Leviathan’s Been Busy…
Collecting awards, that is. Chicago based visual studio Leviathan garnered the Platinum Remi Award for Visual/Special Effects this past weekend at the 46th WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival (www.worldfest.org) for their original short film “Lilith”. Then, at the FITC Toronto Design and Technology Festival last Monday, Leviathan’s executive creative director Jason White personally accepted the FITC Best Animation Award for the studio’s sensational “Wooden Toy” project for Ninja Tune recording artist Amon Tobin.
“We have an awful lot of people to thank for putting us in the position to earn this recognition from the judges of the world’s longest-running independent film festival, and from the FITC, which covers the future of everything innovative, technical and creative,” White began. “Across the spectrum of our phenomenal creative partners including V Squared Labs and Red Moon Theater among many others, unbelievably talented and passionate artists and craftspeople, to my fellow principals Chat Hutson and Matt Daly, we are counting a lot of blessings this week. Immense thanks to everyone who has played a part in our success to date, and with this recognition, we are even more inspired to create phenomenal visual experiences.”
Since launching in 2010, Leviathan’s collaborations with agencies, brands and leading filmmakers have rendered scores of sensational projects across all markets and industries and earned award recognition from the Association of Independent Music, Communication Arts Magazine, the AICP, The D Show, The One Club, and the Themed Entertainment Association.
Earlier in his day at FITC, Jason presented his original talk entitled “Hyperblender, the collision of art and technology” an hour-long presentation discussing vision, our past and future of creating transformative visual experiences. According to feedback from conference organizers and on Twitter, it was one of the most talked-about of the conference’s 70 sessions, which drew over 1,200 attendees from around the world over the past three days.
Congratulations Leviathan! Well deserved accolades!
Tekamaki a d3 Studio
d3 Technologies are pleased to announce San Carlos based rental and staging company Tekamaki have signed up to become the latest d3 Studio. With a client base ranging from NASA to Nintendo and Electronic Arts to Google, Tekamaki profiles as a high-end technical service provider with deep roots in display technology and an extremely knowledgeable staff.
Tekamaki’s capabilities range from concept development through process management, project design and staging. A small, flexible company with decades of industry experience between its team members, Tekamaki’s focus has always been on teamwork, talent, innovation and the latest in display and media technology to help their clients successfully communicate their message. Tekamaki used d3 systems on the September 2012 DreamForce event for Salesforce.com, which saw the entire San Francisco City Hall mapped up for a one-off performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Based in San Carlos, California, Tekamaki team members include Matt Ward (co-founder of Element Labs), Joe Conway, Ron Machado, Robert Loney and Christopher Burdett.
Integrated Visions to launch Form and Substance, a Group Exhibition
Exciting news from Brian and Michelle over at Integrated Visions- they’re opening a group exhibition entitled “Form and Substance” at the Gowanus Ballroom on the weekend of May 10-12. It’ll feature works by Joanie LeMercier, Claudio Sinatti, Domingo Zapata, and more. Here’s an excerpt fro the release note:
“Integrated Visions Productions is excited to announce an additional creative path for 2013. In the wake of the success of the ‘Codex Dynamic’ group exhibition at the 2012 DUMBO Arts Festival (see PF article), which received the festival’s Grand Prize and Best in Show awards, we’re focusing on more intimate artwork.
We’ve developed a series of projection mapped paintings, combining fine art painting techniques with cutting-edge, projection-mapped animations to create a hybrid medium that we see as the first new terrain being explored by working artists in the 21st Century – akin to Impressionism and similar upstart movements at the turn of the last century.
We quickly realized that there exists a global community of artists and technologists working at the intersection of the traditional media of painting and sculpture and projection mapping, and we began to contact our favorite practitioners and curate a group exhibition.
Form and Substance, North America’s first group exhibition dedicated to projection mapping as a fine arts medium, will take place the weekend of May 10-12, at the Gowanus Ballroom in Brooklyn, New York. The Frieze Art Fair, the enfant terrible of the global festival circuit, takes place in New York over the same weekend, making this a unique opportunity to make a global impression.”
If you’re in NYC or anywhere near on that weekend- this is one NOT TO MISS.
The Ice Book- Super Intricate Projectionmapping Paper Models
When I was a kid, Saturdays were sometimes spent going to work with my Dad. He was an architect and since it was a weekend, we had the run of the place. I invariably would gravitate to the drafting room which, at his place, was huge! Lots of workstations, cabinets with every kind of colored pen/pencil/tip combo, electric erasers, all manner of paper, model making supplies, etc. Basically, everything that a small curious boy could get in trouble with! The thing that fascinated me the most though, were the scale models of all the buildings they were working on. Super intricate detail, all the way down to the little people cutouts and hand railings, as well as street signs and various decorative flora. So I was thrilled to come across the work of Davy and Kristin McGuire, an artistic duo out of the UK that does small-scale paper modeling combined with projection techniques. They form The Ice Book and direct, design, and perform their original video/model mashups for everything from installations to live theater shows, dance performances, interactive video performances and everything in between.
Their paper models are extremely detailed and exquisitely cut. Adding the element of projection just completely brings them to life. They use After Effects and Final Cut to render the final video, and (no surprise here) Madmapper to map the sets. So often on this site I focus on large-scale scale work, only to realize the really detailed stuff is every bit as intriguing!
A couple of their pieces stand out- ‘Psycho- Homage to Hitchcock’ as well as ‘The Hunter’.
Here’s some fascinating examples via their Vimeo page:
Psycho - Homage to Hitchcock from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
The Hunter (Theatrical Installation) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
The idea of an interactive pinboard at home is just so strikingly obvious….I think I’m going to start assembly immediately! Now to make it so there can be date-relevant info displayed along with fun remembrances and package it up in a mappable environment…hmmm……
Pinboard from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
ScreenLab 0×02 Residency at MediaCityUK
Yikes! When do you ever get a chance to see the likes of Joanie Lemercier, Kyle McDonald, and Joel Gethin Lewis in the same room demonstrating real-time video artwork? At the ScreenLab Residency that’s where! Through the ScreenLab 0×02 residency, artists Kyle McDonald, Joanie Lemercier and Joel Gethin Lewis worked together with students and researchers at MediaCityUK and an advanced technology center on the main campus (Dig this place: The Centre for Visual Environments). It features the Octave, a truly astounding setup which is detailed HERE. Together they developed interactive artworks that provided a unique experience for each visitor by creating artificial worlds using sound and visuals that react to their movement.
The results of the residency were unveiled at a launch event on Wednesday 5 December which formed part of the University’s As Yet Impossible series of lectures, bringing together future thinkers to challenge audiences and give them a glimpse of how science and the arts can combine to shape the world. The really cool thing is that most of the work is openly available on Github- Here’s Kyle’s, Here’s Elliot Woods’ (curator and open source contributor to vvvv). The following is the Livestream broadcast (jump to :41-ish for the true start):
Like this kind of stuff? – hit the “donate” button on the right- or I’ll just settle for a follow on FB or Twitter. Try our RSS feed or subscribe by email for info like this on a timely basis!
ETC Audiovisuel for Orange
A technician sent me a link to this beautiful corporate gig for Orange done by ETC Audiovisuel. Utilizing ETC’s proprietary “Onlyview” software, they were able to do it with with a whopping 26 Christie 20k’s!
ORANGE / les innovations d’Orange racontées par Stéphane Richard from SUPERBIEN on Vimeo.
Client : Orange
Agency : Havas Event
Art Direction : Superbien
Sceneography : Vincent Coutelin
Production : Fighting Fish
Projection : ETC Audiovisuel
Music : StartRec
projectiondesign’s NVG FS35 IR- Night Vision Projection
I had no idea such a device even existed! NVG for a projector! I suppose for a video game crowd this would be excellent…but it seems like it’ll be for so much more- read military. At I/ITSEC 2013, Norway’s projectiondesign announces the FS35 IR series, the world’s most capable solid-state LED projectors for NVG stimulation requirements.
The FS35 IR series is available in two models. The 4.1 Megapixel FS35 IR wqxga features the highest resolution NVG stimulated images available for unprecedented realism and detail in day and night training, whereas the FS35 IR wuxga features dual IG input capability for simultaneous RGB + IR and seamless transitioning from day to night-time training.
The FS35 IR series incorporates projectiondesign’s 2nd Generation ReaLED™ illumination for brighter daytime simulation, and improved optics over previous generation projectors meaning that the intensity of IR is boosted by an (more…)
An Inquiring Age
I thought I’d post a piece that was sent to me by John Ensor Parker, co curator of the incredible Codex Dynamic recently staged at the DUMBO Arts festival. Some technical details of “An Inquiring Age” will follow (this was a massive install made possible in part by Worldstage and Nationwide Video featuring the d3 media servers), but for now, just dig the video!
Thanks John!
An Inquiring Age-SHORT from John Ensor Parker on Vimeo.
Dataton Watchout Academy
For all my friends in the Netherlands….Dataton is running a one-day Watchout Academy event at Projectiondesign HQ. It’s free, free, free! Head HERE to register
The WATCHOUT Academy is a one-day seminar designed to take you through the key features in award-winning WATCHOUT multi-display production and playback software.
The event kicks off with basic skills before moving on to a more advanced level, and the latest features in WATCHOUT. The Academy is run by members of the WATCHOUT team from Dataton HQ in Sweden and AVtrade, the WATCHOUT Premium Partner in the Netherlands, all with many years of WATCHOUT experience. There will be a Q&A session at the end of the day.
Whether you’re an old hand at WATCHOUT or new to the system, we look forward to seeing you at the WATCHOUT Academy.
Important: Training sessions are free, but participants must pre-register below as seating is strictly limited.
Place: Projectiondesign office, De Boelelaan 28,1083 HJ Amsterdam, Netherlands. Click for map.
Dates: November 28 or December 12
projectiondesign F35 Panorama
Edge-blending just became obsolete. Well, at least SOME edge-blending that is. Projectiondesign just released the F35 Panorama, a projector with a 21:9 aspect ratio. Funny, because just today I was looking at an ad for a 21:9 monitor and it seemed strange to me that you wouldn’t just use two monitors, given that monitors are pretty cheap and most graphics cards can handle it anyway…..but this- this is just crazy when you think about it. It’s still a single chip DLP, but up to 7k! Now if they can work this into the F85 series…..or if I can just upgrade my Optoma in the basement….
A unique projector designed for advanced meeting rooms and collaborative spaces in which users are sharing a variety of graphical image content both locally and remotely, the F35 panorama boasts an exceptionally wide image aspect ratio of 21:9 or 2.37:1. In an office environment with an average ceiling height, this enables images as wide as 4m (13’) to be created without the need for edge-blending the output of two separate projectors.
Furthermore, the F35 panorama’s flexible input configuration means that it can project simultaneous side-by-side images from two separate high-resolution sources, fill an entire screen from a single source, or simply set up a video conference call next to a computer presentation.
Anders Løkke, Marketing Director, projectiondesign, comments: “We have introduced the F35 panorama to address (more…)
NYX Visuals Tofidi #1
Madmapper, Modul8, Ableton Live, and a weird snakey-looking sculpture make for a fascinating mapping from French artists NYX Visual Label. I love that most of their projects include some kind of really interesting sculpture….especially this one carved out of what appears to be some kind of foam. Check out another post on NYX HERE.
TOFIDI #1 from NYX Visual Label on Vimeo.
Visuals and Production by :
NYX VISUAL
Artistic Direction by :
MASOMENOS
Video by :
Manon GICQUEL
The Alchemy of Light- A Dandypunk
It’s always great to come across stuff that takes projectionmapping to another level- especially when it’s so simple, but powerful. As is the case with this piece from a dandypunk. He used an NEC NP500 for projecting, and the entire thing was done in Final Cut Pro and dragon Stop motion, no mapping software at all. He says he just photographed the set, imported to FCP and just created the animations around it using key frames and stop motion from hand drawn illustrations. It reminded me a lot of a Pilobolus piece I saw a while back….but it’s another fantastic example of not having to use expensive techniques and gear to achieve a great result.
Projection mapping live performance art - The Alchemy of Light by a dandypunk from a dandypunk on Vimeo.
Direction, illustration*, animation* and performance of all characters* by a dandypunk
*Sacred Geometry by Grahame Gardner westerngeomancy.org
*Tentacle animation by RUBBISHBELT.COM
*Falling silhouetted man performed by Roger Fojas
Eternal thanks to facebook.com/dollskills for many many things..
Music by Edit -Ants
projectiondesign at the London Transport Museum
Who doesn’t love trains and transport museums? I thought so. No one.
We go to a lot of ‘kid-centric’ venues for entertainment (obviously- with our kids). But like any concert or theatre show I attend, I’m drawn in to the details of production. Museums and the like are pretty much the incubators for ‘multi-media’ as it were so there are no shortages of projectors and display devices- right down to the signage. So I got a thrill when I read about the London Transport Museum’s use of projection…. and their weapon of choice? Norway’s projectiondesign of course. They are celebrating 5 years of constant use. 5 years! Projectiondesign’s projectors are renowned for their utility when it comes to permanent and semi-permanent installs, as thoroughly featured by the following:
From the press release:
Situated in Covent Garden Market, London’s most frequented tourist hot spot, the London Transport Museum utilises projectiondesign F3+ and F1+ series projectors throughout the museum’s exhibit areas to tell the story of transport within London. The projection system was installed and maintained by global systems integrator, Electrosonic in 2007 and has been working non-stop ever since. “In 1933, Chief Executive, Frank Pick’s mantra was ‘fitness for purpose’ and he believed that good design was essential. This principle applies to the design of technology in our gallery,” explains Rob Lansdown, Chief Projects and Infrastructure Officer at London Transport Museum. “We use projection to show how this unique design culture was developed across the company’s entire range, from vehicles and architecture to information signs and publicity. Our requirements in 2007 were for high-resolution projectors that would be stable over time as well as produce outstanding image quality in various ambient light levels and, which required minimum maintenance over the lifetime of the exhibit. We are very pleased with how well the projectors have performed.”
F1+ projectors are installed in a specially designed ceiling mount to project a massive 12-meter floor canvas. The exhibit takes advantage of projectiondesign’s high brightness, accurate colour capabilities and 24/7 failsafe operation. Visitors can see the collection of 5,000 posters and art collection for themselves as they walk through the exhibit. projectiondesign F3+ and F1+ series projectors are used to communicate the story of London in major exhibits such as Victorian transport, World’s first underground, Pioneer tube, Travel revolution, Growth of suburbia, London in the 1920s and 1930s, London transport at war, London Icons and Transport futures.
“Our museum has no moving parts, so through projection, we are able to visualise the scale, size and complexity of London’s transport,” adds Lansdown.
“The building is an English Heritage grade II listed former Victorian flower market, which relies on natural cooling and heating. As with all technology, heat is an issue for us, and Electronsonic designed specially mounted projection systems.”
Building Projectionmapping Competition by Visualpower
Get on it now and win some fab prizes!
Tech specs look relatively simple:
-The new deadline for entries is 12 o’clock (noon) September 24, 2012.
-Entries must be made to fit the ‘Template’ provided by the organizers, entries using templates other than the one provided will be rejected automatically.
-The ‘Template’ consisting of three parts of the building should be interpreted and treated as ONE PROJECTION SURFACE.
-DO NOT alter the size, place, resolution, etc. of the ‘Template’.
-The contour lines shown on the ‘Template’ are there to show the edges, these CONTOUR LINES DO NOT HAVE TO BE INCLUDED in the work submitted.
-The photo taken in daylight is to help contestants make the video, to show them the design pattern and details of the façade, but when making the video contestants should keep in mind that it will be projected at night! The architectural features of the building are to be incorporated in the design!
-The plants that can be seen in the ‘Supplementary photograph’ taken in daylight, which serves to aid contestants, can be considered when making the creative content, but due to seasonal changes in foliage, we suggest that you do not use them.
-The ‘Template’ and the ‘Supplementary photograph’ can be downloaded from ‘Downloads’ at paintup.visualpower.hu
1920×700 pixel, 25 FPS, Quick Time, codec: Photo JPEG, quality: 95%, The video material must contain the audio.
Entries can be made using 2D and 3D animation, film, video and/or computer or any other techniques.
3 minutes
The music genre of your choice.
The entries will be projected using a Hippotizer HD V3 media server, Vista Spyder video processor, 6 super bright (2×20 000 Ansi Lumens + 2x2x15 000 Ansi Lumens) DLP projectors at the event.
http://paintup.visualpower.hu/competition-call-for-entries
Konstruktiv at Houza Palooza
Any time you can combine camping, champagne, killer video projection, and EDM- life is good. As was the case at Houza Palooza, recently held in Belgium Aug. 24-25. VJ Konstruktiv (Jean-Michel Verbeeck) was kind enough to answer a few questions concerning the rig for this two-day EDM/videofest:
imagery courtesy FramedMedia.de
1) What exactly is Houza Palooza?
Houza Palooza is an upcoming Dance Music festival with different kinds of music genres located in Bree, Belgium. The past 3 years they managed to create something unique to the world of festivals. With their creative, inspiring & innovative (more…)
Projectionmapping Inside the LV21 Lightship
Tom Beg is an MA student at UCA, Rochester and sent me some photos and info about his last project. The LV 21 is a decommissioned lightship currently moored at Gillingham Pier, County Kent, UK. He worked in conjunction with an event called the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend to produce content featuring Morse code as visualized by dots and dashes. I’ve seen lot’s of projectionmapping done on ships, but very little IN a ship, let alone the content being ABOUT the ship. He used four Optoma HD600X-LV projectors for the overall shoot. Photoshop and After Effects were used for the animations and for the mapping. These were played back through Cyclone HD Media players (very cool little units, BTW). All this adds up to a fairly ‘lo-fi’ solution but as Tom states “I think this project proves that creating interesting work through projectionmapping isn’t out of reach for the everyday man. You don’t need expensive equipment and specialist software if you have good ideas and the right location”. True dat.
Make sure to check out his online portfolio at TomBeg.com. Very interesting stuff indeed.
Mapping Festival 2013 Registration
If you didn’t get to the Mapping Festival this year, make sure to plan for next year! The dates for the next edition are set: May 2nd through May 12th 2013! So they are pleased to announce the open call for submissions. The dates are Aug.15th- September 20th, 2012, (AV performances, AV installations, workshops, conference) and October 1st- 31st (VJing, Videomapping)
This call is open to everyone working in all disciplines of audiovisual art and digital culture. Whatever you’re imagination and creativity can muster! Submit your audiovisual performances, installations, workshops, or other audiovisual multidisciplinary projects to be presented at the Mapping Festival!
Christie Digital’s Mini Holodeck
At SIGGRAPH last week, Christie Digital unveiled the HoloStation, a “compact personal visualization solution” that can be tucked into the corner of an office rather than taking up an entire room (like their CAVE system). While the concept of multi-projector holodeck style rooms is nothing new, this one is the first I’ve seen that’s packaged from a company for one-user interaction. The system, which the company hopes will be used for feature film previs as well as trade-show and biomedical applications, uses four of Christie’s LED-based Mirage WU-L projectors. The projectors are mounted overhead, with proprietary lenses that throw the images downward, onto three screens that wrap around the user’s viewing angle. Because the projectors use LED illumination with an expected life of 60,000 hours, Christie says the system should run for seven years without requiring a replacement of the light source.
The system pushes up to 15 million pixels (7.5 megapixels per eye) at a 120 Hz refresh rate (60 Hz per eye), Christie reps said. It utilizes NVIDIA Quadro Plex graphics processing and a head-tracking system and other software from WorldViz.
OK. Not quite a full-blown Holodeck on the Enterprise, but it’s a good start. Gaming would certainly benefit…maybe we could incorporate some mapping to round out the experience…….
Some Weekend Reading- SmithsonMartin KS-1974 Review
I recently had the pleasure of testing and reviewing the SmithsonMartin KS-1974 midi controller for PLSN magazine. The following review is re-printed here, and you can find the full article HERE. It was my first time with a MIDI controller and there was a bit of a learning curve. About a day’s worth. The console is that easy to set up and use! If you run any software that uses MIDI as an interconnect, than the SmithsonMartin line of controllers are worth looking at. The award winning Emulator Modular software is light, easy, and well thought out. Yes- they are a bit pricey, but the build quality alone is worth it, not to mention the functionality. There is a sale going on RIGHT NOW on the Emulator DVS, the big screen version with an RP projector- the same one used by Infected Mushroom on their current tour. As far as technical support, Pablo Martin (Guru of all things tech at SM) and Alan Smithson were all over any question I had. It’s refreshing to be able to speak with the owners/creators directly when it concerns a product- a luxury that is rare in the Biz. On that note, read on: (more…)
Leviathan and Autodesk
I came of age with Autodesk’s AutoCad Rel. 9. I think I still have a copy on three 3.5″ floppy disks in the attic somewhere. I can tell you it was nothing like what they put out now. It ran on a 486dx66 with an outboard math coprocessor, and I was the king of 3D. Autodesk has really stepped up in the last couple of years, though, and Leviathan is a heavy user of their Entertainment Creation Suite. The folks at Leviathan have been involved in making the visual package for Amon Tobin’s ISAM tour since the beginning, along with partners in crime V Squared Labs, and ……..The results speak for themselves. They do quite a lot of stuff, including visuals for Skrillex.
These vids, made by Autodesk, are a great peek into the hyper-graphic, computer-generated world of Leviathan- I can only imagine walking into work every day and getting to hang with this crew. It looks like a total blast! Can’t wait for ISAM to be in Chicago, Sept. 8th. I’ll have to see if i can buy the LVTHN crew a drink!
Arkam.tv at Google I/O Interactive
Arkam.tv recently were involved in making the visuals for the after-hours party at Google I/O. Their overall size was 80′x20′, rear-projected. They also came up with a really inventive playback system using Android pads with Touchdesigner as the control, of course. There’ll be a write-up over at Derivative’s site soon so check there for more details.
Adam explains: “Falcon Northwest was nice enough to provide us with their newest micro tower build, The Tiki, for this project. It was running a NVidia GeForce GXT 680 which gave us an option for up to four outputs. The show’s output resolution was 2560×640 and we split that into two 1280×640 signals. Those signals were pumped out the two DVI outputs on the video card into a proprietary video mixing station from Riverview Systems. Once it entered their system they used some customized software to re-composite the two signals back together. Beyond that it was all in their hands and we didn’t have anything else to do with the signal. They were able to split the signal into three outputs that fed into corresponding projectors. (edit- looks like they used the Barco FLM 22). It was a rear projection set up. The full resolution of the combined projections was 4320×1080. The scaling on the projectors was so high quality and sharp that we decided to build our project at 2560×640 in order to maintain a high fps since our graphics were running in real-time.”
Christie Digital Hosts High Frame Rate Expert Panel at SIGGRAPH 2012
CYPRESS, Calif. – (July 19, 2012) – As the Platinum Sponsor of SIGGRAPH 2012, Christie, the first in the world to publically demonstrate 3D High Frame Rate (HFR) projection technology using a single projector, is proud to host the SIGGRAPH HFR Panel, “High Frame Rate Cinema, Impacts on Art and Technology,” to be held Wednesday, August, 8 at 10:45 a.m., at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Hall K. The panel will feature 10 cinema industry leaders, led by Gordon E. Sawyer Academy Award winner Douglas Trumbull and Dennis Muren, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. It will be moderated by Paul Salvini, chief technology officer (CTO) of Christie. SIGGRAPH 2012 will be staged August 5 – 9.
Filmmaker and Visual Effects legend Douglas Trumbull’s photographic effects credits include groundbreaking films such as “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Blade Runner,” and “The Tree of Life.” Douglas Trumbull pioneered work on High Frame Rate cinematography and projection with his Showscan process of 70mm film photographed and projected at 60 fps, and is now exploring 3D at 120 fps. Dennis Muren is the recipient of eight Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, with credits that include “Star Wars” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
“The SIGGRAPH HFR panel will explore the technology behind high-frame-rate cinema, and look at what it will mean to producers of content and to the audience experience,” noted Paul Salvini. “The panelists are pioneers in their fields, addressing the challenges of HFR across the entire workflow, to provide the post-production and visual effects communities with important guidance regarding the challenges and rewards of developing HFR content for the exhibition community.”
Additional panelists include:
· Jim Beshears, Head of Post-production at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., oversees all aspects of the studio’s self-contained editorial and post-production facilities. Jim has been instrumental in creating a solid support system capable of simultaneously managing multiple feature-length animated projects and multiple short projects.
· Matthew Cowan, co-founder of Entertainment Technology Consultants and currently Chief Scientific Officer at RealD, of California, developed RealD’s successful 3D cinema system and is respected in the post-production community for his knowledge and application of human perception to 3D systems, color, and transfer functions in digital cinema.
· Darin Grant, Chief Technology Officer, Digital Domain Media Group, is responsible for the overall technology strategy for the company and its many subsidiaries. He is the former head of production technology at DreamWorks Animation.
· John Helliker is Founder/Director of Sheridan College’s SIRT Centre, a research and training facility focused on digital workflow innovations including HFR and virtual production. Based at Pinewood Toronto Studios, SIRT’s leading edge work is based on a unique set of partnerships with major industry guilds and associations, individual companies, as well as government and academia.
· Luke Moore, Director of Special Projects at Canada’s Side Effects Software, in Toronto, is responsible for identifying and addressing the unique technical challenges faced by studios using the popular Houdini VFX and Animation software. Luke brings first-hand knowledge and anecdotes regarding challenges of managing large datasets necessary to enable higher temporal and physical resolution to meet the needs of new challenges in modern production environments.
· Phil Oatley is Head of Technology at New Zealand-based Park Road Post Production, where his visionary talents have guided the company through incredible growth, including establishing key partnerships to promote HFR research and development.
· Dr. Lincoln Wallen, Head of Research and Development at Dreamworks Animation, in California, and formerly CTO at Electronic Arts Mobile, where he was instrumental in shaping EA’s approach to the mobile business, creating a strong portfolio of mass market mobile games, as well as games delivering a next-generation consumer experience.
“As the first licensee to market digital cinema projection based on Texas Instruments’ revolutionary DLP Cinema® technology, Christie has remained an industry leader, helping the post-production and exhibition communities with the latest-generation products, service, and technical expertise,” noted Paul Salvini. “We are proud to moderate this panel, which brings together true industry visionaries to discuss HFR, the next phase of the digital cinema revolution.”
Salvini added: “Christie continues to forge alliances in Hollywood with powerful proponents of HFR such as James Cameron, as well as partnering with leading post-production facilities such as Park Road Post Production and Weta Digital Ltd., to ensure a seamless transition to HFR and a superior movie-viewing experience.”
Among the movies on the horizon to feature HFR is the sequel to James Cameron’s “Avatar,” as well as Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit,“ both of which will also be presented in stereoscopic 3D.
Salvini noted that Christie recently affirmed its HFR leadership with the world’s first and only single-manufacturer DLP Cinema projector and Integrated Media Block (IMB) combination that meets the DCI specifications in both the 2K and 4K mode of operation. It’s the best combination for producing the brightest and sharpest image and the most reliable HFR solution.
“Christie has earned a solid reputation for accelerating innovations in digital projection technology that includes the first to market a fully stereoscopic 3D DLP projector, in addition to providing leadership in the development and implementation of visualization and immersive technologies,” said Salvini.
And the Award for Best Use of Pico Projection Goes To….
I still don’t understand pico projectors. With the best pico projector available, you only get 80 lumens and a whopping 75 minutes of battery life. Sure you could do a quick presentation (to about 6 people), or show off your family trip photos at a party (annoying….neat- but annoying), or drive your cat nuts, but these things really don’t have any use other than novelty. I suppose you could use it on a desktop for scaled-down projectionmapping testing, but there are plenty of other options with more power and connectivity. I never saw a decent use for them until this:
Speed Of Light from Nexus Productions on Vimeo.
Well done Nexus Productions! Nexus is a boutique production and animation company with a penchant for trans-media storytelling and filmmaking. They’ve garnered such hits as an Oscar nominated short, Grammy nominated and MTV Award winning music videos, and Cannes Grand Prix, Gold Lions, and Black D&AD pencil winning commercials.
Scott Snibbe at LAX
Scott Snibbe has gotten a lot of press lately and for good reason. He’s been in the interactive art scene for 20-something years and has collaborated with such celebrated innovators as Bjork, Brian Eno, and James Cameron. His latest work is called “Transit” and is one of 17 pieces running on a 58 back-to-back HD monitor ribbon overhead at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. In Scott’s words :”The 15-minute video features hundreds of pedestrians in silhouette who take part in a loose narrative grounded in their ceaseless movements left to right. Against this backdrop, travelers occasionally put down their bags and break into exuberant dance routines in styles that reflect L.A.’s diversity: from Hip-Hop to Salsa, Ballet, and Punk.
Midway through, the high-definition story shatters into abstracted fragments as multiple copies of travelers wipe forward across the screens; moon-walking travelers float backwards; crowds spew out from single travelers; and a Lady in Red appears who is ignored by them all. The project is a collaboration with Choreographer Francesca Penzani, and videographer Noah Cunningham. The California Institute of the Arts Center for Integrated Media offered substantial facilities and support for the project’s production.”
Here’s a piece from the good folks at the Creator’s Project that goes into detail about some of his innovative work:
By PDGACO payday loans