Toon Boom Ships Toon Shader

Toon Boom Technologies has released of Toon Shader, the most recent addition to the USAnimation system. Toon Shader extends the capabilities of Alias Wavefront's Maya software so that users can import their 3D models and motion capture data into USAnimation. It allows 3D animators to use USAnimation's other power features to create 2D animations with a 3D flare and output it to all media platforms, including the Internet. "Alias Wavefront is very pleased to welcome USAnimation and Toon Shader to the family of integrated plug-ins available for Maya," said Tom Reyburn, developer relations manager for Alias Wavefront. "With Toon Shader for Maya, artists will be able to easily animate complex 3D scenes and render them with a cartoon shaded look by converting 3D models created in Maya into 2D vector images for use in USAnimation. These Maya animations can then be rendered complete with line and color art, tones and highlights or exported to Macromedia Flash for use on the web." Toon Boom will be showcasing the new ToonShader in collaboration with Alias Wavefront at MIFA 2001, Booth 2.11.