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 Second
graders at Rollan Melton Elementary School in Reno got
a personal visit this holiday season, from “SyberSanta,” a
3D animated cartoon character who can interact with them
from Cyberspace. His debut was Thursday,
Dec. 12th, and was presented by Gary Jesch,
a pioneering performance animation artist whose studio,
CHOPS & Assoc. Live Animation, is located in Incline
Village, NV.
“SyberSanta” is
brought to life on Jesch’s “Digital Puppeteer” animation
system, and was seen by the second graders on
the CHOPS’ Bubble Screen, a round rear-projection
display system. He was created about two years ago, but
has never been presented to the children in public before.
The Digital Puppeteer system was invented and built by
Jesch in 1995 as a way to bring 3D characters to life
for corporate meetings, special events and tradeshow
appearances.
 “At
the school, we made a short presentation first,
then gave the children time to talk with SyberSanta.
Finally, at the end, we showed them how the animation
was done in real time and pulled back the curtain, like
the Wizard of Oz, revealing me in my control booth,” Jesch
explains. He created “SyberSanta” to attract
corporate customers to his unique shows, which he takes
to countries all around the world.
“SyberSanta
is my version of an image that has received treatments
by many artists for many reasons – everything from
selling Coca Cola to funny greeting cards, and more.
I wanted him to be something that modern kids relate
to, just a little better, because they are growing up
with video images all around them – in TV, movies,
computer games, and now even on cell phones. SyberSanta
is a natural evolution – they can interact with
him, while he is in Cyberspace, send him email and visit
his website,” Jesch said.
 About
CHOPS & Assoc. Live Animation: Gary Jesch
is a pioneer in Performance Animation, and built his
first Digital Puppeteer ™ Animation system using
a Pentium computer in 1995. The first character he
created was Virtual Mark Twain in 1993, and his most
famous is CHOPS, the Cyber Human on a Performance System,
which has been seen by more than 1 million people,
mostly attendees of tradeshows and corporate meetings
in the US and abroad. He has created over
a dozen different characters since 1995.
The SyberSanta web site: www.sybersanta.com
Contact phone number: Gary Jesch, 775-831-7451
Email: gary@chops.com or santa@sybersanta.com
School Address:
6575 Archimedes Lane, Reno,
Phone 775-746-7440
Washoe Co. School District Communications –
contact Bonnie Saviers – 775-348-0371
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