cfry@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (C.Fry - Inst. Computer Research) (02/03/88)
A colloquium sponsored by
The Institute for Computer Research,
the Computer Science Club,
and
the Computer Graphics Laboratory
A Napkin's Nightmare
or
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Expo '86
by
David Martindale
of
Computer Animation Centre
National Film Board of Canada
Abstract
``TRANSITIONS,'' the world's first 3D IMAX* film, was seen by two
million people at Expo '86 in Vancouver. This 22-minute film
contained about 2 minutes of animation that was produced by the
Computer Animation Centre of the NFB. This is a very informal
talk about the experiences and lessons of making that film, and
about computer graphics in the ``real world.''
IMAX is a spectacular but unforgiving format - each image covers
ten times the film area of 35mm films. To obtain acceptable
sharpness on screen, all animation was computed at a resolution
of 4096 x 3072 pixels. (Computer graphics on television is typi-
cally 640 x 485). A total of about 5000 images were needed.
The speaker will discuss the algorithms that had to be developed
to permit calculating and filming these images, the problems of
storage (where do you put 50 gigabytes of data?), and some things
that caught us by surprise. The talk will begin with a brief in-
troduction to IMAX and 3D technology.
* ``IMAX'' is a registered trademark of IMAX Systems Corporation.
DATE: February 10, 1988
TIME: 3:30 p.m.
PLACE: MC 5158
Everyone is welcome. Refreshments served.