by Rob Kohr

Axiotron and Other World Computing have teamed up to make the first ever Mac Tablet PC dubbed the ModBook. ModBook is basically a modded MacBook that is purchased from apple, the screen and keyboard are removed, then a Wacom Penable tablet screen in place on time making this machine a slate tablet pc, er um mac. Its available in all the MacBook configurations and also retains the iSight camera that is built into the cover.

Having a tablet PC myself (Motion Computing’s M1400) and seeing this in action, I have a few thoughts. First I tend you use quick access buttons a lot especially one that will mimic the space bar. This is a necessity if you want to move around in Photoshop or Alias Sketchbook. On my Motion Computing machine I have 4 buttons which I can assign any number of key board commands. Ones I also find useful include buttons that allow me to skip forward and back frame by frame in Flash. The ModBook does not have this.

On the plus side the ModBook actually has an eraser on its pen. This might sound surprising, but since most tablet PCs are not geared to artists, they tend to neglect what the artist needs. Unlike my Wacom Cintiq the M1400 tablet PC seems more geared to the mobile business type. In fact the first tablet PC I owned was a Compaq, which didn’t even have pressure sensitivity! (Read the article)

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by Jake Friedman

When the question arises as to the best character animator alive today, one unquestionably thinks of Andreas Deja. Following in the footsteps of the pioneers at Disney and learning from the “Nine Old Men” themselves, Deja has made a name for himself with the creation of such characters as King Triton, Jafar, Gaston, Scar, Hercules, Lilo and countless others. He could barely speak proper English when he came from Germany to animate on Disney feature films and was part of the resurgence of animation that started booming with The Little Mermaid. Recently, when all the drawing tables at Disney were being replaced with computers, Deja’s office was the one holdout to still use paper and a pencil-test machine, a decision that would otherwise the risk the company losing one of its greatest talents.

I had the chance to talk with Andreas, and it’s my honor to share some juicy bits of his history, technique and approach to the craft.

JF: What’s the hardest thing about being a Disney lead animator?

AD: The hardest thing is to live up to the expectation of pulling together important scenes of the films. You have to lead a group of animators and help them along to meet their footage requirements, and you have the least time of any animator. You have to work with the group, spend time with them, you have to do the most important pieces of film yourself because you are the lead animator on that character, and you are expected to do the most footage of them all. So it’s quite a challenge. (Read the article)

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