Softimage's Michael Arias started the project as a short CG exercise, which then came to the attention of Morimoto, who then agreed to work on the project on the Softimage 3D software. A few months later, Visual Director Wilson Tang and Animation Supervisor Lee Fulton introduced a pilot to the Softimage staff, made entirely on computer with a staff of only 12. The pilot won the Excellence Award at the 3rd Japan Media Arts Festival in the Digital Art Division. (Source: ANN)