USA: IMAX LAUNCH "CYBERWORLD 3-D" IN LOS ANGELES.

Record ID: 390096

  • Title: USA: IMAX LAUNCH "CYBERWORLD 3-D" IN LOS ANGELES.
  • Date: 1st October 2000
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 25) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMPUTER GENERATED CHARACTER "WIRED" SAYING OF THE NEW ANIMATION TECHNOLOGY, "It's very exciting new breakthrough technology called SANDDE. SANDDE means instead of traditionally drawing on paper for animators, they put these goggles, visors on and actually draw in three dimensional space. Very exciting.
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA11CABNX85GV9NTWD2WTYYTPOD
  • Story Text: Raising the bar even higher in the world of computer animation, the IMAX Corporation has ted the World Premiere of its newest high-tech project "Cyberworld 3-D" on Sunday, October 1 in Los Angeles.
    Cyberworld 3-D - is the world's first full-length, computer animated feature created and shown in three dimensions, or 3-D. Coming as it does from the IMAX Corporation, it is designed to be viewed on the company's trademark 70-foot-high, wrap-around movie screens.
    The film is actually a 45 minute compilation of eight computer animated short films from around the globe tied together by a original story written and produced by Steve Hoban and Hugh Murray.
    The original story features the computer animated character of Phig, who acts as a tour guide for Galleria Animatica, a virtual reality gallery of wild adventure and spectacular images. The voice of Phig is provided by Emmy-winning television and film star Jenna Elfman.
    As Phig takes audience members on a journey through the eight short films, she must do battle with a trio of cyber critters named Buzzed, Frazzled and Wired, who are intent on destroying the Galleria with their mischievous stunts.
    There are, in effect, three different types of animation on display within "Cyberworld 3-D." First, the filmmakers had to convert the eight short films, including a segment of the Dreamworks hit "Antz" and an episode "The Simpsons," from their original 2-D format into 3-D. Secondly, artists used traditional computer animation to create Phig and the Galleria environment.
    Finally, the microscopic world of the cyber critters was created using brand new, state-of-the-art technology called Stereoscopic Animation Drawing Device, or SANDDE, for short.
    According to SANDDE creator Roman Kroitor and SANDDE director Elaine Despins, this new technology allows computer animators to draw characters in three dimensions simply by moving their pens, or wands, in mid-air. The resulting lines and shapes are visible only through special glasses the artists are equipped with.
    Kroitor, who was one of the co-founders of IMAX, says using SANDDE is a hybrid of traditional 2-D animation and sculpture, where an artist creates a form in three dimensions.
    For the eight computer animated short films, the makers of "Cyberworld 3-D" received more than 250 submissions from animators around the world. In the end, besides "Antz" and "The Simpsons," they chose to include "Monkey Brain Sushi,"
    created by Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles, "KraKKen,"
    created by ExMachina in Paris, France, "Waterfall City,"
    created by Inertia Pictures in Tokyo, "Liberation," created by Eye-Animation in London, England as a music video for the pop group Pet Shop Boys, "Tonight's Performance," created by REZN8 in Los Angeles, and "Joe Fly & Sanchez," created by Spans and Partner in Hamburg, Germany.
    In the end, IMAX Chairmen and co-CEO's Richard Gelfond and Brad Wechsler feel that "Cyberworld 3-D" is going to change the way the world makes and views computer generated animation forever.
    "Cyberworld 3-D" opens in IMAX theaters throughout the United States on Friday, October 6.
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