To forge the city’s animation industry base in Zhangjiang, the government plans to set up an “animation valley” as Phase 2 of the Zhangjiang Creative Industry Base.

The new facility will also provide a creative hub for animation and comics artists and investors to tap the vast potential of the Chinese domestic market.

The valley has teams of animators, together with BG artists, graphic designers and directors.

Each link in the animation production process can be completed at the facility, including graphic design, storyboard, layout, coloration, compositing, special effects and post-production.

In the past three years, Zhangjiang Creative Industry Base has attracted more than 20 companies in comics and animation making.

These include Fantasia Animation, which is China’s first privately owned animation company that is qualified to export their products, and Hippo Animation, which specializes in producing 3D and 2D animation feature films, TV series, games and short mobile animation series.

Other tenants include City Animation, which adapts online literature into comics that are available in the city’s 4,000 supermarkets and convenience stores.

These enterprises are well integrated with the nearby online game base, which was established three years ago.

The country’s biggest base for online games, this part of the park is home to over 30 online game developers and operators.

These include SNDA Entertainment, The 9, and Electronic Arts. Online game companies at the park have captured a combined 75 percent share of the Chinese online games market, according to 2005 figures.

“The combination of animation and online game development can help to form integrated industries that can optimize resources,” said Yuan Liqiang, general manager of the Shanghai Zhangjiang Creative Industry Development Co Ltd.

The plan also involves building China’s first animation museum and animation cinema. The “animation valley” will be a market-oriented research and development platform jointly invested by the Pudong New Area government, Shanghai Zhangjiang (Group) Co Ltd and Shanghai Movie Art Academy, district officials said.

The final goal within a decade is to create more than 5 billion yuan (US$730 million) in output value of animation-related products, and have three to five leading companies in the comics and animation, film and TV post-production and design sectors. In other words, it will be cartoon central.

A complete industry chain including creation, planning, brokerage, post-production, marketing, communication, extensive development and tourism is expected to be forged.

Dafen is a village surrounded by the thriving metropolis of Shenzhen, and the origin of most of the world’s reproduction oil paintings. In the popular imagination Dafen’s artists produce anonymous works for unknown customers, operating no differently than a faceless factory churning out counterfeits, replicas and nothing close to what would be considered art.

Regional productively collaborated with the otherwise commoditized community in Dafen by asking selected individuals, some for the first time, to imagine themselves in their professional medium. The final works show the technical, creative, and professional facets of the artists identities subsumed by the styles and relationships they maintain with specific famous artists. The hybrid result of original subject with derivative style comments on originality, global cultural production and Regional’s cooperation with emerging enterprise forms that are internationalizing the village.

The Maya Fluid Effects System allows digital artists to create realistic animation of liquids and gases, using novel simulation techniques for accuracy and speed, as well as a unique scripting language for working with volumetric data.

Autodesk developers Duncan Brinsmead, Jos Stam, Julia Pakalns and Martin Werner were recognized with Technical Achievement Awards for the design and implementation of the Maya Fluid Effects System at the Scientific and Technical Academy Awards ceremony held earlier this month.

Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment, said, “It is such an honor to be recognized with this Scientific and Technical Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—the gold standard of achievement in filmmaking technology.  This award is a testament to our brilliant engineers who continue to blaze new trails for the entire 3D computer graphics industry.”

Recipients are selected by the Academy for their ability to demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.

This is the fifth time innovative technology developments from Autodesk have been recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards.

Both versions will offer new rendering capabilities and improved interoperability with other products like Revit, as well as additional time-saving animation and mapping workflow tools.

Its entertainment branded version will include a new Reveal rendering toolset to streamline iterative workflows, a ProMaterials material library for simulating real-world surfaces, as well as numerous biped enhancements and new UV editing tools. It will also include Recognize, a new scene-loading technology which it says will significantly improve the inter-application workflow with Revit Architecture 2009.

Its design branded version will include all features of the entertainment branded version, with the exception of an included software development toolkit, used primarily in game and video markets to to integrate software into a production pipeline and develop in-house tools to be used in conjunction with the 3ds Max. The design version will also include “Exposure technology,” to simulate and analyze sun, sky, and artificial lighting to assist with LEED 8.1 certification.

“Autodesk 3ds Max now comes in two distinct flavors to better meet the specific needs of our entertainment and visualization customers. 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 provide users with tailored online experiences, user interface and application defaults, tutorials, samples, and more. This simplifies the learning process and makes it easier for users to find the information that’s most relevant to them”, said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment.

“With a viewership of over 97 million people, this year’s Super Bowl commercials have exceeded expectations and delivered the inspired entertainment we look forward to year after year,” said Karim Salabi, Autodesk Media & Entertainment vice president of marketing. “Once again, leading post-production facilities relied on Autodesk solutions to deliver high-impact TV commercials, all within the strict deadlines of commercial post-production.”

Numerous post-production facilities worked on the creation of Super Bowl commercials with Autodesk solutions:

Method Studios completed two Bridgestone Tires spots.  The Autodesk Flame visual effects system was used on Unexpected Obstacles, while The Scream was completed with Autodesk Maya 3D animation, modeling and rendering software to mold, rig and animate seven animals.

The Mill used the Autodesk Smoke editing and finishing system, Autodesk Mudbox brush-based modeling software, Flame and Maya to create a variety of commercials, including Coca-Cola’s It’s Mine (Mudbox, the nCloth functionality in Maya, Flame and Smoke).

Filmworkers Club used the Autodesk Inferno visual effects system, Smoke and Flame to create several spots, including Budweiser’s Clydesdale Team.

Framestore NY used Maya for modeling, look development, animation and rendering of computer generated birds in FedEx’s Carrier Pigeons, as well as Flame for compositing.

Seth Haberman, chair of the Video Gaming and Technology Awards Panel, said, “An expert peer group studied digital content creation tools over a six-month period, and we unanimously awarded both Autodesk tools. The majority of video games are created with Autodesk products. As well, these industry- standard tools continue to shape the most sophisticated digital content across numerous entertainment platforms. I congratulate Autodesk on driving 3D innovation with 3ds Max and Maya.”

Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment, said, “On behalf of Autodesk, I thank the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for this tremendous honor. I’d also like to thank all the Autodesk artists out there. They have an amazing passion for our products; constantly motivating and inspiring us to take our tools in new directions. We’re dedicated to making 3ds Max and Maya the most innovative 3D tools for storytelling, cinematography and visual communication.”

3ds Max and Maya received the awards on January 7, 2008 at the 59th Annual Technology and Engineering Awards ceremony held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Launched in 1948, the Technology and Engineering Awards honor development and innovation in broadcast technology and recognize companies, organizations and individuals for breakthroughs in technology that have a significant effect on television engineering.