3D Movie Tool

Have you heard of the film Avatar? I am sure you have. It inspired many directors to move into 3D storytelling. But the problem with this is the costs that are involved. However, research into cheaper versions of the kind of technology which was used in making Avatar, is being carried out at the University of Abertay Dundee.

Matt Bett is a lecturer in Games Engineering at Abertay and is leading the research. It started after seeing Avatar and getting an understanding of some of the techniques they used to make the film. For Avatar, James Cameron and his team developed a system called Simul-cam so the director could see the actors instantly in the virtual scene. This meant that they didn’t have to spend days making computer-generated images and integrating it all.

The team has adapted the technology so it does something similar to the Simul-cam. Basically, they are producing a tool, which is similar to the multimillion-dollar technologies that are used for big production films but making them so they will be available for the public to use at home rather than only in studios.

At the moment, we can use this tool to edit replays of a game, zoom into the game space, and create a movie of a player’s game moves. But Bett wants to go further with the research; he wants to use it for film-making as well. If they could do this, the future of at-home interaction with films will be amazing.