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Serving the Savannah College
of Art and Design Community
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SCAD leads the way in High Dynamic
Range Imaging
education
By Jennifer
Long
Published: Friday, May 5, 2006
For students in the visual effects
program at the Savannah College of Art and Design, access to
cutting-edge technology such as High Dynamic Range Imaging may
be key in getting a foot in the door of such high-profile
digital animation and gaming companies as ILM, Pixar and
Electronic Arts.
SCAD first offered a High Dynamic
Range Imaging course in Fall 2005, taught by visual effects
professor Kirt Witte. The course shows students how to
integrate computer-generated objects or characters into
real-world video or film footage. HDR technology also allows
students to develop and integrate photography, lighting and
rendering into various 3-D and compositing software
applications.
HDR is a photography and lighting
technique that uses a simple chrome ball to take 365-degree
pictures of a space, such as a room or an outdoor setting.
After the user takes multiple exposures of the space, the
images are used to generate an HDR file. This HDR file
contains the wide range of light necessary to replicate
lighting in a computer-generated environment. With this file,
3-D artists have a realistic setting in which to create 3-D
computer-generated figures or characters. The characters or
digital props look more life-like because the lighting
information in the HDR file can be used to simulate sunlight
or similar effects.
Witte has been teaching visual
effects at SCAD for more than four years and is known for his
interest in cutting-edge technology, photography and 3-D
animation. “I’ve always liked looking ahead at what’s coming
down the road,” he said. He started researching HDR technology
almost four years ago and has been following the evolution of
it along the way. When the visual effects department was
interested in introducing an HDR course into the curriculum,
Witte volunteered to teach it. “I’m in kind of the right place
at the right time,” he said. “With my background, it was a
natural progression of my skills and interests.”
Witte
said that while 3-D animation and modeling have progressed
greatly over the last decade, the results still don’t always
have a photo-real quality; viewers can easily identify poor
lighting in movies like “Jurassic Park” and “Toy Story.” “The
biggest technical issue today is lighting,” said Witte. “If
you’re going to take a 3-D character and put it into a
live-action plate, if you don’t match the lighting, it’s going
to look fake. Lighting is the last major hurdle for making 3-D
photo-real.”
As one of the hottest new tools in 3-D
technology, HDR is being used more and more frequently by both
the movie and video game industries. “All these new movies are
coming out that use HDR, because it’s a great way to match
computer-generated images with live-action content,” said
Witte. “HDR is revolutionizing the video game and movie
industries.”
Because of SCAD’s size and commitment to
making new technology available to students and faculty, the
college has actively acquired tools and techniques like HDR to
use in the classroom. “We’re able to buy more hardware and
software than most other schools, and because of that, we’re
able to teach classes that other schools don’t have,” said
Witte.
For many of Witte’s students, HDR technology
was new territory. “I had experimented a little with HDR
lighting in Maya and I was curious to know more,” said visual
effects junior Liz Cross. “I would like to be a lighter, and
knowing various lighting techniques is both personally
interesting and valuable. HDR lighting is a great tool in
creating real-world lighting and matching 3-D objects to a
live background plate.”
While HDR technology has been
around for a number of years, it has been taught mostly in
technical or engineering schools. Witte believes SCAD is one
of the only art and design schools in the world to offer HDR
classes. “What we’re doing is teaching the science behind it,
the photography behind it and the art behind it,” he said.
“Our students are getting jobs straight from SCAD to ILM. To
me that’s the holy grail of 3-D.”
Students agreed that
the course has given them the advantage of learning about HDR
before other students in their field. “I had dabbled in using
HDR images before coming to SCAD, and the chance to learn more
about them was appealing to me,” said visual effects senior
Paul Bush. “HDR technology is just now starting to gain a
wider usage in the world, and having a knowledge of it can
only help me.”
“Having experience in HDR is a great
thing to put on your résumé,” said visual effects junior Sarah
Fuller. “It’s a newer method of lighting that is taking off in
the industry. It really does make your work look much more
realistic, so it can make it stand out among the hundreds of
demo reels sent to the major companies every day.”
The
HDR course will be offered again Fall 2006 as VSFX 430, on
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2-4:30 p.m. The department plans to
offer the course every spring and fall quarter. For more
information about the course, e-mail Witte at
kwitte@scad.edu.
Long is a publications
editor.
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