SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AWARD (Scientific and Engineering Award)

Laboratory

The \"Lowry Process\" uses advanced GPU-accelerated, motion estimation-based image processing tools to enhance image quality.

Camera Cranes

This versatile family of 5-axis camera and lens stabilizers allows any standard motion picture camera to be fitted into the open architecture of the structure. The system can be quickly balanced and made ready for shooting platforms such as helicopters, boats, camera cars or cranes.

Camera Cranes

The Pictorvision Eclipse system allows cinematographers to capture aerial footage at faster flying speeds with aggressive platform maneuvering.

Lenses and Filters

The Master Primes have achieved a full stop advance in speed over existing lenses, while maintaining state-of-the-art optical quality. This lens family was also the first to eliminate the magnification change that accompanied extreme focus shifts.

Camera

The Phantom family of high-speed digital cameras, including the Phantom Flex and HD Gold, provide imagery at speeds and efficacy surpassing photochemical technology, while seamlessly intercutting with conventional film production.

Dr. Mark Sagar

Digital Imaging Technology

Dr. Sagar's work led to a method for transforming facial motion capture data into an expression-based, editable character animation system that has been used in motion pictures with a high volume of digital characters.

Stage Operations

The NAC System allows full-size cars, aircraft and other heavy props to be flown on wires with unprecedented freedom of motion and a high degree of safety, on-set and in real time. The intuitive control system responds to the motion of the operator's hand, permitting the recording and playback of all axes of motion simultaneously, which may be edited and refined for playback in subsequent takes.

Camera Cranes

The evolution of the Spydercam technology has made it possible to move a camera safely and accurately anywhere through a three-dimensional space.

Camera Cranes

The evolution of the Cablecam technology has made it possible to move a camera safely and accurately anywhere through a three-dimensional space.

Digital Imaging Technology

The combination of these systems, with their ability to capture high fidelity reflectance data of human subjects, allows for the creation of photorealistic digital faces as they would appear in any lighting condition.

Film

The Fujicolor ETERNA-RDI Type 8511/4511 digital intermediate film has thinner emulsion layers with extremely efficient couplers made possible by Super-Nano Cubic Grain Technology. This invention allows improved color sensitivity with the ability to absorb scattered light, providing extremely sharp images. The ETERNA-RDI emulsion technology also achieves less color cross-talk for exacting reproduction. Its expanded latitude and linearity provides superior highlights and shadows in a film stock with exceptional latent image stability.

Projection

Working in conjunction with the film industry, Texas Instruments created a high-resolution, color-accurate, high-quality digital intermediate projection system that could closely emulate film-based projection in a theatrical environment.

Laboratory

Lustre is a software solution that enables non-linear, real-time digital color grading across an entire feature film, emulating the photochemical color-timing process.

Laboratory

Baselight was one of the first digital color correction systems to enter the digital intermediate market and has seen wide acceptance in the motion picture industry.

Laboratory

Developed for the digital intermediate and motion picture visual effects markets, the Northlight scanner was designed with a 6K CCD sensor, making it unique in its ability to produce high-resolution scans of 35mm, 8-perf film frames.

Laboratory

The ARRISCAN film scanner utilizes a specially designed CMOS array sensor mounted on a micro-positioning platform and a custom LED light source. Capture of the film's full dynamic range at various scan resolutions is implemented through sub-pixel offsets of the sensor along with multiple exposures of each frame.

Laboratory

The Spirit 4K/2K has distinguished itself by incorporating a continuous-motion transport mechanism enabling full-range, high-resolution scanning at much higher frame rates than non-continuous transport scanners.

Dr. Richard Kirk

Laboratory

Through the use of color management software and hardware, this complete system enables accurate color presentation in the digital intermediate preview process. The Truelight system is widely utilized in digital intermediate production environments around the world.

Digital Imaging Technology

Much faster than previous ray-traced methods, this computer graphics technique has enabled color bleeding effects and realistic shadows for complex scenes in motion pictures.

Lenses and Filters

With focus and zoom functions that can be easily controlled by either the operator or focus puller while filming handheld, these lightweight zoom lenses demonstrate a very high degree of engineering, supporting both ease of use and quick interchange.

Systems

Using color LCD screens, the Transvideo monitors provide flicker-free video assist bright enough for use in sunlight and have become a ubiquitous tool in both spherical and anamorphic cinematography.

Lighting

With its choice of vari-focus and specular reflectors, the superior optical and mechanical design of this lighting fixture allows it to operate at 18,000 watts, producing unsurpassed light quality while its innovative cooling system keeps the housing safe to touch.

Digital Imaging Technology

This production-proven simulation system achieves large-scale water effects within ILM's Zeno framework. It includes integrating particle level sets, parallel computation, and tools that enable the artistic direction of the results.

Digital Imaging Technology

This influential and flexible production-proven system incorporates innovative algorithms and refined adaptations of published methods to achieve large-scale water effects.

Photography

Pioneering unprecedented reliability and flexibility in wireless lens and camera operation, the FI+Z has continued to be a leader in innovation since its introduction in 1994.

Digital Imaging Technology

The Furnace toolset's modularity, flexibility and robustness has set a high standard of quality for optical flow-based image manipulation.

Digital Imaging Technology

This highly integrated system facilitates interactive construction and editing of 3D models from digital photographs and addresses the three-dimensional scanning needs of motion pictures in unique and innovative ways.

Laboratory

With elements that may be recombined either digitally or optically, the Rosetta Separations process offers a uniquely great versatility in achieving high-quality results for digital YCM archiving.

Photography

In use for over a quarter of a century, the Hot-Head has brought the possibility of safe, remotely-operated shots to every filmmaker.

Digital Imaging Technology

Their 1998 paper titled \"Large Steps in Cloth Simulation\" was a seminal work, providing the key in demonstrating to the industry that the calculations necessary to simulate realistic, complex cloth could be achieved efficiently and robustly. Their work provided the conceptual foundation for many cloth simulation systems in use today.

GARRETT BROWN

Camera Cranes

In creating the first remote-controlled, cable-supported flying camera system, Garrett Brown's pioneering efforts have influenced all subsequent development in this area of technology.

Anatoliy Kokush

Camera Cranes

The lightweight structure of the Cascade and Traveling Cascade Cranes enables the filmmaker to achieve heights of up to 70 feet, allowing for the placement of the camera in otherwise impossible locations.

Camera Cranes

The Russian Arm and Flight Head opened new possibilities for filmmakers. With the ability to be mounted on the roof of almost any car, this remotely-operated crane and camera head can move smoothly in a 360 degree circle around the car, even while it is being driven at high speeds by actors, creating heretofore impossible perspectives.

Photography

Perfect Horizon effectively neutralizes the extraneous motion encountered in boats, camera cars, snowmobiles or other vehicles, leaving the pan/tilt head and camera stable and level with the horizon.

Digital Imaging Technology

Cineon pioneered a commercial node-graph compositing system establishing a new visual method for direct manipulation of the compositing process, which influenced and defined modern digital compositing workflows.

Camera Cranes

With its electronically driven leveling head, adjustable moveable weight carriage, and lightweight, extremely precise telescoping beam elements that allow camera movement during shots, the Technocrane has redefined the state-of-the-art in camera crane technology.

Digital Imaging Technology

Through their respective pioneering efforts with AMS AudioFile, Waveframe and Fairlight, the work of these gentlemen contributed significantly to the development and realization of digital audio workstations with full editing capabilities for motion picture soundtracks.

KINOTON GmbH

Projection

This high-speed studio projector produces an image quality equal to projectors with Geneva movements. With its unparalleled shuttle speed, reversibility and acceleration, this projector has set a new standard for post-production viewing as well as in traditional screening facilities.

Laboratory

This technology successfully controls the static charge buildup on processed intermediate and sound negative films during high speed printing operations.

Stephen Regelous

Digital Imaging Technology

Massive takes a new approach in simulating behaviors of large numbers of computer-generated extras a.k.a. \"agents.\" Each \"agent\" contains a primitive software \"brain\" used to develop behavioral rules simulating a wide range of behaviors. In \"The Lord of the Rings\" trilogy, over 200,000 agents were controlled in several scenes.

Lighting

This uniquely designed set light provides superior performance, reliability and ease of use. Combined with its excellent array of accessories, the Dedolight 400D is an outstanding engineering achievement.

Film

This film stock provides filmmakers with enhanced color saturation, higher contrast and darker blacks, producing a bold, colorful 'look' on the theater screen.

Digital Imaging Technology

Through a procedural building-block process, the Houdini software is used to simulate natural phenomena using particle effects and complex three-dimensional models.

Sound

This innovative design employs advanced hard disk recording technology and digital audio techniques for use in both production and post-production recording applications.

Makoto Tsukada

Special Photographic

This liquid-gate optical printer offers ease of set-up and change-over to various formats from 35mm to 65mm 15-perf with both additive and subtractive lamp houses.

Sound

The work of John M. Eargle, D.B. \"Don\" Keele and Mark E. Engebretson has resulted in the over 20-year dominance of constant-directivity, direct radiator bass style cinema loudspeaker systems.

Lenses and Filters

This compact, wide-angle, macro focus lens enhances and expands the picture-capturing ability, both technically and artistically, of the cinematographer. It is the first cine lens that allows macro photography while still being able to zoom.

Special Photographic

The ARRILASER film recorder demonstrates a high level of engineering resulting in a compact, user-friendly, low-maintenance device while at the same time maintaining outstanding speed, exposure ratings and image quality.

Laboratory

This photo-chemical process restores color to faded color negative using off-the-shelf film stocks with a unique approach. The resulting film intermediate can be used to create a new internegative.

Special Photographic

CELCO recorder products have had a significant impact on the industry through continual improvements in their technology.