This conference was close to my research interests, since its main aim was to provide a forum in which to discuss the role of texture in constructing meaning and understanding in animation. It paid special attention to challenges of computer graphic imaging, with its difficulties in representing convincing textures. The event was planned in the context of widening access and interdisciplinary collaboration, and sought to bring in psychoanalytic thinking to comment on and interpret animation. For the animator, texture seems to be the 'key' to emotional engagement with the audience. It may be analogous to the senses of touch and smell, which we use to gauge the reality and meaning of our surroundings. Texture prevents our attention and our emotions 'sliding off' the surface of the viewed object. Those concerned with the emotional void in CGI tend to talk about the missing 'human touch', and it is something about the lack of bodily sensation that is the problem. Texture engages all the senses and opens doors to visceral horror, eroticism, pleasure, and pain. It evokes memory and the dream. This conference was timely because of the unstoppable move to digital modes of production and the concern for a loss of the tacit understanding of materials. In a more experimental context, the move to the gallery (rather than the cinema) as a screening space has also led to concerns for the survival of the craft or even rustic qualities of unsophisticated animation. In this event we aimed to open up thinking and discussion around texture in animation, and looked in more depth at animation's power to access the unconscious. Speakers included leading critics (Ian Christie, Claire Kitson, Michael O'Pray), animators and professionals (Caroline Leaf, Simon Pummell, Larry Sider), and a special presentation on the new wave of animated video games.