The SEMAPHORE

ACCAD Alumni Newsletter
Volume 6, Issue 2, July 2003
The Ohio State University

Wednesday, July 30th from 4:00-6:00 PM.
Location: Clarion Hotel Bayview, 660 K Street, Gaslamp Room

If you haven't done so already,
RSVP to: elaine@accad.ohio-state.edu

Sleep Deprivation Chamber Produced by The OSU Department of Theatre with ACCAD May 2003

This past May, ACCAD and the Department of Theater presented a production of Adam P. and Adrienne Kennedy's play, "Sleep Deprivation Chamber". The play is about a young African American who was stopped by police near his home, beaten and arrested without provocation, then charged with assault.

During the past academic year, a team of ACCAD and theater students, staff, and faculty designed and produced over one hundred clips of 2D and 3D animation and manipulated video clips for projection onto five screens throughout the ninety minute play. Animation was produced primarily with Maya and After Effects including particle-based moths and Fluid Effects fire and clouds. Maria Palazzi led the animation production team consisting of Mike Altman, Hyunjung Chae, Jenny Macy, Jeff Ostergaard, Lien Fan Shen, and Carrie Wilson.

Katie Whitlock and Carrie Wilson did an incredible amount of work coordinating the integration of technology and theater and keeping track of the myriad gory details.

Jon Woodring, Carrie Wilson and Fran Kalal worked with Matt Lewis to develop a complex but ultimately relatively inexpensive pipeline for interactively triggering and combining multiple streams of live, processed, and recorded video. Several interactive devices were hidden within the set: a Wacom input tablet was embedded in a writing desk allowing an actor's live writing to be projected with the strokes being composited with other video and processed with particle and image processing effects. Environmental sensors including a light sensor, a step tile, and a laser were used, allowing the actors' actions to trigger and manipulate the animation.

The art director, Jaz Lee, designed a set involving four projection screens surrounding the audience. The stage floor was used as an additional projection surface. The director desired complex combinations of layered live video, rendered CG, and real-time procedural and processed effects throughout the majority of the play, triggered to specific lines of dialogue. Changes were made right up to the last minute about what would happen on which screens when. Many many iterations of systems were designed until finally a solution was found involving primarily a single computer processing multiple video and midi input and output streams.

We relied very heavily on a new piece of software called Jitter which uses an interface similar to Houdini or Shake (apE anyone?) to allow rapid assembly of complex data control and logic networks. Jitter allowed for a huge amount of experimentation and flexibility. In the spirit of an "Advanced Computing Center" the video control software was constructed using software that was in beta for 90% of the process, finally being released mere days before the opening of the performance.

While we still need to get more of our post-show documentation online, you can see the ACCAD's Sleep Deprivation Chamber project page for more information.

Digital Animation:
A Technology Mentoring Program for Young Women ~ June 2003

June 16 to June 27, ACCAD was host to a group of 14 high school girls and 5 teachers. See program highlights.

Program URL: http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/womenandtech/2003/

CSURI News ~ Csuri DVD Set

A five volume set of DVD's has been completed on the life and legacy of Charles Csuri. Below is a descriptive quote from producer Robert Butche:

"....We now have something close to 75 hours of recorded materials which has produced four fully edited - two hour DVD volumes so far. The processing and editing of yesterday's materials will take about 3-4 weeks and result in the final volume of this series, volume V. The Csuri DVD set will be released to the Ohio State University Archives on schedule in June.

The massiveness of this project was far beyond what any of us expected -- and the result will be sensational! Two years of research, 12 months of production, something approaching 2000 volunteer man hours, 15 location shoots, mutiple green-screen processes, snow, ice and 100 degree temperatures -- and the wonderful cooperation of so many great people have added substantially to the Csuri Legacy at Ohio State".
~ The Csuri DVD Team includes Kip Patterson, Bill Moore, and Robert Butche.

The DVD titles are:
Volume I: Athletics
Volume II: Arts at Ohio State
Volume III: Traditional Arts
Volume IV: Digital Arts
Volume V: Animation Arts

Visit Chuck's new Web site: http://www.csurivision.com

Alumni Updates

Heesung Koo is expecting a baby this October. She resigned from her job at Microsoft effective June 6, but is looking for teaching opportunities in Seattle. Her new e-mail address is heesung@hotmail.com

Ferdi Scheepers moved to California awhile ago and is now working at PIXAR. He and the family are doing well. Here is a recent family picture and more on this web site .

Clarke Stallworth's Thesis project, "Pa" was on display at the "Visual Fantasy 2002: The World of Computer Graphics, at the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo.

Jeff Wolverton, a graduate of the OSU/CIS department (also took classes at ACCAD) wrote the 2003 Academy Award winning script for animated short, "ChubbChubbs".

ACCAD Presence at SIGGRAPH

Who-Jeong Lee's
...... paper, "Computer Graphics and Theatre" was accepted for the Educator's Program at SIGGRAPH 2003. In this paper, she discusses the multi-faceted ways of integrating computer graphics and theatre. This incudes experimenting with CG to create graphics for physical and virtual environments. Visit Jaz's web page.

Scott Swearingen
....has been asked to speak at SIGGRAPH 2003 as part of a panel on making art utilizing game engines. Scott recently became GAMEfully employed with TKO-Software and is working on the upcoming expansion pack for the EA game "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault". Production is this June. See Scott's web page.

Carrie Wilson's
...... piece "Anima" was accepted into the SIGGRAPH 2003 Art Gallery. The image is a 16x26" digital composition. Carrie says, "The piece is a combination of many digital self portraits, which I take almost obsessively every few days. I wanted to comment on the grotesque self image people (especially women) are bombarded with constantly by media and advertising. The end result is a reflection on the conflict between how we appear to the world versus how we appear to ourselves." Carrie's web page.

The Virtual Theatre Project
......... is highlighted in the SIGGRAPH 2003 Web Graphics Expo. See URL: http://www.siggraph.org/s2003/conference/web/expo.html
Go to: >>> Education >>> Bowen Virtual Theatre, Matt Lewis.... This project was a collaboration with the Department of Theatre. Several graduate students deserve credit including: K.T. Whitlock (Theatre), Arun Somasundaram (CIS), Ian Butterfield (Art), and Jon Woodring (CIS).

Recent Alumni Visits

Wooksang Chang, ACCAD alumni (2000), visited April 14-16. Wooksang met with our graduate students, (in this picture, Jun Oh) and reviewed portfolios. He also taught lighting concepts to Midori's "Animation Production" class and gave a large group presentation on his career experiences with Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age) and PDI/Dreamworks (Sinbad). Wooksang recently accepted the position of Associate Professor at Chung-Ang University in Seoul,Korea.

Todd Fecther, ACCAD alumni (2002) also visited on May 16 to review portfolios and talk with students about his work at DNA Productions in Texas. Todd is working on the Jimmy Neutron series for Nickelodeon.

	Also pictured Left: Heather Capprette, Matt Lewis, and Maria Palazzi testing equipment prior to the event.   Also hidden in picture Right: Jon Woodring, GRA who maintained the Virtual Theatre on-line course.
Fran Kalal in MoCap attire		Beth Novak w/Virtual Theatre demo

	Left: guest artists Tim Cummiskey on guitar and Doug Richeson on bass.
a little background music		Mike Altman w/high school visitors

Upcoming Workshop

"ACTING FOR ANIMATORS"
Two day Workshop by Ed Hooks

October 14 & 15, 2003 ACCAD will host a two day workshop with Ed Hooks, actor, author, teacher, director and coach. Mr. Hooks has been a professional actor for over thirty years. He has numerous film and TV credits and has coached well known actors and actresses.

THE WORKSHOP
"Acting For Animators" involves group improvisations, lecture on acting theory and deconstruction of scenes from live-action and animated films. The basic thrust of Acting For Animators is an examination of the correlation between thinking, emotion and physical action. Subjects covered typically include:

* The psychology of physical movement.
* Negotiations within a scene, value of conflict.
* Playing Actions, Pursuing Objectives.
* Character Analysis
* Status Transactions
* Empathy -- what it is, why it's important, how to get it
* Laban Movement Analysis (optional)
* Psychological gestures
* Theatrical vs. Commercials
* Clips from Charlie Chaplin

ACCAD is a teaching and research center in computer visualization,
and digital animation at The Ohio State University