fjorg_winners01.jpgSIGGRAPH 2007 officials, along with DreamWorks Animation, HP, and AMD, just announced the winners of the world’s first international FJORG! Competition – an “iron animator” event in which 16 competing teams from around the world had 32 hours to create the most impressive character-driven animation of at least 15 seconds in length adhering to at least one of two themes and using at least one of 16 sound bites.

Based on storytelling, animation talent, use of resources, creativity, and technical skills, the judges selected Team Mocap from Bowling Green State University for their animation “Switch” as the first place winners. The team consists of Jim Levasseur, Tomas Jech, and W. Jacob Gardner. Picture This, a team from Miami International University of Art & Design came in second place and Impulse, from The Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg, won third place. A full list of participants is available at http://www.siggraph.org/s2007/attendees/fjorg/.

“The response from the animation community surpassed all expectations,” said Patricia Beckmann-Wells, FJORG! Chair. “All the teams did a fantastic job throughout the competition and it was clear early on that is was going to be very difficult for the judges to select one winner. The winners ended up having just a slight edge from a humor, technical, and creative perspective.”

The three winning teams will be treated to lunch with top Sony executives and animators among other prizes. The first and second place teams will also be given an all-expenses-paid trip to DreamWorks Animation headquarters that includes a sneak preview of the new movie, “Bee Movie”, a tour of the facility, and dinner with top DreamWorks executives.

During the event, FJORG! contestants were required to complete the animations using their own talents and skills, along with limited technology assets supplied at the event (outside resources were not permitted). Teams were judged by a panel of industry experts, including:

* Simon Allen, Animator, Pixar Animation Studios
* Scott Benza, Animation Director, “Transformers“, Industrial Light & Magic
* Spencer Cook, Animation Director, “Spider-Man 3“, Sony Pictures Imageworks
* Raman Hui, Co-Director, “Shrek the Third“, DreamWorks Animation SKG
* Gregorz Jonkajtys, Directing Artist and Marcin Kobylecki, Executive Producer, “The Ark“, (SIGGRAPH 2007 Computer Animation Festival Best of Show)
* David Smith, DreamWorks Animation SKG

The teams were supplied with limited resources during the event including:

* Sound and voice-over selections
* Rigged model for Maya
* 51 HP xw9400 Workstations with Dual Core AMD Opteron processors
* Autodesk 3ds Max
* Autodesk Maya
* Macromedia Flash
* Adobe Photoshop and After Effects
* Softimage|XSI
* Meals
* Liquid refreshments
* White boards and markers for team manangement
* Entertainment
* Nap area

With support provided by DreamWorks Animation, and HP, AMD, FJORG! was held in conjunction with SIGGRAPH 2007, the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques at the San Diego Convention Center.

For more details on all FJORG! participants, visit http://www.siggraph.org/s2007/attendees/fjorg/. All entries and a documentary will be featured on this website in the near future.

PHOTO CAPTION: Team Impulse (3rd place) on the left, Team Mocap (1st place winners) in the center, and Team Picture This (2nd place) on the far right.