Some of the world's leading animation technology companies are coming to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) for the 3rd annual Technology Forum, a series of panels and presentations showcasing cutting edge animation software. The Technology Forum takes place on Friday (Sept. 21) and Saturday (Sept. 22) at the National Arts Centre, Fourth Stage.
"Animation software and hardware is advancing rapidly and our Technology Forum gives producers and artists the opportunity to discover the latest tools and techniques," said OIAF Technical Director André Coutu. "This is the technology that will be used to make tomorrow's animated films, television shows and videogames."
On Friday, Marlon West of Walt Disney Animation Studios will present Keeping It Old School: Looking Like the '40s in a Digital Age. West, the Visual EFX Supervisor and Artistic Coordinator for HOW TO HOOK UP YOUR HOME THEATER, takes us behind the scenes of this new Goofy short and explains how the filmmakers used a paperless system to recreate the look of the 40's Goofy classics.
A panel of software gurus will look at how animation technology has evolved in order to meet the constant needs of today's artists at The Evolution of Animation Software. Panelists will share their personal history with software development and highlight the new direction software is headed toward. Featured panelists include Kim Davidson from Side Effects Software, Erik Goulet from Softimage and Steve Bowie from MyToons.com.
On Saturday, the Technology Forum presents Visual Effects and the Role of the Animator, a sequel to last year's panel on the role of the animator in the gaming industry. The panel will discuss what visual effects animation is and why one would want to work in that field. Panelists Larry DeFlorio (Rainmaker Animation) and Lon Molnar (Intelligent Creatures) will focus on the changing role of the animator in visual effects. Specific topics that will be covered include the increased use of motion capture, "invisible effects" animation and what new skill sets animators should have. This will be a crash course about vfx and what makes it different from more traditional animation jobs.
OIAF 07 will be held Sept. 19 - 23 in Ottawa. Events at the OIAF include screenings, panels, workshops parties and the Television Animation Conference. The OIAF is a leading competitive animation film festival, featuring cutting edge programming, catering to industry execs, trend setting artists, students and animation fans. For more info, please visit www.animationfestival.ca.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
