The result is a program that forces students to work as a team the way they must at a studio and combines storytelling, computer modeling and hand-drawing skills to produce well-rounded students who can solve problems on their own.

Adams said the combination of skills shows BYU graduates can use "both sides of the brain."

Each year, the students make one film as a senior project, and the films are growing noticeably more sophisticated each year.

In "Las Pinatas," even casual viewers will notice the newsprint visible under the coats of paint on the papier-mache pinatas.

Grover used a method for manipulating computer-animated cloth to work the ropes that dangle the two pinatas — a cowboy and a bull.

"Every year, the group that follows sets out to be better than the previous group, and the leap is phenomenal," Loosli said.

"The students now have this weight on their backs to maintain this level of excellence," said Rob Au, who graduated last year and worked on "Night in the Museum" for Blue Sky Pictures.

Au led another BYU project, "Der Ostwind," a 10-minute film about honor and a World War I German fighter pilot, that was screened at Sundance this year. The film combined live-action actors in a completely computer-generated environment, like "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."

Au and Loosli are leading a team of BYU students in another project combining live action and CG animation, "The Sheriff's a Chicken."

This year's senior project, titled "Pajama Gladiator," is under way, and work has already begun on next year's, which is called "Kites."

The story line from "Lemmings," BYU's first Emmy winner, has stood the test of time, but the animation is clearly four years old compared to the colorful crispness of "Las Pinatas."

Prospective students are flocking to the program. Loosli said 150 students take the Introduction to Animation class each year and 80 apply to the program.

"We take 20 of 80," he said.

The original success of "Lemmings" drew Grover from computer science and ballroom dance to special-effects animation.

"My dream is to work at DreamWorks or Pixar," he said. "Just to have a shot is amazing."

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com