UTEP Art to showcase animated short film

This summer, Professor Angel J. Cabrales is using the Liberal Arts Community Engagement (LACE) initiative to create an animated short, titled Project Omeyocan. This short is part of a Latino Futurism series he is working on to celebrate indigenous and ancestral heritage.

Professor Cabrales is working with three student assistants: Flor Ariana Fabela, Stephanie Ruiz, and Nick Martinez. The team’s process of producing this animated short consists of building costumes and props in EVA foam and 3-D printed resins. They use artificial intelligence (AI) and Adobe Photoshop to make backgrounds. They act out the scenes, then use AI generators to rotoscope and animate them. The team then uses an AI cloner to create the dialogue.

“It has been a great time learning how to create an animated short in such a 3-dimensional manner. Learning new AI programs and utilizing them as new artistic tools has been enlightening for the students,” said Professor Cabrales.

The exhibition is free and open to the public starting August 31st at 9 pm at the Falstaff Community Galleries at 3801 Frutas Ave.

Project description courtesy of Professor Cabrales.