May
31
The Dipped Painting Project
Posted in: Animation
A brief history of how I started my Dipped Paintings project, as well as where I hope it will take me in the future.
May
31
A fantasy based short featuring the journey of a wolf, who travels with the moon, Created by Phoebe Warries http://pgiwarries.wix.com/phoebewarries Produced at The University of Hertfordshire/ uhanimation. Awards won at the uhanimation Expose for: -The best 2D film of 2016 -The Audience Choice Award 2016 -uhanimation Expose Grand Prix 2016
May
31
Short film I’ve done during the Gobelins/Calarts Exchange program. It was an amazing experience ! Click here to see more films by my classmates: https://vimeo.com/channels/calartscharanimfilms2016
May
30
Government of Telanagana set to open one more IMAGE centre in Hyderabad; to run on a PPP model
Posted in: AnimationLast year, the Telangana government along with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) had launched an incubation facility ‘Innovation in Multimedia, Animation, Gaming and Entertainment’ (IMAGE), for startups in Hyderabad. Spread over 30,000 square feet in Hitec City, the IT hub, the installation has been developed at a cost of $1.1 million (Rs 8 crore), said STPI director C.V.D. Ramprasad.
The facility IMAGE can seat 232 startups/new companies in the sector. To work under the umbrella of T-Hub, it will create the eco-system for the newbies. And now, AnimationXpress has learnt that one more IMAGE facility is going to crop up, however it won’t be an incubation centre.
Government of Telangana’s ITE&C department, principal secretary, Jayesh Ranjan
This new centre will follow a PPP model and will encourage the growth of the AVGC industry as a whole. Government of Telangana’s Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) department principal secretary, Jayesh Ranjan says, “We have finalised the design for the centre and we are planning to run it in a PPP model (Public Private Partnership). Currently, we are in the process of engaging a consultant which will structure the project on a PPP model and then we will call for expression of interest wherein interested private parties could join us. So in the next three months we will expect a final date.”
The centre will be set in the IT corridor in Gachibowli area and will spread across a massive 4,35,600 square feet (10 acres) of land. Since it’s a PPP based project, the government will majorly provide the land and all the facilities, infrastructure, permissions, water, power for this new IMAGE facility. The core investment in building it will have to be put by private investors. “When I said we will be calling for expression of interest that is the purpose. And the privte investors will have to show interest and then whoever gives us the best terms, will be selected.”
When enquired if any private firms have reached out to them, Ranjan adds, “We have received some interest that were shown informaly by people who are willing to take up this project if we announce it.”
Since the incubator part is already there with STPI, this new space would be everything except the incubator. It will have common facilities, render farms, studios, motion capture facilities, design studios, office space, training institution and much more.
Animation, visual effects and gaming, these three sectors have always been considered when it comes to forming any policy related to the AVGC field except comics. Comics have always been treated as a neglected child and for that, “We will ensure that comics are also included in this new centre’s policy. Once the investor is identified, between the investor and us, we will jointly design the master plan which will decide the space to be alloted to Comics, VFX, Gaming and Animation,” assures Ranjan.
“As for the criteria: Unless the investor doesn’t come in, we (the government) won’t be able to say anything, unilateral decisions will be taken.”
With T-hub, IMAGE incubator centre by STPI and Government of Telangana and now this new IMAGE establishment in picture, the Telangana government is leaving no stones unturned to make Hyderabad the Silicon Valley of India.
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May
30
‘The Angry Birds Movie’ earns $223 million worldwide with $1.076 million from India
Posted in: AnimationSling shot the bird and you gain a point! If you have been glued to our mobile phone playing the Angry Birds game, probably you, might have witnessed the recent movie on the big screen too. The movie has performed average as it earned $223 million globally till date by collecting $66.35 million domestically (North America) and $157.20 at the foreign box office. This collection is more than twice its production budget of $73 million.
The Angry Birds Movie, which released on May 20, 2016 in the US earned $11 million on its opening day amounting to a total of $38.2 million in its opening weekend. Thus, it marked the third biggest Sony animated opening of all time, behind Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2.
While in India, the movie released on 27 May, 2016 and collected an amount of $0.325 million on the first day itself. On the next day Saturday, the movie witnessed a slight rise in its business and earned $0.361 million. On Sunday, it earned $0.391 million thus leading to a total collection of $1.076 million across India.
Also, at the China box office, The Angry Birds Movie earned $13.5 million in its second weekend for a $52 million total after 10 days of its release on 20 May, 2016.
Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass has earned $93 million worldwide with $28 million domestically and $65 million at the foreign box office. However, audiences in India have preferred to watch Angry Birds over the Alice fantasy. The game movie seems to be a family packed entertainment for families with kids as well while, Alice is more of a visually enthralling story for a mature audience.
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May
30
ZOTAC International just revealed their new graphic card ZOTAC GeForce GTX 10 Series. The first of the new ZOTAC 10 Series is the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, the flagship card of the series. Using the advanced NVIDIA Pascal architecture, the performance seems to have been tuned to higher levels to provide users with a polished out-of-the-box experience.
“ZOTAC is pleased to be standing on the new page of gaming history. Pascal opens many doors to applications that we haven’t seen before, especially in the scope of virtual reality,” says ZOTAC International, CEO, Tony Wong. “Our engineering team has taken great measures to ensure our graphic cards continue to shine brightly, so that we can bring smiles to each gamer.”
The launch of NVIDIA Pascal brought the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, a groundbreaking card that enables performance significantly greater than the previous generation of graphic cards. ZOTAC innovation further enhances the card with greater speed while providing outstanding thermals for marathon sessions.
Both ZOTAC GeForce GTX AMP and AMP Extreme brightens the system to let users add a personal touch. Enter SPECTRA, a lighting system enabling customisation of colours and mood lighting through the redesigned ZOTAC FireStorm utility. Stability and smooth power delivery come hand-in-hand with POWER BOOST, reducing ripple noise and minimise power fluctuations, for longer lasting high performance. FREEZE continues to regulate the fans, providing a silent mode when idle.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP Edition enhances both performance and thermal regulation with the re-engineered dual fan IceStorm while still conforming to a dual slot. Designed with a hint of the previous dual fan IceStorm with ultra-wide fans, it is made tougher with ExoArmor and brighter with the addition of SPECTRA lighting system.
A triple fan IceStorm thermal system with EKO Fan performance provides extreme cooling with up to 30 per cent increase in airflow compared to traditional fans. Reinforced by ExoArmor which provides a durable aesthetic finish and enhanced with SPECTRA, a customisable lighting system, for a cool-fast durable performance with a personal touch of color.
With the SPECTRA lighting system, Users are able to adjust the color, brightness and lighting style of the graphic card with a few mouse clicks. The performance-tweaking and fan settings have been revamped to deliver a more user-friendly experience with individual controls for each graphic card on any SLI configuration.
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 graphic cards will be displayed at the upcoming Computex from 31 May to 4 June in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
The post ZOTAC raises the game with a triple play of features, software and design appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
30
Studio Ghibli veteran animator Makiko Futaki passed away on 13 May, 2016 at the age of 57. She worked on all of Studio Ghibli’s biggest hits, including 2002 Oscar-winner Spirited Away.
Futaki, who died in a Tokyo hospital from an unspecified illness, worked for Studio Ghibli for three decades. The studio is known for its simple kind of traditional animation and Futaki enhanced this art and distinct feature of the studio to a great extent.
Born on 19 June, 1958, Futaki began her career with cine-calligraphy films. She dedicated her talent and skill as an animator for all of legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s productions including Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and 2013’s The Wind Rises.
She also worked as a key animator on Akira, the iconic 1988 feature adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s cyberpunk manga, which the author directed. Her last work with the animation studio was When Marnie Was There by Japanese director Hiromasa Yonebayashi in 2013.
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May
30
Launched in 2014, Smite redefined the world of MOBAs with its advent. Blending a third person perspective with the MOBA gameplay, the game brought in projectile based attacks into the play.
The game also featured another interesting concept, the playable characters of this game are inspired by gods from numerous mythologies. You can take to the skies with the Greek god Apollo or rule the grounds with Bellona, the Roman Goddess of War. The game even features characters from Hindu, Mayan, Chinese and recently added Greek mythology.
After climbing the ladder since then, Hi-Rez Studios, the creators of the game had initiated their PS4 beta earlier this year, now as the news comes from their PlayStation blog, the game will get an official release of PS4 on 31 May, 2016. The company’s statement on the blog stated that the game would be updated to 60 FPS and will be introducing new gods and game modes. The company also explained, “While this may seem like a lot of change for a beta, frequent and free updates are a way of life for Smite: We introduce new content every two-to-three weeks, year-round.”
The company is also working on their FPS action game titled Paladins which is still in the beta phase with no official release date announced.
The post The gods of ‘Smite’ are set to descend over PS4 appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
30
Gearbox has recently released its first person action shooter Battleborn over PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The game garnered around 2 million players over its beta phase and received fair reviews. The game dons the mantle of a MOBA and resorts to a first person mode.
Now, the Indian games retailer, Games The Shop has announced their deal with Gearbox’s Battleborn. With each purchase of the PS4 and Xbox version of the game, a free collectible figurine will also be given away. To top it up, the prices for the console versions of the game will also be available at Rs.1,999, which is a significant cut off in prices. Again, it’s only for the console version.
Battleborn shares its gameplay style somewhat with Team Fortress 2 and Blizzard’s Overwatch. It is not a typical first person shooter like Call of Duty or Counter Strike. Unlike Overwatch, this game is a MOBA at its core with all of its elements pointing towards it. From turrets and minions, everything matches to the MOBA genre. From dark wizards to master swordsman, the game is replete with unique characters; it also sports a campaign mode as well as a multiplayer mode (obviously). Although, the game did not receive as much attention as it’s contemporary Overwatch managed to draw around 9.7 million beta players, it still seems like a fun game to play. Now, with these marketing strategies, the company might be looking forward to gain some attention and increase its player base.
The post Prices of the Xbox and PS4 versions of Battleborn dips in India appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
30
The Tapas Chakravarti led DQ Entertainment (International) Limited (DQEIL) reported 8 per cent growth in total income from operations (TIO) for the fiscal ended 31 March, 2016 (FY-16, current year) as compared to the previous year. The company has reported Profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 29.94 crore (14.2 per cent PAT margin of TIO) in FY-16 as compared to a loss of Rs 19.71 crore in FY-15. The company reported TIO of Rs 210.39 crore in the current year as compared to Rs 194.80 crore in the previous year.
Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.
Segment Performance
The company’s Animation segment reported an operating profit of Rs 72.94 crore in FY-16 from operating revenue of Rs 164.29 crore as compared to the operating profit of Rs 70.27 crore from operating revenue of Rs 142.34 crore in FY-15.
The company’s distribution segment reported an operating loss of Rs 13.57 crore on operating revenue of Rs 46.11 crore in FY-116 as compared to an operating profit of Rs 13.67 crore on operating revenue of Rs 52.46 crore in FY-15.
Let us look at the other numbers reported by DQEIL
Total Expenditure in FY-16 increased 25.3 per cent to Rs 164.50 crore (78.2 per cent of TIO) from Rs 131.31 crore (84. per cent of TIO) in the previous year.
The company’s finance expense in FY-16 increased 38.3 per cent at Rs 59.09 crore (28.1 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 42.73 crore (21.9 per cent of TIO) in FY-15.
DQEIL Production expense (PE) in FY-16 reduced 48.9 per cent to Rs 11.06 crore (5.3 per cent of TIO) from Rs 21.63 crore (11.1 per cent of TIO) in the previous year.
The company’s Employee Expense (EBE) in FY-16 at Rs 54.13 crore (25.97 per cent of TIO) reduced 15 per cent from Rs 63.71 crore (32.7 per cent of TIO) in FY-15.
Company speak
The company in its earnings release says, “Our drive is to improve the collections from customers even if it leads to short term reduction of revenue. We see that with the market improving worldwide we will be able to meet the dual objective of reducing debtors while securing good orders from the customers. We have a strong visibility of orders for production for the next 18-24 months.”
“In order to map our specialised offerings better with the market opportunities, we have streamlined our business divisions into Animation including VFX and Licensing and Distribution including digital media.”
The post DQ Entertainment revenue up, reports profits in FY-16 appeared first on AnimationXpress.
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