WHAT IS ZUNAVISION? Zunavision is a technology that allows users to seamlessly blend an image into a video. If you want to replace a soft drink advertisement with a family photo, this can help. The software uses an algorithm to analyze the video for colors, textures, and lighting features that must be accounted for as the software blends the new image into the scene, so that it appears as an authentic part of the scene. It can even appear natural as it comes in and out of view when a person passes in front of the pasted image, or as the camera pans across a room.
ABOUT MOVIE ANIMATION: Perhaps the most difficult aspect of animation is making people and clothing look real. Pixar's software is based on complex studies of how cloth moves when draped on a character, based on the laws of physics. For instance, drape a bedsheet between two points, and the center will hang downward, adjusting itself until it comes to rest in a state of pure tension. The animators begin with drawings of the characters, which they use to build computer puppets, later adding digital "strings" that correspond to various geometric points on the puppet. These strings serve as animation controls, ensuring that as each string is "pulled," the puppet's movements reflect what would occur in real life. Color and lighting effects are added last before the puppet is "animated." Pixar uses 100 powerful supercomputers that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It still takes the computers five to six hours to render a single frame lasting 1/24th of a second. For every second of film, it takes the computer six days.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.-USA, contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.