The belgian company I.M.P.S., proprietor of the license for worldwide merchandising of the Smurfs, is working on a pilot for a new cartoon series, which will possibly be produced in 3D. "The 3D technology offers tremendous creative possibilities that are unused so far in the Smurfs' cartoon-world," states I.M.P.S.

I.M.P.S. chose the technology of A&A computer systems, which offered Discreet 3ds max on the highly performant IBM intellistations.

Decisive factors for this decision were 3ds max' market penetration and features. Of major importance were also the support, training and know-how offered by A&A computer systems.

3ds max is the world's best selling animation package, with hundreds of plug-ins available. To maintain the cartoon style, A&A advised the Illustrate and FinalRender plugins. These softwares generate a 2D cartoon output of a 3ds max animation. Of course, also Discreet's character studio, to create character animations with the "footstep" system, was indispensable too.

Now we can all start waiting impatiently to see the Smurfs back on TV!