Conan O'Brien Editors: Apple Final Cut Pro X Is Easy To Use

Save the Weekend!

BAMcinématek Animation Weekend

July 30 - August 1

http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2375

BRAVE teaser trailer

What I think about "Cars 2"

Saw "Cars 2" today, and while it was easily the worst Pixar film I have seen, I noticed that the credits were only about a half to a third of what they normally are. Basically a lot fewer people worked on this "Cars 2" than they have on other similar films. All this to say that while "Cars 2" is a lack luster addition to the Pixar library it also seems that the studio did not invest the same resources in this film that it has in others. Those resources I suspect have been diverted to Pixar's next film "Brave" which from the little information made available thus far looks very ambitious indeed.... I'm stepping down from my soap box now......

Characters from Pixar's next film "Brave"

Merida the Heroine

Queen Elinor

Lord Macintosh

Wise Woman

Read More Here:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/pixar/brave-characters.html

Interactive 360% Pan through Video as it plays......Really Cool stuff

http://www.yellowbirdsdonthavewingsbuttheyflytomakeyouexperiencea3dreality.com/showreel

Poster design for Pixar's next film "Brave" is revealed

Disney and Pixar's latest film Cars 2 opens wide this weekend, but Pixar has just released the one-sheet for its upcoming feature Brave.

Set for release on June 22, 2012, Brave, directed by Mark Andrews, is Pixar's first fairy tale fantasy.

The animated film, which includes a voice cast led by Emma Thompson, Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Craig Ferguson and Kevin McKidd, centers on a Scottish princess Merida (Macdonald) who defies her parents by pursuing archery. In doing so, Merida accidentally jeopardizes her dad's kingdom.

Courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/brave-see-first-poster-pixars-204682

Final Cut Pro X is here

Apple has officially announced announced that Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5 and Compressor 4 are available today on the Mac App Store.

"Final Cut Pro X is the biggest advance in Pro video editing since the original Final Cut Pro," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "We have shown it to many of the world's best Pro editors, and their jaws have dropped."

The newest version of Final Cut Pro offers features such as Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorizes your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption. 

According to Apple's press release, Final Cut Pro X is available today for $299.99 from the Mac App Store. Motion 5 and Compressor 4 are also available today for $49.99 each from the Mac App Store. 

Macworld posts a "First Look" at the software.

Apple's new Final Cut Pro X has been re-designed from the ground up with a radically different approach -- one that acknowledges and uses device and camera data in a manner that has never before been attempted in the video editing environment.

Courtesy of MacRumors:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/21/apple-announces-final-cut-pro-x-motion-5-and-compressor-4-available-today/

Sculptris Alpha 6 available for WIN and MAC as a Free download

http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris/

Studio Killers "Ode To The Bouncer" Music Video

A little weird but fun and kind of contagious. Have a look for yourself.

Fascinating and Scary look at the most sophisticated and deadly computer virus yet created.

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Interesting little short film, and a great look behind the scenes. Well worth a look.

Sayonara from Eric Bates on Vimeo.



Making of Sayonara from Eric Bates on Vimeo.

Courtesy of Cartoon Brew:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/sayonara-by-eric-bates.html

First Ever Nuke Users Group Event June 15th 7pm at The Lab 632 West 28th St 8th floor

The First Ever Nuke Users Group Event! The Foundry and Oceana Digital, with the help of thelab, will be holding our first ever Users Group event! Come check out The Foundry and its products, and help build our community in NYC. Try out some products, let us know what your needs are, network, and learn more about the New York community. We want your input to help build future events the way you want them. The event is completely free, and we will also be providing food and drink for all attendees. The Foundry Users Group Event June 15th, 2011 at 7 pm  thelab NYC 632 W 28th st 8th floor New York, NY 10001 For questions or to RSVP, contact foundryusersgroup@oceana.com          thelab is a multi-disciplined media arts company in New York, assisting clients with their needs in many areas including CG, Color, Retouching, Motion Graphics and Shoot Production.   For more information on thelab, click here!  Follow Us! Oceana Digital is now on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Please click the links below to become part of our social media network and get important news and updates!   Oceana Digital is a recognized leader and systems provider for digital production, post-production, broadcast, new media and high-end digital computing. Oceana represents best-in-class products with a commitment to providing the highest level of customer satisfaction.   Contact us: New York and Eastern Seaboard                212.710.2986 x201

Teaser trailer for "Planes" a straight to video Disney spin off of the "Cars" franchise

First teaser trailer for Planes by animatieblog

I'm sorry Disney, but this just looks like blatant merchandising.

More screen shots of the upcoming Final Cut Pro X set to release this month

Final Cut Pro X must be in late testing as even more screenshots from the upcoming release have been leaked to the internet. Twitter user @MortGoldman2 has posted a sequence of screenshots said to be from the upcoming Final Cut Pro X. The series of over 30 shots shows grabs of various tools/views including histogram, color balance, exposure, color grading and more. 




Apple demoed Final Cut Pro X back in April at the Final Cut Pro User Group Network SuperMeet held in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters' NAB Show 2011 in Las Vegas. At the time, the company announced that Final Cut Pro X would launch via the Mac App Store in June priced at $299

Courtesy of MacRumors
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/12/more-final-cut-pro-x-screenshots-leak-ahead-of-release/

The Universe made out of cubes ( an interesting little music video)

Hooray For Earth "True Loves" (Cereal Spiller Remix) from Cereal Spiller on Vimeo.

Gobelins second year student short films celebrating Annecy 2011

A truly Awesome video game trailer.... "Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet"

Everything Michel Gagné does is worth seeing and owning. His latest project is a video game (which we teased back in 2009): Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, the final trailer for which has just been released. Gagné dropped us this note:


“After 5 years of work including the most intense year and a half of my career, ITSP is finally wrapped up and ready for release. Being a fan of classical animation, I think you should really enjoy looking at the game (and playing, if you’re a player). Five years ago, game veteran Joe Olson and I set out the goal of bringing feature quality 2D classical animation to video games. Working with the amazingly dedicated crew at both, Fuelcell Games and Gagne International, I believe we pulled it off!”

Various videos following the evolution of the game, and a bunch of new screen shots, can be found on Gagné’s blog. Here’s the new trailer:

Courtesy of Cartoon Brew:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/games/new-trailer-for-insanely-twisted-shadow-planet.html

The Physics of Animation

Courtesy of Cartoon Brew:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/physics-for-animation-101.html

Why the Hell not.....

Walk the Dinosaur

Render Test and Turntable PlayBlast....Almost done with this one too :D

Textures.....Check......Almost done

The SPA Studios website has tons of interesting stuff, from concept art to animation to the original pitch for the film "Despicable Me"

Check out the site Here:
http://thespastudios.com/index.html

Building a World with Paint swatches. Very nice little 30 second spot for Sherwin Willams

"For the latest spot in the successful Color Chips campaign, we were asked to celebrate Sherwin Williams’ new partnership with HGTV, introducing a line of curated paint colors that flow together naturally."

View Video Here:

http://www.buck.tv/library/river/river

INTO THE PIXELS (an exhibition of the art of Video Games)

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the Entertainment Software Association are pleased to announce the winning pieces of the 2011 Into the Pixel collection.  These works of art will be unveiled and displayed at this year’s E3 Expo from June 7-9, 2011 in the Concourse Foyer.

Check out the rest of the winners here:
http://www.intothepixel.com/artwork/2011_contest_winners.asp

Some leaked images of what may be the next version of Motion from the new Final Cut Studio X

"A series of screenshots claimed to be from Apple's forthcoming Final Cut Pro X release offer a closer look at the software, as well as a first glimpse at Motion 5 with a new "rigging" feature."


Click on the image to see more.

Courtesy of Apple Insider:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/06/08/images_claim_to_show_apples_motion_5_final_cut_pro_x.html

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

Tim Burton, move over. Stephane Berla is co-directing a Burton-esque animated feature based on Mathias Malzieu’s novel The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (akaThe Mechanics of the Heart), co-produced by Luc Besson. Writer Malzieu is the lead singer of French rock group Dionysos, and will provide the soundtrack for the film. A work-in-progress screening will be held on Friday at the Annecy Animation Festival (which opens today). Here’s an intriguing viral trailer created a few years ago by Berla and Malzieu to promote the original book:

Courtesy of Cartoon Brew: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/music-videos/the-boy-with-the-cuckoo-clock-heart.html

Angel Turntable Playblast

Just a quick playblast test for the animation. Texturing is nearly done. It'll be ready to render soon.

You can view a slightly larger version here: http://justinallenmiller.blogspot.com/

Sneak Peak at Windows 8 (Microsoft might actually be doing something right)....(Maybe)

The fact that this will run on PC's and Tablets across the board seems like a significant step forward to me. Take a look for yourself.

Kung Fu Panda 2 underperforms in the US but does well over seas

The story of Kung Fu Panda 2’s second weekend is much like its first: a success overseas and an underperformer in the US. Around the world, the film took in an estimated $40 million in its second frame, including $1.3 million in the United Arab Emirates, the highest-grossing animated opening in that country. Its overseas gross now totals $125M.

In the United States, it is the weakest performing DreamWorks movie in recent years. The film had a 49% drop in its second weekend, which is steep by DreamWorks standards. According to Box Office Mojo, audiences still avoided the 3-D version ofKung Fu Panda 2 in the second week, with only 44% of viewers choosing the enhanced imagery. Its $24.3 million weekend earnings pushed its domestic total to $100.4 million. For perspective, here are the second weekend drops and grosses for DreamWorks features in the previous three years:

(2010) Shrek Forever After: -38.9% ($43.3M)
(2010) Megamind: -36.7% ($29.1M)
(2010) How to Train Your Dragon: -33.7% ($29M)
(2009) Monsters vs. Aliens: -45.0% ($32.6M)
(2008) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: -44.5% ($35M)
(2008) Kung Fu Panda: -44.2% ($33.6M)

Story Courtesy of Cartoon Brew

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/kung-fu-panda-2-strong-overseas-weak-in-us.html

Character Concept For SRPINT.

Initial character concept I did at Transistor NY for Sprint ID. The design was not approved at the final, but still a kind of interesting process to work with. I will try to post my workflow of this project in nearly future.

Kung Fu Cooking Girls

Wolf Smoke is a small animation studio from the Peoples Republic of China. A kick-ass sample film, Kung Fu Cooking Girls, has just been posted on You Tube with this message:

“We did key frames on paper first then used vector software to do the between frames and color painting. This is the first time that we use this way to do stuff. Over 4000 key frames hand drawing and over 10,000 inbetweens in this movie.”

Courtesy of Cartoon Brew: 

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/kung-fu-cooking-girls-and-other-tales-by-wolf-smoke.html

"China Opens $690 Million Animation Facility Near Beijing"

"The port city of Tianjin's new facility looks to take on foreign cartoons like 'Kung Fu Panda 2."

"BEIJING – China has opened a 4.5 billion yuan ($690 million) animation facility in Tianjin, the port city nearest the capital, Beijing, giving the domestic cartoon industry a much-needed boost just as Kung Fu Panda 2 reminds China how far behind Hollywood it is."

Click on the text  to read more.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

An Awesome look behind the scenes of a clever add for the new VW Beetle

LILY AND JIM - by DON HERTZFELDT

Don Hertzfeldt's third student film from back in 1997 makes it's online debut.

Deus Ex Human Revolution Trailer

"Looks That Kill" a great little trailer made entirely in After Effects.

Read the Cartoon Brew post Here
Visit the Yuki 7 site Here


Looks That Kill - HD from Yuki 7 on Vimeo.