There's nothing new about the information that there a new Futurama season on the way.

But the cool news is that Speedbump Studios had put online the promo and also let we download the Bender model for free!!

The downloads for Maya 7, Poser 6 or obj format. If you're a Blender user like me, you'll have to import the OBJ, tweak the model a little bit and, if you're in the mood of animating him, rig the robot. =D

CGBlog.com there's an interesting article about the making of the new Citroen C4 advert: Runner. The first TV spot became famous worldwide, and now Citroen folks have decided to bring their transformer back.

Until now I know 3 versions of their spots:

The original, which still remains the best IMHO;

Runner (subject of the making of);

Skater.

There's a cool example of a good Motion Capture (mocap) use, because there's a need of total realistic movements to the robot.

But for cartoons, which are something like caricatures in motion, it's a BAD idea to use mocap: it brings us caricatured forms with realistic movements (too awkward ). Cartoons need cartoony movements, and that's only achievable with an animator creating all the frames of the animation.

 

The short Pencil Test debuted on Siggraph 88, and was created in house at Apple to demonstrate the powers of Macintosh II.

On the film credits we can notice some known people like: Andrew Stanton (director, Finding Nemo and WALL.E), credited as "illustrator" e John Lasseter (director, Toy Story and Cars).

Make sure you don't miss the making off

Via Cartoon Brew. 

What about having with you the tips collected by Glen Keane when working as Ollie Johnston's assistant?

On the above image, a cameo/homage by Brad Bird in The Incredibles, Ollie is on the right hand side, near his good friend and partner on the Golden Age, Frank Thomas.

 

Another one from "oldies but goodies" section. =D

After animation, the area that most amazes me in CG is lighting. A good place to start reading about it is the Itchy Animation website.

Neil Blevins also gave a good insight into the subject on a CGSociety thread. Notice that you have to be logged into the site to see his example images.