News from 2023
CelAction open over holidays
As usual, CelAction will be open between Christmas and New Year.
Festivus website launches
Our friends at Festivus have launched a website to help animators find jobs. Go there and register for free to find the ideal job. And if you click on the CelAction ad there, you'll get a special discount on our Quickstart course!
Dave Spud shortlisted for Broadcast award
The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud by Illuminated Film Company is shortlisted in the Best Children's Programme category at the 2024 Broadcast Awards, being held in London on 8th February 2024.
The Fell We Climb at MAF
The Fell We Climb by Plus3K Studios is selected to screen in competition in the Manchester Animation Festival's Animated Commercial Curiosities Programme, being held in Manchester on 12th-17th November 2023.
Rex rolls Reroot
Reroot by Dogleap Productions is being shown at the Rex Animation Film Festival 2023 in Stockholm on 29th October 2023.
Reroot plays in Kerry
Reroot by Dogleap Productions is being shown at the Kerry International Film Festival 2023 on 21st October 2023.
CelAction2D version 4.1 released!
CelAction today announced the launch of version 4.1 of CelAction2D. The update features a major enhancement to CelAction2D's bespoke scripting language, plus the ability to export movement data to Adobe After Effects.
“This upgrade is all about pipeline improvement,” said CelAction CEO Andy Blazdell. “Not all studios can afford dedicated scripting programmers, therefore we wanted to make our system as easy as possible so that animators and riggers with no prior programming experience could use it. This is going to level up a lot of small and medium size teams, so they can compete with the big players.”
Originally used as a tool for creating sequences of commands that can be assigned to a key or a button, CelAction2D Macros can now take user input while the script is running, and set, test and manipulate variables. More importantly though, they can use animation stored within the character rig itself to construct customised poses or movement.
For example, users are able to set a single keyboard command to add an animated arm wave to a character, that could automatically test how the character was posed, and change the animation accordingly to avoid the need for the animator to go back in and tweak anything. So if the arm wave would be different if the character was wearing long sleeves or holding an object, that would be handled automatically. If there were different styles of arm wave built into the character, the Macro could even ask the user which style to use.
The Macros themselves can be built up using easy to understand dialog boxes, rather than typing things in, so that the syntax is always correct and the user is always guided towards the correct solution. During testing, the CelAction team even made a simple text adventure within CelAction2D itself to push the possibilities of the system.
“The integration of easy yet powerful scripting with the actual movement of the characters is a breakthrough that will be key to increasing productivity,” said Andy. “It’s the best way forward, because it uses Animator Intelligence instead of the artificial kind.”
CelAction in Ottawa
A representative from CelAction will be attending the Ottawa International Animation Festival and TAC conference on 20-24th September 2023. Contact us to set up a meeting.
Yes, we know we're going against our no-event policy for this year, but something very big has happened in the industry, and a lot of companies have asked us to help them prepare their response.
If you don't know what we're talking about, then don't worry, it probably won't affect you. But for those who are affected, we are here, and we are ready to help you.
We said we would not let down our clients, but we will not let down others who need our help either.
Bluey wins TCA award!
Bluey by Ludo Studio has won the Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming award at the TCA Awards 2023.
CelAction Rigs gets bigger
CelAction Rigs is expanding! New rigs, new creators, and a fascinating Behind-The-Scenes video. Check out their YouTube channel here.
New showreel released!
The CelAction2D showreel for 2023 has been released, check it out here.
Bluey nominated for Logie
Bluey by Ludo Studio has been nominated for Most Outstanding Children's Program at the Logie Awards 2023, to be held on 30th July 2023.
Giuseppe nominated for Goldene Spatz
Giuseppe by Isabelle Favez has been nominated at the Goldener Spatz awards to be held in Erfurt on June 9th 2023.
Corpse Talk nominated for Pulcinella
Corpse Talk by Tiger Aspect Animation has been nominated in the Kids TV Series (7-11 years) category at the Cartoons On The Bay Pulcinella awards to be held on June 3rd 2023.
Five CelAction2D shows nominated at IAA 2023!
Ray of Sunshine by Daily Madness Productions has been nominated for Best Animated Preschool Series, Best Music, Best Storyboarding, Best Director Of An Animated Series and Best Writer For Preschool Animation, Kiva Can Do by Kavaleer has been nominated for Best Animated Preschool Series and Best Writer For Preschool Animation, Nana's Terrifying Zoom Call by Wiggleywoo has been nominated for Best Animated Short Film, Happy The Hoglet by Paper Owl Films has been nominated for Best New Irish IP, Best Editing and Best Writer for Preschool Animation, and Pinkalicious and Peteriffic by Sixteen South has been nominated for Best Irish Feature or Special, at the Irish Animation Awards which will be announced in Galway on Saturday 27th May.
Lupus looking for trainees
Lupus Films has an opportunity for 6 junior animators to learn how to animate in CelAction2D for an upcoming feature. The training will run in early June, find out more details here.
Learn CelAction2D in 24 hours!
CelAction2D Quickstart has been released! This much-anticipated self-study course gets you up-and-running with professional-level training in animation and advanced rigging. See here for details.
REROOT selected for Cannes Film Awards
REROOT by Dogleap Productions has been selected in the 2023 Cannes Film Awards.
Corpse Talk nominated for RTS award!
Corpse Talk by Tiger Aspect has been nominated in the Children's Programme category of the 2023 RTS Awards. The ceremony will be held in London on 28th March 2023.
New marketplace for rigs
There's a new marketplace for CelAction2D rigs at CelAction Rigs! It's a brand new way of finding rigs for teaching, learning and showreel animation. Professionally produced characters and props are available to buy for a fraction of the cost of creating them yourself.
Kiva Can Do nominated for RTS award!
Kiva Can Do by Kavaleer Productions has been nominated in the Animation category of the 2023 RTS Ireland Awards. The ceremony will be held in Galway on 28th March 2023.
Bluey wins another Kidscreen award!
Bluey by Ludo Studio has won Best Pre-school Animated Series at the 2023 Kidscreen Awards!
Bluey nominated for Kidscreen award!
Bluey by Ludo Studio has been nominated in the Best Pre-school Animated Series category of the 2023 Kidscreen Awards. The ceremony will be held in Miami on 14th February 2023.
New Year message
It’s been 25 years since CelAction2D, our flagship product, was born! It's been a wild ride, we’ve been involved in some amazing projects, worked with extremely talented people, and made lifelong friends. We’re so grateful to everyone who has been on this journey with us.
So we asked ourselves, how best to celebrate our anniversary? We didn’t want to produce commemorative plastic trinkets that would end up in the trash or worse, in the oceans. The idea of a party in every country where we have clients sounded like a lot of fun, but when we added up the amount of travel involved, the carbon footprint was immense. No, something else was needed, that would reflect the state of the world today.
We want to give back. Give back to the animation industry, and give back to the planet. We want to help new voices be heard, we want to support animation in places that don’t have an established industry, and we want to cut our carbon emissions.
The first thing we’re going to do is cut our international travel to zero - no festivals, no events, no speculative sales calls. It will just be for 2023, because some events are still necessary in the long term, but we can take a year off without harming business too much. We will not let down our clients, though, and if a trip is absolutely necessary to help a project get across the finish line, we’ll do it, but we’ll use trains where possible instead of flying.
And if you’re wondering why you haven’t seen any Press Releases about it, well, we’re not doing any. We’re only mentioning it here. This is about doing the right thing, not being seen to do the right thing.
We’re talking to important changemakers around the world to make our other objectives happen, so we’ll let you know when these initiatives are ready.
But the travel ban starts now. Maybe every company could take a year off? Who knows, we may even start a trend.
Oh, and on top of that, this is shaping up to be our biggest year ever, so get ready!
Happy New Year!
Site Updated: 20th December 2024
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