Los Angeles-based Big Stage Entertainment , which develops avatar creation technology for turning photos into animated, 3-D likenesses, said Wednesday that the firm has launched a new effort targeted training content creators on the firm's products. The firm said it will teach content partners how to use 3D graphics and animation tools to learn steps to mask and motion track facial images in stills and video, so that they can be used with the firm's 3D avatars. BigStage said its new online effort--Big Stage Studio--is aimed at production studios, advertising, marketing agencies, and others.

Pasadena-based Big Stage Entertainment , the startup which uses photos to create animated, 3-D facial avatars of users, has added new content from a game from GGL Global Gaming. Big Stage told its users yesterday that they could now insert their avatars into content from Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, a video game published by Funcom. Financial details of the deal have not been released, The new content deal also came in conjunction with new features which allow users to add their own, custom backgrounds into BigStage's site. Big Stage is a spinout of technology from

I'm happy to announce the launch of the Los Angeles Tech Content Community . This is the beginning of a content community that collects and organizes the best content from blogs and web sites. The goal is to create a place where it's relatively easy to find current content and highly relevant content surrounding Los Angeles Technology. To be clear Los Angeles Tech is a jump off point. The content comes from other places.

Carlsbad-based Mochila , which operates an online content marketplace for publishers, has raised $1.0M Mochila is venture backed by Charles River Ventures, Greenspun Corporation, Jerry Colonna of JPMorgan Partners, Mission Ventures, and A.H. Tags: capital venture marketplace content online mochil in an ongoing $2.0M funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm.

The firm is backed by Rho Ventures, Centennial Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, and Mission Ventures. Tags: slacker twitter microblogging music conten San Diego-based Internet radio service Slacker has integrated its service with micro-blogging service Twitter, the firm said this morning. According to Slacker, it has added the ability for users with Twitter accounts to automatically tweet their favorite music they are listening to on the service to Twitter, including automatically tweeting song changes or station changes.

San Diego-based Slacker , a venture-backed, personalized online radio service, told its users this morning that it has launched a new feature which adds complete lyrics to the firm's services. The company is venture backed by Austin Ventures, Centennial Ventures, Mission Ventures, and Sevin Rosen Funds. READ MORE>> ...Tags: Tags: slacker music According to Slacker, its premium Slacker Radio Plus service now includes access to the exact words to users' favorite songs. The firm's premium service provides unlimited skipping of songs, no advertising,

The firm is backed by JK&B Capital, ATA Ventures, Mission Ventures and Enterprise Partners. Tags: vmix publishing video content advertisin San Diego-based VMIX , which provides a platform for publishing and managing online video, reports today that it has signed on an ad agency and reseller, which has resulted in more than 30 customers for the firm. The firm said that South Carolina-based Fuel Interactive has been using the firm's video players and widgets, as part of the creation of 30 tourism-related web sites based in that state.

RazorGator is venture backed by Allen & Co, DFJ DragonFund, Mission Ventures and Sports Capital Partners Worldwide. Tags: rotohog razorgator sports games conten Los Angeles-based RotoHog , a developer of fantasy sports games, disclosed this morning that it has signed an exclusive partnership with RazorGator. According to the firm, the deal covers the 2009 Baseball season, and will give RotoHog's Fantasy baseball players access to RazorGator's ticketing services.

Slacker is venture backed by Austin Ventures, Centennial Ventures, Mission Ventures, Rho Ventures, and Sevin Rosen Funds. Tags: slacker executive dennis mudd music conten San Diego-based music startup Slacker has apparently lost its CEO, according to a report from VentureWire . VentureWire said it confirmed the departure of Dennis Mudd with an investor in the company.

According to the filing, Mark Leschly of Rho Ventures joins the firm's board, which also includes representatives from Centennial Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, and Mission Ventures, all prior investors in the firm. Tags: capital venture content online radio slacke San Diego-based online music provider Slacker has raised $9.6M in a funding round, based on a regulatory filing from the company.