The thread that bound the fmx/07 programme together was "believable virtual characters", and it tied research, cinema and games up into an extremely rewarding series. Highlights included Steven Stahlberg's unbelievable cg ladies, the resurrection of Klaus Kinski, digital performances at ILM, crisply real soldiers from Crytek, EA's George Borshukov and a slew of other contributions.
Games and realtime applications took an unprecedented role at fmx/07 animation is closing the gap in aesthetic terms as well. Speakers rushed from their own presentations to catch those of their colleagues. Joseph Olin (ACAD) on the ways of the industry, Gilles Monteil (Ubisoft) on emotional impact, Thorsten Reil (NaturalMotion Ltd) and Chris Williams (LucasArts) on animation based on the physicality of the characters, Henry LaBounta (ElectronicArts) on biomechanics, Matthew Jeffery (Electronic Arts) on the the future of gaming, Lee Sheldon on adapting literary material, Nathan Shedroff on designing experience, Mark Meadows on a more rewarding relations with NPCs... the list goes on.
Of course animated feature films commanded continued to play a major role at fmx/07, with Sony Pictures Imageworks' Rob Bredow talking about Surf's Up, Dreamworks' Craig Ring on Shrek 3, Pixar's Sanjay Bakshi on Ratatouille and Dragon Hunter presented by Michael Coldeway, Arnauld Boulard and Kyle Balda from Trixter, MacGuff and Futurikon respectively. Effects-driven films were well-represented with Chris Watts talking about the far-reaching graphic impact of 300 and Imageworks' Peter Nofz on the effects-driven villains in Spider-Man 3.
fmx/forum in grew larger than ever before: Adobe and Autodesk offered non-stop exclusive training, Sony Computer Entertainment presented COLLADA™, SOFTIMAGE|XSI, ComBOTS, Luxology, Microsoft, Pixar, Schneider Digital, Technocrane, Toon Boom Animation, tvd and VisuMotion among others.
International animation studios and VFX houses took part in extensive recruiting activities - from major players such as DreamWorks or Disney to creative craftmen like Aardman or German specialists such as Scanline or Crytek. Somewhat cramped, but very positive feedback on which to build next year's event.
We were also honored to have the renowned British director John Boorman, who impressed his co-speakers and visitors alike with a glimpse at his first animation project - a new interpretation of The Wizard of Oz. Roland Emmerich brought the event to a close with a personal view on his relationship to visual effects, animation and digital techniques before the closing celebration gave all present yet another opportunity to shake hands and rub elbows in a relaxed atmosphere.