Mar 20

Marvel returns with new mini-series for America Chavez

Posted in: Animation

Marvel Comics’ America Chavez returns in a new mini-series, America Chavez: Made in the USA and will focus on America’s past, her origins and her powers which will have consequences in the now.

Written by Kalinda Vazquez with art by Carlos Gomez, the five-part limited series centers around the origin of both its eponymous hero and her superpowers. As the Latin-American superhero finds her way, significant ripple effects take place that affect not only America, but the world around her.

America is going to be tested as she’s never been tested before, and the challenges that she’ll have to face will only force her to pull from even deeper from that well of strength and ferocity that we know lies within her.

“From the moment America Chavez was introduced into the Marvel Universe I was a fan,” Vazquez said while talking to Comicbook. “It’s such an honor to have the opportunity to tell an America story, and I couldn’t be more excited to have been invited onto this project.”

America Chavez: Made in the USA is set to launch this June.

The post Marvel returns with new mini-series for America Chavez appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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Mar 20

Universal Pictures moves ‘Minions: The Rise Of Gru’ global summer release dates

Posted in: Animation

The coronavirus pandemic shelves yet another major movie release, with Universal Pictures pulling Illumination Entertainment’s family animation sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru from its summer dates. The movie was set for June release in some offshore markets and for 3 July release in the U.S. Illumination’s Mac Guff studio in Paris has been temporarily shuttered in abidance with the current lockdown in France.

Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri said, “In response to the severity of the situation in France, we are temporarily closing our Illumination Mac Guff studio in Paris. With this decision we are abiding by the French Government’s guidelines and doing everything possible to slow the spread of the virus as we care for our artists and their families. This means we will be unable to finish Minions: The Rise Of Gru in time for our planned global releases in late June and early July. While we all grapple with the enormity of this crisis, we must put the safety and protection of our employees above all. We look forward to finding a new release date for the return of Gru and the Minions.”

In 2017, the series of Illumination Despicable Me movies all told became the top grossing animated film franchise ever worldwide. A new release date for Minions: The Rise Of Gru is yet to be fixed.

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Mar 20

‘Rendered Stateless Not Voiceless’ comics depicts testimonies of pain, suffering and hope of Rohingya Refugees

Posted in: Animation

The world has come a long way. So have its people. At times like these, when the world is going through an absolute slowdown and partial lockdown due to a virus, suffering has always been a synonym for human life. Be it scientific, racial, religious, communal or otherwise.

While most of us are undergoing social distancing and self-quarantine to control the spread of Covid-19, I happen to come across testimonies of suffering that ached my heart.

Let me sort out a few examples – Ali Johar, a 10 year old boy, wasn’t allowed to go to school and faced flak. He had to flee  his home with his family in Myanmar to find refuge in Bangladesh in 2005. Seven years later, his family moved to Delhi. Cut to Shamema, who’s disgruntled with the dirty shared toilets in the refugee settlement where she stayed with her family.

These are snippets from the comic book, Rendered Stateless Not Voiceless, compiled by World Comics India, that depicts the sad and horrifying conditions of the Rohingya refugees, through grassroot comics. 

Rendered Stateless Not Voiceless, is a collective that promotes comics as a communication and empowerment tool for the marginalised, The comic book is an outcome of a workshop conducted by the organisation with around 50 to 60 Rohingya refugees in Kalindi Kunj and Nuh, Mewat.

The Rohingya refugees are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam with a minority following Hinduism and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. They were denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law, and were also restricted from freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been widely compared to apartheid by many international academics, analysts and political figures.

The exodus of around one million Rohingyas from Myanmar was an unprecedented crisis, especially for South East and South Asian regions. As per the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 17,500 Rohingya refugees are registered in India, although according to some claims these numbers are as high as 40,000. The work of the UNHCR to protect their rights becomes more difficult as India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Government of India terms Rohingyas as ‘illegal immigrants’ and treats them accordingly. The living conditions of Rohingyas in makeshift slums in different parts of the country are appalling. Apart from an unhealthy environment they also have to face hostile behaviour from the local population, police and authorities. On top of that, the fear of being forcefully deported looms large on their heads.

AnimationXpress had a chat with World Comics India founder and cartoonist Sharad Sharma, who explained how it was made possible and why it was necessary. Read on :

Sharad Sharma

> How did you come up with the idea of compiling comics created by Rohingya refugees?

The goal of this project was to help Rohingya refugees to document their life stories back in Myanmar as well as their current struggle for survival in India. Although a good number of media reports have been published on their condition in India but there are no instances when they themselves were provided an opportunity to express their concerns. Telling your life story to others no doubt is a healing process by itself, but what makes this process more interesting is when the same thing is done with the help of a medium like grassroots comics.  Here you neither require your audience in front of you nor seek their immediate response. One has a choice to either reach out to a selected audience after producing the final wall poster-comics by reproducing it through photocopy or make it available in public domain for larger reach.

> How did you collaborate with the creators of the comics?

I was in touch with few youth activists from the Rohingya communities since 2014 and was keeping a close eye on their issues both in India and other parts of the globe. In the last two years there was a plan to do this project but there was no financial support available.

We organised two workshops in Kalindi Kunj refugee camp (New Delhi) : This camp came into existence on 20 May 2012. Approx 50 Rohingya families living here, total population around 225. Most of the people earn livelihood as daily wage labourers, running small shops and stalls, ply rental e-rickshaws. The first two-day workshop was organised on 14 and 15 September, 2019. 

The next was Nangali-1 Camp, Nuh, Haryana, where there are several small settlements of Rohingyas in Haryana state of India. Fifty-one families with a total population of around 156 people live in this camp known as Nangali-1. The second two-day workshop was organised on 16 and 17 November, 2019. 

> How has the experience been and how much time it took for you to complete it?

It took almost eight months to complete the project. But the ground work was going on for almost a year.

> How are you planning to distribute it to a wider audience?

Through media reports, online and individual distribution. Already posted over 100 copies across the world. Getting more and more requests everyday.

>Why according to you, art forms and comics are the best medium to talk about serious issues?

Telling your life story to others no doubt is a healing process by itself, but what makes this process more interesting is when the same thing is done with the help of a medium like grassroots comics. Here you neither require your audience in front of you nor seek their immediate response. One has a choice to either reach out to a selected audience after producing the final wall poster-comics by reproducing it through photocopy or make it available in public domain for larger reach.

The idea of grassroots comics is most aptly expressed in our slogan namely ‘Any Body Can Draw,’ (The ABCD of Grassroots Comics). We have been using this methodology for the past two decades and it has proved to be a powerful alternative medium of communication. The grassroots comics are different from mainstream comics created by professional artists, they are creations of common people having no such artistic ambition but a burning desire to express their own self or share their point of view. The simplicity of the grassroots comics approach lies in the fact that it just requires a pen, paper and something to say.

We believe that the process of a grassroots comics workshop is much more important than the final product. The workshops are not just for simply imparting or acquiring drawing skills, but rather focus on how participants can develop an eye for an issue. They learn how to identify the stories, which really matter to them and are close to their heart. They are shown different ways and examples of how to compose an idea, develop a story around it or just tell their life stories or even start by sharing any small incident. This participatory method promotes the sharing of each individual’s ideas that are then discussed among participants, leading to debate inside the workshop hall and later in society.

Grassroot Comics

While Sharma emphasised on the healing through creative process, Johar who’s currently an education coordinator of the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative and lives in Delhi pointed out, “A comic book can help us reach out to those who are literate and also others who may not be able to read. It has been a constant struggle. In Myanmar, my father was a businessman with political connections, but in India, we are refugees and have no rights; we can’t buy property, get a government job. But no one can deny us education.” 

He was just nine years old when his family was forced to leave their home in Rakhine province in Myanmar, which led him create comics on how the Myanmar Army used to take Muslim youths for forced labour work; anyone who would disagree would be shot at point-blank. In such circumstances, many youths were forced to flee out of the country.

The Delhi workshop saw the emergence of a feeling of the “ownership of the Comics medium”. When the participants were asked to draw their own stories, some of them said, “That is my story told in my way.”

Participants at the workshop

Minutes into the process, multiple stories and narratives began to emerge on each sheet. “This is my school, back in Myanmar!” “This is me and my friends, going on the road. These are the trees back in Burma!,” said one.

“This is me, and my sisters and this is our home! Here we are stopped by Burmese police and not allowed to go since we don’t had any permit,” said another.

Further discussions on these comics would loosen up the participants who’d share, relate and emphasis with each other. “This has happened to us too!”, “We go through this as well!” “Wait, isn’t this what happened to us too!?” such sentences were muttered.

One after another participants started telling stories of their past, communities and harsh life in the refugee camps, struggle for survival, language barrier, lack of empathy and fear of being deported. Since the workshop was happening in the middle of the camp it became the centre of attraction for all the kids who camped all the time at the gate of the workshop venue.

The most curious were two elderly participants – Azizullah (70) and Md Tayyab (65) who contrary to my expectation drew their stories overnight. They were keen to show it to me as if they wanted to make sure if what they did was on the right track.

The reliability of grassroot comics around the world, sometimes from across the globe, shows how some experiences and stories are common and unite people in their shared sense of struggle and hope. Issues such as bad healthcare, harassment in homes and public spaces, exclusion and discrimination are felt and the participants rise up to discuss these issues as they have faced them in their lives. And Rendered Stateless Not Voiceless gives them the voice that had been long curbed.

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Mar 20

Square Enix reduces the price of ‘Final Fantasy’ games amid COVID-19

Posted in: Animation

Square Enix has revealed that all of the main Final Fantasy games available on the Switch are on sale for 40 to 50 per cent off, and titles from Square Enix’s other RPG series like Romancing Saga and Star Ocean have been discounted as well as an impact of COVID-19 expressed Square Enix Americas and Europe CEO Phil Rogers.

Rogers said Square Enix has been following the health and safety guidelines that local governments have put forward recently. In February, Square Enix stopped allowing domestic and international business travel for its employees, in addition to limiting the number of people who visit its offices.

“At the same time, we began working across the Square Enix organization in Asia, Europe and the Americas to prepare for employees to work from home. Our IT teams increased our remote working systems, including the deployment of VPN and technology upgrades that enable remote working for our studio, development and business operations. We have now implemented work-from-home policies across all locations and in cases where remote working isn’t possible, we have reduced office density and introduced staggered work times, especially to avoid peak consumer rush hours,” said the official blog.

Gamers may want to revisit Final Fantasy VII in particular — down from $15.99 to $7.99 — since the game’s highly anticipated remake scheduled to be out on 10 April. However, he noted that deliveries of the game’s physical copies may be delayed due to disruptions to the supply chain and the closure of some physical stores.

“While we don’t know how long these measures will remain in effect, we want to reassure gamers that we will do everything in our power to keep you entertained and connected with your friends across the globe as we work through these challenging times together,said he.

The post Square Enix reduces the price of ‘Final Fantasy’ games amid COVID-19 appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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Mar 20

Let’s wander in the magical animated worlds #WhenAtHome

Posted in: Animation

Animation has made creating a world of your own possible. From big animation houses like Disney, Pixar, Sony, and many others to even a small animation studio can do wonders with the power of animation. The concept art, landscapes are as much important in any animated movie as the characters. Wondering about the magic, fantasy, dream and mystic in these movies, let’s go into few mystical animated worlds.

Frozen
We just cannot miss the landscapes from Frozen while talking about magic. From snow clad areas to ice structures, the movie is full of beautiful fantasy landscapes.

Coco
Loaded with different worlds, Coco definitely created a benchmark in animation. With class animation from Pixar yet again, Coco delivers some landscapes one cannot miss.

Croods
Have you guys watched Croods? If not, you definitely should. The movie shows how the world was when our ancestors ruled. Perfectly shown stone age era with a hint of fantasy will take you back in the times.

How to train your Dragon?
Hiccup, Toothless are of course sweethearts and these cute creatures managed to make the movie a hit. But, what made the movie stand out are the wonderous landscapes created and shown in the entire How to train your Dragon? franchise.

Abominable
This yeti drama from DreamWorks is an adorable adventure tale of yeti Everest and teenage girl Yi. The magical creature takes Yi and us through a magical ride and we can witness some beautiful landscapes throughout the duo’s journey in Abominable.

Moana
When there is magic, adventure and mystery in the talks, there is Moana. Be it story or the aptly created worlds, Moana is a breathtaking ride.

Wonder Park
The latest addition to magical stories is Wonder Park. The movie gives us a reality check and asks us to not let the child inside us die. The amusement park created in the movie is what we would have imagined as kids, with rides so unique and magic everywhere.

These are just few of our favourites. I know the list is unending. We will get back to you with other worlds soon with another listicle. Meantime, you can share with us few movies you would like us to add in the next part of this article.

The post Let’s wander in the magical animated worlds #WhenAtHome appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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Mar 20

Animated short, ‘Korona’ tells to focus on the “Don’t-s” but not panic amidst Covid-19 chaos

Posted in: Animation

The world is witnessing a lockdown for the past few months now due to the Coronavirus outbreak. As if Earth is taking a break to reboot and rejuvenate itself (at least that’s what the pictures of dolphins and swans in Venice canals are seeming like). 

Major events, programmes around the world have been cancelled and people are forced to quarantine themselves at home to contain further spread of the virus. There’s fear in people that has enabled them to resort to panic buying and stocking groceries, take more than necessary precautions and what not.

Though the Coronavirus outbreak is a serious global health concern, it’s the panic that’s creating more harm. While there are others who aren’t taking this pandemic seriously and not following advice of medical professionals and the Government.

 

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Korona.(Don’t) SOUND ON🔊 The past 72 hours have been quite an experience where the world is finally on the same page,but unfortunately it’s because of a pandemic that broke out a couple of months ago. Thousands have been infected, hundreds dead. This is no less than watching a horror flick in reality. All kinds of ill informed rumours about the virus COVID-19 have made matters worse. But you don’t really have to lose your shit. ✔️Stay precautious. But don’t panic! ✔️Stay the fuck clean ✔️wash your hands properly ✔️Distance yourself socially (as always) ✔️Don’t travel unless you really need to ✔️Enjoy your work from home while it lasts, you lucky bastards! ✔️Stay motivated, be productive and please don’t overdo it. ✔️Please don’t propagate FEAR. It’s not the end unless we make it so. #animation #2danimation #animationfilm #animatedshort #workfromhome #corona #gocorona #coronamemes #coronavirus #covid_19 #pandemic #india2020 #fear #staysafe #wethepeople #fightthefight #washyourhands #socialdistancing #72hourfilm #visdev #artistoninstagram #artoftheday #motionappetit #horror #film #coronation #animatorsoninstagram #indiananimation

A post shared by Debjyoti Saha (@debjyoti.saha) on Mar 19, 2020 at 9:14am PDT

Well, at such a time, I bumped upon former Disney India intern and animator Debjyoti Saha’s one minute animated short, Korona (means Don’t in Bengali and is of course a pun on the name of the virus – Corona) that portrays perfectly that we should be cautious and careful enough, but not panic. 

Shares Saha with Animation Xpress, “Panic is absolutely creating more harm. No matter what it is about, wrong news spreads like wildfire. And no matter how globally destructive the Coronavirus might be, the rumours and fake news related to its authenticity and cure are spreading, especially through social media, making people panic and take unnecessarily extreme measures. At this point it seems to be very essential to not propagate fear and misinformation. Rather we need to use this as an opportunity to spread valuable information and instill peace among others. Especially during this period of lockdown, when virtual platforms become primary modes of communication. Korona is about avoiding unnecessary panic and focus on the ‘Don’ts’ one should observe at this time.”

Debjyoti Saha

Saha who presently works as an associate producer at ESPN India, did his Bachelor’s in Animation and Multimedia from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. By the end of the course he had developed a keen interest in the medium and went on to pursue a three years masters programme of Animation Film Design at NID, Ahmedabad. He now efficiently balances his professional and personal projects. While interning with Disney India, he worked with industry stalwarts like late Arnab Chaudhuri and Vaibhav Kumaresh.

Speaking about conceptualising a major issue within such a short span of time in Korona, he adds, “The idea is fairly simple. I’ve been watching people getting paranoid by the smallest of things around themselves, especially when out in public. I, myself, have fallen victim to it and panicked when anyone even clears his/her throat in front me. All the news about the virus is no less than a horror film at the moment. The point is not to spread panic-stricken information or even have a carefree “nothing will happen to me” kind of an attitude.

Since mostly, all of us are working from home due to advised social distancing, the past 72 hours have been quite different, individually and in general. That gave me quite some time and motivation to come up with the idea and execute quickly. There wasn’t much pre-planning involved; just had fun with it as I went along. It was animated frame-by-frame in Adobe Photoshop and composited with sound in Adobe After Effects.”

Saha’s Korona has received positive reviews and appreciation from the industry gems like Eeksaurus founder Suresh Eriyat and Vaibhav Studios character animator Dapoon Rai Dewan (co-director of Nickelodeon idents) as well as audiences alike. Saha also shared with us he has plans to keep on making a chain of animated shorts on this issue.

“My work revolves mostly around people and their actions and reactions to their socio-political environment. It will be interesting to continue making such short animated videos as part of a series and keep spreading right information in this season. Who knows, the country might be on the verge of a nationwide lockdown and things might get worse. But as long as we are rightly informed and equally motivated, we can help beat this together. And there’s no harm in a chuckle or two in such distressing times,” mentions he.

These are tough and crazy times. While nobody wishes to be at home-arrest, it’s okay to take a break and think about how temporary things are around us. That all of us are living in a bubble of reality that we have created for ourselves. And it’s unfortunate that as humans we have created a civilisation that requires a virus to make us slow down and notice things around us.

This is a situation of health emergency and we must, must laud the unconditional, sacrificial service of the medical professionals and support the commendable efforts of government authorities. So till the time the corona-monster subsides, as Korona suggests, stay indoors and abide by the rules but DO NOT PANIC.

We’re in this together and we’ll get through this!

The post Animated short, ‘Korona’ tells to focus on the “Don’t-s” but not panic amidst Covid-19 chaos appeared first on AnimationXpress.

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Mar 20

Due to Covid-19 terror, Funimation delays Anime dub releases

Posted in: Animation

The coronavirus (COVID-19) shockwaves have now engulfed the anime industry too. Funimation has closed its offices and asked employees to work from home as a preventive measure.

Elaborating on its decision, Funimation stated the health and safety of its employees is more important than getting the dubs out on time. The company further assured viewers that it will still strive to deliver the best it can during this time of crisis.

“The safety of our Funimation family is our highest priority right now, so we’re adjusting our dub-production schedule to allow everyone to work from home,” the post reads. “This means there will be delays in some of our dubbed series in the coming weeks, but subs are still on schedule!”

The post also throws light on how this will impact the Funimation SimulDub production and release schedule, while has allowed the studio to release dubs at the same time as the subbed release. We have temporarily paused SimulDub production for the remainder of the current and upcoming seasons. We’ll let you know if and when that changes.”

The following dubbed releases will be delayed as a result:

  • March 18, 2020
  1. BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense, starting with Episode 9
  • March 19, 2020
  1. Hatena Illusion, starting with Episode 8
  2. Infinite Dendrogram, starting with Episode 8
  3. Nekopara, starting with Episode 9
  4. Smile Down the Runway, starting with Episode 9
  5. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, starting with Episode 9
  • March 20, 2020
  1. Asteroid in Love, starting with Episode 5
  2. Case File nº221: Kabukicho, starting with Episode 21
  3. Darwin’s Game, starting with Episode 9
  • March 21, 2020
  1. My Hero Academia, starting with Episode 84
  • March 22, 2020
  1. Black Clover, starting with Episode 124
  2. ID: INVADED, starting with Episode 13
  • March 24, 2020
  1. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, starting with Episode 10
  • April 3, 2020
  1. A Certain Scientific Railgun T, starting with Episode 8

There will be some time before you get new anime episodes in the language of your choice but the subtitled versions will still be rolled out on time.

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Mar 20

Coronavirus outbreak: How are Indian gaming studios and platforms coping up with it?

Posted in: Animation

The unprecedented situation of the Coronavirus outbreak in India is taking a daunting turn with 206 cases and five deaths reportedly. The government has taken the tough and sensible decision to impose Section 144 across the country to prevent the spread of this pandemic. Owing to the precautionary measures, many offices are locked down while some important ones have evolved tough set of measures at the workplace. including the permissions to allow employees to work remotely in the interest of their safety.

We can’t deny the fact that the outbreak is directly impacting the businesses as many gaming events have been cancelled or postponed which will again reflect in the country’s GDP in the long run. In order to minimise the losses, many have also rolled out fresh and constructive policies at the workplace.

We reached out to the gaming studios and platforms to learn about the conditions at their workplace including the precautionary measures that they have taken to curb the outbreak and impacts of it has had on their workflow.

Holy Cow Productions director of game development Goutham Dindukurthi said that they are following basic precautionary measures at the workplace and shared businesswise, “Coronavirus, has affected us as we were set to attend the GDC 2020 and showcase Mystic Pillars as part of the Indie Megabooth. Fortunately, the Indie Megabooth and Steam have given us an opportunity in the Steam Game Festival Spring Edition that is currently going on. Mystic Pillars demo is featured in the festival and will be available for free for people to try it out until Monday 23 March.”

UnderDOGS Gaming studio founder and CEO Vaibhav Chavan said “I think in this critical situation, all we need is to think about long term safety than the short term losses.  Coronavirus has definitely impacted a lot worldwide but right now the need is to slow it down by taking effective measures from each and every one of us. Up until last week we at underDOGS strictly tried keeping distance from each other in the office itself. Also we have provided hand sanitizers within the studio to keep it clean. We then went ahead and restricted people coming to the studio who travelled by public transport and that activated half of the studio’s work from home schedule. A couple of days back we took a decision to completely shut the studio till further notice and work from home.”

Further he emphasized that the impact on business is that, “unlike small scale businesses which are heavily impacted by this, our’s has just slowed down a bit with not much of a loss. Since the majority of us use laptops, we have started working remotely with proper tools in place. Only the client meetings to be done in the premises are now taken on video calls. Would take this opportunity to appeal to people to take precautions by social distancing, stay home, be safe and let the officials take effective measures. Let’s help them help us.”

Street Lamp Games CEO and founder Deepak Gurijala said, “My team is like my family and taking care of family is my key responsibility. As we shifted our office from Guntur to Hyderabad a month back we have now enough space.Therefore, we have accommodated every team members inside our office like their second home since all are non localites.They are staying here and working as per their convenience like they would have done while working from home . For example: if they want to work at night and chill in the afternoon they can do that, no dresscode, no house rules similar to work from home culture.Food and other basic necessities including use of sanitizer and mask have been take care of by me. There are enough boardgames we have kept like Carom , Monopoly and UNO apart from that we also play multiplayer mobile games even when at leisure. In addition to that we have installed all the OTT platforms to the television so that my team cannot be bored while in lockdown.

Gurijala also shared, “If  we think on the positive aspect of the lockdown many people are consuming gaming content more than ever, thinking of which we have continued to work on creating games. But yes for me employees’ safety always comes first.”

Xigma Games founder, designer and developer Himanshu Manwani said, “We are at the end cycle of our game and closing to finish our game. The last 10 per cent can be very crucial in game dev. But due to coronavirus concerns our team is taking precautions and working from home since last week. Working from has impacted our output and it may result in delaying our release date but currently, our responsibility is to keep everyone safe and take adequate precautions.”

BornMonkie VP J Pavan Kumar Reddy who works as a 3D artist and as a game designer said, “We are working remotely from home. Even at IndiaSoft business event held on 3 March and 4 March at Hyderabad,  where there was more news about coronavirus, we had scheduled meetings with foreign delegates like SunTV and foreign animation studios but managed to meet only a few people over there and most of the meetings happened over Skype.  The best part of working from home is that we can work anytime  and the worst part is to transfer large data files and 3D models and change in version of the software in different systems  also it is difficult to model and test gameplay on laptops.”

Gamerji founder Soham Thacker shared  “Gamerji staff is currently working from home and coordinating using technology. Along with this, all the staff members have been given necessary equipments such as masks, gloves and sanitizers to keep themselves safe during these tough times”

Business-wise he said,“User flow and tournament joinings have increased since last one week and especially since last couple of days since the offices, schools and public places are closed. People are looking for online modes of entertainment and playing video games is certainly one of them. Gamerji is hosting free solo tournaments everyday for gamers to participate and win cash prizes. It is an effort by the platform to increase user engagement and give people an extra motivation to stay home and avoid public contact.”

On business Play Games24x7  CEO and founder Bhavin Pandya shared,”The Covid 19 scare will affect pretty much everything. In general, sporting events around the world are being postponed or called off and that is not only hurting the fantasy sports apps but also the sporting industry at large as well as advertisers and organizers of these events. However, we believe that people’s safety should be above all else and therefore whatever measures are being taken to prevent the virus from spreading are extremely essential and we support them wholeheartedly.”

Shedding light on the business perspective, FanFight founder Akhil Suhag, “Fantasy Sports is completely dependent on events, and as such Covid-19 has brought the industry to a standstill as the sporting calendar looks empty. We however are sitting tight, believing that this thing is bigger than any of us and needs to be dealt with. We have had a major change of plans around the IPL and are monitoring the situation closely. If the IPL gets postponed, we’ll have to rejig our marketing strategies. We’ve collaborated with a few big players for the IPL 2020 and if the tournament begins from the 15th of April we’ll only have to structure our spends accordingly. There are chances of IPL happening with no crowds. We are hoping that players will increase on our platform.”

Also both Play Games24x7 and Fanfight are not allowing any outsider to enter the office premises.
While Sanitizers and masks are being provided to the employees at many offices, some offices have granted their employees to work from home.

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Mar 20

Nike – Gumball Pack

Posted in: Animation
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Mar 19

Pixar founders get recognition for pioneering 3D animation

Posted in: Animation

Animation powerhouse Pixar grabs attention yet again. With two Pixar founders, Pat Hanrahan and Ed Catmull winning the 2019 ACM AM Turing Award, Pixar has proved to be the pioneers of 3D animation. Catmull, a computer scientist and former president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, and Hanrahan, a founding employee at Pixar, have both been recognised for fundamentally influencing the field of computer graphics.

Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan

Catmull did a PhD in Computer Science that was focused on getting rid of the jagged edges that were then a part of all computer graphics, because they used polygons, defined mathematically, to build up images. He also founded the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Computer Graphics Lab which was one of the very first labs that were dedicated to computer graphics.

Hanrahan was one of Catmull’s first hires. Hanrahan worked at the NYIT Computer Graphics Lab that Catmull founded and he became the lead on a new graphics system that would allow the new curved surfaces to be given realistic properties, reflecting different textures and accounting for different lighting.

Pixar’s Toy Story, released in 1995, was Hollywood’s first fully computer-animated film and is the inspiration for the dozens of animated movies that have since followed — none of which would have been possible without the work of Catmull and Hanrahan, who will share the $1 million prize.

Their work has not just influenced animated movies, but also Hollywood special effects, virtual reality and video games.

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