#Electronic Theater LA95
15-Aug-95 12:31:03
Sb: #185126-#Electronic Theater LA95
Fm: Yost Group 76702,413
To: James Coulter[Mindscape] 73670,677
The ET opening and close were ABSOLUTELY done with 3DS… by Brumbear, in Frank
Fosters group at Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was rendered at 2Kx2K and then
blown up (via their proprietary Gaussian interpolator at Sony) and outputted at
30fps (instead of the usual 24fps) directly to 70mm film (at 12 bits of color
per component), and then played back on a Showscan projector. IPAS routines
were heavily used in both (didn't you recognize Disintegrate in the opening and
Fireworks and Spurt in the close?). Considering it was projected on the big
screen (85' wide by 50' high), it definitely wins the award as the most
impressive 3DS animation EVER. I can't wait to see what Brumbear submits for
the ET next year… I think he's going to push it to full 60fps Showscan frame
rates for '96.
– G