Movie Magic Conjured by Science

Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:18 pm » by **Freeyourmindnow**

The next time you take in a movie, you may be getting a lesson in cutting-edge physics without even knowing it. Hollywood has embraced the complex field of fluid dynamics, the study of how water, air, smoke and other fluids move, in a big way, allowing filmmakers to create realistic scenes of turbulent oceans and falling buildings -- not to mention the quirks of Jeff Bridges' face.

"It used to be that the story was limited by the technology," said Doug Roble, creative director at Digital Domain, a Hollywood special effects studio. "Now we're getting to the point where there are no limits. If I want to have Mount Everest fall into the ocean and catch on fire, we can do that. And the audience will buy that it is happening."

Computer scientists like Roble are using new kinds of software programs that harness mathematical algorithms that describe chaotic scenes of nature. These same kinds of mathematical formulas can be used to describe and then animate the bending of steel girders, as seen when downtown Los Angeles collapses in last year's blockbuster "2012."

Instead of just drawing a steel girder from a building and pushing it around, Roble says mathematical equations now determine how the object will move on screen.

"In order to get the physics right, the mathematics is very stiff," Roble said. "So in order to simulate it accurately, you have to take extremely small time steps to move the simulation forward. If it's too fast, the simulation will explode, negative signs start appearing, and your simulation won't mimic reality."

Canadian computer scientist Robert Bridson wrote about this emerging field of physics and animation recently in the journal Science. Bridson's company Exotic Matter has a long list of Hollywood film projects, including recent "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Hellboy" and "Quantum of Solace." He's an expert of sorts in creating realistic smoke, water, fire, hair, skin and clothing.

"(Digital filmmaking) has a lot in common with foundational work with applied mathematics and computational physics," Bridson said from New Zealand, where he's working on the latest Tolkien film, "The Hobbit." "People will look at a phenomenon of interest and come up with equations to describe what they are seeing. A lot of that is now going on in film."

Bridson said creating realistic sea foam and ocean spray has become the latest challenge for math-based special effects designers. He notes a particular complex shots of a both a giant wave and the lion's rippling fur in the just-released fantasy film "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" that made heavy use of new fluid dynamics-based programs.

What's been driving the marriage of math and movie-making is the rising expectations of film directors and the availability of cheap computing power needed to run the software. That means big special effects no longer equals big budgets.

"We will start seeing more low-budget independent types of shops producing extraordinary effects," Bridson said. "'District 9' cost $30 million. Compared to the budgets of what other science fiction films need, it was pretty cheap."

Using computer simulation of solid and fluid dynamics is both cheaper for the director and less dangerous for human actors, Bridson said.

Both Roble and Bridson say the next step for creative programmers is creating digital doubles for human actors. By using a fully animated digital character, a director will be able to redo difficult scenes without rebuilding a set or requiring dangerous stunts.

In the recent "Tron" sequel, filmmakers wanted to recreate actor Jeff Bridges' character to resemble what he looked like 30 years ago. Using new software, they mapped Bridges' current face with a set of points, then transferred it to images taken from Bridges circa 1982. The data was crunched using software that wasn't available a few years ago, Roble explained.

"The human face is extraordinarily tough," Roble said. "Right now, the research community is focused on muscles and skin."

http://news.discovery.com/tech/movies-s ... 01230.html

Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:26 pm » by **Freeyourmindnow**

Doug Roble, creative director at Digital Domain, a Hollywood special effects studio; "Now we're getting to the point where there are no limits. If I want to have Mount Everest fall into the ocean and catch on fire, we can do that. And the audience will buy that it is happening."

:think:

so we will buy it he :think:

Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:42 pm » by **Troll2rocks**

AVATAR and its sequels go further with this.

TRON LEGACY was a steaming pile of shit, with some of the worst cgi in living memory, especially Jeff Bridges face.

Now this last one doesnt look too bad in a single frame, but when moving, jeesh.

The reason for this is simple, the complex relationship between the human mouth and eyes is so overly complex in terms of its relationship to conveying emotion. That no amount of synthetic pixels can match it,

AVATAR nailed the motion control of the motion of the mouth. but it cheated with the eyes, making them larger and less complex, they also added clever additions like ears that move and a flowing tail that help convey the emotion in a said scene.

Every single attempt at photo real up close humans has failed when done in motion, and also in single frame images.

The industry has dubbed this as "dead eye syndrome"

However one got it exactually correct...

Because they use existing elements like the eyes and lips and work around them.

Gollum is also a cheat because the eyes are not proportionate in size

All things considered though, AVATAR has come closest in terms of creating an entire world in believable physics.

Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:53 pm » by **Mochon**

dude i was watching inception last night and they mentioned something about the us military using some kind of tech to train soldiers suposeddly in the 50`s...anyone heard of that?

Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:55 pm » by **Freeyourmindnow**

there are no limits they say.they can show us what ever they want and we will buy it? so i am curious who else is using this technology and how often we sheep's buy it?

Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:55 pm » by **Otoel**

mochon wrote:dude i was watching inception last night and they mentioned something about the us military using some kind of tech to train soldiers suposeddly in the 50`s...anyone heard of that?

There has always been tech to train the soldiers...
Its called the army for a reason...

:roll:

Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:29 pm » by **Mochon**

Mhhh i dont get it....

Im talking about specific dream technology so soldiers loose fear to shoot or stab ...
:bang;

Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:53 am » by **Otoel**

mochon wrote:Mhhh i dont get it....

Im talking about specific dream technology so soldiers loose fear to shoot or stab ...

Just give them some LSD and have them shoot lasers out of their ass.

Its that I would do...

Infact.....

Fri Dec 31, 2010 6:32 pm » by **Mochon**

y Vanessa Ryan on Jul 19th, 2010, 3:18 pm
New research suggests that intentional/lucid dreaming and shared dreaming are possible. The actual technology for lucid dream induction is similar to technology shown in the scifi movie Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a corporate spy able to hack into people’s dreams. According to Dream Analyst/ Researcher Craig Webb, his research has uncovered reports of shared dreaming, dream intrusions, as well as information gathering via dreams and dream-related practices like remote viewing.

There is also ongoing research about what practical benefits are possible, what risks are present, and how dream-related technologies can help induce mind-body exploration for humankind.

Webb states there is evidence an invisible "Innernet" that connect all people, much as much as the Internet links us in the physical world. Furthermore, Webb adds that more people are using dreams and lucid dreaming to explore this inner frontier to tap its potential. The results from his online research shows that from over 1000 participants, 70% have experienced lucid (i.e. conscious) dreams, with the 73.5% of all the male dreamers having become consciously aware during a dream at least once, being slightly higher than the percentage of females (65.5%) that have dreamt lucidly.

In other research, Webb uses NovaDreamer, a sleep mask that monitors rapid-eye-movements (REM) of dreamers and gives visible and auditory feedback cues which seeks to improve dream recall but also, like the PASIV device used by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Inception movie, triggers lucid dreams without awakening the dream. Webb believes the benefits of lucid dreaming may include resolving nightmares, healing, gaining new creative insights, solving problems and experiencing adventure. The risks, however, include privacy invasion and not being grounded in normal waking life.

Lucid dreams allows the dreamer to be not just an unconscious actor as in most dreams which are remembered only after waking, but instead to consciously guide the action, to varying degrees, while the dream is happening.

Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:07 pm » by **Marduk2012**

VROOOOOOMMM!!!!