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46 cgw n o v e m b e r . d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4 ANIMATION B I G H E R O 6 RELEASE DATE: November 7 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures Disney has been serving up a number of animated hits in recent years, and it is poised to continue its run with Big Hero 6, a story about an inflatable robot and a boy prodigy who aspires to be a high-tech superhero. Disney has been in develop- ment on a new rendering tool, called Hyperion, while in pro- duction, and this is the first film that will utilize the technology. H O W T O T R A I N Y O U R D R A G O N 2 RELEASE DATE: June 13 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: DreamWorks Animation, Mad Hatter Entertainment The youngsters in the original How to Train Your Dragon movie are now adults, as this sequel takes place five years into the future. The dragons and humans have formed a tight bond, and the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is especially close. The movie presents a number of new dragons, whose designs are amazing. Helping animators create believable dragons and engaging characters was a new generation of animation tools the studio named Premo, and a new rigging system designed to take advantage of fast graphics cards. M R . P E A B O D Y & S H E R M A N RELEASE DATE: March 7 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: DreamWorks Animation, Pacific Data Images, Bullwinkle Studios, Classic Media Productions Artists at PDI/DreamWorks resurrected the lovable father- son duo Mr. Peabody and Sher- man from 2D cartoonland and dropped them into present day to begin their 3D adventures, craed in CGI. Soon they are time-traveling to the past. The characters are created with simple lines and caricatured shapes reminiscent of their 2D origins. The surface textures in the environments are simple, but the lighting is complex in the scenes. P E N G U I N S O F M A D A G A S C A R RELEASE DATE: November 26 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: DreamWorks Animation, Pacific Data images They are sly and adventurous. They are superspies. They are the Penguins of Madagascar, who are now starring in their very own feature film follow- ing guest appearances in the Madagascar movie franchise and their own television show. The artists at the studios have gone "undercover" to devise new modeling and animation methods in order to create this "top-secret" adventure. Ah, the plot thickens…. P L A N E S ! F I R E & R E S C U E RELEASE DATE: July 18 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: DisneyToon Studios, Prana Stu- dios, Walt Disney Pictures DisneyToon Studios tapped into the hero genre with its story of anthropomorphic planes in the fire and rescue brigade. The computer-generated comedy-adventure is a sequel to Planes and a spin-off from Pixar's Cars. R I O 2 RELEASE DATE: April 11 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Animation, Blue Sky Studios The backdrops in this family film are colorful and cheery, exactly what you would expect to find in the rainforest, which is where Blu and Jewel find them- selves, along with their families, in this sequel. Creating the magical world in Rio 2 and its characters presented innumera- ble challenges for the scientists, animators, artists, modelers, riggers, 3D, and effects teams at Blue Sky Studios. Rendering the winged leads and creating their performances was a key focus, as it was in the original film. Here, Blue Sky turned up the technology to bring the birds to life once again. T H E B O X T R O L L S RELEASE DATE: September 26 PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Laika Entertainment, Focus Features Laika continues to push the state of the art in stop-motion animation, and the results of their efforts are clearly visible in The Boxtrolls, about a young orphaned boy raised by under- ground cave-dwelling trash collectors called Boxtrolls. Here, CG artists expanded the stop-motion world with digital backgrounds, set extensions, CG extras, visual effects, and more, using the best of both worlds for a rich, deep aes- LAIKA ADDED A HEAVY DOSE OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS TO ITS STOP-MOTION FEATURE THE BOXTROLLS, FROM FOCUS FEATURES. IMAGE ©2014 LAIKA, INC./FOCUS FEATURES LLC