FMX 2011
May 3-6, 2011.
Stuttgart, Germany.

The 16th FMX Conference on Animation, Games, Effects and
Interactive Media ended yesterday achieving remarkable successes! FMX 2011
brought in larger crowds than ever before, with 3,500 visitors attending each
day. The increase in visitor numbers has been overwhelming; during the
conference extra special efforts were introduced to keep up with the demand.

The conference included high profile animated films such as
"Rango", "Cars 2" and "Rio". Oscar-winning
"Black Swan" and "The King's Speech" and forthcoming movies
such as Roland Emmerich's "Anonymous". Technical discussions
surrounding Transmedia, Global Production, Open Source and Virtual Humans
remained constant topics during the conference. FMX has developed into one of
the world's greatest conferences the successes of FMX can be attributed to the
quality of the speakers and the convergence that exists betweens all of these
areas. FMX fosters relationships in the industry and unites first-class
speakers with students and professionals - especially those travelling from the
USA and Australasia.

Volker
Engel, Visual Effects Supervisor and co-founder of Uncharted
Territory described FMX, "I
am super happy to see that more and more great artists and speakers from all
over the world come to FMX and everyone influences each other".

Throughout the inspiring conference many topics fundamental to
the development of the industry were discussed in lectures, panels and
presentations. FMX 2011 has once again been at the forefront of the animation,
effects and games industries. Visitors to FMX enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere
allowing them to network freely and publicize the latest developments. Tim Alexander, VFX
Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic commented, "I've been really impressed with all the panels
and I've been learning a lot; the panels are really diverse. It's a great
experience!"

Prof.
Thomas Haegele, FMX Conference Chair commented on the successes
this year, "FMX 2011
was highly successful, I am very pleased that FMX provides exceptional
networking opportunities for the audience and for the speakers to exchange
ideas freely. It is a wonderful achievement that Stuttgart plays host for 4
days to an elite crowd of international animation professionals from all over
the world".

Visitor numbers increased this year to 3,500 attendees per day,
including more than 250 speakers. This comprised of approximately 60%
professionals and 40% students, from 49 countries and reflected the interest in
the conference topics and the potential recruitment opportunities. Despite the
increase in capacity the conference managed to cope with the increase in
visitor numbers reaching maximum capacity in the Haus der Wirtschaft.

Harry
Potter Tribute

The exclusive FMX Harry Potter Tribute proved to be extremely
popular this year, the tribute honoured the completion of the series. For 10
years the Harry Potter Films have captivated audiences. The presentations
focused on the franchise's impact on global VFX production as well as
highlighting the evolvement of look, tools and technology over the years. FMX
attendees were shown exclusive scenes ahead of the release of "Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2". Visitors were shown footage of a
majestic dragon flying over London and then bursting through the huge dome of
Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London.

Case
Studies

FMX Case Studies featured some of the most exciting
developments from Lighting and Rendering and Visual Effects. Mohit Kallianpur,
Walt Disney Animation, presented on Disney's "Tangled" and provided
an inside look at the visual challenges and inspirations of creating a world
around Rapunzel, the girl 70 feet of hair. Andrew Beddini, Blue Sky Studios,
discussed creating the look of Blue Sky Studios' latest animated hit,
"Rio". Tim
Alexander, Industrial Light & Magic and Patrick Cohen,
Lucasfilm Singapore, talked about the production of ILM's first animated
feature "Rango". Thomas
Zauner, ScanlineVFX, revealed the developments in CG water
technology and how they were used in "Hereafter". Volker Engel,
Uncharted Territory gave an exciting presentation on Roland Emmerich's period
thriller "Anonymous", ahead of the general release in October 2011.

Open
Source

The use of open source in the hardware and software industries
is rapidly expanding, with Hollywood's top studios continuing to make
contributions to open source projects. Dan
Candela, director of Technology for Walt Disney Animation
Studios, was joined by Marc
Petit (Autodesk), Sebastian
Sylwan (Weta) and Rob
Bredow (SPI) to give their perspectives on open source and its
involvement in the post production process from an infrastructure standpoint in
order to make workflow more efficient.

Exclusively at FMX 2011 Dan
Candela announced several new open source initiatives which
will be released in 2011. Disney Animation has created a ready-to-animate
character "Dee"; a pre-rigged Maya model that has taken a lot of time
to develop. Alongside this they will offer "SeExpr", a universal
expression language that can be used in a variety of packages; it is currently
used in-house at Disney.

Stereo
3D

This year FMX took a fresh look at Stereo 3D, looking at how
this can be used as a storytelling tool and how far this has progressed beyond
the big screen into wider-contexts. 3D for Theme Parks featured Sebastian Sylwan who
discussed the unique design challenges faced while producing "King Kong 360-3D"
and the creative solutions that were applied to deliver one of the world's
largest stereo experiences. David
Cohen, Variety, reported in his lecture the history of 3D
Stereo technology and revealed the struggle of the film industry to master 3D,
and how today's 3D issues echo those of the past.

New
Trends in Games

In the games track, contributors from the Academy of
Interactive Arts & Sciences and Quo Vadis conversed on the most significant
changes in the gaming industry. Presentations included amongst others Joseph Olin, President
Emeritus, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, on how gaming culture is
transforming to the point of cultural significance; Benjamin Joffe,
Cmune, presented on Uberstrike - the largest 3D First-Person-Shooter on
Facebook and Boyd
Multerer, Xbox Platform Microsoft, reported on how transmedia
is affecting the entire gaming industry as well as TV and mobile devices. 
Developments in Stereoscopic 3D Games were discussed including contributions
from Sebastien
Schertenleib, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Dr. Bill Kapralos,
University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Fantastic
Forums

The Schools
Campus
featured 26 schools, from countries including Austria, Denmark, France, Great
Britain, Hungary, Switzerland and the USA. The engaging School Presentations
allowed schools and graduates to present their projects to the wider community
while picking up praise along the way.

The Recruitment Hub was
an important aspect to the conference, having quickly established itself as the
premier European job fair for the animation, games, visual effects and
interactive media industries. Visitors took advantage of the bursting
recruitment presentations to improve on their application skills and discover
how to make an application successful. Company
Suites included packed presentations from Autodesk, Adobe
Systems, The Foundry and weltenbauer. Many companies recorded receiving 200
applications per day! The bustling Trade Floor featured interesting new tools
focusing on Research and Development, demonstrating the future developments in
the industry