Here's your weekly breakdown of the hottest industry news!

Imaginary Friend Society helping kids understand cancer-related topics through animation

Through a series of short animated films, the Imaginary Friend Society is aiming to comfort and help kids who have received a cancer diagnosis.

Created by the Paediatric Brain Tumour Foundation, the series features a cast of colourful characters who explain topics and terminology like radiation, blood transfusions, and chemotherapy in child-friendly way.

“A cancer diagnosis is scary for anyone, but for a child, it can be even scarier,” says the Imaginary Friend Society. “The more they understand about their treatment, the less scary it will be.”

Animator makes CG series using Unreal Engine

Inspired by A Boy and His Kit, a short film created by Epic Games to showcase the real-time rendering ability of its Unreal Engine, an animator from New Zealand has produced his own CG series.

Morgan Lives in a Rocket House is the brainchild of Peter Monga, who wanted to make an animated preschool series without the need for a render farm.

“What I output from Unreal is essentially what ends up on screen,” Monga told Cartoon Brew. “All colour grading and post processing can be done in the engine.”

Inaugural edition of Noise x GIF Fest 2017 to promote medium as ‘form of digital art’

From 4-11 October 2017 at Gillman Barracks in Singapore, the inaugural edition of Noise x GIF Fest will celebrate the internet’s favourite medium for short-form animations and moving memes.

The theme ‘Spellbound’ aims to "to capture the richness of the GIF as an artistic medium and explore its role as a form of digital art, entertainment and creative communication."

Along with showcasing GIFs created by both amateur and professional artists, they’ll also be workshops, live performances, and creative dialogue sessions.

Updating to macOS High Sierra could cause problems for Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Wacom tablet users

If you own a Mac and use Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, or a Wacom tablet, you might want to think twice before updating to High Sierra.

Adobe has revealed neither Illustrator nor InDesign “officially supports” macOS 10.13, with a further recommendation that users should avoid the update altogether.

While Wacom said driver 10.12 would not work “due to the nature of the changes in High Sierra,” it is currently working on a new driver update.

Jumbla Academy is now a Cinema 4D training course

From next semester (starting 20 November), Jumbla Academy will feature a module on Cinema 4D, one of the studio’s core applications for creating 3D motion graphics.

“Cinema 4D is pretty much an essential these days for motion graphics,” says Creative Director Cal Woolcock. “It’s really powerful and allows us to create anything we need.”

Just like every other aspect of Jumbla Academy, students will learn about Cinema 4D from the ground-up, getting to grips with the basics before moving on to more advanced techniques.

Keep your eyes peeled for a blog with more details on Monday!