"IT LOOKS LIKE SOUND!" : DRAWING A HISTORY OF "ANIMATED MUSIC" IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

In the early 1930s, film sound technicians created completely synthetic sound by drawing or photographing patterns on the soundtrack area of the filmstrip. Several artists in Germany, Russia, England, and Canada used this innovation to write what came to be called "animated music" or "ornamental sound." It was featured in a few commercial and small artistic productions and was enthusiastically received by the public. It was heralded as the future of musical composition that could eliminate performers, scores, and abstract notation by one system of graphic sound notation and mechanized playback. Its popularity among mainstream filmmaking did not last long, however, due to its limited development. The artists drawing animated sound were dependent entirely upon their technological medium, and when the sound-on-film system faded from popularity and production, so did their art. By examining from a musicological perspective, for the first time, specific examples of animated music from the work of Norman McLaren, Oskar Fischinger, Rudolph Pfenninger, and several filmmakers in Russia, this thesis enumerates the techniques used in animated sound. It also explores the process of its creation, adaptation, and decline. In doing so, it reveals an important chapter in the little-known early history of modern synthesized sound alongside the futuristic musical ideas it both answered and inspired

Shared-Frustum stereo rendering

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-54).by Michael Vincent Capps.S.M

A hybrid multi-particle approach to range assessment-based treatment verification in particle therapy

Particle therapy (PT) used for cancer treatment can spare healthy tissue and reduce treatment toxicity. However, full exploitation of the dosimetric advantages of PT is not yet possible due to range uncertainties, warranting development of range-monitoring techniques. This study proposes a novel range-monitoring technique introducing the yet unexplored concept of simultaneous detection and imaging of fast neutrons and prompt-gamma rays produced in beam-tissue interactions. A quasimonolithic organic detector array is proposed, and its feasibility for detecting range shifts in the context of proton therapy is explored through Monte Carlo simulations of realistic patient models and detector resolution efects. The results indicate that range shifts of 1 mm can be detected at relatively low proton intensities (22.30(13) × 107 protons/spot) when spatial information obtained through imaging of both particle species are used simultaneously. This study lays the foundation for multiparticle detection and imaging systems in the context of range verifcation in PTpublishedVersio

The fisherman and the devil: an artistic short film based on a folklore tale from Madeira island using interdisciplinary animation techniques

Folklore tales are one of the many methods of displaying the traditions and beliefs of a culture, being mainly preserved in literature, serving to enrich and teach the cultural knowledge and morals to any generation. This project focuses on the creation of a short film based on a folklore tale from Madeira island, made with interdisciplinary animation techniques, combining 3D renderings with 2D drawings, all serving to preserve and pay homage in a more appealing visual media, that can be displayed and shared with relative ease. The thesis highlights the entire process of the animated work, relaying the difficulties of characterizing any culture, as well as the general concepts and principles of 2D and 3D animation. Underlining the logistical and creative decisions behind the production of an hybrid animation, disclosing the difficulties and techniques that surge when merging both mediums. This report details the methodologies used for the short film, each divided in three parts, pre-production, where the concepts and ideas come to fruition; with character design, storyboard and animatic, followed by the production phase, comprised of the tests between programs and the chosen techniques, as well as the modelling, rigging and animation practices, concluding with post-production, with the full video editing process, visual effects, color correction and sound design. Culminating in the creation of a hybrid animation made with interdisciplinary techniques that visually retells the story about a fight between a fisherman and a devil.Os contos folclóricos são um dos vários métodos de exposição das tradições e crenças de uma cultura, sendo preservados principalmente na literatura, servindo para enriquecer e ensinar os conhecimentos culturais e morais de qualquer geração. Este projeto centra-se na criação de uma curta-metragem baseada num conto folclórico da ilha da Madeira, realizada com técnicas de animação interdisciplinares, combinando renders 3D com desenhos 2D, servindo para preservar e homenagear a história num media visual mais apelativo, que possa ser facilmente exibido e compartilhado. A tese destaca todo o processo da animação, apresentando os problemas que surgem na caracterização de qualquer cultura, bem como os conceitos e princípios gerais da animação 2D e 3D. Sublinhando as decisões logísticas e criativas por trás da produção de uma animação híbrida, revelando as dificuldades e técnicas que surgem na fusão dos dois meios. Este relatório detalha as metodologias utilizadas para a curta-metragem, cada uma dividida em três partes, pré-produção, onde os conceitos e ideias se concretizam; com o design de personagens, storyboard e animatic, seguida pela fase de produção, composta pelos testes entre os programas e as técnicas escolhidas, bem como pelas práticas de modelagem, rigging e animação, concluindo com a pós-produção, com todo o processo de edição de vídeo, efeitos visuais, correção de cor e design de som. Culminando na criação de uma animação híbrida feita com técnicas interdisciplinares que reconta visualmente a história de uma luta entre um pescador e um demônio

The contour tree image encoding technique and file format

The process of contourization is presented which converts a raster image into a discrete set of plateaux or contours. These contours can be grouped into a hierarchical structure, defining total spatial inclusion, called a contour tree. A contour coder has been developed which fully describes these contours in a compact and efficient manner and is the basis for an image compression method. Simplification of the contour tree has been undertaken by merging contour tree nodes thus lowering the contour tree's entropy. This can be exploited by the contour coder to increase the image compression ratio. By applying general and simple rules derived from physiological experiments on the human vision system, lossy image compression can be achieved which minimises noticeable artifacts in the simplified image. The contour merging technique offers a complementary lossy compression system to the QDCT (Quantised Discrete Cosine Transform). The artifacts introduced by the two methods are very different; QDCT produces a general blurring and adds extra highlights in the form of overshoots, whereas contour merging sharpens edges, reduces highlights and introduces a degree of false contouring. A format based on the contourization technique which caters for most image types is defined, called the contour tree image format. Image operations directly on this compressed format have been studied which for certain manipulations can offer significant operational speed increases over using a standard raster image format. A couple of examples of operations specific to the contour tree format are presented showing some of the features of the new format.Science and Engineering Research Counci

Reality & Effect: A Cultural History of Visual Effects

The purpose of this dissertation is to chart how the development of visual effects has changed popular cinema¡¯s vision of the real, producing the powerful reality effect. My investigation of the history of visual effects studies not only the industrial and economic context of visual effects, but also the aesthetic characteristics of the reality effect. In terms of methodology, this study employs a theoretical discourse which compares the parallels between visual effects and the discourse of modernity/postmodernity, utilizing close textual analysis to understand the symptomatic meanings of key texts. The transition in the techniques and meanings of creating visual effects reflects the cultural transformation from modernism to postmodernism. Visual effects have developed by adapting to the structural transformation of production systems and with the advance of technology. The studio system strongly controlled the classical Hollywood cinema by means of the modern economic production system of Fordism. Breakdown of Hollywood classicism as a production system gave rise to the creation of digital effects with the rise of the concept of the blockbuster and with the development of computer technologies. I argue that the characteristic feature of time-space compression, occurring in the process of the transition from Fordism to flexible accumulation, clearly reflects that of compression of multi-layered time and space, generated in the development process from analog visual effects, such as trick, rear and front projection, to the digital effects, such as rotoscoping and CGI animation. While the aesthetics of analog visual effects, without computing, can be compared to a Fordist production system, digital effects, which hugely rely on CGI manipulation, are examples of flexible accumulation. As a case study of the local resistance or alternative of Hollywood today, I examine the effects-oriented Korean nationalist blockbuster. The Korean nationalist blockbuster films have sought large-scale filmmaking and presentation of spectacular scenes, including heavy dependence on the use of special effects, which is frequently considered a Hollywood style. This paradoxical combination of peculiar Korean subjects and Hollywood style can be viewed as a form of cultural jujitsu, taking advantage of the force of the dominant culture in order to resist and subvert it

Technology 2002: the Third National Technology Transfer Conference and Exposition, Volume 1

The proceedings from the conference are presented. The topics covered include the following: computer technology, advanced manufacturing, materials science, biotechnology, and electronics

Film, Video, and Digitality: An Analysis of Cultural Form in Time-based Media

This thesis examines the material properties of time-based image media, in particular live video. The project is practice-based with a theoretical underpinning drawn from the debates on form and meaning associated with Walter Benjamin

The Mark 3 Haploscope

A computer-operated binocular vision testing device was developed as one part of a system designed for NASA to evaluate the visual function of astronauts during spaceflight. This particular device, called the Mark 3 Haploscope, employs semi-automated psychophysical test procedures to measure visual acuity, stereopsis, phoria, fixation disparity, refractive state and accommodation/convergence relationships. Test procedures are self-administered and can be used repeatedly without subject memorization. The Haploscope was designed as one module of the complete NASA Vision Testing System. However, it is capable of stand-alone operation. Moreover, the compactness and portability of the Haploscope make possible its use in a broad variety of testing environments