*Maya plug-in creates hand-drawn look for 3D

Cambridge Animation Systems, one of the world’s top 2D animation software developers, has created an Animo Inkworks plug-in for Alias|Wavefront Maya.

The Animo plug-in allows Maya users to assign cartoon materials to 3D scenes and models, creating a look of hand-drawn animation, the Cambridge u.k.-based company says.

The software allows Maya 3D models to be exported into Animo and composited with Animo 2D scenes.

Inkworks gives users the flexibility to choose base, shade and highlight colors; determine the extent of shade and highlights; control sharpness and smoothness between colored regions; animate color and line thickness; and control ink lines.

*PC card allows recording from laptop

digigram, a France-based digital audio equipment manufacturer, has introduced a new line of Type 2 pc cards that it says will enable quality sound recording, mixing, processing and playback on a notebook computer.

Primarily designed for low bit-rate recording such as audio logging, the pcxpocket 240 has four balanced analog mono inputs and a stereo output for monitoring. The pcxpocket 440 has two stereo analog inputs and two stereo outputs.

‘Both of our new pcxpocket cards bring desktop-level, multichannel power to laptop computers,’ says Digigram president Gerard Santraille. ‘With recent improvements in laptop computers they are a choice not just for portable applications, but also for fixed installations with limited space.’

*Pro Tools plug-in understands spaces

kind of Loud Technologies, out of Santa Cruz, Calif., has announced the release of a 5.1 surround panner for Pro Tools.

The RealVerb 5.1 tdm plug-in uses a sophisticated auralization technology to model physical spaces, allowing it to differentiate between room shapes and textures.

The plug-in maps reverberation spatially for surround mixing and allows users to independently place the direct path, early reflections and late field reverberations in the sound-field.

‘This is a tool that gives sound mixers a new creative edge,’ says Kind of Loud founder Jonathan Abel, the lead designer of RealVerb 5.1.

The RealVerb 5.1 Pro Tools tdm software began shipping this month.

*New handle for Electrohome

Kitchener, Ont.-based Electrohome Projection Systems is changing its moniker. The new name, Christie Digital Systems, follows the purchase of the projection systems manufacturer by Christie of Cypress, Calif., which was finalized Nov. 1.

The company will retain its manufacturing facilities, engineering and administrative offices in Kitchener, Christie says, as well as its sales and service locations around the globe.

Parent company Christie is a world leader in the manufacture and design of film projection equipment for movie theatres.

The acquisition gives Christie a step up in the coming age of electronic digital cinema, the company says.

*HD festival coming to North America

The 2000 International Electronic Cinema Festival will take place for the first time on North American soil, festival organizers have announced. The 13th iecf, previously held alternately between Montreux, Switzerland, and Chiba, Japan, is slated to take place May 15-19, 2000 in Portland, Oregon.

The festival, which recognizes achievements in high-definition production, will feature a forum between producers and investors, and one that will address the challenges posed by digital filmmaking.

Organizers expect to bring together top hd producers from around the world to discuss production techniques, funding and content, plus the issues surrounding hd and digital wide-screen, new forms of digital production and new digital data services.