1. ANIMATION Content: Fiona King Visual Effects: Olivia King

2. Feature Films • Animal Logic, Sydney - Jim Dodd, Lead Animator • 300-500 Employees • ProDUCE FEATURE animation filmS, VISUAL EFFECTS & ADS • Current project – ‘guardians of the GA’HOOLE’ • Recent project - ‘Happy Feet’ • http://www.animallogic.com

3. HAPPY FEET http://www.animallogic.com/#Our%20Work,_3

4. HAPPY FEET • First digitally animated feature film produced in Australia. • Took 4 years to complete • The film grossed $US 385. million • The DVD sales another $US 198. million • It cost $US 85. million to make. • The advertising budget was $US 45. million

5. HAPPY FEET • Software used for modelling and animation –XSI http://www.xsibase.com/tutorials/beginner.php • Software used for mapping, 3D modelling, animation, rendering, and visual effects -Mayahttp://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13577897 (Free Trial) • http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads • The spectacular scenery was from the Antarctic. • Photoshop files for scenery were 10,000 pixels across. • Software used for scenery was -World Machine http://www.world-machine.com/ (Free Trial)

6. PRODUCTION STEPS • Keeping all these departments under control is the Computer Graphics supervisor, and the Film Producer (George Miller). • Loads of data travels between the departments. • Flowcharts • Databases • Delivery Schedules • Data Backups • Naming Conventions • Super Computer Facility (Happy Feet computer capabilities were up there with the Pentagon).

7. PRODUCTION STEPS • A script is written. • The script is translated into a storyboard. • Then the concept and design department will start work on the landscape and individual characters. • Each character is then broken down into separate departments. • 1. Surfacing – colour of feathers and textures. • 2. Rigging – anatomical design, skeleton – muscles. • 3. Animation – individual character expression. • 4. Visual – ruffling of feathers, water movement. • 5. Lighting – shadows, light reflections. • 6. Audio - voices, sound affects, music

8. HAPPY FEET • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAn3bKVNdY8

9. Animated Games • THQ Studio australia, brisbane – Rupert Lewis-Jones (lead artist). • 90 Employees - Programmers, designers, artists, animators • ProDUCE animated games • Recent projects - avatar , reservoir dogs, finding nemo, spongebobsquarepants • http://www.queenslandgames.com/developers/thq_studio_australia.html

10. Animated Games • What percentage of Australians play computer games ? • 68 % • Of that 46% are females. • What is the average age of game players in Australia ? • 30 years • Average game session lasts 1 hour.

11. Animated Games • Sales last year in Australia totalled $AUS 1.3 billion. • 75% of games are classified G or PG. • Each game takes about 1 year to complete. • At an average cost of $AUS 4. million.

12. Production Process • Designers – Create the game story. • Programmers – Coding. • Artists – Design the stage and character images. • Animators – movement and characteristics. • Audio – sound effects, music, voice-overs. • QA Tester – reports on glitches. • 2D Designer – room layouts, hazards, scenery. • Project Manager – oversees all of the above.

13. Future of Games • They predict Wii games will lose the remote and go to body sensors & voice recognition. • Natal allows players to drop the control and simply use hand and body motions to play games or even navigate the console's menus. • Essentially, the camera sensors project radar-like beams that hit objects in the room and bounce back, allowing the machine to build up an accurate picture of what is in front of it. • Such systems have a surprisingly fine level of detail, even able to recognise different hand signals or small movements. Also the capability to incorporate facial recognition. • The real test will be when Natal goes on sale – next year at the earliest. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIbGnBQcJY&feature=channel • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM&feature=related