Jul
04
2017 PPIHC Robin Shute #91 POV
Posted in: Animation
The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Brought to you by Gran Turismo
Jul
04
“Repetitive Extreme-Acceleration (14-g) Spatial Jumping With Salto-1P,” by Duncan W. Haldane, Justin K. Yim, and Ronald S. Fearing from UC Berkeley’s Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, IROS 2017, Vancouver, Canada. Learn more: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/salto1p-is-the-most-amazing-jumping-robot-weve-ever-seen
Jul
04
At Apple’s WWDC, Peter Jackson’s augmented reality studio Wingnut AR demo’d a scene using Apple’s ARKit – here’s a look behind the scenes at Cartoon Brew, including lots of testing photos.
Jul
04
Brace yourselves for entertainment, since a whole lot of original Indian animation IPs are about to hit the screens very soon. Its time to drift away from the international shows and embrace some desi awe-inspiring animated series from Indian producers.
Let us glance through some of these shows, the shows you must watch out for.
Atchoo: Introduced at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2016, Mumbai-based animation studio Cosmos Maya and Italy’s Studio Campedelli are planning to launching the show soon.It tells the story of Teo, a 9 year old boy who has a strange way of expressing his emotions; he turns into an animal, every time he sneezes. How his transformation essentially creates troubles in his life and brings the house down in effect is essentially the crux of the plot of the show. Scheduled for a fall 2017 launch, the show has secured many an interest from broadcasters across the world even before its official launch at the market. Atchoo has a very simple and universally appealing storyline which blends situational as well as slapstick humour very well.
Kuku Mey Mey – HopMotion Animation based in Mumbai is planning to release the animated series Kuku Mey Mey very soon. It is a non-dialogue slapstick chase comedy. The first season has 78 episodes with each episode being of 7 minutes in duration.They are in talks with broadcasters and have a digital strategy for it. The series will release in India early next year. As the episodes get ready they will be shown in Amazon Prime in US before the India release.
In Kuku Mey Mey, the protagonist Kuku Singh is the king of the jungle or that is what he thinks about himself! He is actually a lion who seems to have lost his inner wild. Mey Mey on the other hand is a goat who seems to have found her inner watch dog. When these two clash they give wildlife a whole new spin and the result is a chaos laden chase comedy that turns the tables on predator and prey.
A Mouse’s Tale and The Winter Prince: After Alley of Dreams, Bhasin Studios of Bangalore and LA-based Fantastic Films International(FFI) have the next set of co-productions in the pipeline.Bhasin Studios is an animation and gaming studio based out of Bangalore.FFI is headed by Roxane Barbat and Fred deWysocki.
Amazing Kids: Screen Yug Creations aim to amaze the kids with some mind-bending maze as a group of five kids try to solve them to save the world from the villainy of an alien. The animated series is set to have 52 episodes in the first season, each running for a duration of twenty-two minutes each.
War Heroes: A show dedicated to all the brave soldiers of India, War Heroes is co-created by FICCI AVGC forum chairperson Ashish S Kulkarni and major general GD Bakshi and his son Aditya Bakshi and covers as much as 400 real life stories. Targeted mainly for the younger audience, the show will be dubbed in Hindi and also several other regional languages.
Mary Kom Jr.: After Mary Kom the movie, the Manipur-based boxing champion is now set for an animated version of herself as Screen Yug Creations and Aditya Horizons are joining hands for animating a supergirl of the same name who derives her superpower from her boxing gloves. The story also covers selective childhood days of Kom which will be incorporated in the show.
Punyakoti: The first Sanskrit animated movie, directed by Ravi Shankar and produced by Puppetica Media, the show is based on a Kannada folk song about a cow which speaks the truth all the time. It is crowd-funded as well as crowd-sourced, and slated to release on 20 April 2018.
Slick Rick – It is about a romantic tuk tuk driver who lands in hot water with a criminal gang. It has been written and directed by Ankur Bhasin of Bhasin Studios. It is a division of Bhasinsoft India Ltd and part of Bhasin Group of companies. Bhasin Studios is an animation and gaming studio based out of Bangalore, India.Bhasin Studios and Fantastic Films International(FFI) have inked a deal for a worldwide sales representation of Slick Rick.
The post Original Indian animated series to look forward to in the coming years appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jul
04
Niantic’s game of Pokemon Go highlighted the potential of augmented reality in gaming like never before. Such was the response that the game ended up becoming one of the most downloaded apps in the history.
Now following in its footsteps is Super Mario Bros., a 1985 video game by Nintendo based on Mario series, which has now turned into an augmented reality game developed by US-based programmer Abhishek Singh.
A first-person AR version of the Mario Bros. for Microsoft Hololens, Singh demonstrated his creation after dressing up as Mario and tested it in New York’s Central Park.
The video, recorded from the camera on his headset, depicts Singh using hand gestures to stomp on goombas, shoot fireballs and eventually capture the flag and enter the castle, all of this after avoiding the pixel hills (which emerges from the ground) and other obstacles by walking around it – a feature that the original game didn’t have.
Though it gives the player a very realistic experience of being in the Mario game, a more controlled environment would have done justice to the game as the field of vision is largely made up of objects which aren’t present in real. Nonetheless, Singh’s creation has left everyone overawed.
The AR Version of Super Mario Bros. is an independent creation and not by Niantic, nor it is up for sale. Yet, it seems they have a new rival in town!
The post Super Mario Bros. now turns into an augmented reality game appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jul
04
Having ably filled the void left by Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts are now into their second instalment as the principal photography has reportedly begun and much to the delight of the anxious fans, the first synopsis too, has been revealed.
The first part, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them was a resounding hit, successfully taking over the baton of the wizardry world from Harry Potter films. Now eight months later, director David Yates is back behind the camera as an untitled sequel has begun shooting this week.
Though all the members of the first part will reprise their roles, it was confirmed that Jude Law will be joining the roster as Albus Dumbledore while Johnny Depp will be seen again in the role of the much maligned wizard Gillert Grindleward. Now, Warner Bros. Pictures have served another treat to the fans as a chunk of the plot for the sequel was revealed.
It suggests: Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause – elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander.
The screenplay is once again written by J.K Rowling, who also co-produces the movie along with David Heyman, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.
The second movie of the supposedly five-part franchise is scheduled to release in November 2018.
The post ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ sequel plot revealed appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jul
04
Stan Lee’s Indian superhero blasts forward with a mobile game ‘Chakra: World Siege’ from Gamesbond and Graphic India
Posted in: Animation
India’s leading mobile game distribution and publishing house Gamesbond, released their latest mobile game Chakra: World Siege in partnership with Graphic India and POW! Entertainment, the IP licensors for one of India’s leading superhero characters Chakra The Invincible. Gamesbond’s development partner for the game is the studio underDOGS.
Chakra: World Siege is currently available for free on the Google Play store and was featured as one of the top games in their “New and Updated” section. Chakra: World Siege has been launched globally with a focus on targeting the Indian audience.
The game is based on the animation and comic book character Chakra: The Invincible created by superhero icon Stan Lee and Sharad Devarajan. Lee is the legendary co-creator of the world’s most popular superheroes including Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Hulk, The Avengers, and more.
Stan Lee, brimming with enthusiasm added, “Against the spectacular backdrop of the great Indian metropolis of Mumbai, we tell the incredible saga of Chakra, one of my most exciting superhero creations, whose adventures will captivate audiences around the world.”
Chakra: World Siege involves the user playing as Chakra in a challenging quest to save the world from his long-time nemesis, the evil Boss Yama. The game is an action-packed running game that takes you on a journey through the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ to ensure their safety. As Chakra, players must jump and dodge various obstacles and unlock their “chakras” to gain special powers and superhero moves needed to save the world.
“Stan Lee’s characters have generated $15 billion at the global box office, creating some of the most beloved icons in entertainment. More people today likely know the face of Spider-Man than they do the Mona Lisa,” added Sharad Devarajan, Co-Founder & CEO Graphic India. “I have no doubt this will be the first of many new games for our Indian superhero as we grow Chakra to become a successful gaming franchise in the future. Gamesbond and underDOGS have been amazing partners and creative collaborators to help us bring this game to audiences worldwide.”
The Chakra: World Siege game launch coincided with the airing of the third Chakra-The Invincible animated TV film Chakra: The Mystery of Mighty Girl which premiered on Cartoon Network. The Indian superhero character is also in development as a theatrical live action Bollywood film, to be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, and produced by Phantom Films, POW! Entertainment and Graphic India.
“We are excited with our collaboration with Graphic India and underDOGS studio for the Chakra game and the instant success it has seen will help us strengthening our collaboration towards investing more in the partnership. The Chakra franchise is quite popular among kids and the game is designed in a way that even a 5 year old kid will be able to understand, play and stay engaged”, says Anshul Singhal, VP products at Mauj Mobile. Talking about their plans he added, “We believe that with our understanding of the gaming consumers and distribution strengths; we are the ideal publishing partners for local IP owners and game developers towards creating and sustaining a successful game for the Indian users”
The game is available for download on Google Play and it will be soon be available on the Apple App Store.
The post Stan Lee’s Indian superhero blasts forward with a mobile game ‘Chakra: World Siege’ from Gamesbond and Graphic India appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jul
04
On Saturday, 1 June, the Summer Season Finale of OMEN by HP ESL India Premiership 2017 had begun on a high note. As the day progressed, several high-intensity e-sports matches were played in games such as Clash Royale, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and DOTA 2. These matches decided which contestant proceeded towards the next round of the event or which one had to go back to their drawing board and re-strategise their upcoming campaigns. Apart from competitive gaming, a whole gamut of other exciting activities was conducted.
ESL India Premiership is the flagship e-sports tournament in India. The 2017 edition boasted a whopping $100,000* prize pool, which is shared between three competitive games, namely, Clash Royale, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and DOTA 2. Building upon last year’s edition, ESL India Premiership 2017 is a year-long tournament divided into three seasons – Summer, Fall and Winter. This year, OMEN by HP entered the tournament as the title sponsor. High-performance gaming peripherals manufacturer, HyperX joins the journey again as a partner. Red Bull also joins the journey this year. Also on board is Zowie a brand by BenQ, who donned the role of the monitor Partner. Finally, SoStronk functioned as the Server Partner of the tournament.
The Summer Season finale carried an INR 15.37 Lacs prize pool, which has been sourced from the main prize money. As mentioned before, the highlight of day one was the various e-sports matches played for the different games in a double elimination format. Beginning with the MOBA e-sports title, DOTA 2 – Entity Gaming, GoFigure and an international team from Cambodia, IQ duked it out. These teams had already endured the initial levels of the playoffs, which were held a day prior to the event. In the upper brackets finale, Entity Gaming got the better of the Cambodian team, IQ and pushed them into the lower bracket. Entity Gaming progressed to the grand finale. Now with only the consolidation finale remaining, team IQ managed to pull its socks in time and convincingly defeated team GoFigure from Bangalore to lock their spot in the grand finale.
In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, top teams Dare2Dream, Risky Gaming and Entity Gaming edged out their opponents in the qualifying playoffs to attend the main event. Once, here, Entity Gaming was cut short by UAE CS:GO team, Risky Gaming. The Mumbai team was pushed into the lower bracket and faced Dare2Dream there. After a very tough fight, Entity Gaming managed to get better of their fellow Mumbaikars and booked their spot in the Grand Finale on Sunday.
Finally, moving to the competitive card game, Clash Royale, the game followed a single-elimination format. The top 8 players of the Master League – Arpan Christian, Dipakk Mehta, Haseeb Nazir, Jimit Bhatt, Mrinmoy Lahkar, Reuben Dcunha, Tahir Shariff and Vivek Gore graced the event. However, as the day progressed, only Arpan, Mrinmoy and Vivek managed to endure the competition, in order to play at the main playoffs.
However, fans, e-sports enthusiasts and visitors had more to look forward to apart from e-sports. The event sponsors – Omen by HP, HyperX and Zowie a brand by BenQ had erected exclusive experience booths. Here, the latest technology from the different gaming brands was on display and the visiting crowds could interact with the same. The “Players’ Signing Session” was another highlight activity. Fans got a chance to get to know their favourite pro-gamers better as well as acquire their autographs on T-shirts. A cosplay competition, commemorating the Summer Season was underway. Here the best cosplayers stood to win cash prizes worth INR 46,000. For dance enthusiasts, there was a special just dance stage setup, which also offered cash prizes to the best participants; a total of INR 33,000 was up for grabs.
The Summer Season Finale also commemorates the successful completion of the Summer Season of ESL India Premiership 2017. The event was being held in Dublin Square, Phoenix MarketCity, Kurla, Mumbai from 1 to 2 July, 2017. E-sports enthusiasts and the public visited the arena from 10 AM to 8 PM on July 2nd, to witness the grand finale of the Summer Season Finale of ESL India Premiership 2017.
When we visited the venue on Sunday, the cosplay competition had just begun and the audience was still awaiting the final match of CS:GO between Team Risky and Entity Gaming. While enthusiasts fluttered around trying out the gadgets placed by the sponsors, players from the teams were at the booth signing T-shirts.
Team Risky came out as the best team beating Entity Gaming and taking the winner’s crown, while Team IQ from Cambodia who had quite an interesting journey to the tournament.
Speaking to AnimationXpress, the manager of team IQ said, “Our team had never been in such a big and well known event such as ESL. The experiences were pretty much new to us, we were nervous yet happy that we could join and experience such event and help build our plays up. The equipment uses, the stages, the people were all great. We hope to join again soon.” He further added, “We were pretty much prepared for Entity gaming since Friday night because we got many messages telling us they are the best in India for the Dota 2 scene. So we wanted to test how strong they are by deciding to test them with our first match because win or lose we can fight in lower bracket and get our way back to the final. We decided to pick the boldest heroes and see how much we hold them, the result were like 10 – 39 which meant they were really good as what people had said. However, with that game we learned a lot about their play and used it for the final match of best of 3 and we won by 2-0. The final match was as expected but what surprised us was the lower bracket game against Gofigure. They definitely are a very good team although we beat them first game but the second game they got us. Glad we played against such a team.”
As mentioned earlier, the team’s journey to the country was another great story in itself.
“Actually our main sponsor was in hesitation whether to put the budget for the team to travel so Xing, who is the team captain asked if we could do a funding over the weekend and see if there are any donations, hopefully enough for hotel and food. Honestly as the manager, I did not expect much however a miracle happened. We got a fan who came running the moment he saw the video and made the donation. Fans from the province even wired us the money and some who are studying abroad even transferred the cash. During only three days, we raised over $700. At that moment, our sponsor said we cannot disappoint the fans. Then he dropped us the budget and as the manager, I ran IQ’s visa paper work and air ticket also doing some communication with the Indian side, making sure, my team is there safely and where they can stay. Honestly, the team and I were very surprised of how much our local supporters helped us. It was a touching moment, all the time we spent it felt like it somehow was paid off. This kind of dedication from our fans is what keeps the team’s passion burning and striving forward.”
The post Summer Season Finale of ESL India Premiership 2017 concludes in Mumbai appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jul
04
The day of 5 July 2017 may be just another day for the neutrals but for the comic aficionados it means the day of new comic releases.
Of the numerous releases, American comic publishing company Dynamite Entertainment plans to release an assortment of comics and it seems the fans are going to have their plates full even when the next set of releases make way.
Here is what is in store for tomorrow.
Justice Inc. – The Avenger: Faces of Justice vol.1
Private detective organisation Justice Inc. are dealt with a hammering blow when their leader Richard Benson, or The Avenger, is incriminated for a murder and sent behind the bars.
The Justice Inc. team must now set out on a mission to not only rescue their chief but also figure out if it is a conspiracy against him or has the Avenger really committed a crime.
As fascinating as it sounds, writers Joe Gentile and Kyle Higgins bring you yet another gripping tale.
James Bond: Black Box #5
The hunky British secret service agent is back with the fifth edition of the Black Box series and this time his adventure unfolds in Japan. Here Bond and his accomplice from the fourth, Selah Sax, are heading to the headquarters of Saga Genji in pursuit of the black box which contains some highly confidential information.
Sounds like a plain vanilla story, right? Wrong! Making the waters murkier are Felix Leiter and the Americans who too are chasing the black box, while there is also a constant threat from ‘No Name’, a mysterious assassin thirsty for Bond’s blood.
How is that for a plain vanilla story?
Doc Savage: The Ring of Fire #4
Doc Savage and nemesis John Sunlight resume hostilities once again. And this time, the latter lights up the Ring of Fire, wreaking havoc all across the West Coast. Now the Man of Bronze and Amelia Earhart are tasked with stopping their worst enemy.
The events mark the end of the series of Doc Savage: The Ring of Fire, and writer David Avallone has a clamouring climax in store for the fans.
Vampirella #4
The blood thirsty vampiress is back to scare the daylights out of you and ventures into some of the most inconspicuous aspects of spirituality as she learns about Karma, the existence of power which monitors your every good and bad move, and much, much more!
Brace yourselves, for Paul Cornell’s story is about to tingle your spine.
Ash vs The Army of Darkness #1
The terrific triumvirate of writers Chad Bowers and Chris Sims and artist Mauro Vargas are back with another graphic novel and that may be reason enough to read this comic.
Ash Williams is headed to the public school this time, but will the career shift leave the Chosen One hamstrung in his war against the Army of Darkness?
Let the mystery unfold when it does!
The post Five comic releases this week you must keep an eye on appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jul
04
Repetto World Speaks Ballet
Posted in: AnimationFrench ballet shoe company Repetto is running “Ce monde parle ballet” (The World Speaks Ballet), an advertising campaign in which young women turn their lives into dramatic stages. The first commercial in the Repetto World Speaks Ballet campaign, “Drama”, features a smartphone-powered public display of choreography. The second commercial, “Escape”, plunges into the imagination of young woman who has only one desire, to escape the bed of her one-night stand conquest. The third commercial in the series is yet to be revealed.
Repetto World Speaks Ballet Credits
The Repetto World Speaks Ballet campaign was developed at Marcel Paris by creative director Rémy Aboukrat, copywriter Kevin Salembier, art director Julien Boissinot, agency producer Rémy Guizerix.
Filming was shot by director Edouard Le Scouarnec via Ubiquity Films with director of photography Kaname Onoyama, producers Clément Gaucher Holmann and Gautier Lacaille, director of production Pierre-Arnaud Andrieu, choreographers Sébastien Bertaud and Maxime Thomas.
The campaign features dancers Marion Barbeau and Marion Gautier de Charnacé and actress Nadia Tereszkiewicz.
Colourist was Emiliano Serantoni at Firm Studio. Post production was done at Prodigious. Sound was produced by Clemens Hourriere.
Music for Escape is “Sexy World” by Norma Gladys. Music for Drama is an original song composed for the campaign.
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