Stratasys Set to Sponsor Major Retrospective of LAIKA Oscar-Nominated Films at Portland Art Museum

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE STUDIO’S USE OF 3D PRINTING TO HELP CREATE
LIFE-LIKE, FULL-COLOR, ANIMATED CHARACTERS

“Animating Life: The Art, Science and Wonder of LAIKA” runs October
14, 2017 – May 20, 2018

MINNEAPOLIS & REHOVOT, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stratasys
(Nasdaq:SSYS), a global leader in applied additive technology solutions,
today announced the company will be a sponsor of the Portland Art
Museum’s “Animating Life: The Art, Science and Magic of LAIKA” – running
October 14, 2017 through May 20, 2018. The exhibit highlights such
topics as LAIKA’s use of 3D printing to rapidly create unforgettable,
colorful, and life-like puppet faces for the studio’s award-winning
films. As a sponsor of the major retrospective exhibit, Stratasys
executives will participate in a Press Preview on Thursday, October 12th
– as well as a Facebook Live tour of the exhibit on Friday, October 13th
at 9am Pacific, being hosted at www.facebook.com/LAIKAstudios.

Exploring behind-the-scenes photography, video clips and physical
artwork from LAIKA films, visitors will be immersed in the studio’s
creative process – exploring the production design, sets, props,
puppets, costumes, and world-building that have become the studio’s
hallmarks. LAIKA’s Oscar® nominated films are widely known to be
triumphs of imagination, ingenuity and craftsmanship redefining the
limits of modern animation.

This retrospective will highlight the unique ability of 3D printing to
spark unprecedented creativity and innovation in LAIKA’s award-winning
films. LAIKA, which has leveraged Stratasys 3D printed technology in
motion pictures including Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls,
and Kubo and the Two Strings – all of which have received Oscar®
nominations and numerous other awards – will peel back the curtain on
innovations behind its stop-motion filmmaking. Highlights include 3D
printing’s role in revolutionizing animation of LAIKA’s puppets – a
critical piece of the studio’s imaginative, vibrant story-telling. The
technology gives LAIKA the unmatched design freedom and near-continuous
production schedule for creation of full-color, 3D printed models with
realism, performance and function.

“Bringing inanimate objects to life is one of the oldest forms of movie
magic,” said Brian McLean, LAIKA’s Director of Rapid Prototyping – who
won a Scientific and Engineering Oscar in 2016 for pioneering Rapid
Prototyping in character animation. “By harnessing the power of 3D
printers, we are able to create emotions and subtle facial performances
never before seen in stop-motion animation. It is this technology –
combined with the amazing talents of so many different creative
disciplines within LAIKA – that allow us to tell really complex and
enduring stories.”

A collaborative partner with Stratasys for more than a decade, LAIKA is
continuously evolving the studio’s use of 3D printing to advance design
and performance of stop-motion models. Stratasys technology helps
filmmakers bring unique ideas to life, driving prototypes and characters
to be created, modified, and re-created with unprecedented speed and
detail. The studio currently leverages nine Stratasys PolyJet-based 3D
printing solutions for practically non-stop, continuous production –
including the Stratasys Connex3 and Stratasys J750 full-color,
multi-material 3D printers.

These PolyJet-based 3D printing solutions are ideal for the demanding
requirements of animators, with the versatile Stratasys J750 full-color,
multi-material 3D printer allowing users to 3D print parts in more than
360,000 colors, textures, gradients and transparencies. These highly
intricate creations are produced in a single print – with minimal-to-no
finishing steps, such as painting, sanding or assembly. 3D printing
ensures LAIKA can develop characters with 24×7 operations across an
incredible array of characteristics for life-like function and look –
both quickly and cost-effectively.

"For more than a decade, the visionaries at LAIKA have revolutionized
the way animated films are made – tapping into the newest
technology innovations and creating the most memorable
theater experiences. The studio capitalizes on 3D
printing for unprecedented design freedom, streamlined development
processes, and creation of the most unique, custom characters,” said
Rich Garrity, President of Americas, at Stratasys. “LAIKA’s advanced use
of our 3D printing technology is not only breaking new barriers in
film-making, but expanding what's now possible across 3D printing in
general to encourage use across a diverse range of businesses. We
consider LAIKA a valued and collaborative partner, opening new doors
for what our customers can achieve."

About LAIKA:
Fueled by the vision of its owner, Nike
co-founder former Chairman Philip H. Knight, and its President and CEO
Travis Knight, feature film animation studio LAIKA was founded in 2005.
Located just outside Portland, Oregon, LAIKA was awarded a Scientific
and Technology Oscar® for its innovation in 3D printing in 2016. Its
four films, Kubo and the Two Strings (2016); The Boxtrolls
(2014); ParaNorman (2012); and Coraline (2009) were all
nominated for Oscars® and PGA Awards as Outstanding Animated Film. Kubo,
which marked the directorial debut of Travis Knight, also received an
Oscar® nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects. Kubo won this
year’s BAFTA Award as well as three Annie Awards, the National Board of
Review and 19 regional and critics’ group awards. The Boxtrolls
also earned Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Award nominations and 13
Annie Award nominations, more than any other film that year. ParaNorman
garnered BAFTA, Critics’ Choice and GLAAD Media Award nominations and
won two Annie Awards and was cited as the year’s best animated film by
14 critics’ groups. Coraline earned Golden Globe, BAFTA, and
Critics’ Choice nominations, and was named one of the year’s 10 Best
Films by the American Film Institute (AFI). For more information, visit:
LAIKA studios on Facebook,
YouTube,
Twitter
and Instagram.

About Stratasys
Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) is a global leader
in applied additive technology solutions for industries including
Aerospace, Automotive, Healthcare, Consumer Products and Education. For
nearly 30 years, a deep and ongoing focus on customers’ business
requirements has fueled purposeful innovations—1,200 granted and pending
additive technology patents to date—that create new value across product
lifecycle processes, from design prototypes to manufacturing tools and
final production parts. The Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem of solutions
and expertise—advanced materials; software with voxel level control;
precise, repeatable and reliable FDM and PolyJet 3D printers;
application-based expert services; on-demand parts and industry-defining
partnerships—works to ensure seamless integration into each customer’s
evolving workflow. Fulfilling the real-world potential of additive,
Stratasys delivers breakthrough industry-specific applications that
accelerate business processes, optimize value chains and drive business
performance improvements for thousands of future-ready leaders around
the world.
Corporate Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota and
Rehovot, Israel.
Online at: www.stratasys.com,
http://blog.stratasys.com and
LinkedIn.

Stratasys is a registered trademark, and PolyJet, the Stratasys J750,
Connex3 and Stratasys signet are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Stratasys Ltd. and or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other
trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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Contacts

LAIKA Media Contact:
Maggie Begley/MBC
310-390-0101
[email protected]
or
Stratasys
Media Contacts
Stratasys
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Hiemenz
Stratasys
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Tel. +1 952
906 2726 (US)
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or
North
America
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Stratasys
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[email protected]
or
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Wake / Miguel Afonso
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or
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Stratasys AP
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or
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or
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or
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