Gary Jesch celebrates his thirteenth anniversary of performing as the "Wizard of Oz" at tradeshows and corporate meetings around the world.

He doesn't have a "Wizard of OZ" character though - instead, his performances are done backstage, behind the curtain, while his audiences see a variety of cartoon characters that are completely interactive, appearing on big screens and video displays. Over the years, his main character has been "CHOPS, Cyber Human on a Performance System."

CHOPS & Associates Live Animation brings "virtual characters," that is, 3D animated cartoon actors, to places where companies want to attract attention and offer something memorable and different. The company is also moving into traditional 2D animation with a twist - real-time performances where the characters are all interactive.

This talented multimedia producer began working in performance animation on November 30, 1993, using the Simgraphics "Vactor" system, and did his first performances using facial motion capture in 1995 with the Motion Analysis Face Tracker. In 1996, he graduated to a high-performance software environment called "Geppetto," which used the Face Tracker to do real-time 3D characters. Some of his performances ran for more than eight hours a day, three or four days in a row, at tradeshows.

The company's virtual characters stand out because they offer something few people have ever experienced -- interacting with a cartoon character that can see them, hear them and talk with them.

Live Animation is the leading provider of these virtual characters for corporate meetings, tradeshows and special events, employing talented actors, high quality video displays and its own real-time animation systems, running on high-performance laptops that use phonetic recognition to make the characters' lips sync with the spoken words.

Large companies that exhibit at tradeshows are discovering that they can double and even triple the number of qualified leads they collect by using 2D cartoon characters and 3D virtual mascots that can talk with attendees on the show floor. These "cyber humans" have been created by Live Animation to serve businesses in ways that real humans cannot.

Gary Jesch, the "man behind the curtain" and creator of "CHOPS," is a performance animation artist based in Carson City, NV. When Jesch is at the controls of his "Digital Puppeteer, like the "Wizard of OZ," "CHOPS" can interact in real time from his video display, whether it's on the two-foot round Bubble Screen or from a 15-foot-high screen at a company meeting.

"We are about entertainment and marketing," Jesch explains, "creating an atmosphere of awe and wonder, attracting attention and being different, so that we and our clients stand out. The 'Wizard of Oz' gave people the impression that he was more powerful and awe-inspiring than he really was as a person. Using technology, he became larger than life. Our characters become larger than life, and as corporate mascots, can inspire, attract attention, make the selling environment more memorable, and start the process of relationship-building with customers in a way that nothing else can. We can tell it's effective because we can read peoples' facial expressions and see they are delighted, in most case)."

"Their reactions are always emotional; we can see that. Sometimes, people can find this a little scary, because it is new to them and they don't really have anything to compare it to. That's when we try to appeal to their inner child," Jesch says

Jesch performs in an isolated control booth for seven to eight hours at a stretch, hidden away backstage, while his virtual persona interacts with tradeshow attendees or stage presenters. He sees his audience and the show through a video surveillance system. At company meetings, the characters have been part of entertainment that also included fashion shows, fireworks, motorcycle riding, circus acts, laser lighting displays, giant stages and 20-foot tall rear projections screens.

Creating and performing interactive, computer-generated "cyber humans," combines several artistic disciplines, including acting, computer graphics and production design. By working with corporate marketing professionals and producers in the special events industry, he has found a way to earn the revenue needed to refine the technology, performances and applications for virtual characters to be used around the world.

To accomplish this task, Jesch has worn many hats - computer system designer, 3D animation artist, stage technician, actor/performer, marketing director, web site designer, sales professional, video display and projection specialist, streaming media expert and broadcaster.

He has also developed techniques to become knowledgeable about his client's own industries in a few days, so that he is well-versed enough to talk about products and services with show attendees across a wide variety of disciplines and trades.

His background as a broadcast journalist, combined with a 20-year history as an entrepreneur in computer graphics, writing, advertising, commercial photography and marketing has developed him into a unique individual. He is focused on a single goal - creating Live Animation's "cyber humans" for use as spokespersons, broadcasters and corporate mascots in media around the world.

Here are a few of his accomplishments:

Jesch reproduced Shrek's "Magic Mirror" character in just three days on his system, for a home-video distribution launch in Orlando's University City, with two week's notice before the movie opened nationwide.

He has created over a dozen unique characters, which have been booked by major companies and producers to appear at trade shows and special events. He expects that someday, his characters will be found in many other places in the media, including in movies, on television and on the Internet.

Many major brands like Pennzoil, Hertz, Frito-Lay, Avocent, Ford/Motorcraft and others have booked "CHOPS" in their tradeshow booths to increase the number of qualified leads gathered and improve their company's image and overall marketing effort. "CHOPS" has been used by Dell Computers, Panasonic, America's Community Bankers, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard and many others.

Live Animation has the expertise when it comes to applications for those who want to be even more unusual. The company has worked with the latest in video walls, plasma screens and 3D floating image displays. As far as the Internet is concerned, Jesch has formed an alliance with a streaming video company to incorporate its characters into Web-cast special events and live, interactive training sessions.

"At Live Animation, we are continuing to develop unique virtual characters every few months, including more product-based characters and cartoon characters that can relate to young children. One day, we hope to be part of an interactive children's program using our live animation technology on the Web," adds Jesch.

Live Animation can also recreate animated virtual characters from movies for press conference and television appearances, and has developed "cyber models" that can host fashion shows wearing 3D versions of the designers' latest styles and creations.

Historical highlights:

1993 - Created "Virtual Mark Twain," whose first public appearance was at the Virtual Reality Expo in New York City on Nov. 30, 1993, the original Mark Twain's 151st birthday.

1995 - Created the "CHOPS" character while developing the "Face Tracker" with Motion Analysis Corp. "CHOPS'" first public appearance was at SIGGRAPH in Anaheim, CA. Later that year, Jesch designed and built the first version of the Digital Puppeteer ™, his performance animation system.

1996 - Named as a "Top 100 Multimedia Producer" by AV Video Magazine. Conducted "CHOPS'" first paid appearance at Sapphire 1996 in Philadelphia, with Mobile Wall One. Jesch also co-developed the Geppetto software and auditioned for NBC's Tonight Show.

1997 - Helped win a Best of Show award for AV Images at Exhibitor 97; traveled out of the country for the first time with the Digital Puppeteer, to the Philippines. Designed the Bubble Screen video display system.

1998 - Traveled to Beijing, China for Hewlett Packard. Created "Cybrina" with 3D artist Tom Knight and created "Brash Landau" with multimedia producer Gabreal Franklin.

1999 - First trip to Colombia and Mexico with Grupo Live, followed by three other shows in Latin America, including an eight-day product launch and media blitz for Proctor and Gamble in Bogota with "Cybrina." He performed in his first training video with "Virtual Vinnie," for ArmaKleen.

2000 - Began developing streaming video shows with All Planet TV; worked in Cartagena, Columbia, and Santiago, Chile and opened his South American office in Bogota, Colombia. Jesch and his characters showed their abilities at the Democratic National Convention. He also recreated "Virtual Mark Twain" on new "Gemini" system, and designed his first children's character, "Syber Santa."

2001 - Reproduced the "Magic Mirror" character from the "Shrek" movie; performed for the first time in Canada; and co-designed "VirtuaLibby" with Tom Knight for Sapphire 2001.

2002 - Recreated the "Dancing Baby " character (Baby G) from the "Ally McBeal" TV program, while working with its designer Chris Creek and 3D artist Tom Knight; debuted Pooch for the Pet Network, created a custom character for BASF-AP, and developed a new approach to tradeshow traffic-building for Ford/Motorcraft.

2003 - Debuted the first webcast with CHOPS as host, for Event Solutions Magazine.

2004 - Won a Best of Show for DDI at the ASTD Trainers' conference in Washington DC with the entire display team assembled by Exhibitgroup/Giltspur PA.

2006 - Donated his work to create "YAP," a children's character and spokesperson for the World Trust Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping empower the youth of the world.

2007 - Installed his first permanent live animation system at the SM Science Discovery Center in Manila, Philippines. The character "Mister T," is operated daily by Philippine actors in a "Virtual Reef" attraction as part of Leisure Entertainment's installation at the Mall of Asia.

Also in 2007 - Developed his first two-character show "In The KNOW," featuring Digital Dan and VirtuaLibby, two human-looking 3D characters, followed by "My Fish People" that Fall, based on the artwork of Tom Knight and Steve Gray.

2008 - Collaborated with FlickerLab to introduce Go Real-Time, a highly capable 2D animation program to his clients in tradeshows, corporate and theme parks.

Also in 2008 - Installed his first permanent installation in the US at the McDermont Field House recreation Center in Lindsay, CA.

Also in 2008 - Invented the first Cyber Human on a Webcam (CHOW) when he connected the Digital Puppeteer to his computer and logged onto Skype. He then added this instant live animation experience to live and recorded webcasts with Proclaim.

What's new for Live Animation? "We have completely innovated our hardware and software, and it is down to a notebook computer and a suitcase ," he states. "And the software ToonMX ," he adds, "is so good, it does excellent full body animation and much more, including video overlays and real-time animation direct to Flash. The new Go Real-Time software can do multiple characters simultaneously on the same computer. It is really getting exciting. "

Press contacts: Gary Jesch - 888-766-6677 or email gary@chops.com