneak Preview

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:03:55 -0600

Laika's Coraline sneak preview on Rotten Tomatoes. Check it out!

Directed by Henry Selick, Coraline is based on a book by author Neil Gaiman. Published in 2002, it won several awards and has been compared to Alice in Wonderland because of its surreal nature. Currently in production by animation studio Laika, scheduled for release February, 2009. Coraline will be the first stop motion film to be shot in stereo.

Laika's offical webpage.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Unveils New Website

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:40:09 -0600

Just in time for Siggraph, Walt Disney Animation Studios (formely known as Walt Disney Feature Animation) has unveiled a new website featuring new projects and gives a nod to the studios rich history as a pioneer in animation.

The website gives a glimpse at their upcoming films, a slate that includes Bolt, Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel, and King of the Elves, and a growing shorts program.

Visit the new Walt Disney Animation Studios Website.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Opens Today

JenniferYu — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:59:49 -0600

Star Wars: Clone Wars opens today, Friday, August 15, 2008. After the theatrical release, the movie will live on as a half-hour cartoon series coming this fall.

Regarding the artistic direction of the film, Lucas says "To me, animation is an art," defending the Clone Wars look. "It's all about design, it's all about style. It's not about making it look photoreal."

The movie was created by Lucasfilm Animation, and Lucasfilm Animation Singapore.

Lucasfilm Animation was founded in 2003, and Lucasfilm Animation Singapore in 2004, as a digital animation studio to produce content for global audiences, including films, television, and games.

Watch the Star Wars: Clone Wars trailer in flash format on Yahoo! Movies, or view the trailer in quicktime format on Apple's quicktime site.

Monster's Vs. Aliens, the Ultimate 3D Experience?

JenniferYu — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:40:44 -0600

Dreamworks Animation's next film, Mosters Vs. Aliens, promises to be an exciting 3D experience. Unlike other 3D movies of late, which are completed in 2D, and then re-made for 3D, this movie has been designed from the ground up to maximize the 3D medium. A clip of the film was shown to audiences at the Autodesk Siggraph presentation monday night, and it did not disappoint. A strong reaction to the new 3D developments create a lot of anticipation for what is sure to be a fun film.

Monsters Vs. Aliens is a computer animated 3D feature scheduled for release March 27, 2009 from Dreamworks Animation. Featuring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, and Stephen Colbert.

View the offical Monsters Vs. Aliens website, and Dreamworks Animation website.

Blizzard's Diablo 3 Cinematic Trailer

JenniferYu — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:56:11 -0600

Blizzard Entertainment has finally revealed the long awaited sequel to Diablo 2, Diablo 3. Check out the stunning cinematic trailer. According to the directors at this year's Siggraph, this trailer is one of the first pieces of work to use their new Maya and Renderman pipeline, and the results look amazing. Check it out by clicking here.

Welcome to CgHub.com Beta!

admin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:38:26 -0600

After over a year of planning, coding, and designing, we decided it was finally time to release CgHub.com to the public. We have so many ideas and features that we are working on bringing to you, but CgHub is your site, not ours, so we hope that everyone who signs up will take a moment to send in feedback, report bugs (we know there will be a few) and let us know what you like, don't like and any ideas you have. If you could make your own Cg website, how would it look? Contact us and let us know!

We hope that you enjoy CgHub.com!