The SEMAPHORE

ACCAD Alumni Newsletter
Spring/Summer 2005
The Ohio State University

Visiting Artists

Lisa Slates-Connors
This spring 2005 Lisa Slates-Connors joins us as a Visiting Artist. Lisa is employed by Dreamworks Animation and specializes in "surfacing", working most recently on the animated film, "Madagascar". Lisa is currently teaching two courses: Arts College 752 "Digital Cinematography" and Arts College 753 "Animation Production".

Marlon Barrios-Solano
Autumn quarter 2004 our visiting artist was Marlon Barrios-Solano. Marlon researched and experimented with Dance and Technology techniques in ACCAD's motion capture studio. He also offered workshops for students demonstrating his research interests. The title of his workshop was "Unstable Landscape" (link).

ACCAD OPEN HOUSE
Friday, May 13
4:00-7:00 PM

ACCAD's annual open house will be Friday, May 13; 4:00-7:00 pm. Please forward this announcement to any local contacts you think might want to stop in. Demonstrations will include real-time virtual environments, motion capture technology, Dance and Technology, student thesis projects, research collaborations, visualization, animation, and digital sound.

Alumni Visits

Steve Anderson of Electronic Arts

This past November 15th, we were very pleased to "welcome back" Steve Anderson to ACCAD. Steve gave an overview of Electronic Arts, addressing the past, present and future of gaming. Steve and his associate Kriste Stull (University Relations Manager) also met one-on-one with several ACCAD graduate students.

As a result of Steve's visit and a previous visit by Jack Lew of EA, three ACCAD students, Min Lee (Art), Keith Ruston (CSE) and Jeff Ostergaard (Design) applied for and were accepted into an EA internship program during winter quarter 2005. Min and Keith recently returned to continue their coursework. However, Jeff accepted a full-time position at Electronic Arts Tiburon in Orlando, Florida as an Associate Lighter, where he is working on the next generation of video games.

Kevin Geiger of Disney

On May 9th and 10th, alumnus Kevin Geiger from Walt Disney Feature Animation visited ACCAD. Kevin gave a presentation on recent projects and met with students one on one to review their work and recruit.

We'd like to announce that Shana Burns, MFA candidate in Design, will spend part of this summer in California participating in a Disney Feature Animation internship. The internship is entitled "Look Development TD and Texture Paint, Summer Training Program". Congratulations to Shana.

Keith Kelley
Digital Animation and Visualization, MFA Candidate

By the end of spring 2005, Keith Kelley plans to be an ACCAD Alumni. Keith's research interest has been in the area of analyzing human movement by utilizing vocabulary from the Laban Movement Analysis' Effort, a movement notation system. Keith proposes that an understanding of "Effort", could provide animators with a new point of reference in creating live-action motion in 3D. The title of Keith's thesis is, "The Animator's Eye: An Approach for Observing and Interpreting the Expressive Quality of Movement for Beginning Animators". (link to abstract)

To contact Keith send mail to: kkelley@accad.osu.edu

GRANT Projects at ACCAD

Efficacy of a Technology-Based HIV/AIDS Prevention Intervention for HIV-Positive MSM
Over the past year ACCAD collaborated with Dr. Julianne Serovich of the OSU department of Human Development and Family Science on a Federally funded grant. The goal of the project was to design an internet-based HIV disclosure intervention that could be tested as a preliminary model. ACCAD helped develop a web interface that could assess a participant's current situation and concerns using multi-media entwined information, quizzes and interactive exercises. It was proposed that a more "anonymous" interface might allow health service providers to interact with participants, generate appropriate intervention materials and track progress in a less threatening way. ACCAD staff who worked on the project were Maria Palzzzi and GRA, Jeff Ostergaard.



EMMA Lab ~ collaboration between Dance and ACCAD
A proposal was recently funded by a special technology initiative within the College of the Arts. The award ($48,000 first year; and approximately $20,000 in the 2nd and 3rd years) will establish the EMMA lab (Experimental Media and Movement Arts) directed by Dance and Technology professor Norah Zuniga-Shaw and ACCAD's Matthew Lewis. It will utilize the existing Motion Capture Studio at ACCAD.

Emma will add multimedia teaching and performance capabilities to the space. EMMA will be an innovative, collaborative project that utilizes existing facilities, faculty and courses to increase teaching and student research activities in interactive performance and body-based experimental media work.

It is the intention of the Department of Dance and ACCAD to collaborate on the development of a physical laboratory, and correlate curriculum and performance projects that utilize this laboratory. We plan to utilize existing space to pilot this cooperative venture with the intention of eventually expanding this facility to two sites one for beginning/intermediate functionality, one for advanced use.



JANE'S STORY ~ new collaboration with the Burpee Museum of Natural History
The Burpee Museum of Natural History in collaboration with ACCAD proposed and was awarded funding from the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) Agency. The outcome of this collaboration will be a new exhibit, telling the "Story of JANE". JANE (as you may remember) is Burpee's recently discovered dinosaur. ACCAD is developing interactive kiosks using "touch-screen" technology that will integrate 3D animation stories of "Jane's Life and Times" into the exhibit.

Tyler Ayres, Shana Burns, Cara Christeson, Danny Guinn, Keith Kelley, Katie Lynch, Min Lee, and Brent Zorich are working on this project. They and others are also gaining experience and earning credit hours for work on "JANE's Story". This team, along with Maria Palazzi and Matt Lewis meet once a week via video-conference with the Burpee scientists. These sessions allow our ACCAD team to hear (and see) feedback on each stage of animation development. JANE's Story is expected to open in June.

Alumni Updates

Wooksang Chang (2000) sends news under these headings: 1. Short Film "In The Forest"... 2. School Projects... 3. Baby, Baby... To read more click here. Take care all Accadians! And I wish every body all fine. Have fun. ~ to e -mail: Wooksang Chang


Jin Won Choi (1989-1995) from Yonsei University in Korea completed his Masters (Architecture) and PhD and took courses at ACCAD. He is now a professor at Yonsei University. He also has a software development company, called "Virtual Builders, Inc", along with his research laboratory. He does not have an English version of this site, but here is the URL: www.vbuilders.co.kr


Todd Delman (2004) is working for Vivideo TV in Columbus, Ohio. He recently bought a house. The family is doing well. Todd also worked on a research collaboration between the OSU Physics department and ACCAD.


Todd Fechter (2000) works for DNA Productions in Irving,Texas. He was recently named Set Supervisor on the feature film, "Ant Bully".


Kevin Geiger (1994) is wrapping up work as CG Supervisor of Modeling and Character Setup on Walt Disney Feature Animation's "Chicken Little", and beginning work in the same role on "Rapunzel Unbraided".  Kevin still teaches at Cal Arts, and has recently lectured at computer graphics conferences in Sydney and Stuttgart.


Tim Glenn (1999) collaborated with Wayne State University in Digital Bridges: Integrating Technology Across the Fine Arts, an innovative technologies conference hosted by Western Michigan University. This event addressed effective Internet2 connectivity for instruction and performance. From Florida State University’s Black Box Studio, Glenn utilized video projections as an environment for interacting with his distant partner at WMU.

Tim toured with the Nikolais Dance Theatre as documentation consultant during the 2004 Edinburgh International Festival. This summer marks Glenn’s fourth year as Visiting Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also collaborating with Karen Bell, Dean of the College of the Arts at Ohio State University, on three solos Bell will perform in Aqueous Myth: Tales of a Water Planet at FSU in September 2005.


Rob Gordon who worked at ACCAD in 2003, will graduate from Carnegie Mellon with a Masters in Entertainment Technology on May 15. He will be employed as a game programmer at Schell Games, which is a small PC game developer based in Pittsburgh. Rob worked as an intern at Schell Games last fall working on a web-downloadable game for kids.


James Hahn (1989) will take over as Chair of the Department of Computer Science at George Washington University starting in July. His son George is now 4 and going to pre-school. All goes well.


Heath Hanlin (1998) was granted tenure in 2004 at Syracuse University. His animation Hell's Prow screened in a 5-channel version at the Denver Visual Music Festival. His collaboration with Negativland, 'The Mashin' of the Christ' has recently screened at Yale University, MIT, University of Iowa, and Minneapolis' Sound Unseen festival. He is currently in production on 'how to steer the wheel' a one-hour animation accompanied by a live soundtrack, performed by Hanlin with a small ensemble of musicians. Performances are scheduled to begin in April of 2006.<shameless plug> Anyone interested in booking this show can contact heath@dynakit.org for details. I'll be on leave in spring of 2006 and plan to tour extensively. Also see: http://dynakit.org


Nathan Loofbourrow (1994) is working at Dreamworks Animation in Glendale, CA where he finished work on "Shark Tale" and is now working on "Kung Fu Panda".


Rick Lucas (1986) of New Zealand is working on a project entitled, "The Life and Times of Digital Design in New Zealand". He will be researching and organizing a body of information outlining the origins, history, evolution and proliferation of digital design activity and development within New Zealand, from the mid-seventies to the present state of play. The underlying intention of this project is to establish the important contribution New Zealand has made to the artform of digital imaging in all of its varied forms and manifestations.


J. Dawn Mercedes (1999) will have her first solo gallery exhibition a the Laredo Community College Teaching Gallery in Laredo, Texas. Her web page is: jdawn.com She also maintains the following course web site: www.oakton.edu/user/~jdmerced/


Michael Miller, staff alum, gave two presentations at the AccessGrid Retreat 2005 in San Francisco entitled, "Quality Audio for the AccessGrid" and "AGSchedule: New Features, New Directions".


Saty Raghavachary (1992)wrote, twins Josh and Becky are 16 months old and are growing like weeds! see latest pics: www.smartcg.com/fun/photos/Apr1405/. Saty has a new Renderman book out, see: www.smartcg.com/tech/cg/books/RfB and he teaches a CS480 class (Introduction to 3D Graphics) at USC part-time on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.


Clarke Stallworth (2000) wrote that he "is leaving Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and going back to school - Law School of all things! Will likely be attending UTenn in Knoxville or Rutgers in NJ."


Moon Seun (1994) is in the midst of production on her next independent animated short film entitled, "My Friend Shadow".  Information on the project can be found at www.simplisticpictures.com. Kevin Geiger & Moon's non-profit organization, The Animation Co-op, has grown to over 700 members worldwide with local chapters in 10 of the United States. For more information or to join, go to www.animationcoop.org.


Carrie Wilson (2004) is Interactive Producer for Clear Channel Online Music and Radio (Cincinnati, OH). Carrie wrote, "Basically, I design Flash content for our 1300+ radio station sites all over the country, as well as interactive sales and marketing demonstrations. So far I love it here. I'm working with a small team of other designers and programmers, a very fun and crazy but motivated group of people.

Staff News

Vita Berezina-Blackburn
Vita is wrapping up collaboration with the Bebe Miller Company. The multimedia performance, "Landing Place", that will feature live dance, video and motion capture based animations will open in the fall of 2005 and travel throughout the US. The tour dates and locations are available at http://accad.osu.edu/~vberezin/bm/tour/. Check for periodic updates.

In the meantime, Vita presented standalone mocap animation studies for the project in a solo show at Dance Theater Workshop in New York in November of 2004 and a group show "Body+" at the MIT Museum in March of 2005. In March, she also gave a presentation on the collaborative process of "Landing Place" at the "Ideas in Motion" conference during Boston's CyberArts festival.

And this news just in from Vita..... "Landing Place: Remapping Motion Capture of Dance Movement to Objects and Environments" in collaboration with Brian Windsor will be presented in the Sketches section of Siggraph 2005.

Dehlinger, Hans and Matthew Lewis. "Selective Extraction of Point Sets from Photographs as Starting Events of Generative-Art Line Drawings" in Proceedings of Generative Arts 2004, Milan, Italy, ed. Celestino Soddu, December, 2004.

....and with collaboration from Keith Ruston (graduate student in Computer Science and Engineering), Matt published the following paper:

Lewis, Matthew and Keith Ruston. "Aesthetic Geometry Evolution in a Generic Interface Evolutionary Design Framework" in New Generation Computing 23(2005), Ohmsha, Ltd. and Springer, 2005.

Brian Windsor
Brian wrote an article that was included in the Winter 2005 edition of the "Puppetry Journal". The title is "Digital Puppetry through Motion Capture". Brian will be giving a workshop entitled, "Puppetry and Motion Capture" at Puppetfest 2005. See: puppetfest2005.

Katie Whitlock
Soon after completing her PhD in Theatre last summer, Katie Whitlock was hired jointly by Theatre and ACCAD to teach several courses in both departments. During autumn 2004 (for ACCAD), Katie worked with Dave Filipi of the Wexner Center to teach a course entitled, "From Gertie to Samurai Jack: the history and theory of animation and games". During winter 2005, Katie coordinated the Dreamworks "Creative Process" class (referenced above), taught to a predominantly undergraduate audience. This quarter (spring 2005), Katie developed and is teaching a new course entitled, "Monsters and Magic - Guns and Gore - Video Games and the Modern Age ". The course explores game genres and titles in relation to artistry, interactivity, and commercial success to try to understand what makes games compelling and successful.

Katie recently accepted an Assistant Professorship in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She will begin teaching there this fall. Congratulations to Katie!

RECENT GRADUATES

Mike Altman, MFA, Design, Summer 2004.

Thesis Title: "The Film Look: Achieving a Classical 1950s Film Look for 3D Rendered Imagery"

Mike is working for DNA Productions in Irving, Texas.

Marlon Barrios-Solano, MFA, Dance, Summer 2004.

Thesis Title: "Towards an Aesthetic of Cognitive Systems"

Marlon is freelancing and demonstrating his thesis work for various Dance venues and workshops.

Timothy Daoust, MS, Computer and Information Science, Summer 2004.

Thesis Title: "A System for Performance and Key Frame Animation Using Virtual Reality and Motion Capture"

Tim is presently working for Natural Motion in the United Kingdom.

Matthew Derksen, MFA, Art and Technology, Summer 2004.

Thesis Title: "Virtual Puppetry"

Matt is working for Rhythm and Hues in California on the animated film production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

Eric Farrar, MFA, Design, Summer 2004.

Thesis Title: "Animation and Music: Principles for Effective Combination"

Eric is working for Rhythm and Hues in California on the animated film production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

Selim Gencoglu, MFA, Design, Spring 2004.

Thesis Title: "Design Exploration of Wireless and Wearable Communication Devices"

Selim is working for MAK, Ltd. as a designer