Welcome to the new Animation Snack, brought to you by MyToons.com! This is the place for tasty tidbits on All Things Animated! Stay tooned here everyday for animation news, intimate interviews, exciting contests, great prizes and events. It's easy to comment & connect with animation industry experts, artists and fans.

Join the MyToons team in celebrating art, animation and the creative culture!
Dig in and enjoy your Animation Snack!

Want more than just a taste? Visit MyToons.com for tons of toons, art, entertainment, and the world's greatest animation community.

Get instant up-to-date info on what’s being discussed throughout the MyToons community!  For the lo’ down on recent comments left by MyToons members, check out the new “Latest Discussions on MyToons” section on the homepage.

It’s all about the community, so dive in and talk it up MyTooners!

P.S.  Remember, once you log in, you can also keep track of your personal discussions through the “Latest Comments” section on your Start Page – your one-stop information station.

Congratulations to this week’s winner Jeroen Zijlstra – better known as raspberryanimation around MyToons – for his animation The Miraculous Pear Tree that garnered 313 of your votes!

The Miraculous Pear Tree is a stop-motion animation, shot entirely in high-definition. It tells the fairytale of a Tibetan monk who encounters a less than dignified salesman. After finding out about the salesman and his intentions, he teaches him a lesson. It is screened in New York on the New York Independent International Film and Video Festival (Feb 28 - March 6, 2008).

Enjoy your iPod Nano loaded with awesome animations – you’re now in the running for the Grand Prize trip to see The Miraculous Pear Tree in NYC’s Times Square and more!

Remember, your vote counts! Tell your friends to help your animation get to the top – everyone can vote once every hour. Want to Get with the Times? To upload your HD animations and find more info, check out the Get with the Times! contest page.

MyToons is proud to sponsor ColdHardFlash’s biggest event to date: The Flash Animation 10: Best Animated. The 10 films were selected by a panel of animation industry rock stars; the judging criteria: simply “choose the best animated films,” leaving software and any preconceived notions of the medium behind.

Barcelona-based animator Nacho Rodriguez took the top prize for his animated film "Mr. Coo Episode 4," which features imaginative, stream-of-consciousness animation. "It’s quite an honour," said 27 year old animator Nacho Rodriguez. "This encourages me to keep the gooey frames flowing, that is, to squeeze living liquid out of a sharp vector."

Check out the Flash-filled top 10 list here, and even catch interviews with each director.

"This collection of animated shorts is a testament to the fact that talented animators in this new digital age have unlimited potential," said Aaron Simpson, founder and editor of ColdHardFlash.com. "It’s been only 10 years since Flash arrived on the market, and in that short time we’ve seen films produced with the software emerge as world-class, award-winning shorts."

The times, they are a-changin’ – and MyToons is changing right along with ‘em!  As a part of our cutting-edge HD campaign, we’ve teamed with Adobe to bring you Get with the Times! – our latest HD animation contest that takes your animation to the center of the Big Apple! 

Submit your best HD work from June 9 – September 4, 2008, and you could win a trip to NYC to see your creation grace Clear Channel’s state-of-the-art video billboard in Times Square – and, as a bonus, take home every creator’s dream toolkit: Adobe’s Creative Suite 3: Master Collection!

Winners are chosen every week, and just like NYC, MyToons voting never sleeps – so be sure to cast your votes on your favorite animations!  Weekly winners will not only receive an iPod Nano loaded with awesome animations, but will also be finalists in the running for the Grand Prize: an exciting weekend for two in NYC!  Plus, two runners-up will also receive a copy of Adobe’s CS3!

To upload your animation and cast your vote to win, visit the Get with the Times! contest page at MyToons.com/contests/TimesSquare.

New HD Animation Technology Provides Highest Quality Experience For Animators And Fans Around the World On MyToons.com

Global animation community MyToons.com becomes the first animation website to showcase member’s animations in high definition online

LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) June 9, 2008 – MyToons.com, the world’s premier online animation community, today announced the launch of HD Animation™; a first for any online animation site. Animators and animation fans around the world can now experience both independent and studio animations in glorious high definition color and clarity – precisely as the creators intended them to be viewed – at MyToons.com

“MyToons has reached a significant technological and artistic milestone, making us the first animation community to showcase high definition animations,” explained Paul Ford, co-founder and president of MyToons.com. “Animators everywhere are really excited about this opportunity to upload and share their HD creations with MyToons’ global fan base.”

In addition to providing an HDTV-quality viewing experience, MyToons’ new system allows users to embed and share HD animations at full resolution both on the MyToons site itself and on other pages throughout the Internet. Viewers can easily toggle from standard definition to high definition, as well as view animations full-screen. Animators everywhere are invited to upload their high definition animations for free to MyToons.com, which already includes one of the largest collections of member-created animations found anywhere on the Internet.

“We are thrilled to now be able to provide full-quality HD to the online world” said Dan Kraus, CEO & co-founder of MyToons. “It’s always exciting for us to deliver a technology that takes the next step forward, and really makes a difference in the quality of the MyToons user experience. This is definitely it.”

The new HD Animation feature set is part of MyToons’ unique and proprietary technology portfolio, under development by the company for several years. The launch of HD Animation also coincides with the launch of a dynamic new site design on MyToons, the first major design change for the site since its launch in March of 2007. The new design provides for increased ease of use and the most advanced entertainment experience of any animation website available. MyToons has received a tremendously-positive response from both site members and the animation industry as a whole for their recent implementations.

“Animators are always interested in delivering their work at the highest resolution possible,” said Jerry Beck, a noted Animation Director/Producer and Historian. “MyToons HD Animation delivers an amazing new way for animators to share their talents with the world, at a resolution which rivals anything on HDTV.”

About MyToons.com

MyToons.com is the world’s premier online animation community. Launched in spring of 2007, MyToons.com provides global content creators with a free platform to share their original animations, artwork, and games with animators, enthusiasts and fans world wide.

Combining high-quality standard and high definition (HD) video file streaming with best-in-class social networking for animators, MyToons.com showcases the greatest variety of independent and studio animation anywhere. Dedicated to "everything animated,” MyToons.com allows artists to share their techniques, discuss their thoughts and ideas, and explore their commonalities in a robust visual environment. The website can be explored at MyToons.com.

Notice something different? MyToons has been redesigned and is now the first global animation community to offer you the ability to upload and view your animation in High Definition – the top of the line, all digital format for broadcasting, streaming and viewing video. Consider this the new age “black and white to color” transition – and it’s all at your fingertips. Find out more about HD here.

MyToons is here to make your life fun and easy – check out our other new features!

• Channels: Watch up to 19 different animation channels, add animation tags, and share with your friends – all without leaving the homepage!

• Filter Feature: Play the animations, artwork, and games you’re craving with our new filtering feature – just organize by “Time,” “Sorting,” “Category,” and “Style.”

• Rating System: Rate animation, artwork, and games on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Gold Star or No Star? Let ‘em know what you think!

• Start Page: Get a fresh start with our new, one-stop control board! Manage, edit, and personalize your stuff – all from the “My Start Page” button on the homepage!

Take a moment.

Let it all sink in.

Now go ahead and enjoy the full-on animation experience at MyToons.com!

Digg This!