Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is a 1996 Brazilian CGI animated feature film produced and released by NDR Filmes in Brazil on April 1, 1996 and by Creature Color Animation in the US on July 16, 1999. The film is an adventure about the invasion of planet Ateneia by intruders trying to steal their energy.

Plot
The planet Ateneia, located in the constellation of Cassiopeia, is attacked by space invaders who begin to drain its vital energy. A distress signal is sent into outer space by the local astronomer, Liza, and received by four heroes who travel across the galaxy to the rescue.

The four heroes (Chip, Chop, Feel and Thot) venture through the galaxy facing many dangers as they try to rescue the planet of Ateneia. Each has a specific function in their spaceship: Chop is the captain and pilot, Feel and Thot monitor space, and Chip is the gunman, working also as comic relief. Liza is an astronomer in Ateneia's main lab, working on all of the scientific details of the planet's life. On the way to defeat the evil forces of Shadowseat, the foursome meet Leonardo, a scientist from an undeveloped planet who creates crazy gadgets.

Production
Production began in January 1992 with environment and character modeling and the creation of the script. Animation began in January 1993, and the image generation work was completed on August, 1995. The soundtrack was finished in December 1995, and the first copy was printed in January 1996.

The film was animated using Crystal Graphics' Topas Animator, running on 17 486 DX2-66 computers. The first character model was made on a 20 MHz 386 SX. Cassiopeia animation team was composed of seven computer animators, three traditional animators (who served as consultants and directors of animation), and some freelancers.

Midway through production, some of the computers were stolen, requiring some scenes to be re-animated.

Release
On April 16, 2000, Geo LTD. (parent company of theatrical distributor Creature Color Animation) released Cassiopeia on VHS and DVD in the US.

Trivia

 * Cassiopeia is the first CGI film ever, before Toy Story, that used to scan molds to produce the heads of the principal characters of the movie. Therefore, Cassiopeia had 100% of images generated by CGI.