WHAT'S REALLY STOPPING US?

Those who have big dreams must at some point ask themselves the question, "What's really stopping me?" Any of us can take a look around and see that we have the technology. We have a vast network which allows, with but a bit of effort, to reach masses with a message. Few obstacles stand in the way of any dream in this day and age, especially compared to any other. Old media no longer guards all the doors nor holds all the keys.

I heard it said of old time that the successful make decisions promptly and change them very slowly, as needed, if at all. The unsuccessful arrive at decisions very slowly, change them frequently and rarely get anything finished. I know that I myself have been a victim of that "better idea" syndrome many times.

Inspiration strikes like lightning. When you have a definite plan and conviction of purpose, that's when it usually hits. That's what ANIGEN was for me. That first idea was probably "The One". Unfortunately, consciousness often takes over and begins to second guess inspiration. Consciousness begins to ask "what if" questions in the wrong sense, the negative sense. Consciousness begins to create barriers in the form of reasons why you can't or shouldn't do the idea. These reasons are usually based on worrying what someone else will think. It's because consciousness lacks imagination.

We are creators of our art, but how often do we limit our imagination to our stories and characters. That same imagination must also be used in getting it done and in the devising of ways to get it out to our audience. Henry Ford was told by his own engineers that his imaginative ideas, like an 8 cylinder engine block cast as a single piece, were foolish and impossible. He didn't worry about what other people thought. Inspiration said it was the thing to do and so he did it, even through many failures and over two years. How far do we get in our projects before the first obstacle turns us around?

We live in an internet age full of immeasurable opportunity for the one with imagination. It's like the dawn of radio all over again, where someone who has the ideas and creates programs that can capture audiences can command huge sums of money. Those who went beyond the simple comedian or news show became stars of their time. Now the internet is vast and open and opportunities are everywhere lying in wait for the imagination that will claim them. Great fortunes possibly lie right behind them. So what's really stopping us?

ONLINE HEAT WAVE

Toonami Jetstream has proven to be a major success, serving up something like 9.5 million video streams and 750,000 weekly viewers since their July 14th launch. The online channel not only shows Cartoon Network favorites like Naruto and Samurai Jack, but also delves into anime never broadcast in the states like Hikaru No Go and Prince of Tennis. This experiment may just show broadcasters that there is a wider market for a variety of shows and stop all of them from looking for the next DragonBall knock off!

The main thing, though, is that if the crowd can be drawn, and you have the bandwidth, you can get numbers that beat most cable channels with an online endeavor. On demand is in demand apparently because this audience can watch the shows whenever they want and they are watching a lot.

In other news:

"We don't need (genetic engineering)," said Thomas Gradziel, a professor of genetics at the University of California at Davis who breeds peach traits into almond trees (which are species within the same subgenus) using marker-assisted selection rather than genetic engineering. "We can find the traits we need in the peach, and classic breeding is proven," he said.

On a completely different and unrelated note, some may remember I wrote about genetically modified foods in the past, being very much against the idea. Well, I am glad that the public at large seems to be as well. Just last week, Japan barred imports of American long grain rice after discovering that a genetically modified variety had somehow gotten mixed in with the conventional crop. Genetically modified crops are legal in Europe, but farmers just aren't interested. They simply don't sell, and this has forced scientists to go back and look at some oldies but goodies in the field of regular ol' crossbreeding.



Miguel Altieri, an agroecology professor at the University of California at Berkeley, disagrees with this technique as well, though, saying that the problem is how we grow and not anything that can be done to the foods themselves.

Altieri has worked with small-scale farmers in many developing countries, and he believes farmers of the Western world can learn from them. Many of these small farmers practice cultivation the same way their ancestors did thousands of years ago: by planting multiple crops in one field. Diversity allows the natural predators of common pests to proliferate. The farmers also rotate their crops throughout the year, which breaks pests' life cycles. "No matter if you use genetic engineering or MAS," he said, "there is a trade-off."

WIRED magazine has the full story. Personally I am glad the public could not be duped in this case. The major corporations behind the GM movement, those like DuPont and Monsanto were using the argument of "substantial equivalence" to make it so that GM foods did not even need to be labeled. Basically, they knew what the public response would be, but the idea of the profits possible with fruits and vegetables that last for weeks on the shelf or resist cold and bugs, led them to try and slip them in the grocery store in secret. Of course this doesn't mean there aren't GM foods in your grocery store in America, but it's quite possible that their presence will dwindle before long.

THE BEST STORY EVER!

Many people, movie critics, bloggers and pretty much everyone else have blasted director Uwe Boll for his movie adaptations of such game hits as Alone in the Dark and Blood Rayne, and now he is bringing it back to them Jay and Silent Bob style! According to Animation Magazine, Uwe Boll is challenging his detractors to a three round boxing match which will be filmed as part of his upcoming film adaptation of the game sensation Postal.

The current challengers are Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello from Madrid, webmaster of www.cinecutre.com; Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka from Lee's Summit, Missouri, webmaster/CEO of Something Awful; Jeff Sneider from Los Angeles, Calif., journalist for Ain't It Cool News; Chris Alexander from Toronto, Ontario, journalist/radio announcer for Rue Morgue magazine; and Nelson Chance Minter from Fredrick, Maryland, a web critic.

Boll claims that many journalists are making judgements on his films based on one or two thousand internet voices, half of which don't even watch his movies. Now he is expecting them to put up or shut up in the event titled "Raging Boll". If you've blogged anything bad about him, you better get your gloves on! More information can be found at GoldenPalace.com. Ain't the net cool?!

DIGITAL NATION TRANSFORMATION

According to ETNA, The Thai software firm E-Saan Software Park is teaming up with 3 View Group out of Singapore to produce animation and multimedia properties for the international market. One of the goals, according to the director of E-Saan Software Park is to create jobs and generate income for that market.



This makes me think back to the rise of Korea as an animation powerhouse which is epitomized in the epic film Wonderful Days, pictured above. I remember a long time ago one of the early pioneers of bringing anime to the U.S. attempted to release some Korean titles in the U.S. market. The gap between what was being done in Japan and what Korean studios were doing was very apparent back then. Korea was not even popular as an outsourcing stop for Japanese and U.S. animation back then.

One day digital technology comes in a takes over the media markets by storm. On top of this, Korean studios are basically being trained by the best as they do outsourcing work on Japanese animated films and TV series. Eventually some Japanese studios even make the choice to stop outsourcing because they feel it will have a negative effect on their economy in the future, but the effect may have already begun as shown by the popularity all over Asia of Wonderful Days.


Now China and Singapore are on the rise. If sites like CGTalk are any indication, many artists in these countries are heavily influenced by the anime art style and that of games like Final Fantasy X. It's fairly common to see works in online galleries by individual artists that rival the quality of the best anime and game cinematics. Now with Thailand getting into the mix, planning to create international properties, how will this transform the Asian animation scene overall?

IT IS TIME

As a great man, I believe his name was Shang Tsung, once said, "It has begun!"

It's offically launched. The new podcast series that will go beyond any of my past works to bring you the latest and greatest tools and techniques for creating independent anime dreams! Anime Genesis: How To Make Your Anime Dreams Into Reality begins here!"

Hurdle after hurdle had to be jumped to get here, but luckily, as is often the case in the digital media world, most of it was stuff I only have to do once. Now that it's done I can being this series regularly and cover more ground than I ever could on a single DVD. This is the future!

Lessons From "Snakes On A Plane"

The number of people who clearly played their cards right as far as the blockbuster movie, before it even arrived in theatres, Snakes on a Plane is concerned, is quite interesting. Some people are already predicting it's going to be the "biggest movie ever" and today is its opening day!

"Bigger than Star Wars?" Asks star Samuel L. Jackson. "I don't know. But I have a back end on this one."

I'd have to say he was very wise to do so. Word is he took the job on what would be considered a low budget film these days because of the title. It is the title that has created that amazing buzz. Great internet marketing didn't hurt either. A few weeks ago we were all having amazing fun building Snakes on a Plane phone messages in the voice of Samuel L. Jackson and calling our friends with them. What genius! But that's just the intentional net marketing.

Snakes on a Plane, on its title alone spawned a flurry of web parodies, blog posts and mock movie posters for months before today's release. Talk about free publicity! Apparently it all began with a blog post by screenwriter Josh Friedman a year ago when he praised Jackson for threatening to quit the project if the studio changed the title. I'd say Jackson, who showed up at the Mann's Chinese theatre premiere with a huge boa constrictor, knew what he was getting into and, with his back end on the film, played his cards right.

Now from the start an indie production doesn't have the kind of name recognition that can start that famous viral spread the net is known for. So what does the indie do to get even close to that kind of notice? Also, just how important is the title of your next indie project?

iTunes Movie Store?

Lion's Gate Films have announced that they have signed a deal with Apple to distribute their library of full length films via iTunes by the end of this year. While Apple has made no official announcement, word is that other studios are joining in on this plan as well.

Many are looking at this is the next big boom in growth of content acquisition, where distributors will be on the lookout, nay hungry, for good content for the wide variety of outlets to show movies and other media. Some say indies need to pay attention.

I agree indies should pay attention. There are a vast number of online video sites now with the proliferation broadband, but indies should not jump into the idea that this will mean easier times getting their big break. More than likely, this widespread rush for content will, in the end, drop the value of all available content through competition. All but the largest studio projects will likely be purchased for pennies and the market will be saturated. Even more likely, indies will have to sign non exclusive deals and sell their content to a multitude of content distributors in order to make any form of profit in this new scheme.

Personally, the indie's best bet is to carve a niche of their own now, like Homestarrunner or Rocketboom, rather than wait for all these other avenues to come into place and clog up.

China's High Tech World of Animation

More than 40 animation companies from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are participating in the recently completed Changzhou National High Tech District. With cooperative agreements from eight overseas entities from Korea, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and India and with a plan to see 12 animated productions completed by the year's end, it seems the Chinese government plans to create a world of animation.

The Hi-Tech Zone covers an area of 30 square kilometers. About 20 square kilometers has been fully developed. All infrastructure facilities are available in the Hi-Tech Zone. The Hi-Tech Zone is divided into four parks. Start-up Hi-Tech Park, Industrial Park, Commercial and Residential Park, and Tourist Park.

That's what you'll find on the Changzhou National High Tech District website. The Changzhou Municipal Government hopes to upgrade the local economy through investment in animation. Can you imagine? While I am sure that seeing what animation has done for Japan has not gone unnoticed, that is a pretty high mark for animation in general. Government funding and investing in art? I wish there was more thinking like that in the west. Unfortunately, here animation is seen as little more than a tool to sell cereal and toys.

Changzhou has sponsored an international cartoon festival and hosted a State level cartoon art exchange every year since 2004. By also holding the China Creative Idea Market with cooperative animation projects done with entities from Japan, U.S., Canada, France and Spain they are now being seen as the State Animation Base. What would become of us if animation were only so treated here? I wonder...

In other news, Toonami Jetstream, the online venture between Cartoon Network and Viz has logged nearly 10 million streams with over 700,000 unique viewers in their first month. Hosting full length episodes of shows like Naruto, Hikaru no Go, Prince of Tennis and Samurai Jack, they seem to be off to a powerful start. I'd say people really will watch this stuff online won't they?

Mark Cuban seems to think that while that may be the case for established old media companies and their content, indies trying to push their content online are wasting their time. He says that our only hope is to use any online media to try and gain notice to get "picked up" for TV or film by a real studio. I say he's wrong. I also say it's up to us to show him and anyone else so caught up in the old media method that the new is an end unto itself and its here to stay!

DOUJINSHI WIRE

Wired magazine has a great article on the doujinshi scene in Japan and points out some notable differences in how creativity is viewed in that culture versus what many of us are used to in the western comic industry.

Japan seems to understand that creativity doesn't fall from the sky. It needs nurturing, inspiration, tools and skills; and it's no problem if your inspiration is something cool someone else did first.

That's one of the first things from the article that really struck me. I remember in an interview legendary manga creator Katsuhiro Otomo stated that the genesis of Akira came from wanting to do something like a favorite manga of his called Tetsujin 28, which some may notice is the number on Tetsuo's arm. The name Kaneda also comes from that original work that inspired him. Even though his story grew into something very different than what started him out, he began with following a favorite work of his.

I see a symbiotic relationship between commercialism and creativity in Japan. Any of the manga stores you walk into carries how-to manuals on drawing characters and using colors, as wells as picture books on medieval weaponry, French castles or samurai-era textiles.

I also found this statement interesting. Although we see some degree of artbooks and helpful tools for artists on the net these days, growing up I don't remember any such fostering of creativity. In fact, I seem to remember drawing, animation and comics being looked at as a major waste of time. Of course, manga is a multi-billion dollar industry in Japan whereas comics here continue to struggle. While very few likely make the big bucks, manga is so widespread and embedded in the culture that it is understandable that it has gained a measure of respect.

BETing on Animation

Film director, and BET president of entertainment, Reginald Hudlin, pictured here with Boondocks creator Aaron Mcgruder, is really betting on animation. Not only that, he sees a future outside of the tradtional television network.

In their second major announcement since teaming up with Vin Diesel's One Race productions, BET has inked a deal with Film Roman to produce a slate of animated films, seires and online content. What's interesting is that they plan to produce this slate of content for the internet, broadband and mobile applications, and they are targeting direct-to-DVD for the movies.

If Black America is a cultural superpower, then there's no better medium to express the full range of our collective imagination than animation. There will be shorts that will air throughout our programming schedule as well as online content. Hopefully, by fall of next year, we'll begin to launch our animated series.

That's what Hudlin had to say about the deal. This plan also brings in comic legends Denys Cowan, now supervisor of BET animation, and Dwayne McDuffie, creator of Static Shock, whom Hudlin refers to as the "Lennon and McCartney of the black comicbook industry." Cowan says:

Black culture is youth culture. Where black people go — pop culture follows. At BET Animation, with our creative partnerships and working with established superstars as well as young, hip creators, we hope to be the leaders of the next revolution in animation.

Now I personally can't say I think they will be. I have never been a fan of BET, a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc., nor liked their direction, but Vin Diesel stated that it took Reginald Hudlin becoming president of entertainment for him to realize that BET was the right place to do his series. I also happen to be a huge fan of The Boondocks, the first season of which came out on DVD recently, and on which Hudlin was a producer. I really hope to see some great content come out of all this. Unfortunately, there also looms the possibility of too many meetings and lots of stifling of creativity.

My greatest interest is in the mentioning of working with young, hip creaotrs and the fact that a lot of the content will be produced for the web and mobile media. Not only does this continue to show that the big guys see a future there and feel they need to get into it, but it also opens a door for these new creators to actually create, soething that may not really happen in traditional media.

PRESENTING... THE INDIE

How we present ourselves in the indie marketplace can be of paramount importance. For most of us, that means we need a great web page to introduce ourselves to the audience at large. These days learning to make a web page can almost be a no brainer with all the WYSIWYG tools out there to help us build them, but sadly, as web design itself gets more complicated, with blogs, podcasts, forums, RSS feed and the like, the tools don't seem to cover 100% of the task anymore.

I know that I personally am very behind the times when it comes to web development. My own page is probably HTML 2.0 compliant with old styles tables. It's not what I do after all. Still, one of the things I notice with both the code generated by iWeb and also Blogger, is the move to entirely CSS formatted pages. The author on jamieblog decided to dive into the world of CSS last year with the book pictured above. After working with iWeb and wanting to really understand the code that comes out of it, I still question whether or not I should take the time to really learn it myself. Of course, I am an animator and not a web designer.

As I started designing new pages in iWeb and then looked at the code coming out of it, I couldn't understand it. I knew almost nothing of CSS, having done my basic page design years ago in HTML. But I needed to match it to my Blogger template as well. This meant I had to know what the code did. I still do. One way or another I am going to have to cross that hump. If you plan to do anything complex on your page, like integrating podcasts with RSS feeds, adding a forum, integrating flash content, blogs or advertising, you may find you need to learn a bit of this too.

Speaking of presenting the indie, the 1956 book My Dog Tulip by British author J.R. Ackerly is being made into an indie animated film which will be done entirely paperless in Mirage by veteran animator Paul Fierlinger and his wife Sandra. Name talent has been attached to the project, including Christopher PLummer and Isabella Rossellini. What could be better to vault an indie project into more noticeable territory than major Hollywood voice casting? After all, this got them headlines in VARIETY!


Now I don't personally consider name talent a prerequisite for great animation, I consider a prerequisite. Still, it is clear form the animation news world that name talent will do the trick when it comes to drawing audiences, though I still don't see why, and getting publicity for a project that might otherwise not get the notice it deserves.

MAKING THEIR MOVE

The big guys, meaning guys like Turner Broadcasting, may very well be finding out who their audience is, and how to find them in the broadband internet world, and trying to offer them truly targeted online content with GameTap, the first of its kind in online entertainment networks. Although primarily focused on games, they are adding a considerable amount of animation from Cartoon Network, ADV's Anime Network and even an original series called Computer Lab.

COMPUTER LAB chronicles the lives of the denizens of an all-night computer lab at the University of State College. Havoc usually happens when Bun, Turbo and Jill have too much time on their hands and too little supervision from the boss. The comical series of animated COMPUTER LAB video shorts is produced by GameTap and Soup2Nuts, the creators of Adult Swim's HOME MOVIES.

That's what AWN has to say about the Computer Lab original series. Interestingly GameTap still sees the online experiences being centered around shorts, or a quick "in and out" experience. I'm not saying this isn't the case. In fact, I think that is wise, but I wonder how far anyone has tried to break out of that. The Photoshop TV podcast for example can have episodes as long as forty five minutes. On the other hand, GameTap is also bringing in the Anime Network series Mezzo, from Yasuomi Umetsu, creator of Kite, so there will be longer length content available as well.

"There is a huge amount of crossover between people who play games and cartoon fans so our decision to add COMPUTER LAB, Cartoon Network and anime programming to our Animation channel made sense given the direction we see broadband entertainment headed," said Ricardo Sanchez, vp of content for GameTap. "GameTap TV is the leader in delivering short form original programming over broadband and the addition of COMPUTER LAB strengthens what is already a very compelling lineup of shows."

With a subscription price of $9.95 per month, I'd love to know how many users they have. One needs to remember, before thinking of a similar indie service, that Gametap offers more than 400 shows on its video channels and offers 580 authentic renditions of popular console, computer and arcade games on demand. For the user really into this, that is better targeted and more content than you would get from cable subscription, which may be three times the price. The idea I often hear of an indie creating their own original series and offering it via subscription for similar prices doesn't apply here.

In other news, the Freedom Project website, featuring the latest work from anime legend Katsuhiro Otomo appears to have a six mintue trailer fo rthis entirely 3D cel shaded master work. Unlike Steamboy, which seemed to disappoint a lot of Otomo fans with its victorian setting and western stylings, this project seems to return to the Akira style high tech worlds Otomo is famous for. The 3D character animation tires to approximate the feeling of Akira with characters mostly in motion with true lip synch. It comes very close I must say. Oh yeah... there's lots of cool bikes!

LIFE THE iWAY

Today I actually pulled out the ol' Samson C01U USB condenser mic that I wrote about some time ago. Let me say that with this mic, Garage Band and iMovie, it hasn't been this easy nor this much fun to do my work ever.

To start with, the setup was the way we wish it was years ago. After pulling it out of the wrapper, I plugged in the USB cable and the power LED came on showing it had phantom power to the mic internals. The Mac just recognized it and I was able to set it up in the audio preference panel. From there I went right into Garage Band where it was ready to go.

I started recording some test narration tracks. I have always been worried about the sound recording in this room because I am on a corner with traffic outside, and being hot lately, I always have fans running. Thanks to the hyper-cardiod design of the Samson C01U mic, that was not a problem. It picks up a clean, clear voice without bringing in even the level of ambient noise my Rode NT1000 would. Yes it sounds just as good as that expensive Rode NT I bought years ago. I could almost get away with recording leaving the fans on. Of course I won't, but I almost could.

Recording is real time with no latency as you watch the video you're working on play. I was able to simply look at it and narrate away. Once I got a good recording, I could quickly and easily adjust the volume levels of my music tracks to create the mix I need. Then came the question of FX.

In Garage Band, the track FX panel is a breeze. Having never even looked a manual for this thing, I brought up the panel and was able to easily add a spot of reverb, some equalization, and even do some fun pitch shifting to boot. The number of available FX is immense for what one might expect of a little bundled tool. I starting to see why an article I once read stated that users of Final Cut Pro and Logic 7 should very seriously consider if they could get their project done quicker and easier in iMovie and Garage Band. They are that powerful.

KEEP 'EM COMING!

It's appears that Canon is now diving into the consumer HD camcorder market with an offering that might just topple the Sony HC1 I was so jazzed about earlier in the year. With an estimated retail price of $1299, the Canon HV10 is an HDV camcorder set to compete directly with Sony's HDR-HC3, the update to the HC1 I wrote about, undercutting its cost by $200. Moreover, the one thing this camera features that none of the Sony models have, is true 24 frame recording.

Now no one is saying this camera is in any way aimed at filmmakers or designed to do pro movie work, but remember, people have made movies on cheaper, much lower quality DV cameras and gotten them in theatres. As it stands now, I suspect I will drop my Sony HC1 plans and go for this in September when it arrives.

This is the first Canon to use a CMOS sensor as opposed to CCD technology and it uses the same imaging tech as their digital SLR still cameras. It also happens to be a 3.1 megapixel still camera in its own right. Overall, it seems like the perfect replacement for the aging DV camera I have now. The real news though, is that this will only further fuel the competition and keep those prices dropping with more and better features for us.

WE KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?

I was reading an article about the collaboration between Anchor Bay and Madhouse's Yoshiaki Kawajiri on Highlander: Vengeance and noticed an interesting point on their idea of making anime with a western sensibility. The guy, one of the producers on the project, said, "In Howl's Moving Castle, nobody knows what's going on." He continues to say it's brilliant but we don't understand it, and this is the reason it is not playing wide theatrically in the west. Now correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds to me like this guy is just saying we are stupid.

I have so far watched Howl's Moving Castle only once and I never had the slightest difficulty understanding what was going on. In fact, being that it came from a European author, I felt it had a very western sense to it. It is similar to Steamboy, which I think had such a western sensibility that it did not do so well because of audience expectations of the creator of the gritty, cyberpunk Akira. This has nothing to do with east versus west, and for this reason I am concerned that Highlander: Vengenace may not be worthy of Kawajiri's name or the Highlander name for that matter.

That producer went on the to mention how it will have "tradtional" storytelling, with a beginning, middle and end. Where was this lacking in Howl's Moving Castle? Aside from projects that are purely experimental, where is this lacking in other major anime? What it seems to me is that this is going to have simplistic storytelling that will not be on par with Highlander 2, let alone any worthy Highlander outing. When I think about Death Note, I start to wonder if the so called tradtional storytelling this guy mentioned is precisely what should be avoided.


Death Note epitomizes great writing. It is by no means hard to follow, though it is intricate, but it is far from traditional storytelling. Not to imply it is something new or odd, they just felt no reason to follow the conventions, conventions which may have simply gotten boring. Theatre ticket sales are down. Anime had a 40% return rate from retailers, even video games are feeling the heat. Maybe it's time to try something else!

GIANT ROBOT HOLDS CARS CAPTIVE?

Now, when stories like this start appearing in the real news media and not science fiction comics, we have to wonder about the world we live. According to WIRED, though, this is not a science fiction story. It is true. The city of Hoboken New Jersey apparently entered into contract with a company called Robotic Parking to make an automated parking garage which from the sound of it, is not far from what we saw in the movie I, Robot.

The Hoboken garage is one of a handful of fully automated parking structures that make more efficient use of space by eliminating ramps and driving lanes, lifting and sliding automobiles into slots and shuffling them as needed. If the robot shuts down, there is no practical way to manually remove parked vehicles.

Unfortunately for the city, they got into a contract dispute with the robotics company and sent the employees packing just days before their software licenses expired. When they did, the robot shut down altogether and people had no way to get their cars out.

On another note, the extremely popular manga Death Note went into production as an anime series done by Madhouse a few months ago. I didn't mention it until I found out just how big it is. Aside from the manga itself having sold extremely well, the live action adaptation has apparently scored a box office win, vaulting the franchise to even great heights.

I was turned onto the Death Note manga a few days ago and started to check it out. I was immensely surprised by just how different it is in a current sea of seemingly monotonous manga and anime. It's no surprise to me why it has taken off so.

We all can realize that the world is not looking for "yet another Dragonball knock off" even if certain TV networks claim they are. The thing to really think about here is that this all began with one man's manga and a great idea. Even the pace of it defies convention as it seems to just hit the ground running and cares not for the typical methods of character introduction we have seen all to many times. While manga in the U.S. may not have the exposure that Shonen Sunday, in which Death Note appears, does in Japan, that doesn't prevent a great idea from making a splash and may be a worthwhile method of getting your story out there to a larger audience through licensing. I am sure the author of Death Note is plenty happy with the spread of his story in other media.

IT'S HAPPENING NOW!!

Check the time! Someone over at Macnn.com is live at WWDC and bringing you the announcements about the new Mac Pro line that will spell the end of the Power Mac forever!

Apple will ship single base configuration for $2499 (2.6GHz/256MB/SuperDrive)..."Millions" of other configurations via BTO. Now shipping. Up to dual dual-core 3Hz, 16GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and ATI Graphics graphics x1900 or Nvidia FX4500 [08/07 10:19am]

The inside, however, has been totally redone [08/07 10:15am]

Can store up t 2TB (4x500GB) of information due to larger space for drives because machines require less cooling. [08/07 10:15am]

As expected, the case design stays relatively the same (cept for second optical slot) [08/07 10:14am]

A total of 2 TB of storage possible. Second optical drive, 4 PCI Express slots, double-wide graphics slot. [08/07 10:14am]

the 128-bit vector engine replaces "AltiVec"/Velocity [08/07 10:13am]

The Mac Pro has space for 4 hard disks because it requires less cooling than the G5-based PowerMac [08/07 10:13am]

Real-world speed increase for average everyday apps about 200% faster [08/07 10:13am]

The Mac Pro is 1.6- 2.1 times faster than Power Mac G5 Quad [08/07 10:12am]

The Mac Pro is being compared to the G5 [08/07 10:11am]

The Mac Pro and Woodcrest chips have tremendous performance per watt ratio [08/07 10:10am]

3GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 128bit vector engine, 64bit chips [08/07 10:10am]

all dual core [08/07 10:10am]

VUE TO THE REAL!

E-On Software is unveiling their next evolution of Vue Software series with a host of Vue 6 tools. The apparently cut their teeth on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and now feel this latest iteration of Vue goodness is ready to hit the market. I am inclined to agree with them.

One of the biggest things I heard from professionals regarding Vue 5 was, "It's not production ready." I also heard, quite often, that it was only good for doing stills. Part of this is, in my view, due simply to a lack of time spent with the software to find out the differences between it and what the pros are used to. I would have thought the Discovery Channel volcano feature on the E-On site should have made it clear to anyone that it was more than production ready, it was being used very well in the industry. Well now all that is behind us because the pros will be happy to see them advertise:

FLICKER FREE ECO SYSTEM RENDERS

That's right. The new Eco System 2 technology with Solid Growth 4 trees apparently offers much improved rendering of those fine details often found in distant forests and jungles. If you don't believe that, check out their latest demo reel.

Another striking feature of this new iteration seems to be spectral clouds and metaclouds, giving you true atmospherics you can fly through. They also appear to give you moving skies with God rays, a feature we can all expect to see overused in the coming years. Sub-surface scattering, displacement mapping and area lights round out a host of new features in what appears to be a very promising upgrade.

I was a Vue fan from the moment I spent a few hours playing with it. As I posted about in the past, a solution to the flicker issue was not a major hassle many on CGTalk said the same. Now with Vue Xtreme plugins which let you use the renderer of your choice, and soon Vue 6 coming out of the pipe, there are no more excuses. I can't click the add to cart button fast enough. Where is it?

ARE YOU THINKING ANIMATION?

Angie Jones and Jamie Oliff have apparently come out with a book titled, Thinking Animation, Bridging the Gap Between 2D and CG. This book appears to focus on the changing world of animation as the old gives way to the digital age. The book begins with an introduction which asks, "How does one become an animator who is adept at the latest technological advances, yet still create with the spirit and freedom of traditional hand-drawn animation?” Or as the authors put it “The Digital Age is here. No, seriously, put down that pencil or you’re fired.”

Now as any book of this kind is likely to be, it is long overdue. After all, the writers have to catch on, then take the time to develop a book, get it through editing and finally get it published. By that time, the digital age has more than moved past them. That's if you're on the cutting edge though. Most of the audience for this may be just realizing their obselecence. The indie artist can't afford this. Of course the indie is likely not making animation at all unless they have the latest digital tools at their disposal.

Pictured above is a Wacom Cintiq tablet seen at GDC 2006. Now the captions I see on these GDC images says it's a new 24" wide tablet, however, I cannot find any information that such a thing exists. Still I can easily see that being the next step for WACOM as they already have wide Intuos tablets.


As you know I have delved into the Mirage Nomad tablet since the end of last year and recently have been really working with it constantly. This is at least one aspect of what I feel is staying on that edge of the digital revolutionary blade.

I know people get used to things, but why would any artist choose to remain behind? I am not talking about fine artists. I know there are masters who do great things in sculpture, oil on canvas, acrylic and other mediums. I am talking about production. I am talking about working against deadlines and getting costs down, saving jobs from going overseas forever and just plain making cool stuff because you can! Why would anyone choose a path that limits the possibilities.

In other news, as if I needed an excuse to go back to Vegas, apparently there is an Anime Vegas convention running September 2-4 and they have a couple of commercials on at YouTube. I wonder if I should think about showing up!

HARD TO KEEP UP

Luxology today released modo 202, an update to their popular modo 3D modeling, rendering and painting software. This version offers a 40% speed increase in rendering over the previous modo 201 and is a free upgrade for 201 owners. They are apparently demonstrating the new release at SIGGRAPH in Boston and Luxology president Brad Peebler has a lot to say about it.

modo 201 is fast, but modo 202 is blazing fast. modo 202 is a significant advancement towards our grand vision for modo. We built modo from the ground up to integrate modeling, painting and rendering in a way that dramatically improves workflow for 3D designers in all disciplines. modo 202 refines this development one step further, allowing artists to focus even more on creating and less on process and repetitive steps.

You know I think it's great that the creators of the software we use are always hard at work constantly improving and upgrading for us, but this prompts me to ask, when is it too much? I'm not talking about their side. They are making great tools and doing what they should. On my side, however, I am having real trouble keeping up!

I had trouble enough getting a handle on modo 201. It is a truly great piece of software and I could see that, so I used it regularly at UFO and got great results. I learned it for that reason. On the other hand, I happened to be doing something that lent itself to that use at the time. Then I get into animating or something and use totally different tools and things pass me by. The next time I come back to them, they are totally different. That's really kinda what happened to me between modo 101, which I loved, and modo 201 which at first I didn't get at all.


So when I ask when is it too much, what I am really asking is when is an artist following too many pieces of software to make for an ideal workflow? When is that artist trying to keep up with so much it becomes a hindrance and not a help? Because of the nature of the show, some of the work for my podcast is being done entirely on the Mirage Nomad, in Mirage only. It turns out to be extremely fun and quick. Of course that's not the solution to every show, but it does say something.

I certainly still believe I need modo, depending on what I am working on. I guess my big worry is that the next time I get back to it, it'll be something different to learn again.

TRANSITION TO THE MAIN

I already knew about this as I checked their site on occasion, but now it seems the word is really out. Broken Saints, the indie, flash animated visual novel (the best term I can think of for it) which ran online over the course of three years, may have just out in a mainstream special edition DVD to be released by Fox. I found it on Amazon, so it appears to be out and selling.

Aside from enhanced visuals, this DVD which hosts the entire 12 hour series has newly recorded voice work with name talent like Willaim Davis, who played Cancer Man on the X-Files. It seems to be full of extra features, so hopefully there will be some chronicle of the hardships and triumphs along the three year journey as the three guys who made this series struggled to see it through to the end.

Speaking of visual novels, I guess I should have posted about this when I found out a couple of weeks ago, but a Japanese company which I think is called Buredo, has released an English version of Blade Engine, a tool that will let you create visual novels like Broken Saints complete with interactivity, soundtracks and the works. They also give you sample novels to download and tutorials on how to make them.

Considering how well Broken Saints has progressed, perhaps those who may not have the time to commit to a complete animated feature could consider the visual novel route to get their story told. Something to think about.

MIYAZAKI'S GEDO SENKI TOPS BOX OFFICE

As expected, Miyazaki's Gedo Senki(Tales of Earth Sea) animated feature has topped the Japanese box office, beating out the main contender Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. This film, however, isn't directed by the lengendary Miyazaki known for topping the charts every time he releases a film. This one is done by his son.

Word on the street is that Hayao Miyazaki, who according to VARIETY just resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences only shortly after joining, was "fiercely against the idea", but Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki announced back in 2005 that Goro Miyazaki, formerly director of the Ghibli Museum, would be helming the pic. It looks like the Miyazaki name carries a lot of weight in that town because the film is now in the number one spot. Imagine that for your first film!

Speaking of charts, I checked my own statistics for this blog and found that it gets up to 30,000 unique viewers per month. That's as much as some magazines. I guess the idea of stopping the blog wasn't a good one after all. Thanks to all those who wrote in with comments and urged me to rethink that plan.