3dWorld has a review of the iPi markerless Motion Capture system that uses low-resolution video cameras (like Webcams or the Sony PlayStation Eye) to capture motion. They target 640×480 60fps video, primarily because higher-resolutions would require additional processing (putting it beyond realtime right now), but only sell the Software (requiring you to purchase your own compatible cameras and connecting equipment). It seems rather similar to the Microsoft Kinect. So, how does it work?
The good news is that the approach does work: after a rather clumsy experience with the hardware and lack of preview, the experience of using iPi Desktop Motion Capture paid off, yielding some pretty solid full-body mocap.
Small delicate moves and bold aggressive moves were all captured well. Some floor slippage was seen, but nothing that can’t be cleaned up in post in MotionBuilder. However, only BVH, Collada and SMD formats are supported; FBX support would definitely be a welcome addition.
Last night I took my children to see Tangled, which was a great movie. It was especially great because we were the only ones in the theater. It looks like that Tangled will be released on March 15, 2011 in 3-D on Blu-Ray. In addition to Tangled, Disney has also said that they will be releasing other movies in 3-D on Blu-Ray. These include such 2-D favorites as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Since these two movies were originally released in 2-D, they will have to be converted by post-production into 3-D. Hopefully they take the time to do it right. Unfortunately, no dates have been announced yet. One might guess that most of these movies will be released for the 2011 Christmas shopping season.
Some of the movies that Disney has said that they will be releasing include:
What is an APU? Well, the short answer is that it is an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). But what does that really mean? For AMD, it means that a low end graphics processing unit (GPU) is being combined with a traditional x86 CPU.
The real question that I have is, what will this do to NVIDIA? Since AMD is launching its APU, or Fusion line, with a GPU embedded in the CPU, and since Intel is launching Sandy Bridge with a GPU embedded in the CPU, what will NVIDIA do? On the extreme low end, which I define as under $100, I suspect the NVIDIA will lose market share to the point of becoming irrelevant. People buying low end desktops or laptops do not care (or even know) what kind of graphics card the computer has. On the low-, mid- and high-end I expect NVIDIA to still be relevant, as well as in the Quadro line. But how large is that market?
However, the Tesla line might be under some pressure in the next year or so. Imagine a high performance computer with Sandy Bridge or Fusion processors in it. Would you need, or want, to add a 200 Watt Tesla to such a system? After all, with Fusion, you get a one-to-one mapping of GPU with a CPU. We sure do live in exciting times, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. For now, AMD and Intel are in the driver’s seat.
With Fusion technology from AMD, the PC industry will be changed forever. AMD is incorporating multi-core CPU (x86) technology, a powerful DirectX®11-capable discrete-level graphics and parallel processing engine onto a single die to create the first Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Learn how AMD is doing that here.
In the past we have shown you images of the International Space Station crossing the moon, and the sun. We have even shown you the shuttle and the International Space Station crossing the sun together. Photographer Thierry Legault has captured something truly amazing. He has managed to capture an image of a partial eclipse of the sun by the moon, while the International Space Station is also transiting (or eclipsing) the sun. You will have to click on the image to see a larger version, but in the bottom left corner is the partial eclipse of the sun by the moon. Towards the upper left is the International Space Station is also transiting the sun. Towards the center and the bottom right are sunspots. Just remember one thing when looking at this image. The International Space Station crosses the sun in under a second. This was truly a split-second shot.
VFXSoldier and VFX Law have an interesting “thought experiment” going on where they ask the (Somewhat scary) question, “What Purpose to VFX Facilities Serve?” It goes something like this:
What if one day we woke up and all vfx facilities went out of business?
Well before you freak out, consider that the studios would still have a need for a huge capacity of vfx work. There still exists a talent pool that can do the work.
Doomsayers say all vfx work would just go overseas but the fallacy in this is that vfx isn’t very scalable. For example, many facilities in the UK are booked up 2 years in advance by subisidy-hungry studios.
If vfx facilities didn’t exist tomorrow, the production would probably have to hire the talent directly.
The end result being that if the studios hired talent directly, then the VFX people would (theoretically) get the same privileges as all the other “behind-the-scenes” staff in the product, and get future dividends to pay for benefits ongoing.
Now, I’m not in the VFX industry so take this with a grain of salt, but this discussion comes up often in my line of work as well (A Visualization Lab offered to researchers around the world). This argument comes up occasionally, and we fight for exactly the opposite: Keep the Visualization Lab (or VFX Facility). Visualization, like VFX, is a “bursty” business. When there’s data (a movie), you do a lot of work, but that work is for a finite time and then there’s either nothing or another project. Can one Researcher (or studio) generate enough data (projects) to keep a fully-staffed Visualization (VFX) department busy full-time? In Visualization, the answer is typically No, which is why there is a centralized group that is “rented” out to groups on an as-needed basis.
An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is the center of a galaxy that has a supermassive black hole being fed by gas and dust near it. At one time, such AGN’s were called quasars, which is short for quasi-stellar radio source. Also at one time, our own Milky Way galaxy may have had an AGN, until its central black hole consumed all the gas and dust near it.
However, an alternative theory is that an AGN comes from the merger of two galaxies. So which theory is correct? That is what the Hubble Space Telescope set out to prove.
Most galaxies, including our own, have a huge but well-behaved black hole at their heart, while some have messy eaters that suck in vast amounts of matter which then shines brightly as it falls towards oblivion. This causes the telltale bright spots at the centre of galaxies known as active galactic nuclei (AGN). Why are the two types so different? Until now, the leading theory has been that mergers between galaxies are instrumental in driving matter into the black holes, making them grow.
In a new study, the largest of its kind so far, astronomers set up an identity parade of galaxies to test this theory. Comparing 140 active galaxies with a control group of over 1200 comparable inactive galaxies, they found that there has been no significant link between AGN activity and galactic mergers for at least the past eight billion years. Therefore, other phenomena such as instabilities within galaxies, collisions of molecular clouds or tidal disruption by other galaxies flying by must instead be to blame.
Today seems to be astronomy day, as we have three posts for you. In the first of these, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have captured a truly gorgeous image of the Lagoon Nebula using the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). The Lagoon Nebula is an emission nebula. An emission nebula is simply one that is being heated up from stars within its interior, and emitting light in various colors. The Lagoon Nebula is located approximately 4,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). If you looked at this nebula with your eye, it would appear grey. A time exposure image of the nebula would make it appear pink. However, this image appears blue because it is being imaged by VISTA in the near-infrared wavelengths.
This zoom sequence starts with a wide view of the spectacular central regions of the Milky Way. As we zoom in the prominent red patch of the Lagoon Nebula becomes apparent. First we see a detailed visible-light view from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla in Chile and then finally the new infrared view from the VISTA telescope at Paranal.
Credit:
ESO/VVV/S. Brunier/S. Guisard Music: John Dyson (from the album “Darklight”) Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
There’s no doubt that some of the major stories of the year were related to WikiLeaks, and, in this time of 2010 retrospectives, we bring today a couple of infographics that show what that was all about: one from GOOD and the other from Online Schools. After that, we move on to the 2010 Lexicon, from Business Week, a look at the most viral brands of 2010, presented by Rubber Republic, and the Year in Movies, found on Chazrt.
Exotic Matter has just released an impressive new CFD simulation and animation tool named ‘Naiad’ that offers not only a plugin interface, but a complete front-end package and software API.
Naiad is more than just a software package, it is:
a description of a simulation expressed as a graph: the Naiad Graph
an interface specification used to construct a Naiad Graph: the Naiad Interface
a plug-in API allowing users to write custom nodes in the Naiad Graph
a software package which conforms to the Naiad Interface and runs the simulation described by a Naiad Graph
an open-source software package allowing an artist to interactively construct a Naiad Graph using a 3D GUI front-end
a standard file-format for storing the results of a Naiad simulation, called the EMP format.
3dWorld has a review of the iPi markerless Motion Capture system that uses low-resolution video cameras (like Webcams or the Sony PlayStation Eye) to capture motion. They target 640×480 60fps video, primarily because higher-resolutions would require additional processing (putting it beyond realtime right now), but only sell the Software (requiring you to purchase your own compatible cameras and connecting equipment). It seems rather similar to the Microsoft Kinect. So, how does it work?
VFXSoldier and VFX Law have an interesting “thought experiment” going on where they ask the (Somewhat scary) question, “What Purpose to VFX Facilities Serve?” It goes something like this:
There’s no doubt that some of the major stories of the year were related to 
Exotic Matter has just released an impressive new CFD simulation and animation tool named ‘Naiad’ that offers not only a plugin interface, but a complete front-end package and software API.
VizWorld.com 
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