Mention CGI (computer generated imagery) animation and the name of Vancover's Mainframe Entertainment Inc. comes immediately to mind. That's because Mainframe made animation hisory in 1994 with ReBoot, the first completely computer-animated television series in North America. Now Mainframe, which is celebrating its fifth annaversary this fall, is set to break more ground with its newest CGI offering - War Planets.

"This series will really appeal to ReBoot fans," says Mairi Welman, director of communications for mainframe. "In this story, the four planets of Fire, Ice, Bone, and Rock have been at war for generations because that the others each has a unique reasource that the others need to survive. But then, a character from another galaxy appears to warn Graveheart, the hero of the series, that a monstrous Beast Planet is coming. The Beast Planet distroys entire star systems. But Graveheart can't convince his ruler that the stranger is telling the truth, so he must go to all the other plants' leaders and get them to unite against this common threat... and that's not an easy thing to do!"

The concept of War Planets and its four different worlds of based on exsisting toys by Trenddmasters of St. Louis, Mo., but the character-friven Mainframe series bears little resemblance to the original toy line. In fact, Mainframe owns the new series.

"There were no character toys in the line; we had to create them from scratch," comments Brendan McCarthy, production design consultant for Mainframe (who also designed the ReBoot characters). "The toys are based on the planets themselves; they are round, plastic spheres that you can take things out of - ships, weapons - stuff like that. I studied each world and pulled a core design idea out of each of the different planets. Then I worked up character designs that would use textures, shapes found on the original planets," he says, adding, "The toy company is so impressed with the series that is is generating a whole new line of toys based on the characters Mainframe developed."

Impressive Animation
War Planets does boast impressive CGI animation, thanks to continuing upgrades of Mainframe's proprietary software programs such as GRIN, which allows animators to quickly and realistically synchronize the animated characters facial expressions with the diologue.

Better still, Mainframe is now able to produce superior animation atan ever increasing rate. Like Gravehearts's task of uniting the War Planets against the Beast Planet, when it comes to CGI production, every second counts.

"The first thing we do is we take script and lay down the voice track," explains Welman. "We do some storybroarding electronically, and then the director and editor start dividing the show up shots, which are handed out to the animators. Each animator does about 30 seconds a week. From there, the sound effects are added, as well as music and the effects shots and then the whole show is assenbled. We take about eight to 10 weeks an episode."

Mainframe currently employs over 230 artist and technicians, who work on 180 SGI workstations using Softimage, Mental Ray and Mainframe's proprietary software.

"We have far more powerful renderers that are so much faster now. Certain things that took days to render now takes less than an hour," notes McCarthy. "That's a massive jump forward."

Quality Animation
While McCarthy worked up character designs, Production Designer Clyde Klotz, who won an Emmy Award for Beast Wars (another Mainframe production), designed the high-tech, space opera environment of War Planets, including all its ships and hardware.

"The quality of the animation is beyond pretty much anything on television in terms of computer animation," says McCarthy. "We can develop atmospheics, create lighting effects and shadows, which we used to do, but we're fine-tuning it for the new series. It's certainly the equivalent of the third season of ReBoot, which was at the time, the highest standard set for CGI animation for television. That third season was never shown in the U.S., so it's going to be quite a surprise when that audience sees how far we've gone."

Mainframe has already been asked to produce 40 episodes (three seasons) of War Planets, and American audiences hungry for CGI programing will be able to view the TV show beginning this September.

"In the States, War Planets has been syndicated through Summit Media Group and the show has been presold to 94 percent of the U.S. market," advised Welman. In Canada, War Planets will battle it out of YTV, under the title, Shadow Raiders.

Mainframe has signed an agreement with Trendmasters, Inc. to produce three new CGI TV series between 1999 and 2001, over and above War Plants. "We are delighted to be taking this major step forward with Trandmasters," says Mainframe CEO and Vice Chairman Christopher Brough. "Their reputaion and track record for bringing highly-innovative, top quality toys to the marketplace is the best among the best in the world. We're certain that together we'll create, produce and bring to life lots of highly imaginative and exciting must-see programming filled with characters that will readily translate into 'must-have' toys."

For fans of the firm's original production, ReBoot, the latest word is that Mainframe is now finalizing a deal with a U.S. broadcaster to purchase all three season of the series. "But until that happens," says Brough, "we won't be producing any more ReBoot episodes for the time being. Instead, we are focusing on properties that have already secured a U.S. broadcast window, as they are more economically viable to us as a public company."

Mainframe is in development on another TV series called Weird-Ohs, which is slated for distribution in 1999. This is a series is the company's first foray into squash and stretch comedy. "We've taken the look of the old loony toons and pushed the envelope to give it a real 90s twist," Brough says as he describes the look of the new show. "It's like Happy Days and The Wild Ones in a blender at 100 miles-per hour. This series will really raise the bar for quality in computer animation throughout the industry."

The company is continuing development on a feature film based on the bestselling children's book, The Sign of the Seahorse, by Austrailian author Graeme Base.

The company opened an L.A. business development office in early 1998, and is in negotiations to develop and produce several more TV and film properties.

For more information about Mainframe and it's properties, go to www.mainframe.ca

As a freelance journalist in Canada, Janet L. Hetherinton has been one of the lucky people to see the thrid season of ReBoot.

This is an article from The Animation Authority - Animation Magazine September 1998 issue. I, AW, have no connection with Mainframe Ent. or Animation Magazine. This is straight from the magazine. I didn't change a thing, and I'm not making money of it.