[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/LightStage.flv[/flv]
About This Webisode
LIGHT STAGE:
Amazing avatars worthy of the Army, and Hollywood
Using spherical stages enveloped with lights and cameras, scientists at the Institute for Creative Technologies bathe a subject's face in the glow of as many as 6,000 LEDs controlled by 60 computers.
Feeding the data to a master computer, the researchers are operating on the bleeding edge of animation, using physics to recreate a human being in a way that is virtually indistinguishable from the real person. The effort is opening new frontiers in training and education for the Army while dramatically influencing the world of entertainment.
"We want the things that you see in simulations and video games and movies, even if they're completely computer generated, to look absolutely realistic," says Dr. Paul Debevec, the project director.
