News Round-Up: Monday 7 Nov, 2011

Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.

KATANA 1.0 hits the streets
from 3D Artist Magazine
With the official release of KATANA 1.0 also comes the announcement that ILM has purchased a site license of the look development and lighting tool, replacing the conventional CG pipeline with a flexible recipe-based asset workflow.

Ntropic creates House of Cards
from 3D World Magazine
VFX house Ntropic uses Maya’s nParticles to create the latest spot for the Bank of New York Mellon.

18 Films Submitted in Animated Feature Oscar Race
from Animation World Magazine
Eighteen features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 84th Academy Awards.

Little, Brown Scares Up ‘ParaNorman’ Publishing Deal
from Animation World Magazine
ParaNorman, an upcoming stop-motion 3D animated feature produced by LAIKA, has scored a world print and electronic publishing deal for key movie tie-ins and an original middle-grade novel with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

'Smurfs' Writers Tackle Sony's Animated 'Popeye' Movie
from Animation World Magazine
Sony Pictures Animation has set screenwriters Jay Scherick and David Ronn to write the screenplay for a new animated feature version of Popeye.

Hybrid Indie 'Death of a Superhero' to Get U.S. Release
from Animation World Magazine
Death of a Superhero, a feature film about a teenage cartoonist with cancer that mixes animated sequences with live-action, has been picked up for North American distribution by Tribeca Film.

Del Toro to Shepherd DreamWorks Feature 'Alma'
from Animation World Magazine
DreamWorks Animation is moving ahead on its next film with Guillermo del Toro, who will oversee a feature based on the short film Alma, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Weak 'Puss' Opening Disappoints DreamWorks Investors
from Animation World Magazine
DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots is tops at the box office, but that’s not translating into admiration on Wall Street.

A Halloween Treat from 'Transylvania'
from Animation World Magazine
Sony Pictures Animation has a tasty morsel for the toon town kiddies in honor of Halloween: The first character designs for Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler), star of their upcoming CG animated feature Hotel Transylvania.

Q&A: David Couchariere, character animator
from CG Channel
The DreamWorks star gives us his technical tips - and tells us why now is a new golden age for animation.

The Hobbit - Production Video #4
from Death Fall
Amazing! In this video Peter Jackson show us his stereoscopic work for film 'The Hobbit'.

Trixter and Captain America
from Death Fall
Alessandro Cioffi talks about Trixter's vfx in Captain America.

Mr. X, The Fourth Musketeer
from Death Fall
Take a close look into Mr. X pipeline for the movie The Three Musketeers.

Academic Gains Vary Widely for Charter Networks
from Education Week
A national study of middle school students in 40 charter networks finds that, when it comes to having an impact on student achievement, results vary and, overall, charter students don't learn dramatically more than their counterparts in regular public schools.

California leads nation in escalation of college costs
from L.A. Times
California's public universities enacted the highest average tuition increase, 21%, of any state, the College Board finds.