MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels today announced that its coverage of the Queen?s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations will air on the BBC channels across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, India, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The live coverage will be taken directly from BBC ONE in the UK, bringing global audiences the top British presenters, experts and top music talent to its coverage. The celebrations will also be available via the Global BBC iPlayer in selected markets.

The Queen?s Diamond Jubilee celebrations lead the London Calling season, an ambitious global television event which will run for two months and features a fantastic line up of exclusive dramas, comedies and documentaries that celebrate the wonderful city that is London. The Queen?s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, along with three-part documentary The Diamond Queen, will also be available as part of BBC AMERICA?s Summer of London season.

Jana Bennett, President Worldwide Networks and Global BBC iPlayer said: ?I am delighted that we are able to deliver this truly British affair under a British brand to viewers all around the World. These joined-up broadcasts unite our viewers around the world and make them feel part of the celebrations from the comfort of their own home?.

More details on the comprehensive live coverage have also been revealed:

The Queen?s Diamond Jubilee: Thames Pageant- 3 June 2012

A massive four-and-a-half hour broadcast spanning the pageant route and more, the broadcast will follow the 1000 boats from the UK and the Commonwealth accompanying The Queen along the River Thames.

Unprecedented eight-camera coverage on the specially converted Royal Barge means the BBC will be able to capture the reactions of the Royal Family on this momentous occasion.

Coverage will be led by Matt Baker and Sophie Raworth from their special studio at the historic former Thames fish market Old Billingsgate, looking right over the river and the climax point of the flotilla at Tower Bridge.

Clare Balding will be aboard the Royal Row Barge The Gloriana, which will lead the rowing section, rowed by 18 oarsmen including ex-servicemen, Olympic Gold Medallists and Thames watermen.

A surprise celebrity guest has been learning the art of bell ringing and will be on board the specially built belfry that will lead the entire flotilla. Its peeling bells will ring out and be answered by churches along the river.

On board the BBC?s exclusive presentation boat, The Zephyr, right at the heart of the Pageant will be comedians Frank Skinner, Griff Rhys Jones, Omid Djalili and Sandi Toksvig providing an alternative and amusing reflection on the pageant as it takes place.

Ben Fogle (Year of Adventures) will row a Triple Skiff with some friends and give us an insight into what it?s like to take part in the man-powered section, at the front of the pageant.

John Sergeant will be at Westminster Bridge with John Major, Richard E Grant and others taking a political, literary and satirical look at the Thames?s place in our culture and history. Richard E Grant will read the famous Wordsworth poem On Westminster Bridge.

The BBC will also be aboard one of the music boats, the ?Symphony?, which has a full symphony orchestra and choir aboard. They will perform the musical finale, being the last boat in the flotilla.

The Queen?s Diamond Jubilee: Concert- 4 June 2012

The BBC and Gary Barlow are bringing together a galaxy of great musicians from the last 60 years of rock, pop and classical music, on a stunning stage built around The Queen Victoria Memorial, right in front of Buckingham Palace.

Along with The BBC Concert Orchestra, artists taking part include Shirley Bassey, Alfie Boe, Cheryl Cole, Ren?e Fleming, Jools Holland, Jessie J, JLS, Elton John, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Lang Lang, Annie Lennox, Madness, Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue, Cliff Richard, Ed Sheeran, will.i.am, Robbie Williams and Stevie Wonder.

The concert concludes with HM The Queen lightning The National Beacon.

The Queen?s Diamond Jubilee: Service of Thanksgiving and Royal Procession

The final day of the Diamond Jubilee weekend, Tuesday 5 June, is a State Occasion and will be marked by a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul?s Cathedral, attended by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh together with other members of the Royal Family.

Commentary from St Paul?s will be provided by James Naughtie. Sophie Raworth will be reporting from St Paul?s; Fiona Bruce will be at the Palace of Westminster; and Chris Hollins and Sonali Shah will be in The Mall. Clare Balding will be at the Knightsbridge Barracks meeting new trainees of the Household Cavalry who have been learning to ride in time for this historical day.

Following a reception at Mansion House and a Diamond Jubilee lunch in the Palace of Westminster, the route from there to Buckingham Palace will be lined by thousands of well-wishers as The Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family travel in a formal carriage procession. The King?s Troop RHA pays tribute with a 60 gun salute from Horse Guards Parade.

The Royal Family will appear on the balcony to and watch the RAF fly past and a Feu de Joie ? a cascade of rifle fire by The Queen?s Guard.

The London Calling season will be supported off air through www.londoncallingbbc.com- an engaging digital destination based on an interactive map of London. Through the site viewers can explore the city online, take on challenges, solve clues and play quizzes to unlock codes to win prizes such as iPads and a trip to London2. The site will also host comprehensive information and schedules for the superlative programming line-up.

MUMBAI: Digital artists devoted days and years behind the scenes to help create the movie magic seen in many of this year‘s Academy Award-nominated films. In the categories for Best Visual Effects and Best Animated Film (Feature and Short) in particular, many artists relied on the same set of tools ? Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) software from Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK).

"Great films depend on great storytelling and our technology is designed to enable artistic vision," said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "We congratulate the multitalented teams of artists from North America, New Zealand, Europe and Asia, and we are proud of Autodesk software‘s role in helping them create these extraordinary movies."

Best Visual Effects:
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ? UK-based visual effects (VFX) studios Double Negative, MPC and Framestore each used Autodesk Maya 3D animation and rendering software to help create the visually extravagant effects for this final installment in the Harry Potter franchise. Double Negative VFX Supervisor David Vickery said, "Maya has been the lynchpin of our pipeline since ?Goblet of Fire.‘ For this film, Maya helped us build a fully computer-generated (CG) Hogwarts in a massive 3D environment, including a spectacular mountain range and an animated fire-breathing dragon digitally modeled with Autodesk Mudbox software." MPC VFX Supervisor Greg Butler added, "From the first film in the ?Potter‘ series through to this film‘s final shot, MPC has relied on Maya for modeling, rigging and lighting." Andy Kind, Framestore VFX supervisor said, "Autodesk‘s Maya once again was our go-to tool, enabling us to bring to life the magic of the Chamber of Secrets for Ron and Hermione‘s first kiss, as well as Harry‘s vision of Heaven. We couldn‘t have done any of the eight films without it!"

"Hugo" ? VFX studio Pixomondo managed a global production team across 10 of its 11 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia for this richly detailed reimagining of 1930s Paris. The worldwide team worked for over a year using a production pipeline comprised of Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max for animation, rendering, character rigging and modeling; as well as Autodesk MotionBuilder for motion capture and animation. VFX Supervisor Ben Grossmann said, "The interoperability of Autodesk tools helped us meet tight deadlines and bring Martin Scorsese‘s magical vision to the big screen."

"Real Steel" ? Visual effects powerhouse Digital Domain, motion-capture specialists Giant Studios and virtual production innovators Technoprops delivered "Real Steel" within an impressively efficient 71-day production schedule. The close collaboration between the three companies and an Autodesk toolset helped create this realistic and thrilling action movie with a believable and captivating robot and human relationship. VFX Supervisor Erik Nash said, "The on-set real-time interoperability of Maya and MotionBuilder enabled tremendous creative freedom for the entire production team."

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" ? Caesar, the CG chimpanzee performed by Andy Serkis is a creative milestone for Weta Digital in New Zealand. Weta used Maya and MotionBuilder as the core of its creative production pipelines for its groundbreaking visual effects and performance capture. Sebastian Sylwan, chief technology officer at Weta said, "Creating a believable and realistic CG character like Caesar required providing our artists with the right tools and innovative technology that allowed them to iterate and express their creativity. We developed our own software to perfect performance capture, hair, eyes and muscles amongst others, using Maya and MotionBuilder as a backbone." Canada-based Image Engine contributed previsualization for the film and also took advantage of a Maya-based pipeline.

"Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon" ? The extraordinarily detailed Transformer robots contain up to 50,000 million polygons rendered in stereoscopic 3D by lead visual effects houses Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) with studios in San Francisco and Singapore and Digital Domain. ILM used the following Autodesk DEC software tools in its pipeline: 3ds Max for digital environment work; Autodesk Flame as part of its proprietary SABRE high-speed compositing system; and Maya as the core tool for animation, rigging and layout. Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisor on ?Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon‘ said, "As effects work continues to grow in complexity, it is more important than ever that our artists have access to best of breed tools and by using Autodesk‘s Digital Entertainment Creation software, ILM is able to continue to create groundbreaking visual effects."

Best Animated Feature Film

"Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Puss in Boots" ? Both movies earned not only Academy Award nominations for Animated Feature Film for Dreamworks Animation (DWA), but also were two of the top three grossing animated films of 2011.* DWA continues to creatively push technology to imbue animated characters with huge personalities, and both films used Maya. Phil McNally, stereoscopic supervisor on both movies said, "Either on our own or in concert with Autodesk, we can develop tools in Maya to specifically address the challenges of stereoscopic 3D. Maya gives us that intuitive flexibility, or the ability to see what we‘re doing ? while we‘re doing it ? in 3D."

"Rango"
"Rango," the story of a weird lizard‘s quest for identity, was ILM‘s first animated feature. The film presented some daunting creative and technical challenges: Rango‘s face alone required over 300 controllers to achieve the range of performance needed for the 1,100 shots he appears in. On top of which, Rango was just one of well over 100 characters that populated the film. "All of these characters had some combination of scales, feathers, or fur and all had clothing. We strove to create a very tactile world for Rango," said ILM‘s Hal Hickel, animator director on the film. "We wanted to create the illusion that if you could reach out and touch objects in the frame you‘d know exactly what they would feel like, so it was very important that our software enable us to show as much detail as possible at each phase of the process. This allowed us to make certain the performances would translate to the big screen. Maya was great at letting us do that."