Autodesk announced that they will be splitting their widely used 3ds Max software into two products. They will be titled “3ds Max Entertainment 2009″ and “3ds Max Design 2009″. Gamasutra reports

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.

The Entertainment 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.

Autodesk is hoping this split will meet the needs of their entertainment and visualization customers better.

The Associated Press announced that “Shrek the Musical” will be making its way to Broadway this holiday season starting December 14th. No one has yet to claim the roles of the curmudgeonly ogre or his trusty donkey, although other characters have been cast.

Princess Fiona will be Sutton Foster, currently starring as Inga in “Young Frankenstein.” Foster has appeared in such Broadway musicals as “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Little Women” and “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

Christopher Sieber, a member of the original cast of “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” will play the evil Lord Farquaad while Kecia Lewis-Evans will be the Dragon.

In a related story, Ani-Jobs could not find any news on the possibility of “Shrek on Ice”, but somehow we don’t think it’s too far down the road…

USA Today reports that “Star Wars” is far from being over as a franchise. A new animated feature film entitled, “Clone Wars” is due out August 15th.

Director Dave Filoni says the film delves into the wartime exploits of Anakin Skywalker, who later becomes Darth Vader, and his mentor/friend Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s about “the mission they are sent on, which brings them together as a mentor and student.”

Following the release, is a new TV series airing on Cartoon Network and TNT in the fall. The TV series, described by Filoni, “looks at the larger scope of the war and covers many characters and cultures.”

Best Animated Feature

Ratatouille –Pixar Animation Studios

Best Home Entertainment Production

Futurama “Bender’s Big Score” –The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television

Best Animated Short Subject

Your Friend the Rat –Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Television Commercial

Power Shares Escape Average –Acme Filmworks

Best Animated Television Production

Creature Comforts America –Aardman Animations

Best Animated Television Production for Children

El Tigre –Nickelodeon

Best Animated Video Game

Ratatouille –THQ, Inc.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

Deborah Carlson – “Surf’s Up” –Sony Pictures Animation

Animation Production Artist

John Clark – “Surf’s Up” –Sony Pictures Animation

Character Animation in a Feature Production

Michal Makarewicz – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Television Production

Eric Towner – Robot Chicken –ShadowMachine

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Carter Goodrich – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Character Design in an Animated Television Production

Jorge R. Gutierrez – El Tigre “Fistful of Collars”- Nickelodeon

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Brad Bird “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production

Seth Green “Robot Chicken Star Wars” –ShadowMachine

Music in an Animated Feature Production

Michael Giacchino – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Music in an Animated Television Production

Alf Clausen & Michael Price – The Simpsons “Yokel Chords” –Gracie Films in association with 20th Century Fox

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Harley Jessup – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Ted Mathot – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production

Steve Fonti – Family Guy “No Chris Left Behind” –Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Ian Holm – Voice of Skinner – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production

Eartha Kitt – Voice of Yzma – The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” –Walt Disney Television Animation

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Brad Bird – “Ratatouille” –Pixar Animation Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production

Ian Maxtone-Graham & Billy Kimball – The Simpsons “24 Minutes” – Gracie Films

WINSOR McCAY AWARD WINNERS (career contributions to the art of animation)

John Canemaker

Glen Keane

John Kricfalusi

JUNE FORAY (significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation

Jerry Beck

UB IWERKS (technical achievement)

Jonathan Gay, Gary Grossman and Robert Tatsumi –

the creators of FLASH computer software

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT ANNIE AWARD

Edwin R. Leonard - promoting the Linux open system for animation in animation studios and gaming software development

CERTIFICATE OF MERIT

Marcus Adams

Joseph Baptista

Steve Gattuso

Jon Reeves

Gemma Ross

Woodbury University

For a Complete list of Nominees visit annieawards.org

While Ratatouille swept the Annies with 10 wins on Friday night, according to The Associated Press, it looks like that was just the start.  Today, it won “Best Animated Film” at The British Academy Film Awards. The film also picked up the “Best Screenplay” award at the Boston Film Critics Association and is nominated for 5 Academy Awards which will be presented February 24, 2008.

“King of the Hill” co-creator Mike Judge is taking ABC into prime-time animation with “The Goode Family” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The net has handed out a 13-episode commitment to “Goode,” which Judge created with John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky. The project hails from indie production company Media Rights Capital, which has an interim agreement with the WGA.

“Goode” — which will be co-produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and Judge, Altschuler and Krinsky’s still-untitled production shingle — revolves around a family obsessed with doing the “right” thing environmentally, politically or socially whose efforts often have unintended comedic consequences.

Some things to note are the fact that “Goode” was picked up off a pitch not a pilot and it was not pitched to Fox. Judge will voice the father character as he does on “King of the Hill”

Macworld announced that Apple has released an update to Quicktime, version 7.4.1. On Apple’s website, they claim that this update “addresses security issues and improves compatibility with third-party applications.” Even though no further information was posted on the site,

Macworld has confirmed with an Apple spokesman that this update addresses a previously reported incompatibility between QuickTime 7.4 and Adobe After Effects.

You can find the update here on Apple’s website.

Business Wire reports that mytoons.com has just signed a deal with YouTube to provide a showcase for animation.

MyToons.com, dedicated to “everything animated,” offers both professional and amateur animators a platform to reach a world-wide web of talented animators, industry specialists and fans alike.

“YouTube is an important step on the road to much wider distribution for MyToons and our animation community members,” said Ford. “We’re always focused on providing additional enhancements to give our animators even greater exposure.”

Mytoons launched last March and provides a global platform for animators to share their work.

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. has boosted the companies 4000 processor Linux based render farm with some new software from Ibrix Inc. according to ComputerWorld.

Ed Leonard, DreamWorks chief technology officer, said the Ibrix Fusion software has boosted I/O speeds to shorten concurrent information access by artists…

Leonard said DreamWorks added Ibrix to its animation system about six months ago to create an interactive lighting prototype for digital artists working on lighting for Kung Fu Panda. The company was seeking to stop system I/O from being brought “to its knees” by animators simultaneously pinging the compute cluster overnight to retrieve digital frame data.
“We needed super performance [for our] file storage and access so when 2,000 computers start asking for the same texture file for one of the [film's] characters, our system isn’t overweighed by I/O,” said Leonard. Scenes that once took two hours to create, he said, are now completed in seconds. “That’s pretty remarkable, and we’re scratching the surface on where we are going with this.”

The 2008 British Animation Award finalists were announced this morning. Winners will be announced on March 13th in a ceremony at the BFI. Digital Arts reports

Aardman Animations lead the way with four nominations: Best Children’s Series, New Media: Best Commissioned Animation, Craft Award and Best Short Film. Internationally-acclaimed Pearce Sisters, created by Aardman’s Luis Cook, received two nominations. In the hotly contested Craft Award, Aardman will find tough competition from Dreams & Desires: Family Ties by renowned animator Joanna Quinn as well as Ian Mackinnon’s Adjustment. Best Short Film nominations also include Elizabeth Hobbs’ The Old, Old, Very Old Man, and Yours Truly directed by Osbert Parker who is considered one of Britain’s strongest new talents.

Other nominations of note: Sweeney Todd was nominated for Best Film and TV Graphics for its title sequence, and Suzie Templeton’s Peter & the Wolf (which has also been nominated for an Oscar) is up for Best TV Specials. Congratulations to all nominees!