Animated Luisa

Blur Studio created the 3:30 animated short Aunt Luisa as a step inits plan to produce a CG feature film.

The drive to independently produce CG feature films is taking a lotof forms these days (see Millimeter's February issue). AtBlur Studio, Venice, Calif., a long-awaited first step was taken in thelast year when the animation/design/effects boutique completed itsfirst-ever CG short Aunt Luisa. It was one of nine animatedshorts this year to be considered for an Academy Award nomination, andis now touring the film festival circuit.

Tim Miller, Blur's creative director and co-director of AuntLuisa along with Paul Taylor, says the company made the filmutilizing the pipeline it has built over eight years to produce ridefilms, video games, commercials, and visual effects — a PC-basedinfrastructure built around Discreet's 3ds Max for animation, Eyeon'sDigital Fusion for compositing, and SplutterFish's Brazil renderingpackage.

Miller says Blur fully intends to make a CG feature film using thesame pipeline.

“We've been building this pipeline for years, we have addedstaff, and we are now working on a 40-minute CG piece for a majorstudio — all steps toward making our own feature,” hesays.