Special Event: SIGGRAPH

Thisweek at SIGGRAPH 2002 (Booth #8062), Discreet announced new productreleases for its visual effects and compositing systems inferno 5,flame 8 and flint 8. According to Discreet, these latest versionsinclude software architecture modifications designed to improvepost-production workflow by offering digital artists increasedfreedom, flexibility and speed. New features include support formixed resolutions, enabling artists to combine various film, video,graphics and other multimedia formats within one project at any

Animation software developer face2face animation will be at SIGGRAPH to demonstrate its new streaming MPEG-4 animation player, the face2face Player. The face2face Player enables animators to output streaming facial characters over any wireless network or device, including laptops, digital cell phones and wireless PDAs. face2face has announced that its demonstration of the Player will be on a laptop with a wireless cellular modem, streaming high-quality facial animation with perfect lip sync. "This is the era of everyday animation.

Venice, California-based Digital Domain, the visual effects company responsible for digital effects in recent blockbusters like THE TIME MACHINE, LORD OF THE RINGS, X-MEN and ARMAGEDDON, will announce a new software venture at SIGGRAPH 2002. According to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, Digital Domain will be offering a public version of its proprietary compositing tool, Nuke. Digital Domain hopes to compete with Shake, the popular compositing software owned by Apple.

Bionatics has released its plant simulation and animation plug-in natFX v1.5 for 3ds max, and will present it at SIGGRAPH 2002 (Booth #20106). natFX v1.5 now supports 3ds max's native wind features, and offers increased control and quality of textures with new Texture Manager function, adjustable level of detail of both 3D and 2D elements and greater export flexibility. natFX v1.5 for 3ds max is available with a minimum package of 10 plants and will be offered at a retail price of US$990. For more information visit www.bionatics.com.

Side Effects Software is making its animation software more accessible to users with the launch of the Houdini Apprentice Program. This program includes the Houdini Apprentice Edition, a non-commercial version of the latest Houdini family of products. Apprentice users can run the complete family of products which includes Houdini Master, a full-featured animation and effects package, Houdini Select, an entry-level 3D module, and Houdini Halo, a stand-alone compositor.

If you've heard rumors that the San Antonio Convention Center has been washed away by pesky flooding, pay no heed! While the record rainfall has caused flooding in the San Antonio area, downtown San Antonio where SIGGRAPH 2002 will be held 21-26 July has been unaffected. SIGGRAPH 2002 attendees and exhibitors will be able to enjoy their usual SIGGRAPH activities. To see a current picture of the riverwalk and the convention center go to the SIGGRAPH Website.

Digital content creation systems provider BOXXTechnologies is now featuring the AMD Athlon MP processor 2100+ withQuantiSpeed architecture and Smart MP technology in its 3DBOXX R1series of workstations and the RenderBOXX R series of renderingsystems. Available in dual processor configurations running MicrosoftWindows 2000 or Linux, the 3DBOXX R series includes enhanced systemarchitecture and accelerated graphics capabilities, and utilizes thenew NVIDIA Quadro4 XGL graphics adapters with NVIEW multidisplay

Vinton Studios has created a computer animated short that will screen at the opening of the SIGGRAPH 2002 Animation Theater. WASHED UP stars a scruffy looking beach bum who is shown getting spruced up for his trip to Texas for SIGGRAPH 2002. He puts on his cowboy hat and boots, and even a Texas star embossed pocket protector. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that he is actually stranded on a desert island and in his haste has forgotten the most important part of his outfit -- his pants.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Animation Dreams VII: Awake to an Exhibition: Monday, February 04 - Wednesday, February 13, 2002, New York, New York USA . . . Creative Career Symposium 4: Saturday, February 09, 2002, Portland, Oregon USA . . . LA SIGGRAPH Presents: Small Shops, Big Punch: Tuesday, February 12, 2002, North Hollywood, California USA . . . An Evening with PIXAR: The Making of Monsters, Inc.: Monday, February 25, 2002, San Francisco, California USA . . .

Discreets combustion 2, the latest version of its award-winning paint, animation and 3D-compositing software is now available. Unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2001, the combustion 2 software features were designed to provide artists with new capabilities and improved performance, all within an efficient workflow environment designed to make complex visual effects creation faster and simpler. combustion 2 provides new multi-format project capabilities for film and video, including 64-bit image-processing, advanced film grain tools and color Look-Up Table (LUT) management.

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week:

- Science Visualization and Educational Animation at SIGGRAPH 2001:The Next Big Deal.Susana M. Halpine explores the underrated areas of science visualization and educational animation, which were hot topics at this year's SIGGRAPH.