UAE Ecological Footprint in animated view

The Al Basama Al Beeiya (or UAE Ecological Footprint) is a federal initiative aimed at inspiring people to reduce their individual footprint, currently the largest in the world. The desired outcome of the animation is to get UAE residents to recognize the scarcity of natural resources and the need to live within resource means as well as to understand the environmental implications of their lifestyle.

Kalaignar TV launches kids channel, Chithiram TV; Acquires Accel‘s ‘Ek tha Jungle

South India Tamil channel Kalaignar TV launched its new kids channel ‘Chithiram TV’ today, June 3rd, 2010 which happens to be the birthday of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi, the owner of the channel. Targeting children in the age group of 2 to 14, the regional kids channel will be a host to mostly international animation content. The channel will available on DTH throughout the world.It has also acquired from Accel Animation, the original Tamil version of ‘Ek Tha Jungle’ titled as ‘Thirukkural kadhikal’ meaning Thitukkural stories. The international content includes shows such as ‘He-Man’, ‘Charlie Chaplin’, ‘Hello Kitty’, ‘Sonic Hedge Hog’, ‘Dennis the Menace’, ‘King Kong’, ‘Archir & Sabrina’ and many more.
Speaking to Kalaingar TV General Manager Florent C.Pereira said “The channel would be an info edutainment channel and would focus on not only providing entertainment to the children but will also inform and educate them. The ‘Thirukkural kadhikal’ would be aired in a format which will appeal to the Tamil audience, with ‘Kural’ recital and narration by eminent personalities which would educate the children.”The channel will have a strong animation content focusing on classical. A major percent of the content that will be aired during primetime on the channel will be dominated by animation.

Kalaignar TV is one of the lastest entrants in the Tamil satellite TV entertainment and information sector and was on the fast track right since it took off on September 15, 2007. In setting benchmarks, Kalaignar TV is in a league of its own, having launched seven channels catering to varied genres of infotainment for a global audience.

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MAAC Creative Shop premieres cricket-inspired 3D animation movie ‘Cric X’

The premiere was attended by noted Indian & international animation studios such as Pixion, Rhythm and Hues, BIG Animation, Prime Focus, Trine Entertainment, MEL and Artery Animation.

MAAC Creative Shop (MCS), a division of Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC), India’s leading educator in high-end 3D Animation and Visual Effects premiered ‘Cric-X’ India’s first ‘cricked inspired’ 3D animation feature film at Fun Republic Cinema, Mumbai. This 80 minute long feature film is inspired by the unflagging popularity and craze people have for cricket in India and was developed by students of Maya Academy under their mentorship series in the aegis of MAAC Creative Shop.The premiere was attended by noted Indian & international animation studios such as Pixion, Rhythm and Hues, BIG Animation, Prime Focus, Trine Entertainment, MEL and Artery Animation.

Sanjiv Waeerkar, Chief Creative Officer, MAAC explained, “MAAC has always strived to give its students the best of practical training along with aesthetical knowledge to help them become industry ready animators. The mentorship series is an effort by MAAC to give its students the much needed industry exposure to facilitate their work in studio environments. Cric-X is also an effort to demonstrate the promising capabilities of Indian animation talent. CricX is a fitting example of the highly creative and quality work Indian animators are equipped to produce. Such students are not only treated as experienced in the industry but are also better equipped and more confident about their work.”The movie is laced with the fun, excitement and dreams associated with cricket in India, complete with imaginative, visually appealing scenes and excellent storytelling. There are many interesting characters in the movie like Soni, the captain is a cool headed guy and the opener of the team, then there is Veer, a swash buckling batsman who believes in aggression is all it requires to win the game and a super cool Casanova kind of a character named Prince, topped with Lucky, a funny Sikh who is the team’s ace spinner.

DreamWorks Announces Cast & New Date for Kung Fu Panda 2

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. today announced that Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Jean Claude Van Damme and Victor Garber will join, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and James Hong in its upcoming film, "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom," which is now scheduled to be released on May 27, 2011 (Memorial Day weekend). The previously announced release date was June 3, 2011.Oldman voices the character of Lord Shen (a peacock), the film‘s formidable new villain while Yeoh brings to life the mystical character of The Soothsayer (a goat). Van Damme and Garber round out the cast as Master Croc and Master Thundering Rhino, respectively."In the sequel, Po goes on an amazing personal journey and we are thrilled to have assembled such a talented and well-respected group of actors to bring to life our new characters, who - alongside our returning cast - play such a critical role in Po‘s quest and his ultimate triumph over the forces of evil," said Melissa Cobb, Producer of both "Kung Fu Panda" and its sequel.During its theatrical run in 2008, "Kung Fu Panda" - DreamWorks Animation‘s most successful original film ever - reached over $631 million in worldwide box office. The sequel will follow Po, the world‘s biggest kung fu fan, as he continues his journey as the chosen one who fulfills an ancient prophesy while mastering the art of kung fu. "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom" is directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and produced by Melissa Cobb. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, who wrote and co-produced the original film, also return.

Autodesk Announces ‘11 Versions of Flame, Flare, Smoke and Lustre

Autodesk has announced the 2011 releases of its creative finishing products for visual effects, editorial finishing and color grading: Autodesk Flame, Autodesk Flare, Autodesk Flint, Autodesk Smoke and Autodesk Lustre. The 2011 releases offer new creative tools, improved interoperability and introduce an end-to-end stereoscopic 3D (S3D) finishing workflow for TV and film.Autodesk creative finishing products helped create stunning content for films ("Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds" and "Shutter Island"), popular TV shows ("CSI NY," "NCIS," "Mad Men" and "Big Love") and many commercials (E*Trade Super Bowl campaign, Snickers "Game," "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game trailer and "American Idol" music videos)."Film and TV production is a highly competitive, high-stakes game, whether competing for viewers or tackling new technology challenges such as stereoscopic 3D," said Arun D‘Souza, Head, M & E, Autodesk, India & SAARC. "The 2011 releases of our creative finishing products are designed to help customers stand out from the crowd, helping them create the kind of unique content that turns heads. 3D is core to what we do at Autodesk, so being a leader in end-to-end stereo workflow capabilities is a natural extension for us."

Commenting on the opportunities in the M&E industry Jayant Keswani, Head, Marketing, Autodesk, India & SAARC said "Globally, demand for S3D in TV and film is on the rise with ESPN, Sky, Discovery and other TV networks launching stereo programming this year, including this year‘s Masters Tournament. Seventy percent of the gross for "Avatar" came from S3D screens, and Hollywood is expected to release at least 20 stereoscopic films this year. He also added, "Our solutions are designed to provide that creative capability, making it easier and more affordable for artists to build a cohesive pipeline-integrating 2D and 3D, simulation and animation, rendering and compositing-so that they can create innovative entertainment more efficiently."The 2011 releases of Flame, Flare, Smoke and Lustre offer stereoscopic 3D finishing capabilities, augmenting the stereo computer graphics (CG) capabilities of Autodesk Maya 2011 software while providing familiar and proven creative workflows for visual effects, editorial finishing and grading. The new stereoscopic capabilities are designed to help implement S3D finishing with minimal disruption to existing creative workflows.

'Prince of Persia' .'Sex and the city can't stop 'Shrek

 With a significant drop for "Sex and the City" on Saturday and just mid-level earnings for "Prince of Persia," "Shrek Forever After" is on track to win what looks like the slowest Memorial Day holiday weekend at the box office in a decade. It's also the first time in five years a holdover release will capture the Memorial Day crown.Perhaps those weak reviews on "Sex" really did do some damage to its box office performance. Despite the film's B+ from Cinemascore, the sequel took in an estimated $10 million on Saturday, down from its estimated $13 million take on Friday. Its three-day gross stands at $32 million; its four-day total (it opened on Thursday) has reached only $46.3 million, far less than the $57 million grossed by the original two years ago.Meanwhile, "Prince of Persia" took third place, but seemed to suffer from an overall lack of interest. The Jerry Bruckheimer epic adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal and based on the popular video game just crossed the $30 million mark for its first three days of release. It received a B from Cinemascore and seems to be resonating best with boys under 18.

"Shrek Forever After" hit the top earning close to $17 million on Saturday, for a three-day total of $43.3 million. (Seven percent of its total came from IMAX screens.) The fourth chapter in the billion-dollar franchise seems to be making up ground after not breaking any records last weekend, climbing to $133 million in 10 days. The final chapter is still tracking more than $50 million behind "Shrek the Third" and it's unlikely it will be able to catch up.The three releases at the top are a far cry from last year's Memorial Day frame, which boasted a three-day $54 million gross from the "Night at the Museum" sequel and $42 million from the opening frame of "Terminator Salvation." The weekend is likely to be down more than 14 percent compared with the holiday weekend in 2009.The rest of the top ten was dominated by well-playing holdovers that, with the exception of "MacGruber," fell less than 50 percent for the weekend. Marvel Studios' "Iron Man 2" claimed fourth place with an estimated $16 million, a decline of only 39 percent for the frame. In its four weekends of release, the superhero actioner has earned $274 million, outpacing the original by over $15 million.Universal's "Robin Hood" fell 45 percent, earning another $10.3 million in its third weekend in theaters, for a cume of $86.2 million. It's not certain the expensive film from director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe will even cross the $100 million mark.Summit Entertainment's "Letters to Juliet" is holding its own despite the box office challenge from the "Sex and the City" women. The Amanda Seyfried-starring romance dropped a scant 34 percent from last weekend, grossing $5.9 million for the three days, for a cume of $38.1 million.Seventh place went to Fox Searchlight's "Just Wright." The Queen Latifah-starrer earned another $2.2 million to put its three-week gross at $18.2 million.

Twentieth Century Fox's "Date Night" just keeps on trucking. The film is hanging in the top ten after two months of theatrical release, adding another $1.75 million to get a little closer to the $100 million mark ($93.4 million).Poor "MacGruber." The Relativity Media-financed comedy from Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels lost more than 63 percent of its value from its weak opening weekend, collecting just $1.5 million for three days to land in ninth place. The film, starring Will Forte, has brought in just $7.5 million after two weekends of release. "How to Train Your Dragon" clings to the tenth spot in its tenth weekend with another $1 million. Overall, the Dreamworks Animated flick has generated over $212 million.

The HP Z800 Workstation Review: A Refresh

In an attempt to keep up with Moore's Law, computer processors are now gaining cores rather than seeing major increases in GHz speeds. Hence, we're seeing new processors from Intel that contain 6 cores but are still clocked at 3.33 GHz rather than pushing the 4 GHz threshold. That said, the more cores you bring to the party the better, in my opinion.The Z800 I reviewed boasted dual 6-core Xeon X5680 (Westmere) 32 nm processors clocked at 3.33 GHz, 12 GB RAM, and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 video card. It also came with a 146 GB SAS drive at 15,000 RPM, 1 TB data drive and a slot-loading DVD drive. As configured, the system retails for $13,470 while the base price for the Z800 is $1,799. They have you covered at every level, whether startup or corporation.If you're not familiar with the Z800, I suggest you visit HP's site. Their tool-less case design is a feat of engineering. The system can handle up to 192 GB or RAM, dual Quadro FX 5800 video and 4 eSATA hard drives. If you want liquid cooling HP has you covered there as well.

For Animators and VFX Artists

Obviously, these systems are intended for the complete range of users, including CADD, oil and gas and the financial sectors. However, I'm going to focus on its benefits for animators and vfx artists. And if you're anything like me, you'll probably get pretty excited when you see 24 buckets rendering in 3d maxWhen I told my friend who owns a vfx company in Vancouver about the new Z800 system I was reviewing, I could almost hear the drool through his instant message. He's still laboring away on a 5-year-old Boxx system. But demanding apps are requiring more memory and processing power all the time. Whether you're modeling, rendering or compositing, the more resources you have at your disposal the better. Again, HP has you covered. And I think my friend is even more tempted to upgrade.

The Z800 can handle anything you throw at it -- from 3ds Max to maya, and compositing software to boot. I had a tough time bringing the system to its proverbial knees