Content: Fiona King Visual Effects: Olivia King

First digitally animated feature film produced in Australia. Took 4 years to complete The film grossed $US 385. million The DVD sales another $US 198. million It cost $US 85. million to make. The advertising budget was $US 45. million

Software used for modelling and animation – XSI Software used for mapping, 3D modelling, animation, rendering, and visual effects - Maya 97 (Free Trial) The spectacular scenery was from the Antarctic. Photoshop files for scenery were 10,000 pixels across. Software used for scenery was - World Machine (Free Trial)

Keeping all these departments under control is the Computer Graphics supervisor, and the Film Producer (George Miller). Loads of data travels between the departments. – Flowcharts – Databases – Delivery Schedules – Data Backups – Naming Conventions – Super Computer Facility (Happy Feet computer capabilities were up there with the Pentagon).

A script is written. The script is translated into a storyboard. Then the concept and design department will start work on the landscape and individual characters. Each character is then broken down into separate departments. 1. Surfacing – colour of feathers and textures. 2. Rigging – anatomical design, skeleton – muscles. 3. Animation – individual character expression. 4. Visual – ruffling of feathers, water movement. 5. Lighting – shadows, light reflections. 6. Audio - voices, sound affects, music

What percentage of Australians play computer games ? 68 % Of that 46% are females. What is the average age of game players in Australia ? 30 years Average game session lasts 1 hour.

Sales last year in Australia totalled $ AUS 1.3 billion. 75% of games are classified G or PG. Each game takes about 1 year to complete. At an average cost of $ AUS 4. million.

Designers – Create the game story. Programmers – Coding. Artists – Design the stage and character images. Animators – movement and characteristics. Audio – sound effects, music, voice-overs. QA Tester – reports on glitches. 2D Designer – room layouts, hazards, scenery. Project Manager – oversees all of the above.

They predict Wii games will lose the remote and go to body sensors & voice recognition. Natal allows players to drop the control and simply use hand and body motions to play games or even navigate the console's menus. Essentially, the camera sensors project radar-like beams that hit objects in the room and bounce back, allowing the machine to build up an accurate picture of what is in front of it. Such systems have a surprisingly fine level of detail, even able to recognise different hand signals or small movements. Also the capability to incorporate facial recognition. The real test will be when Natal goes on sale – next year at the earliest.