Vicon has announced the latest in motion capture technology - Vicon 8Rt. The final reduction in the production pipeline has been achieved with the Vicon 8 system, producing accurate optical motion capture in real-time. This marks a significant breakthrough in motion capture technology as Vicon 8Rt is not a previewer, but actually produces full body motion capture data without the wait.
Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd., a new animation production studio, has purchased 11 licenses of Cambridge Animation Systems' Animo 2D software. All the systems run under Windows NT.
"We selected Animo because it satisfies all of our digital animation needs, whether for commercials, television series or feature films," says Bill Dennis, president and CEO of Toonz Animation.
Commotion, the award-winning visual effects application, is now available for Windows NT. Commotion version 2.1 marks Puffin Designs' first release for Macintosh and Windows NT. This highly anticipated release is a direct result of requests from thousands of NT-based effects artists who wanted to use Commotion on their platform of choice. Both versions are functionally and visually identical, enabling users to work in either environment without having to find work-arounds for interface or workflow differences.
3Dlabs, Inc. announced that NEC Corporation has chosen the 3Dlabs Oxygen GVX1 graphics accelerator as the mid-range offering for the NEC Windows NT Express5800/53Wc workstation series. Featuring Pentium III 550Mhz processors, the NEC Express5800 workstation line includes a wide range of products from entry-level to high-end systems that deliver outstanding graphics performance needed by most the complex design and engineering 3D applications.
Actor Leonard Nimoy, who has gained worldwide recognition portraying the legendary character Mr. Spock in the science fiction juggernaut "Star Trek," narrates the new feature length documentary film "The Story of Computer Graphics."
"The Story of Computer Graphics" which premiered Sunday, August 8th at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, will also be shown during SIGGRAPH 99 in Room 501 of the Los Angeles Convention Center.Screening times are: 9-12 August at 9 am, 10:45 am, 12:30 pm, 2:15 pm and 4 pm; and 13 August at 9 am, 10:45 am and 12:30 pm.
REALAX introduces new modules and features of its powerful 3D-realtime tool RXscene.
The widely recognized and extremely easy to use 3D-tool allows the quick andsimple creation of 3D-realtime simulation. Existing 3D construction data can beimported in RXscene, combined with computation data using the RXscript-API,and simulated in realtime. The virtual test environment is ideally suited forDigital Prototyping and Digital Mockup (DMU). Different camera positions
Sierra Design Labs will be demonstrating its industry leadership in switchable multi-format high definition and standard definition video disk recorders. Ultra SCSI and Fibre Channel connectivity, as well as 1080P /24 support will be shown for the HD1.5Plus. The new HDCAM-compatible HD270, developed in conjunction with Sony, joins the Panasonic HD D5-compatible HD360 disk recorder in Sierra's family of versatile HD/SD recorders.
Cambridge Animation Systems will show Animo 3 at SIGGRAPH. This latest version of Animo implements a 3D backbone into the current Animo 2D system, allowing seamless integration of 2D and 3D animation. Animo 3 enables users to load animated model and scene files from 3D Studio MAX and Alias|Wavefront's Maya. Within Animo 3, 3D elements can be translated, rotated and scaled using familiar 3D tools as well as the existing 2D tools and filters; coloring effects can be controlled; and 3D models can be animated with the 2D components.
AvatarME wants YOU! is the battle cry of London-based AvatarMe Ltd. at this year's Siggraph in Los Angeles. Unveiling its revolutionary AvatarBooth, the company plans to incubate hundreds of 3D avatars from willing public at the exhibition.
Leading the delivery of interoperable Storage Area Networks (SAN) to the marketplace, DataDirect Networks Inc. has introduced SANware, a series of certified SAN application suites that incorporate hardware, software, professional services and support to solve customers' unique storage management needs. The company's SANware Application Suites were developed as a turnkey solution to address end-user requirements of proven and tested SAN solutions that minimize system downtime and ensure smooth implementation.
Viewpoint Digital will be showing its new Premier Catalog and updated Library Program. In addition, Viewpoint will be featuring its new textures library as well as the popular Model Bank, and will also be demonstrating its Interchange 3D file format translator. For more information, contact Viewpoint Digital at www.viewpoint.com or via phone at (800) DATASET.
What changes can we expect to come about in the relationship between humans and large data repositories? How will intelligent environments influence our access to information? Is there really a clear boundary between the artificial and the real? And finally, how will the latest innovations in Information Technology come together to help us turn information into knowledge that is useful and meaningful?
Crater Software, a Spanish-Canadian software development collaboration, announced plans to launch a series of "satellite" versions of CTP, the company's 2D animation software, at this years' Siggraph. The launch of four CTP Satellites - Paint, Scan, Render and the already-released Pencil-test - will coincide with the release of CTP Version 1.3, also being showcased at the show.
The Ottawa School of Art (OSA) has launched an innovative, structured program teaching basic animation skills. The Animation Certificate Program has grown from courses run over several years.
The Ottawa School of Art was founded in 1879 and incorporated in 1976 as a non-profit charitable organization. School focus is high caliber visual art training.
Crater Software, a Spanish-Canadian software development collaboration, announced plans to launch a series of "satellite" versions of CTP, the company's 2D animation software, at this years' Siggraph. The launch of four CTP Satellites - Paint, Scan, Render and the already-released Pencil-test - will coincide with the release of CTP Version 1.3, also being showcased at the show.
Several films produced by RIT students will be screened at this year's SIGGRAPH conference including 'Head Quarters' by Jason Donati, 'Evolution in the First Person' by Elouise Oyzon and 'division' by George Nadeau. RIT will have an alumni, students, faculty and friends reception on Tuesday evening. Marla Schweppe, Duane Palyka and Johnny Robinson, all of the School of Film and Animation will attend the conference. In collaboration with the RIT School of Printing, students in the RIT School of Film and Animation have produced flipbooks again.
It was a rough weekend for Warner Bros.' newly released THE IRON GIANT at the US boxoffice. THE IRON GIANT, directed by Brad Bird, was the first 100% animated film to be released since June's SOUTH PARK, but despite nearly unanimous praise from critics and fans, it finished a lackluster ninth with a gross of just $5.7 million.
Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., announced the worldwide availability of 3D Studio MAX Release 3 software, the latest release of its award-winning, professional, 3D modeling and animation solution designed specifically for Intel architecture and Microsoft Windows NT. Shipping with the 3D Studio MAX R3 software is a free update to Character Studio" Release 2.2. With an enhanced collaborative workflow environment and powerful new renderer, 3D Studio MAX supports hundreds of third-party commercial and free plug-ins, many of which will be available for 3D Studio MAX R3 software today.
Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., announced the worldwide availability of 3D Studio MAX Release 3 software, the latest release of its award-winning, professional, 3D modeling and animation solution designed specifically for Intel architecture and Microsoft Windows NT. Shipping with the 3D Studio MAX R3 software is a free update to Character Studio" Release 2.2. With an enhanced collaborative workflow environment and powerful new renderer, 3D Studio MAX supports hundreds of third-party commercial and free plug-ins, many of which will be available for 3D Studio MAX R3 software today.
The 26th International Conference on Computer Graphics and InteractiveTechniques is starting this Sunday, August 8 in Los Angeles. Visit theSIGGRAPH Schoolhouse and its Electronic Library, a meeting place andresource space, which offers attendees reference material and resourcesfor educators and students. As a leading publication in the animationfield, Animation World Magazine will be offered in the ElectronicSchoolhouse Library for on-line reference. Printouts of individualarticles will be made available to students by request.
Among the events at this year's ComicCon International, the US's largestcomic book convention, will be a celebration of the AnimationRenaissance. Chris Prynoski, creator of the new series MTV DOWNTOWN,will host a panel discussion with three of the show's writers, andpresent an episode from the series. The convention takes place Thursday,August 12 - Sunday, August 15 in San Diego, California, USA. For moreinformation visit www.comic-con.org.
Retired Disney veterans Bill Matthews and Ken Southworth will be thespecial guest instructors at VanArts (Vancouver Institute of Media Arts)in August...
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include CartoombriaInternational Animation Festival in Italy, and the San FranciscoIndependent Film Festival. The Calendar of Upcoming Events is aconstantly changing reference source for what's happening around theWorld of Animation. Use it to stay abreast of animation relatedactivities across the globe. If you know of animation related eventsthat we don't have listed, send an email with the pertinent facts toannick@awn.com. We'd love to publish your event information for free!
AWN recently launched the "Career Coach," a new monthly column by PamelaThompson, a noted authority on jobs and recruiting within the animationand visual effects industries.
AWN recently launched the "Career Coach," a new monthly column by PamelaThompson, a noted authority on jobs and recruiting within the animationand visual effects industries. Pamela's new column is writtenexclusively for AWN's Student Corner, and offers practical advice on keyissues related to jobs, recruitment, education and training, as well as
This week's comic is about X-ray baggage inspection in a US airport...
