Activision unveils the ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ trailer

“The rules have changed … there’s a fine line between lines  and somewhere in the shadows they have sent us to find them..”

The sound of the night jungle, the flickering of the fireflies and the tossing of the captain’s cigar curtain raised the next instalment of  Call of Duty, titled as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The game publisher Activision has revealed the game’s release date of 25 October  (for PS4, Xbox One, and PC) and some exciting details regarding both cross-play and the typical season pass offered with CoD games.

The gameplay toddles on the role of lethal Tier One operator in a heart-racing saga that will affect the global balance of power. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare engulfs fans in an incredibly raw, gritty, provocative narrative that brings unrivalled intensity and shines a light on the changing nature of modern war. Developed by the studio that started it all, Infinity Ward delivers an epic reimagining of the iconic Modern Warfare series from the ground up.

In the visceral and dramatic single-player story campaign, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare pushes boundaries and breaks rules the way only Modern Warfare can. Players will engage in breathtaking covert operations alongside a diverse cast of international special forces throughout iconic European cities and volatile expanses of the Middle East.

Modern Warfare will, of course, include a multiplayer mode, but Infinity Ward hasn’t yet revealed much more detail on that portion of the game. It did say, however, that your progression in the campaign will carry over to multiplayer, meaning you’ll always be working towards unlocking new killstreaks, perks, and weapons.

The game will feature cross-play across all platforms. Additionally, Activision will not be selling the standard season pass that locks off new, post-launch multiplayer maps.

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Indian studio Street Lamp Games bags ‘Best Mobile Game’ award at Casual Connect Europe 2019

Indie Prize London 2019 took place on the last day of  Casual Connect Europe 2019 and Indian Indie studio Street Lamp Games bagged ‘Best Mobile Game’ award for the game BOMBARIKA designed by Mahesh Athirala.

Earlier at NGF Awards of Indian Game Developer’s Conference  2018,  the game  BOMBARIKA claimed the runner-up position but this time the studio has left Grand Mountain (Toppluva), Wingy Shooters (PigCell Studio) and Pocket Forest (Battlemango) to claim the winner’s prize along with $36000 worth Tenjin credits.

In a candid conversation with Animation Xpress  Street Lamp Games CEO and founder Deepak Gurijala  shared, “We never expected that we’ll be in the nominations among this tough competition but our game BOMBARIKA end up getting nominated for four awards – Best Game Design, Best Game Art, Best Innovative Game and Best Mobile Game’.”

In further conversation, Guruji expressed that it was unexpected for them to win such an honour at an international level. He added  “The best part of all is winning the Best Mobile Game of the year at Casual Connect London. It’s a big thing for a small town game studio to go to London to win this unexpected huge award and winning it for India was something bigger. I have no words, still, I’m on cloud nine. The whole credit must go to my team and their hard work got this award to us.”

Recently the studio has launched the trailer of the upcoming game Cursed Arena, the gameplay has a social message of conservation of animals and we think it might have a bigger prospect than BOMBARIKA in future.

 

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Cartoon Saloon and Dentsu Entertainment USA join forces to bring animated feature ‘Wolfwalkers’ to the Global Licensing Market

Multiple award-winning animation studio, Cartoon Saloon, is forming an ancillary rights division ahead of Las Vegas Licensing Expo for the first time, in collaboration with Dentsu Entertainment USA.

This partnership is to explore licensing and merchandising opportunities for its original IP, headlined by the upcoming and awaited animated feature, Wolfwalkers. At the Licensing Expo, the team will be in the executive suites section located on the show floor.

Set in 17th century Ireland at a time when wolves were evil creatures, Wolfwalkers tells the story of a young apprentice hunter who goes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack.

Cartoon Saloon managing director Gerry Shirren said, “We have come to know the people at Dentsu, both in Los Angeles and Tokyo very well over the last few years and now together with Dentsu, we can achieve an immediate presence in North American, European and Asian markets for our new ancillary rights division. We are pleased to be finally launching this new relationship.”

Cartoon Saloon and Dentsu will offer a sneak peek of Wolfwalkers at the Licensing Expo starting on 4 June. Opportunities across all categories of licensing will be explored with a key focus on toys, publishing and live-experiential events.  

Additional properties to be presented at Licensing Expo include The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner, each Oscar nominated in the Best Animated Feature category, as well as the Emmy-nominated TV series, Puffin Rock and a look at new early stage projects.

Dentsu Entertainment USA, a content production and rights management arm of the Japanese media conglomerate Dentsu continues to focus on building unique entertainment-based business strategies for its clients and partners.  In Japan, Dentsu recently announced Cardcaptor Sakura: The Enchanted Museum, and is exploring similar opportunities for Cartoon Saloon properties.

“Cartoon Saloon has carved-out a special place in the international animation industry with their original concepts, powerful story-telling, and illustrative style. Given the upcoming release of Wolfwalkers, this is the perfect time for the company to launch their new division and we are proud to partner with them to grow their brands and seek-out partners who will extend authentic engagement with their well-loved characters,” commented Dentsu Entertainment USA Global Strategy and Development EVP Marc Harrington.

Cartoon Saloon lately appointed Brian Tyrrell as Licensing & Merchandise general manager, who has an extensive background representing European manufacturers in the Toy, Homewares and Gift Markets. He will work closely with Dentsu.  

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Funimation acquires UK and Ireland’s anime distributor Manga Entertainment

Funimation, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television, has announced the acquisition of Manga Entertainment Limited, a distributor of anime in the UK and Ireland.

Manga is a long-term partner of Funimation and currently serves anime via Blu-ray/DVDs, broadcast, theatrical and digital (EST-electronic sell-through).

Following consolidation, Funimation’s UK home entertainment and Manga will be the largest distributor of anime Blu-rays/DVDs titles in the UK and Ireland. Over the coming months, most of these titles will become available for streaming on FunimationNow. These will include hit series like Fullmetal Alchemist: BrotherhoodNaruto ShippudenGhost in the Shell: Innocence and Sword Art Online.

Funimation sales and distribution vice president Mitchel Berger commented, “With this acquisition, we will create a truly immersive anime experience for fans in the UK and Ireland. This begins with providing fans access to Manga’s library of titles to enjoy whenever and wherever they want on FunimationNow. Together with the Manga team, Funimation will bring its fan-first omnichannel approach to serving anime fans, engaging with them directly through the widest array of touchpoints.”

Funimation currently provides streaming, home entertainment, theatrical and broadcast distribution, and merchandise licensing in many international territories. Its subscription service, FunimationNow, serves consumers in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand with a catalogue of over 600 titles.

In November 2019, FunimationNow became the first Sony Pictures Television service to launch on Amazon Prime video in the UK.

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Pixar’s ‘Onward’ reveals a magical world of the elves as Chris Pratt and Tom Holland reunite

Disney and Pixar’s next fantasy adventure Onward dropped its first teaser trailer today, and as usual packs a punch: this time, the makers will be taking us into an intriguing “suburban fantasy” world of elves, mermaids, trolls and gnomes where smartphones and airplanes make lives tick.

Featuring a stellar voice cast of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland, who reunite after Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Onward follows a pair of elf brothers who set out on a quest to discover if magic continues to exist in their now technologically advanced world.

Pratt voices the flabby elder brother Barley, whereas Holland brings to life the skinny teen sibling Ian.

Even though the actual story of the film isn’t glimpsed as it’s only a teaser trailer and clocks barely 105 seconds, we are treated to a fascinating universe of sentient beings which is not inhibited by humans, where flame-emitting dragons are pet animals, unicorns act like stray dogs feeding on trash, houses are built in the shape of mushrooms, and not one, but two moons grace the clouds!

Directed by Dan Scanlon, Onward opens in cinemas on 6 March 2020.

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Cartoon Network expands ‘We Bare Bears’ with a new TV movie and spin-off series

Cartoon Network is expanding the storytelling for its global hit and Emmy-nominated series, We Bare Bears with a new TV movie and spin-off series.

Created by two-time Annie Award-winner Daniel Chong, We Bare Bears The Movie, is in production and the spinoff focused on the popular baby bear characters is in development at Cartoon Network Studios. Chong is attached as executive producer on both projects.

We Bare Bears  follows three endearing bear siblings who are also best friends: Grizz (voiced by Eric Edelstein), Panda (voiced by Bobby Moynihan), and Ice Bear (voiced by Demetri Martin) who have had each other’s backs and turn ordinary situations into laugh-out-loud funny moments.

We Bare Bears The Movie will see them embark on a wild, hilarious and dangerous adventure to escape a foe that threatens to tear them apart when their love of food trucks and internet fame leads to unexpected mayhem. The movie is slated to premiere in 2020.

The baby bears have amassed a large international fan base after appearing in several episodes of We Bare Bears and the untitled spinoff series will explore fresh and fun stories with the show’s most beloved characters.

Premiered in 2015, We Bare Bears has earned numerous awards since its debut, including a BAFTA Children’s Award, a Jury Award for Best TV Series at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and several Annie Awards. Fans around the world, most notably in the APAC region, have embraced the show for its portrayal of Asian pop culture.

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#FeatureFriday: The live transition of the beloved animated characters

Resurging the old anime classic characters in the form of computer-generated imagery and live-action has been the flavour of the season for quite some time now. Having set the popular cinema aswirl, a smattering of 2D animation classics have been stylised to live-action imagery over the past decade or so. It’s also the commercial viability of the model which rests on its appeal to all sorts of audiences, reeling in children and (nostalgia-stricken) adults alike that have spurred on the immense inflow of investments towards this trend.

Beloved 2D that saw CG-light of day

Rapidly advancing VFX technology has rendered itself potent enough for production houses who have hopped onto to what seems to have become a growing trend of live-action retelling of popular animated content. We take a look at some of the popular 2D animated characters that got a CGI remake.

1) Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog has had a cult following for years so naturally fans had high expectations with regards to its CGI-reboot. So much so that immediately after the trailer launch, the backlash over its character-design prompted the director to issue a statement in which he promised fans to design Sonic again. Human-like teeth and longers legs just didn’t do for the fans who have an affinity for the classic 2D character.

2) Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh has captivated kids with his shenanigans for years. With the movie Christopher Robin, CGI breathed a new life into the cuddlesome bear with the tactile quality of materials, and Pooh was made to look snug and furry like a stuffed animal with his trademark raggedy slant. It’s an alluring effect. The animation is considerably moderate of the stitched-doll make of the characters but also seems to have a great deal of variety based on each character’s personality. With vfx, it becomes clear that Pooh’s eyes constitute hard plastic-like material, and the filmmakers have chosen to maintain the integrity of that fabric by keeping it rigid throughout.

 

3) Abu

Aladdin’s capuchin sidekick Abu has deeply expressive, moist and limpid eyes. Yet the monkey is an entirely computer-generated creation that comically sticks dates under his hat, purloins small items from the bazaar and lays down and scratches his belly. The fur work is superlative given that it is difficult to make the fur fly in the natural direction. A small CG creature has been brilliantly carved out of the fabric of 2D animation, staying true to its original persona.

 

4) Pikachu

Pikachu has regaled and enamoured viewers over many generations now and the buzz around the character has hardly faded with time. It’s indeed a challenge to develop a plausible CGI of a character that has blazed a trail over the years with its legacy, becoming the poster boy of the Pokemon franchise. Body ratio was a massive challenge at hand as the VFX team was bent on making it a photorealistic CG character.  The 3D model approach was dropped since it would have looked too cartoony. The eyeballs, especially look like actual ones in the socket. The texturing and fur-work make for an absolute visual treat to behold.
5) Genie

Even though the CGI work of Genie played by Will Smith drew a lot of flak in the first trailer, the second trailer mitigated the assuaged the miffed fans where the genie appeared much more pronounced. The whirl-wind effect at the lower body is an impeccable work of VFX whilst the body-ratio itself is pretty much on-point. Although there were some rough patches where the light hasn’t refracted well upon the figure which was also fixed by some fan remakes later. Overall, the way the blue wish-granting lamp-dweller whirls out of the lamp makes for stunning imagery.

 

6) Simba

 

Extraordinary piece of photorealistic CGI work that we can gauge right from the trailer itself. At one point, the screenplay looks like a discovery channel clip spanning across a variety of natural elements.
Simba is as delightful as one would have hoped for, raising the bar of CGI imagery in the live-action landscape. We are eagerly waiting to watch this one as the film is set to be a hybrid, marking a new form of filmmaking that amalgamates both live-action elements and animated elements.

We hope to track the route of the CG train that producers seem to have hopped on to. Let us know if there are any more characters that would make fine CG characters.

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Vaibhav Studios’ animation idents for Nickelodeon scoops 12 awards at Promax India Awards

Remember the idlis, medu vadas dancing and having fun in a video online? Such a unique concept grabbed eyeballs and was absolutely entertaining. Created by Vaibhav Studios this animation ident for Nickelodeon along with others has bagged 12 awards at Promax India Awards.

Announced recently this week, Vaibhav Studios founder and acclaimed animator Vaibhav Kumaresh shared the news on social media yesterday. The stop motion animation idents swept away six gold, and six silver awards.

Vaibhav Kumaresh

Overwhelmed at this win, Kumaresh shared with Animation Xpress, “It obviously feels great. And to sweep away almost all of the main categories is indeed overwhelming!”

These animated idents were produced last year and Anand Babu along with Tapas Jana, were the chief architects of this campaign with almost the entire team, including interns at Vaibhav Studios playing an active role in the production of the films in some way.

“The campaign was a fusion of two different idea pitches. One was the mad music video series using everyday objects which was the brainchild of director Anand Babu. He had created a short independent film using nuts (the edible ones!) at home called Pista. It was a hilarious little film and I was very keen that an idea like this be seen by everyone…Meanwhile I was getting bored of the digital computer generated mediums and was yearning to work on something more tactile, physical and crude. [So] I had created a small test animation clip using strips of paper and was eager to do more of it,” mentioned Kumaresh about the origination of the idea.

The team which worked on ‘Nickelodeon Idli’ comprised of :

Concept – Anand Babu
Direction – Anand Babu & Vaibhav Kumaresh
Rigs & armature design – Tapas Jana
Camera – Abhijit Ghodke, Vaibhav Kumaresh & Anand Babu
Puppeteering – Ajit Aher, Bhavesh Gondaliya, Dapoon Rai Dewan, Sagar Kulkarni, Jayesh Panchal,
Avinash Gulhane, Rajib Debnath, Sweta Nayak, Amlan Sarkhel, Ganesh Kotale & Sarath Thomas
2D Animation – Anand Babu, Dapoon Rai Dewan, Adithi K
Stop motion animation – Ajit Aher, Tapas Jana & Dapoon Rai Dewan
Cleanup & compositing – Abhijit Ghodke & Sweta Nayak
Production coordination – Sweta Nayak & Baadal Chaurasia

Music – Tony Wilson
Lyrics – Victor Devasakayam
Vocals – Tony Wilson & Victor Devasakayam
Naadaswaram – Raj Kumar
Tavil & percussion – Sajith Pappan
Mixed & mastered by Jonathan Bruce
Produced by Vaibhav Studios, Mumbai
Team Nickelodeon India
Suchita Karmokar (Vice President, Creative Services, Kids Cluster)
Sanhita Das (Creative Director, On Air Promotions, Kids Cluster)

The team ‘Nickelodeon Cricket’ comprised of :

Script & direction – Anand Babu & Vaibhav Kumaresh
2D animation – Anand Babu, Ajit Aher, Dapun Rai Dewan, Balaram J Warrier, Sushant Deshmukh,
Yami Aherwar
Music & sound design – Roto Shah
Cut out & rigging – Avinash Gulhane, Bhavesh Gondaliya, Rajib Debnath
Stop motion animation – Anand Babu, Tapas Jana
Camera & Post production – Abhijit Ghodke, Sweta Nayak
Animation production assistance – Balaram J Warrier, Sushant Deshmukh, Yami Aherwar
Production coordination – Sweta Nayak
Studio assistance – Baadal Chaurasia
Produced by Vaibhav Studios, Mumbai
Team Nickelodeon India
Suchita Karmokar (Vice President, Creative Services, Kids Cluster)
Sanhita Das (Creative Director, On Air Promotions, Kids Cluster)

The team ‘Nickelodeon Egg Opera’ had :

Concept – Anand Babu
Direction – Anand Babu & Vaibhav Kumaresh
Music & sound design – Advait Nemlekar
Stop motion animation – Tapas Jana
Set design & Lighting – Tapas Jana
Production assistance – Bhavesh Gondaliya, Balaram J Warrier, Sushant Deshmukh, Yami Aherwar
2D animation – Anand Babu, Ajit Aher, Dapun Rai Dewan, Jayesh Panchal, Rajib Debnath
Camera & Post production – Abhijit Ghodke, Sweta Nayak
Production coordination – Sweta Nayak
Studio assistance – Baadal Chaurasia
Produced by Vaibhav Studios, Mumbai
Team Nickelodeon India
Suchita Karmokar (Vice President, Creative Services, Kids Cluster)
Sanhita Das (Creative Director, On Air Promotions, Kids Cluster)

The team of ‘Nickelodeon Rock Band’ had :

Concept – Anand Babu
Direction – Anand Babu & Vaibhav Kumaresh
Music, vocals & sound design – Roto Shah
Stop motion animation – Tapas Jana & Anand Babu
Set & prop design – Tapas Jana, Bhavesh Gondaliya, Abhijit Ghodke, Baadal Chaurasiya
Lighting – Tapas Jana
2D animation – Anand Babu, Ajit Aher, Dapun Rai Dewan, Jayesh Panchal, Rajib Debnath, Tapas Jana
Digital 3D animation – Tapas Jana, Abhijit Ghodke, Amlan Sarkhel, Bhavesh Gondaliya, Sagar Kulkarni
Camera & Post production – Abhijit Ghodke
Production coordination – Sweta Nayak
Studio assistance – Ritesh Vishwakarma
Produced by Vaibhav Studios, Mumbai
Team Nickelodeon India
Suchita Karmokar (Vice President, Creative Services, Kids Cluster)
Sanhita Das (Creative Director, On Air Promotions, Kids Cluster)

Team ‘Nickelodeon Mom & Brat’ consisted of :

Script & direction – Anand Babu & Vaibhav Kumaresh
2D animation – Anand Babu, Ajit Aher, Dapun Rai Dewan
Music & sound design – Roto Shah
Cut out & rigging – Tapas Jana, Avinash Gulhane, Bhavesh Gondaliya, Rajib Debnath, Sweta Nayak
Set design & Lighting – Tapas Jana
Stop motion animation – Tapas Jana & Anand Babu
Camera & Post production – Abhijit Ghodke
Production coordination – Sweta Nayak
Studio assistance – Baadal Chaurasia
Produced by Vaibhav Studios, Mumbai
Team Nickelodeon India
Suchita Karmokar (Vice President, Creative Services, Kids Cluster)
Sanhita Das (Creative Director, On Air Promotions, Kids Cluster)

Being asked if he expected such a response, Kumaresh quipped, “When we create films, the intention is to have fun, and not to win awards! For us the biggest award was when the shorts went viral online as soon as they were released. The Idli ident especially went bonkers! So to be frank, yes I did expect a great response from our audience, because I personally enjoyed thoroughly the way each of the films turned out.”

We hope to witness more of such cool, quirky and imaginative stuff making its way to our booming animation industry!

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Save the Date: 30% Off 24-Hour Spring Sale

The Greyscalegorilla Spring Sale starts Tuesday June 4, 2019 at 8 AM.

Ready to save on tools, training, and assets? On June 4th, you can get any and all Greyscalegorilla products for 30% off.

When is the Greyscalegorilla Spring Sale?

Starting Tuesday June 4th, you can save 30% on all Greyscalegorilla tools, training, and assets.

Come back to the site to get the discount code to use at checkout.

Code Reveal June 4th

What’s new from Greyscalegorilla?

We’ve released a few new products and a big update this year. Here are the newest lighting tools and assets. (Need help deciding which lighting tool is right for you? Check out this guide to 3D lighting.)

Light Kit Pro 3.1

Completely rebuilt for Octane users, Light Kit Pro 3.1 brings dozens of new updates and fixes. In addition to the new Octane experience, the Render Switch algorithm has been optimized for better matching lights.

Additional patches were released for Redshift, texture path overriding, and updated seams for Cyc objects.

Already a Light Kit Pro 3 customer? This update is available to you now in your Account.

Compatible with Cinema 4D Physical/Standard, Redshift, Arnold, and Octane.

Area Light Maps

The just released Area Light Maps brings the power of HDRI Link to area lights. With a collection of 30 high-dynamic-range fixtures, you can choose between real lights captured in studios plus a collection of abstract fixtures designed for metal objects.

Area Light Maps is already the fastest selling Greyscalegorilla HDRI pack to date. Grab is during the sale to save 30%.

Compatible with HDRI Link or available as EXR for other 3D platforms. (Not compatible with C4D Physical/Standard due to limitations of Cinema 4D light texturing. Check out Light Kit Pro for Physical/Standard.)

HDRI Modern Industrial

The Modern Industrial HDRI pack was once a limited edition pack that our customers have been asking for since it disappeared. Now publicly available, you can add these 20 contemporary spaces to your next project.

Compatible with HDRI Link, HDRI Studio Rig, or available as EXR for other 3D platforms.

3D Dust Particulate

20 drag-and-drop Alembic particle animations for nearly any 3D software. 3D Dust Particulate includes animated cache files that can simply be added to your scene for atmospheric effects. No plug-ins required!

4K Dust Elements

Twenty-five 4K overlays captured in a controlled studio environment. 4K Dust Elements are ProRes files compatible with After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and other non-linear editors.

Dust Bundle

These dust assets were built to complement each other, and you can save and grab both with the Dust Bundle.

What are the best deals?

Greyscalegorilla training and suites. Save extra by purchasing a Greyscalegorilla suite. Not only do you already save on the price of the individual products, you’ll save an additional 30% off the price of the suite.

The GSG Complete Suite includes all the Cinema 4D tools built by Greyscalegorilla. You’ll get all of our animation, rendering, lighting, and color grading tools.

Browse all Greyscalegorilla Suites.

What products will be on sale?

All products built and produced by Greyscalegorilla will be 30% off. That includes our tools, training, and suites. Save on our plugins, in-depth training series, materials, 3D models, HDRIs, and more!

Greyscalegorilla Tools:

Greyscalegorilla Training:

Greyscalegorilla Bundles and Suites:

How do I save 30%?

Add your tools, training, and/or suites to your cart. During checkout, add discount code to take 30% off your purchase.

Code Reveal June 4th

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Motionographer x Promax Meetup

Photo credit: Miguel Rodriguez This year, Motionographer is teaming up with Promax to help wrap things up in a way that only we know how, combining like-minded individuals for a good time! Be sure to save some time after the festivities to stop by the Motionographer cocktail hour. Come out, shake hands, swap stories, commiserate,… Read more »