Making of Avatar - Use of Autodesk MotionBuilder

Tata Interactive Happy Planet Claymation

Making of Taare Zameen Par title animation

SIGGRAPH Asia 2009

Siggraph 2009 in Yokohama Japan, looks to be bigger and better than ever before, with the following production and business related sessions organized for the conference. The conference will be from 16th-19th December and the exhibition will be from 17th-19th December. The registration fee will increase after 14th December.
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Graphic Design Contest

“Headphones are a means to listen to music…but it could be so much more! Here is your chance to customize your very own Sennheiser headphones - not only does it inextricably intertwine your music into your life, but will also become an extension of who you are!”

“Sennheiser is looking for talented artists to design eye catching surface prints for their new product HD 418!"PRIZE : 45 designers will win customized Sennheiser HD 418 headphones with their own winning design!WHEN : From 30 June 2009 until 28 August 2009See company Website See the Brief Download the UPDATED Design Template By participating in the contest, you hereby accept the Rules and Regulations

Toon Boom Releases Storyboard Family Service Pack 1

Toon Boom Animation Inc. today announced the release of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for both Storyboard 1.5 and Storyboard Pro 1.5. In addition to several product enhancements and performance improvements, this Service Pack includes:
A new Optimize project command to remove unused elements and compress drawings or flatten all drawings in the project
The possibility to create one-frame panels
The possibility to apply commands and operations to a selection of panels, such as Reset camera, rename scene, Copy and paste camera position.
The possibility to select layers throughout a selection of panels allowing many alterations, such as show/hide, rename and flip.

• New options to export projects in PDF format
• New commands to allow camera positions and moves to be copied and pasted
• New Save Project option for Mac OS X
• New Panel navigation preferences

In addition, the PRO package gets:

• Improved capability to import Final Draft script
• The possibility to optimize the bitmap export
• New options to export to Movie

Current Toon Boom Storyboard 1.5 and Storyboard Pro 1.5 customers can download SP1 for free from toonboom.com, from their My Products page.

Win prizes and be Recognized!

Filmmakers, photographers, animators, graphic designers, register for free on Eyeka, share your creations and participate in video contests and photo contests launched by Brands to win prizes and be recognized!
Eyeka is an online platform that enables brands, agencies and publishers to succeed in their consumer engagement marketing campaigns.
By operating calls for entries against a community of 30.000 quality photographers, graphic designers and video creators, Eyeka enables brands to source tailored, quality user-generated content while ensuring brand control and operating within a defined legal framework.
have in turn the opportunity to be recognized, stimulated and rewarded.EYEKA serves leading brands such as Canon, Lagardere Group, zaOza, Vivendi, L’Oréal, Orange, Vodafone,…

Create Accout at http://en.eyeka.asia/ NOW!

Autodesk Introduces 3ds Max 2010 Software at Game Developers Conference

Autodesk, Inc. has introduced Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 software - the latest version of its 3D modeling, animation and rendering product - offering nearly 350 additional features. The 2010 release provides innovative creative tools: a render-quality viewport display and at least 100 new Graphite modeling tools. It also offers powerful new capabilities that help artists manage complex scenes with greater ease and an unprecedented level of support for software interoperability and pipeline integration. Artists have used 3ds Max to create numerous award-winning entertainment projects, such as "Fallout 3," "Prince of Persia" and "Gears of War 2." "3ds Max 2010 is a feature-packed release that has generated a lot of excitement in the 3D community," said Marc Petit, Autodesk senior vice president, Media & Entertainment. "This version will help artists work faster than ever before, so they can explore more ideas, push boundaries, and create stunning work in less time." Jeff Hanna, senior technical artist at Volition, is a 3ds Max 2010 beta tester. His favorite new feature in the 2010 release is the xView mesh analyzer. "3ds Max 2010 software's powerful xView mesh analyzer will make it easier for us to ensure that every asset our artists create is correct and game ready," said Hanna. "The xView technology can quickly identify missing UVW coordinates, overlapping vertices, or open edges, among other things. With this tool, we won't have to worry about bad game data due to invalid geometry." Key Highlights of Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 Innovative Creative Tools
A new Graphite modeling and texturing system introduces at least 100 additional creative tools and helps artists explore and more rapidly iterate their ideas.
The addition of render-like effects in the viewport display - such as soft shadowing, exposure control and ambient occlusion - offers near photo-real quality for faster decision making. Powerful New Referencing and Scene Management Capabilities
Artists can create robust referencing workflows to help organize complex scenes more easily by treating multiple objects and scenes as a single Container object.
A new Material Explorer helps to simplify the way artists interact with objects and materials, making iterations much easier even in highly complex scenes.
The new multithreaded xView mesh analyzer technology helps to significantly reduce errors by providing in-viewport reporting on several types of mesh. Enhanced Software Interoperability and Pipeline Integration
3ds Max 2010 is the first animation package to integrate mental images' powerful mental mill technology. This allows users to develop, test and maintain hardware-agnostic shaders and complex shader graphs for hardware and software rendering with real-time visual feedback.
Enhanced OBJ support and ProOptimizer technology provide improved interoperability with Autodesk Mudbox software.
Additional support for C# and .NET gives developers the access they need to customize, extend and integrate 3ds Max into their existing pipelines. 3ds Max 2010 also includes all the features offered in the Creativity Extension for 3ds Max 2009, released in August 2008. A list of features in 3ds Max 2010 is available at www.autodesk.com/3dsmax. Videos of the new features in 3ds Max 2010 are available on the Autodesk YouTube Channel. To learn more about the software, also visit Autodesk's 3ds Max blogs by Ken Pimentel, director of visual communications; Shane Griffith, 3ds Max product manager; and Louis Marcoux, 3ds Max application specialist.

Toon Boom Pipeline Selected to Deliver the First Co-Production Project between Canada and South Africa

Toon Boom Animation Inc. today announced that the first co-production deal between Canada’s Cookie Jar Entertainment, a leading global independent producer of children’s entertainment, and South Africa’s biggest animation studio, Clockwork Zoo, will use the Toon Boom pipeline to produce Peter Pepper’s Pet Spectacular. The 26-episode half-hour show is based on the immensely popular book of the same name by the hottest family in children’s content, mother-son duo Betty and Mickey Paraskevas (Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Junior Knoll). Toon Boom has worked closely with Clockwork Zoo and the Cape Film Commission to present the benefits of using field-proven technology to grow the animation industry in South Africa and make it attractive to such prestigious partners as Cookie Jar. "Toon Boom is fully dedicated to making South Africa a viable animation hub and is very proud to see such great players embarking on a common venture. This is a wonderful example of what Toon Boom is committed to do: provide animation technology and know-how to producers and creators as well as facilitate business introductions within the Toon Boom community," shared Joan Vogelesang, President and Chief Executive Officer at Toon Boom.

Corel Digital Art Competition 2009

The Corel Digital Art Competition 2009 is open to entries from the Asia Pacific region. The contest brings together designers, enterprises and organizations for communication and to provide international exposure for today’s up-and-coming artists.
Submission Period

Entries may be submitted at the contest Website until May 31. Vote for your favorite entries at any time.
Judging
The judging period for entries is from 1st - 30th.
Announcement of Winners
Winners will be announced on July 1st. Winning entries will be posted on the contest Website.

Encourage and cultivate talented individuals who use Corel software for creative expression. Promote the use of creative software in art education, to realize the goal of digital art creation. Enable people from different cultures to exchange ideas and broaden their perspectives on design and creativity. Use your creativity in graphic design or video editing to promote your concept, whether it is a product, service or just an idea.
Categories:
1)Graphic Design Including any creative graphic, illustration, package design, poster, advertisement, drawing, etc.(Eligible Software: CorelDRAW®、Painter™、Painter™ Essentials、PhotoImpact®、Paint Shop Pro® )
2)Video EditingIncluding any personal movie, travelogue, documentary advertisement, funny clip or slideshow, etc.(Required editor: Corel VideoStudio®)

(1) Grand Prize – 1 Winner (Prizes valued at approx. US$12,000) US$5,000 Cash Sony VAIO AR790U/B Notebook Canon VIXIA HF10 HD digital camcorder Wacom Cintiq 12WX tablet Corel Software CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X4 Corel Painter™ X Corel VideoStudio® X2 Corel WinDVD® 9 Plus Blu-ray Corel DVD MovieFactory™ Pro 7 Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 Winner's Certificate
for regional prizes and more information visit Corel Website.

Animation.Designmation.com

Designmation provides a place for you to share your artistic ideas and get all the information about design adn animation. The information can be anything from tutorials for a fresher to latest hot-shot news from the pioneers on animation industry all round the world.
Visit http://animation.designmation.com/

Ghajini

Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini, remake of the popular eponymous Tamil film, released at theatres across India on December 25, 2008. Directed by AR Murugadoss (who also helmed the Tamil version) the film also features Asin and Jiah Khan. Despite a few pre-release hiccups, it has received a good opening allover. What added punch to the movie was visual effects work (close to 300 shots) done by Mumbai-based post production major Prime Focus.

Click to watch the making of Ghajini

BYOC LAN PARTY

If you're a gamer, there's no better time than now!
Enjoy this winter season with 48 Hours of non stop Gaming.
Mark your calendars, gear up your rigs, and hone your skills--it's time for BYOC !
Where: Auditorium, Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi.
When: December 20-22, 2008 (Starts Saturday morning ends Monday Morning)
BYOC LAN PARTY will be an action-packed weekend event featuring tournaments with awesome prizes. visit http://byoc.in/6/index.html

Know more about Corel X4

Animation industry to grow at 27% CAGR

The animation industry in India is set to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27 per cent to touch $1,163 million by 2012, according to a Nasscom report. The industry is expected to end this year at $460 million. Custom content development is the largest segment as of today, with an estimated industry size of $187.5 million, followed by animation entertainment at $120 million. Multimedia and web design contributes another $100 million, while education is pegged at $53 million. The animation industry in India is set to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27 per cent to touch $1,163 million by 2012, according to a Nasscom report. The industry is expected to end this year at $460 million. Custom content development is the largest segment as of today, with an estimated industry size of $187.5 million, followed by animation entertainment at $120 million. Multimedia and web design contributes another $100 million, while education is pegged at $53 million. The share of education segment is expected to increase from 11.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent from 2008 to 2012. There is immense demand among students to enroll in long-term, skill development courses to pursue a career in animation. Also, as new technologies keep emerging, there is a constant need for skills upgradation courses. The industry expected to go through consolidation with smaller players being acquired by the bigger companies. There are a total of 85 domestic animation movies that have been announced over the last year and 28 are in different stages of production. Over the next two years, 15 animation movies are expected to be released. Animation companies have also started focusing on building original IP, which they can leverage in terms of merchandising and TV broadcast revenues. The report suggests that the production budget for animated movie will increase from $2 million-$2.5 million to $5 million-$7.5 million. The average realisations for a good animation movie will increase between $7.5 million to $12.5 million. Nasscom expects the gaming industry to grow at a CAGR of 50 per cent to touch $1060 million by 2012. The sector will end this year at $212 million. Mobile companies will undergo structural changes to address production slippages, falling revenues and the higher revenue shares retained by telecom operators (up to 65 per cent). Better quality mobile games and enhanced skill sets will result in a rise in mobile game outsourcing deals. Higher revenue shares, third-party contracts and end-to-end development of mobile games will lead to better revenue realization for mobile game developers. The release of locally developed games with international appeal will open up new target markets for Indian mobile gaming companies. Development of domestic localised PC games is expected to pick up. Due to stringent antipiracy measures and a reduction in the affordability gap, the sale of legitimate PC games is expected to increase. Outsourcing deals, especially in the end to end production domain, is expected to rise significantly.

Autodesk Signs Agreement with Avid Technology to Acquire Softimage

Acquisition to Accelerate Autodesk’s Games Strategy; Complements Digital Entertainment and Visual Communications Offering; Lets Artists Choose their Passion.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Oct. 23, 2008 — Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) and Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Autodesk to acquire substantially all of the assets of Avid’s Softimage business unit for approximately $35 million.
Softimage was founded in 1986 by Daniel Langlois and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Softimage develops 3D technology for the film, television and games markets. Its flagship product is SOFTIMAGEXSI, an extensible 3D animation software solution used by leading media and entertainment companies, including Digital Domain, Ubisoft, SEGA Corporation, CAPCOM, Animal Logic and The Mill. Autodesk Media & Entertainment provides animation, visual effects, editing/finishing and color grading solutions for the 3D market, including entertainment and design industries.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Autodesk intends to continue developing and selling Softimage’s core product line, while integrating certain Softimage technology into future versions of Autodesk solutions and products. Autodesk plans to acquire and continue developing the following Softimage products:
• SOFTIMAGEXSI: Including XSI Essentials, XSI Advanced, XSI Academic, XSI Mod Tool and the XSI software development kit. XSI is production-proven 3D animation software for games, film and television. It offers a complete 3D modeling, animation, rendering and development environment for visual effects and custom tools.
• SOFTIMAGEFace Robot: A complete software solution for easily rigging and animating 3D faces. Face Robot enables studios to create life-like facial animation at incredible speeds.
• SOFTIMAGECat: This advanced character animation system is a plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max software. It is intended to be integrated into the 3ds Max product line.
• SOFTIMAGECrosswalk: This interoperability solution is intended to be integrated with Autodesk’s own interoperability technology.
For further information please visit www.autodesk.com/softimage
Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation.

The potential of the Indian Animation and Gaming Industry

Animation, simply put ‘the fine art of taking a pencil for a walk’, has today reached stupendous dimensions in its maturity and emerged as a niche industry clocking revenues of USD 80 Billion in FY 2007-08. The potential of the Indian Animation and Gaming industry is touching revenues of USD 550 Million in Animation and USD 161 Million in gaming in FY 2007-08, at a time when the world is looking towards Asia as an upcoming provider for this segment.
Few can argue against India’s potential as an Animation and Gaming hub, especially against today’s backdrop of a fast developing sector, the penetration and potential for this segment - both for cinema and television in India is very encouraging. It promises new developments in gaming and new surprises with screening in 3D and making of Hollywood VFX blockbusters.
With an objective of creating a platform to discuss, debate and preempt industry trends, NASSCOM is pleased to announce the 6th edition of its ‘Animation & Gaming India 2008’ from November 6-7, 2008 at the Hyderabad International Convention Center, Hyderabad. Over the years this event has become a premier event for this emerging sector in India, attracting the industry leaders, analysts, observers and media.
This is the opportunity for an organization to participate in one of the biggest animation events, spread over two days. Participants get a chance to interact with luminaries from the industry, listen to experts debate on topical issues and trends, witness interesting case studies and see the best of animation and gaming previews, in addition to introductions to the latest animation and gaming technologies, most of the time before it is out in the market.
The target audience for this event includes animators, producers, program directors, broadcasters, production units involved in media & entertainment, art & design schools, IT companies, investors, VC’s, government officials from Films Division/ Information and Broadcasting Departments, media etc. It will provide an ideal platform for Indian animation, gaming, electronic media, mobile and console players to participate at the event and demonstrate their competencies, strengths and capabilities.

Prime Focus' VFX adds zing to Bisleri TVC

Gone are the days of bottled mineral water. With new entrants banking on the 'Himalayan origin' factor, Bisleri has released its latest 40-seconder that positions the brand as mountain water, courtesy Prime Focus, Ambience Advertising and White Light Motion Picture. The ad escaped the normal routine of storyboard-to-post production and was treated more like a piece of art. The director's vision filled in the gaps. Reading straight out of the duo's brief to Prime Focus: "Treat water like the elixir of life. The ad must go through the stages of birth, assimilation, generation, celebration and return to source. Use graphics as a connect between traditional beliefs and today's newer value system".Only the water body by the mountain and the droplets are CG, rest of the water movements were shot and further enhanced. Prime Focus Senior Manager (Business Development), Kunaal Saigal added, "A lot of experimentation went into making this commercial as the script was open ended. There were days when we thought we have wrapped it up, but the very next day we would go back thinking no, let's add something to it."The important dance and gushing water sequences were shot at high frame rates 500 or 1000 fps. "We now have a huge library of shots of water," added Jayant, "as water in every form, droplets, bubbles, flowing was either used as the main focus or in the background."
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Autodesk Animation Academy

Autodesk® Animation Academy 2009 is an immersive, curriculum-based offering that delivers four powerful 3D applications for one affordable price. The bundle includes full versions of Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2009, Autodesk® Maya® Unlimited 2009, Autodesk® MotionBuilder® 2009 and Autodesk® Mudbox™ 2009. Students can create engaging 3D digital imagery, visualizations, scenes, and visual effects with 3ds Max or Maya and then easily animate and preview animations in real time with MotionBuilder and create detailed models with Mudbox. Introduce Autodesk Animation Academy to your classroom and watch your students reach their creative potential.
Autodesk Animation Academy includes a modular curriculum designed to help educators captivate students. Educators can expose them to the creative―and fun―aspects of animation technology while reinforcing a variety of core academic subjects. The innovative, project-focused Animation Academy curriculum encourages teamwork, planning, and thoughtful execution. Students can use the visual communication toolsets in 3ds Max, Maya, MotionBuilder and Mudbox to explore specific topics and present what they have learned. This standards-based, cross-discipline curriculum was developed specifically for secondary institutions by experienced educators and technical experts.
Autodesk Animation Academy Brochure (pdf - 119Kb)
Visit their website

Anil Ambani group, Spielberg to set up $1.5 billion studio

India's Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and celebrated filmmaker Steven Spielberg are setting up a new studio in Los Angeles under a $1.5-billion project that will make films for global audiences, sources familiar with the negotiations said Saturday. The mega deal - which will help Spielberg break away from DreamWorks, now owned by Viacom's Paramount Pictures - will be funded by a mix of equity and debt, and also involve leading investment banker JP Morgan Chase, the sources added. As a combination, Spielberg and Snider are regarded as the most successful filmmaking duo in history. DreamWorks was formed with much fanfare in 1994. But after an uneven run, it was sold to Viacom'a Paramount in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Since then, Spielberg and his team were eager to part ways with Paramount. According to sources, the Anil Ambani group and Spielberg decided to join hands both for the financial stability of their new venture and convergence of their ideas for the world of media and entertainment. Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment had announced in Cannes in May that it would make a major foray into Hollywood and develop projects in partnership with some best-known actors like Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and George Clooney. This marked the biggest foray of an Indian entity in Hollywood's motion picture industry. Thirty films are likely to emanate from Reliance's co-financing and 10 will go into production soon, company officials had said. The entertainment business of the Anil Ambani group has interests in movies, FM radio, music, sports, gaming, Internet and mobile portals, direct-to-home TV, Internet TV and Mobile TV. The group, which also has a major presence in mobile telecom, financial services and energy sectors, had acquired in 2005 Adlabs Films Ltd, one of India's the largest entertainment companies with interests in film processing, production, exhibition and digital cinema. The group recently acquired 250 screens in US and 51 screens in Malaysia. Paramount, meanwhile, said it will not delay matters for Spielberg and his team, including DreamWorks partner David Geffen and chief executive Snider, in forging the pact with the Indian group.