Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Last night (Monday) on Craig Ferguson’s show The Late Late Show, Andie McDowell was the guest to promote her VO in Nickelodeon’s Barnyard. Ferguson then told her he’d watched the film but had one question: why do all the male cows in the film have udders?

She said that it was a problem for her, too. She’d been asked the question several times by friends and one of her children. The only reason for it, she guessed was that if they didn’t draw udders they would have to draw the male equivalent.

They both exchanged a couple of sly jokes on that subject, but it was obvious that it was something she didn’t want to have to defend – especially since she lives on a farm.

This is the state of children’s films today. Pigs fly and male cows have udders. Another coup for the designers at Nickelodeon: something for the voice over actors to talk about (albeit with some embarrassment.) It’s just a cartoon; isn’t it?

– Yesterday the NY Times Business section had an article about a program being presented at Siggraph. The Contour system is able to grab the photographed face and reproduce it exactly on a computer model. It’s a leap forward in the motion capture technology since it no longer requires actors to be wired. Actors cover their faces and clothes with makeup containing phosphorescent powder that is not visible under normal lighting and this is interpreted in the computer.

Throw out your pads and pencils. You can already smell the fear at Animation Nation. The good news here, for animators, is that they haven’t figured out how to put the phosphorescent powder on the eyes yet, so animators will still have something to do. My guess is that it shouldn’t take long to make the typical cgi job a bit more like the 2D job . . . obsolete. That is, unless you do art.

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