The Mass Animation project, presented by Intel, is set to launch Nov. 17 and is scheduled to run through Jan. 30, 2009. This collaboration is an effort to bring together the worlds of computer graphics, Hollywood and Facebook.

Participating animators will have the opportunity to animate individual shots from a 5-minute, professional-quality short film, and the Facebook community will view and vote on their favorite shots. Generally, the animation will be broken out in 3-7 second “shots.” Each shot will be labeled as easy, medium or hard depending on the complexity of the animation within it. Autodesk is providing a trial version of its industry-leading Maya 3-D modeling and animation software for participating animators, and Maya tutorials are available through the Facebook page.

Some key dates to keep in mind: participants can download files on Nov. 17 and begin to upload animations on Nov. 24; deadlines for submitting easy, medium and hard animations will be Dec. 8, Dec. 26 and Jan. 16, respectively; and competition ends on January 30, 2009.

If their shots make the final cut, animators will receive compensation, a portion of the film’s potential earnings and credit in the film. Based on the community’s votes, Mass Animation will award computer systems based on Intel processors to select contributors.

You can stay up-to-date on this project by becoming a fan at www.facebook.com/massanimation

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