Design Exploration: Reboot/Mainframe, Presstube

Mainframe.ca & Presstube.com
presented by Seanrobb Butler
www.mainframe.ca

Mainframe is a Vancouver, Canada based animation house
that started out with the 3D cartoon "Reboot". They were partially financed by the Canadian government to vitalize the
new field of 3D animation and provide high-tech jobs.
Reboot takes place in the town of Mainframe, and is inhab-
ited by sprites the likes of Megabyte, the bad guy; Dot Matrix,
who owns Dot's diner on Baudway; Bob, her boyfriend; Enzo,
Bob's little brother; Frisket, their dog; Phong, their zen master;
and other various and nefarious friends, challengers and
enemies.
Their first season occurred Spring of 1997 when they aired
on ABC/KGTV-10 in San Diego. Unfortunately, the Disney
Corporation bought ABC a month after they started. Reboot's
darker and more intelligent humor was too sharp of a contrast
and too much competition for Disney's cloying programming
and marketing agenda, so REBOOT was promptly canceled.
Reboot went to produce four more 16-episode seasons which
were broadcast in Canada and internationally, as well as mar-
keted globally on the Web. Mainframe has diversified to
create at least a dozen other animated products and markets
web-based telephone service.
Their current site is FLASH based, is slick and very profes-
sional. you can view their first Reboot 3D promo movie at
REBOOT. The site showcases media, has a store, jobboard, and
e-mail, and all other corporate capabilities.

PRESSTUBE

Presstube has been on the web for at least seven years. It
is a showcase for talented Flash animators, with various
modalities of action and sound. It always has a nice variety
and diversity of displayed projects.
http://www.presstube.com