Supply for the animator demand

Two Toronto schools have added new computer animation courses to their calendars.

Centennial College’s Bell Centre cybercampus has a new certificate program in animation and special effects on tap. It covers 2D and 3D animation, video effects, compositing, and creative elements such as storyboarding, plus a focus on the business issues.

The skeleton curriculum was sent to C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, ilm, Disney Interactive and others for preliminary feedback and several u.s. majors have expressed interest in the internship portion. The student teacher ratio is 10 to one, and working professionals will be on the teaching lineup.

A dozen higher end Indies, an Onyx and Indigo Two, plus a full broadcast suite will be harnessed for the program. The software palette includes the full suite of Alias and Wavefront packages, and Xaos’ Pandemonium and ntitle.

Industry placement is included in the 32-week course, which comes with a ‘market value’ tuition fee of over $15,000. It’s geared to applicants with exposure to a production environment, and some basic compatible skill sets. Nate Horowitz is the program co-ordinator.

*Harold Harris, creative director of TOPIX Computer Graphics and Animation, helped put together the new computer animation in post-production program at the International Academy of Merchandising and Design, and is its honorary chair.

The 30-week program, which launches this fall, balances the creative and technical sides, and is industry-needs based. 2D compositing, storytelling theory, shot flow, staging and layout are among the elements on the course outline, which will be taught by computer animators currently working in the biz. Academy teacher/computer graphics co-ordinator Rick McLaughlin is the program-runner.

Equipment includes 16 sgi stations, rendering machines and Softimage software. Tuition is $11,420, and includes a ‘lifetime’ placement service.

Penn State of the art, pending

One day everything you ever wanted to know about what’s in the movies could be at the end of a search function. Penn State engineers are developing a semi-automatic system that scans videos to compile a searchable database that can answer picture content questions, like how many times Bond pulls out his gunÉ

Dr. Rangachar Kasturi recently presented two papers on his prototype which, since the system is based on color content matching, only works on color video.

A Garfield cartoon and a cnn sports and weather segment are the guinea pigs, and so far the test results haven’t yielded a very sophisticated level of discernment – it can tell the difference between the announcer and the sport sequences, but can’t differentiate between various sports.

From egg-popping ooze to the moon

In addition to Zords and Tom Hanks, Toronto’s Side Effects Software reports that 20th Century Fox’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and Universal Pictures Apollo 13 also star Prisms.

In tandem with Renderman, l.a.-based vifx and Wolf Drum Imaging used Prisms to animate and light the Morphin’ monsters, including an egg-to-ooze-to-Ivan 2D morph.

For Apollo, Venice, ca.-based Digital Domain (Interview With A Vampire, True Lies) bypassed nasa stock and used Prisms’ 3D animation system as the primary cg tool to create moon mission shots.

G’day to new angles

An Australian company has come out with the Underslinger, touted as an accessory that provides ‘previously impossible positioning.’ With Cinekinetic’s new (22-ounce) jib arm tool, owners of conventional fluid heads can support their camera by the handle rather than the base plate, economically effecting underslung operation and enabling those way keen glide shots.

New Net service

The National Film Board and Groupe Videotron subsidiary Videotron Telecom have formed an alliance to create a new Internet distribution service called CineRoute.

In the first leg of the service’s experimental phase, Internet users at Universite du Quebec a Montreal and McGill University will have integrated sound and picture access to 2,500 film titles stored on disc at the nfb’s CineRotheque library. The service uses Videotron’s fiber-optic cable system.

CD-ROM hockey history

Malofilm Communications, MMI Multi Media Interactif and the Canadiens Hockey Club have signed a deal to produce a cd-rom on the history of professional sport’s most winning franchise.

‘This product will become the primary reference tool since it includes – on a single medium – complete information on the club from 1909 to today,’ says Bernard Brisset, Canadiens vp communications and marketing services.

The new product will be produced by mmi and Malofilm in French and English for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. Malofilm holds all international distribution rights.

Fish-cam for surfers

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency is online with versions of its publications and every five seconds its fish-cam gives visitors a shot of the cmrra aquarium.

Applications for mechanical and synchronization licences can be applied for directly via the Web. //www.cmrraa.ca