Morning Review

A few things I came across before I head out to get our mortgage finalized. Part of my original intent when starting the 3DF site was to 'document for archiving' things I saw around the net in case I wanted to come back to it later. This way I could just search my site rather than the whole net for that tidbit I came across days/months/years before (although it doesn't help if I redesign from scratch about once a year). So along those lines bauhaus software is releasing version 2 of their digital storyboarding system. This looks like a serious time saver for a very time consuming part of pre-production.

Boardomatic v2 is a new fully digital, powerful storyboarding system for Bauhaus Mirage, the company's award-winning 2D Animation product. Designed for 2D animators and storyboard artists accustomed to working on paper, Boardomatic v2 combines a customizable template system, automatic pan generation, automatic print formatting and much more.

Another cool thing was Avimator. From the site:

Avimator is a simple tool for creating and editing avatar animations for Second Life, an amazing virtual world created by Linden Lab. See the original post I made in the Second Life forums for more details on the early stages of this project.

A great free tool for creating Second Life machinima. Definately worth keeping an eye on to see where it goes (i.e. maybe for more than just Second Life).

Finally, two articles over at Animation World worth noting on the administration side of film production which are great for the independent. They are also based on two things that I suck at which are soooo important, film festivals and PR.

Film Festival Submissions: Part 1 — The Agony and the Ecstasy. Sharon Katz talks with independent animators Patrick Smith and Signe Baumane about the agony and the ecstasy of entering one’s film into festivals.

Also,

Promoting Animation: The Dos & Don’ts of PR.
AWN editor in chief Sarah Baisley lays out the dos and don’ts of pubic relations so that animation companies and indies can promote themselves better and get more bang for their pr buck.

Woof, that update took longer than expected. I'm late!