fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content, will take place May 3-6, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany.
Under the leadership of Professor Thomas Haegele, director of the Institute for Animation, Filmakademie, Baden-Wuerttemberg, fmx has now become the central European meeting place for the Digital Community. In recognition of the international status of fmx, the conference language is English. Non-English contributions in fmx/conference will be translated simultaneously. With a lineup of more than 250 expert speakers from around the world, more than 300 lectures, demos, workshops and screenings will be presented about the actual status of Digital Content Creation. Also, with the convergence of games and movies, fmx/06 will explore the impact on vfx specialists and how the two crafts are changing.
The heart of fmx is fmx/conference, which has now been divided into three sections: fmx/essentials about the main points and general development of CGI, fmx/technologies about the latest technical innovations as well as fmx/talks with lectures and panels about animation, VFX, games and production.
fmx/essentials
* The Virtual Humans Forum will now take place annually. Moderated by Chistophe Héry (ILM), experts such as Paul Ekman, father of the Facial Animation Coding System, Mark Sagar (Weta Digital), Paul Debevec (USC) and George Borshukov (EA) will discuss artificial intelligence, autonomous behavior, robotics, avataren, skin rendering and the psychological basis for facial animation
* The global players will present themselves: The Weta Experience (KING KONG), the Sony Pictures Imageworks Special (OPEN SEASON, MONSTER HOUSE) and the French studio Films Action (THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, in co-operation with HP).
fmx/talks with lectures & panels:
* Visual Effects with lectures about THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, SIN CITY and innovations in fire and water simulation.
* Animation with lectures about DreamWorks/Aardmans Oscar-winning WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, Disneys CHICKEN LITTLE, from Pixar and Terrence Masson, ACM SIGGRAPH. Another section will deal with animated commercials.
* Games with Joseph Olin, Academy of Interactive Arts & Science and the most important players in the international games market such as Electronic Arts, LucasArts, Sony Ent. and Streamline. The keynote will be held by Jordan Mechner (PRINCE OF PERSIA), who is directing the filming of his legendary game.
* Production gives an insight into the global market for digital pictures, with the sections European Producers, the prominent TV Buyers Panel with experts from Europe and China, mobile entertainment and Focus on Asia about the animation market in China and South-East Asia.
fmx/technologies:
* Jim Guerard (Adobe), Molly Connolly (HP) and Georges Dolbier (IBM) give their prognosis for The Future of Content Creation
* The revival of stereoscopic films with new technology
* Digital Cinema, from production to projection.
* At the workshop Trends in Visualization Technology, fmx-partner MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg presents scientific and industrial possibilities in visualization in medicine, archaeology, the automotive industry and model making.
fmx/forum Practical Experience
Hands-on training and very precise subject analysis, particularly in fmx/suites from Adobe Systems, Autodesk Media & Ent., Avid Technologies and Softimage. Always at the pulse of innovation are the presentations from students and lecturers who present outstanding projects and pass on user tips.
fmx/talents The Section for Tomorrows Makers
* With the Recruiting event, fmx makes it easier for students, graduates and freelancers to meet and talk to potential employers. ·
* At European Talents, newcomers can pitch their projects to an expert committee of editors and producers with noticeable success. More than a quarter of the projects presented in the last few years have actually been realized. The 2006 jury includes Manuel Christobal (Zinkia Ent.), Susanne Schosser (EM Ent. & Junior TV), Karsten Kiilerich (A. Film A/S), Manuela Schöbel Lumb (WDR), Karen Mitrega (Super RTL), Tamas Liszka (SzimplaFilm Ltd.), Tony Loeser (MotionWorks GmbH), Ulrike Häfner (SWR Kinder & Familienprogramm).
* In the Schools section, organized in co-operation with the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, animation schools from all over the world will present their work and concepts.
Realtime the Future of Animation
* The Realtime Film Festival (in co-operation with the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film) shows the nominations from more than 180 submissions. In the award ceremony on May 4, moderated by the jury chairman Aaron Koenig (Bitfilm Festival Hamburg), the coveted Realtime Awards in the categories Demo, Machinimas, CutScenes, Flash and VJ Visuals will be presented.
* The Realtime Sessions organized by Wolfgang Schmidt-Sichermann gives an insight into Realtime technology. Machinima Pioneer Hugh Hancock will describe the production for his feature-length fantasy film Bloodspell. Curtis Beeson from NVIDIA describes in his keynote Pursuing Film Quality Rendering in Realtime.
* The Realtime Screenings, in the Metropol cinema, are on May 2, before the official opening of fmx/06, during the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film. A selection of films submitted to the Realtime Film Festival will be screened.
fmx/screenings Film Program
In co-operation with the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, Oscar winners and nominees from the categories Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects will be screened as well as the winners from the festival. In addition to this, at fmx/06 you can also see: CAF SIGGRAPH Selection, a retrospective for the 15th anniversary of the Ludwigsburg Filmakademie, the animago AWARD:2006 winners, as well as a selection of the best-of from the Hamburg Bitfilm-festival, the Scene.org Awards and Animation World Network publisher, Dan Sarto.
Partnership fmx/06 and the 13th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film
The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) is the second largest animation festival in the world. That is why a co-operation between the two Stuttgart events with their closely related content is only natural an exchange of speakers as well as fmx/screenings, the school presentations and Realtime Film Festival. This co-operation is underlined by an important shared event: The official opening of the fmx/06 will take place during the International Festival of Animated Film Award Ceremony on May 2, with a keynote speech from Doug Cooper (DreamWorks Animation) and the opening speech by Willi Staechele, Minister of the State Ministry and for European Affairs, Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Tickets can still be bought online or at the conference. A day ticket costs 95 euros, a four-day ticket 185 euros.
Organized by the Institute of Animation, Filmakademie Baden Wuerttemberg, fmx/06 (www.fmx.de) is a non-profit event, funded by the Staatsministerium Baden-Wuerttemberg, MFG Medien-und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Wuerttemberg and FFA Filmfoerderungsanstalt, and supported by many partners from the industry. For fmx/06, the Institute of Animation is cooperating, for the first time, with the French company NX Publishing, which was previously responsible for the program and organization of Imagina. fmx is also supported by AWN, DIGITAL PRODUCTION, Eyes & Ears of Europe, sagasnet, flashconference and other media partners.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
