Archive for the ‘Animation & VFX’ Category

Pixar Reveals Cars 2 Plot

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
Pixar's Cars 2

Pixar's Cars 2

September 11, 2009 – Empire reports from Disney’s Leicester Square presentation that John Lasseter has given plot details to CARS 2. The world trotting adventure will see Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his pit crew, now led by Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), traveling to five different countries competing in various styles of racing from Formula One to rally driving. Mater will become the focus of the story where the tall-tale telling tow-truck gets mixed up in a Hitchcockian case of mistaken identity in which he saves British secret agent Finn McMissile (an Aston Martin).

RATATOUILLE producer Brad Lewis is directing CARS 2, which is set for release in summer 2011.

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King of the Hill Finale

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
King of the Hill

King of the Hill

King of the Hill is a long standing animated comedy that has been airing on the FOX network for 13 seasons.  Sunday, September 13th, 2009 marks the end of the 14th season which will close the chapters of the southern Texas family. The finale will feature guest stars Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew McConaughey, Meryl Streep, Bernie Mac, Reese Witherspoon, Pamela Anderson, Willie Nelson, Sally Field, Jason Bateman, Renée Zellweger, Johnny Knoxville, No Doubt and the Dixie Chicks.

King of the Hill has been canceled by FOX as a result of low ratings. The Cleveland Show, a spin-off series of Family Guy, will be replacing King of the Hill’s time slot. FOX plans to debut The Cleveland Show on Sunday, September 24, 2009. With King of the Hill now eliminated from FOX’s “Animation Domination” sunday night lineup, this makes the only non-Seth MacFarlane series The Simpsons.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed watching King of the Hill. It’s sad to see it get canceled, but we will always have our copies of King of the Hill on DVD! With that said, I’m excited to see what new animated comedies FOX will bring us on “Animation Domination” sunday night lineups.

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Shawn Kelly Gives Advice for Eye Animation

Monday, September 7th, 2009
AnimationMentor.com Character

 

Shawn Kelly, Senior Animator at ILM and Animation Mentor Co-Founder, got a few questions from aspiring artists asking how to successfully animate eye-movement and eye-brows. According to Kelly, people generally see the movement of the body, then the eyes, then the rest of the animation.  I thought this was a great resource for anyone who is in the animation industry or working towards getting into the animation industry.  There truly is an art form to animating eyes.  If you make them dart too much they will seem unreal and if you don’t make them dart enough they’ll seem unreal yet again.  Take a read through this interesting article.

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No-Glasses 3D? It’s True!

Sunday, September 6th, 2009
No More RealD 3D Glasses?

No More RealD 3D Glasses?

September 3, 2009 — The unthinkable is happening.  Just when RealD 3D Glasses were becoming the “next big thing” for moviegoers, Alioscopy, a 3D visualization technology provider, decided to throw us a curve ball! Announcing their partnership with Autodesk®, we can expect to see them at IBC 2009 showcasing the Autodesk® Media & Entertainment software creating and compositing autostereoscopic 3D computer generated content for play-back on Alioscopy LCD displays.

What does this mean for the RealD 3D technology?  It’s probably here to stay for a few more years, at least.  With Alioscopy’s LCD displays still new, the RealD 3D technology has been perfected and is being used today in a lot of new films.  RealD 3D technology will be used in many upcoming films. One of these films is Shrek 3 which is planned for release to theaters in 2013.

Alioscopy’s press release stated that the industries this new technology would be great for included retail, hospitality, medical visualization, serious games and 3D games, casinos and gaming, theatre lobbies, trade shows and exhibitions, concerts and events. Take note that feature films were not listed.  It looks like RealD 3D glasses are here to stay…for feature films anyway.

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