Warner Bros. 3-D Cartoon

[P3D Tim Onosko <abrohams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'll post more information about this as I get more, but here are some
preliminaries.  Warner Bros. has produced its first 3-D cartoon since the
1950s (when I believe it made a Bugs Bunny film for the 3-D movie boom of
1953-54.)  It features Daffy Duck and Marvin the Martian in a film that
logically fits into the cycle of cartoons that began with Chuck Jones'
"Duck Dodgers."

The film, which I understand is approximately 12 minutes long, was made for
Warner theme park locations around the world, and is playing or will
shortly open at their new park in Germany.  It was shown in the U.S. at a
party thrown by the company in conjunction with SIGGRAPH, the annual
computer graphics conference, in New Orleans earlier this month.  The
entire film was computer modeled, and uses a new piece of software called
"Toon Shader," which renders the characters with the characteristic "ink
line" of cel-animated films, but with full dimensionality.  The final
product was generated in left and right-eye views for full stereo
projection using polarizing filter glasses.

I am unclear about when and where the film will be shown in the U.S.,
although some New York engagement is apparently scheduled in the near
future  (October, perhaps.)  This film, more than any of the other
impressive productions screened at SIGGRAPH, generated extremely positive
buzz as a "breakthrough."

I'll get all the details and post them to the mail list this week.

I haven't been reading the digests as closely as I usually do lately, so I
don't know if I'm contributing information that's already been widely
disseminated.




------------------------------