Whistling a New Toon: This ain’t your father’s animation.

That was the message of last week’s World Animation Celebration in Pasadena, a multipurpose festival for professionals, novices and fans. Advances in technology have produced a renaissance in animation, boosting quality while making the tools easier and cheaper to use. As a result, more than 10,000 animators of all stripes attended the weeklong festival, which featured screenings, competitions, tutorials and workshops.

“There’s an incredible amount of interest in animation again,� said Jay Roth, president and chief executive of Electric Image, a decade-old Pasadena firm that makes software tools for animators. “Technology has made animation a reasonable thing to attempt compared to before. You can do this from home.�

Indeed, the festival’s New Animation Technology Exposition drew hundreds of “animageeks,� all eager to check out the latest developments. One of the more cutting edge demonstrations was offered by Tom Tolles, a co-founder of House of Moves, a motion capture studio in Venice.

At House of Moves, actors are outfitted with about 30 “markers,� then filmed in all directions by seven cameras. A computer program records the way the markers move, then uses that data to draw a skeleton whose motion is truly lifelike. The company’s motion capture work is currently featured in a Nike commercial that depicts a teenager playing a game of virtual tennis with a computer simulation of Andre Agassi.

Among the most ardent animation supporters at the festival was Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone.

“We may well be on the brink of a second golden age in animation,� Redstone said in a keynote address Friday evening. “We want to create a generation of animators who will rise to the challenge.�