News Bytes: ‘Miraculous’ at Comic-Con, Imagen Awards, iPi Soft V.4, and More

‘Miraculous’ Panel and Signing Happening at Comic-Con
Jeremy Zag, the producer of ZAG HEROEZ, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, (Netflix) and founder of ZAG Animation, will provide a sneak peek into upcoming seasons and share some exciting news at a special panel at Comic-Con next week. Slated for Friday (July 20) at 11:45 a.m at Room 61, the special event will also be moderated by Ezra Weisz, the show’s voice director and will feature voice actors Cristina Vee (Ladybug/Marinette), Mela Lee (Tikki), Bryce Papenbrook (Cat Noir/Adrien), Max Mittelman (Plagg), and Keith Silverstein (Hawk Moth). The gang will also deliver a script read and engage with the “Miraculer” fan community. Then at 1:30, fans can meet and greet Zag and the voice cast at a special Miraculous signing event held at the Action Lab Comics booth (#1735).

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir airs in over 120 countries worldwide, delivering top rankings rankings  on key partners including Netflix and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s KidsClickTV in the USA, Disney EMEA & Latin America, France’s TF1, UK’s POP, Italy’s Super!, Brazil’s Gloob. The show has been greenlit through season five (a total of 130 episodes). Miraculous has over 17 billion watch-time minutes and 3.4 billion views on YouTube. In September, the Miraculous ZAG Chibi series will premiere on the main broadcast channels in each country and on the official Miraculous You Tube Channels as well.

‘Coco,’ ‘Loud House’ Among Imagen Award Noms
Coco, Ferdinand, The Loud House and Elena of Avalor are among the animated features and TV series up for 2018 Imagen Awards. The awards, which are given by the Imagen Foundation to celebrate positive portrayal and creative excellence of Latinos and Latino cultures in TV and film, will be held at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles on Aug. 25.

Best Picture

• Coco (Disney Pixar)
• How to Break Up With Your Douchebag (Como Cortar A Tu Patan) (Televisa-Videocine-Lionsgate)
• Overboard (3Pas Studios and Pantelion, Lionsgate MGM)
• The Shape of Water (Double Dare You and Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Director

• Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, Coco (Disney Pixar)
• Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water (Double Dare You and Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Miguel Duran, Monsoon (Create Entertainment/Desert Monsoon Media)
• Gabriela Tagliavini, How to Break Up With Your Douchebag (Como Cortar A Tu Patan) (Televisa-Videocine-Lionsgate)

Best Actor – Feature Film

• Eugenio Derbez, Overboard (3Pas Studios and Pantelion, Lionsgate MGM)
• Andy Garcia, Geostorm (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• Gabriel Iglesias, Ferdinand (Twentieth Century Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios)
• Mel Rodriguez, Overboard (3Pas Studios and Pantelion, Lionsgate MGM)

Best Children’s Programming

• Elena of Avalor (Disney Junior; Disney Television Animation)
• Stuck in the Middle (Disney Channel; Horizon Productions, Inc.)
• The Magical Wand Chase: A Sesame Street Special (HBO; Sesame Street Workshop)
• The Loud House (Nickelodeon)

iPi Soft Announces Version 4
Mo-Cap technology developer iPi Soft is introducing Version 4 of its popular markerless motion capture software. The new release will offer a real-time preview capability for a single depth sensor. Other new features and enhancements in Version 4 include support for new depth sensors (Intel RealSense D415/D435, ASUS Xtion2 and Orbbec Astra/ Astra Pro); improved arms and body tracking; and support for action cameras such as GoPro and SJCAM. With Version 4, iPi Soft also introduces a perpetual license model.

The new real-time tracking feature in Version 4 uses iPi Recorder, a free software provided by iPi Soft for capturing, play back and processing video records from multiple cameras and depth sensors, to communicate to iPi Mocap Studio software, that tracks in real-time speed and instantly transfers motion to 3D characters. This allows users to see how the motion will look on a 3D character and improve motion accordingly at the time of acting and recording, without the need to redo multiple iterations of acting, recording and offline tracking. A complete list of the new feature enhancements in iPi Motion Capture 4 is available here.

Cary Sachs Joins the Mob Scene
Industry veteran Cary Sachs has joined marketing agency Mob Scene as its new VP of Broadcast and Streaming. The new division will build upon and expand Mob Scene’s current work within the broadcasting and streaming arenas. Sachs will report to John Zaffarano, Mob Scene’s President, Global Creative Marketing and will be responsible for leading and expanding the agency’s existing capabilities further into those areas by offering clients trailers, promos and sizzle reels, along with in-house shoots, print, international capabilities and experiential events, including 3D projections, screen installations, cross-promotional and branding events.

Sachs brings an impressive list of clients to Mob Scene, including Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC, National Geo, Sony Television, CBS, USA, MTV, ITV, WGN America, Fox Sports, TBS, TNT, Keshet, and Amazon Studios, among others. They join Mob Scene’s existing TV and streaming clients, which include Nickelodeon, Netflix, VH1 and Hulu, to name a few. For more info, visit mobscene.com.