The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the 17 winners of Scientific and Technical Academy Awards, which will be presented during a special black-tie gala at The Beverly Hilton on Saturday, Feb. 18. While motion-capture technology reigned last year, the 2006 kudos go mostly to advances in camera heads and crane systems. However, a handful of awards will be given to animation-related entries.
Pixar principal Ed Catmull will be honored for the original concept of subdivision surfaces as a modeling technique in motion picture production. Tony DeRose and Jos Stam will also be recognized with Oscar statuettes for for their scientific and practical implementation of subdivision surfaces, which has become a preferred modeling primitive for many types of computer graphics.
Academy Awards will go to John Platt and Demetri Terzopoulos for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1987 paper, titled Elastically Deformable Models, was a milestone in computer graphics, introducing the concept of physically-based techniques to simulate moving, deforming objects.
Alvah Miller, Michael Sorensen and J. Walt Adamczyk will also pick up Oscars for the design and development of the Aerohead motion control camera head and the J-Viz Pre-Visualization system. This remote head not only serves the needs of the live-action filmmaker, but also provides the functionality of a motion-controlled head, allowing for sophisticated tiling and pre-visualization techniques.
An Academy Plaque will be presented to David Baraff, Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1998 paper, titled Large Steps in Cloth Simulation, provided the key to demonstrating to the industry that the calculations necessary to simulate realistic, complex cloth could be achieved efficiently and effectively.
Unlike other Academy Award categories, scientific and technical achievements do not have to have been developed and introduced in 2005. All technologies that have a proven track record of continued, successful use in the film industry are eligible.
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