cg daily news

Posted: 19 Mar 2010 02:40 AM PDT

"Descendants" is a 14-minute animated short. The two main characters are flowers who grow on the edge of a clearing next to one another. They are voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Christy Scott-Cashman. One is old and jaded by a mysterious history -- the other one still young, vivid and curious. The wish to attain the unattainable: something good can evolve from something evil.

Destiny has brought these two together and it seems as if they would exist without possibility for change, until one day a visitor to the clearing brings something unexpected to their lives.

This short film started as a diploma project by Heiko van der Scherm and Holger Schoenberger at the Institute of Animation (part of the Filmakademie Baden-Werttemberg).

See the Making of Tutorial here

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Five Years on Mars

Posted: 19 Mar 2010 02:32 AM PDT

While audiences are used to seeing virtual characters and worlds beyond their imagination created using computer graphics, the use of CG for medical, scientific and industrial visualization is often forgotten. That is not the case with Jed Schwartz, the owner of New Hampshire based Jed Schwartz Productions (JSP). His studio specializes in visual effects and 3D animation for visualization projects and has an impressive client list including companies such as Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Discovery Channel and NBC.

In this recent project for the National Geographic Channel, Jed helps chronicle the adventures of the Mars Rover Spirit as it tackles the alien Martian terrain. His team was tasked with compiling close to forty shots totaling twelve minutes in length that re-enact the Spirit forging its way across the rocky, desert-like surface. They were required to create a meticulously detailed photo-realistic recreation of this landscape especially those troublesome obstacles which from time-to-time hold up the exploring rover.