November 11, 2009

Spring 2010: Experiments in Stereoscopic Imaging

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CTAN/CTIN 502a Experiments in Stereoscopic Imaging (Monday 7-9:50pm)

Stereo 3D is happening NOW, and this 2-unit class is designed bring you up to speed quickly with everything you need to know to produce breathtaking stereo 3D images, games, movies and animations.

Like earlier innovations like sound and color, stereo 3D opens up new possibilities for the structuring of cinematic space and time. New aesthetic and formal strategies and new forms of storytelling need to explored and developed, and there is a growing need for artists, filmmakers, animators and designers with experience and training in this new medium. This course will cover the basic principles of binocular vision, the history and development of stereoscopic systems and practices and the various available methods for creating and displaying stereoscopic images, as well as perceptual, aesthetic and cognitive issues.

The class is a co-sponsored by IMD and DADA, and is listed on the Animation Division's Schedule of Classes. Here's the Syllabus.

S.M.U.G.6

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Sixth monthly meeting of the SoCal Max/MSP/Jitter Users Group (S.M.U.G.).
Sunday, November 15th, 2009 • 4:00pm - 7:00pm
Machine Project • 1200 D North Alvarado • Los Angeles, CA

This month, we will have a special presentation from Cycling '74's Andrew Pask about the new Javascript LiveAPI object in Max for Live.

All welcome. Bring ideas, questions, problems, solutions, projects, patchers, abstractions, externals, whatever. Please get in touch with Perry Hoberman if you'd like to schedule a presentation.

Machine ProjectMax/MSP/Jitter
Facebook Event Listing • Join the S.M.U.G. Facebook Group

October 21, 2009

Stereoscopic Imaging Research Group Meeting 10/23 2pm

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When: Friday October 23nd 2pm-4:30pm
Where: USC SCA Digital Collaboratory Annex, 2823 S. Flower Street
(entrance on 29th Street between Figueroa & Flower).

Announcing the (long-awaited) second meeting of the SCA Stereoscopic Imaging Research Group. This group is for anyone in the USC SCA community with an interest in any aspect of Stereoscopic 3D cinema, production and research, and this meeting is a chance to learn about and discuss our plans for a 3D curriculum, as well as a number of other current projects, proposals and opportunities.

Continue reading "Stereoscopic Imaging Research Group Meeting 10/23 2pm" »

October 5, 2009

IMD Forum for10/7/09: Julia Heyward

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Speaker: Julia Heyward, independent artist

Date/Time: Wednesday, October 7, 6-8 pm
Location: Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC)
3131 S Figueroa Street (entrance on W 32nd St)
Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML), Room 201

Julia Heyward is currently working on a large scale triptych entitled collectively Nothing Random Access Memory. Part One: Miracles in Reverse, an interactive DVD-ROM, has been shown as a multimedia performance and an installation. Part Two: Points of View is an interactive installation of ‘faux windows.’ Part Three: The Gabriel Frequency is an installation as an electronic oracle. Nothing RAM looks at the nature and evolution of consciousness through our collective and subjective memories, mythologies and scientific theories. Nothing RAM is performative at times and ambient at others, but consistently travels between the personal and the global with a kind of slippery Jungian spirit, dipping reflexively into the collective unconscious, quantum theory, animism, neuroarcheology, science fiction and history. These quantum leaps find connections between the intentions of "local" crimes such as child abuse and "global" organized crimes such as war.

Continue reading "IMD Forum for10/7/09: Julia Heyward" »

September 22, 2009

Perry Hoberman @ Unknown Theatre Thursday 9/24

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I'm the opener, going on around 10:30pm. Come hear some new & old songs about data, desperation, driving and death!

September 17, 2009

LIQUID: a new play by Brenda Varda

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I did the Media Design for this play. It's an ecological fable about global warming, rising oceans, genetic alterations that turn human beings into fish, a tsunami, contemporary piracy, terrorism, oil spills, corporate espionage, etc. It's hilarious and VERY entertaining. And the LA Weekly says "Perry Hoberman's video and visuals are creatively delightful--and downright scary in other places."

It runs Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays (at 8) and Sundays (at 6) thru October 3rd (just three more weekends!)

UPDATE: To attract an audience, Unknown Theatre has switched to a PAY WHAT YOU CAN policy for the run of this production. (Previously, there was a $5 admission policy for USC students only, which is still available - no reservations needed, just bring your USC ID card). Or if you would like, you can still make reservations & get tickets for $15 here.

LIQUID site
UNKNOWN THEATRE site

And here are a bunch of photos of the production.

September 14, 2009

3-D Entertainment Party - Wednesday @ 9pm

Also: Volunteer Opportunities

July 21, 2009

Stereoscopic Imaging Research Group Meeting 7/22 4pm

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Announcing the initial meeting of the USC SCA IMD Stereoscopic Imaging Research Group. This will be a group for anyone in the USC SCA community with interest in any aspect of stereoscopic 3D imagemaking and research.

When: Wednesday July 22nd 4-5:30pm

Where: USC SCA Digital Collaboratory Annex, 2823 S. Flower Street
(entrance on 29th Street between Figueroa & Flower).

Relevant research topics and projects will include:
• Stereoscopic cinema and animation.
• Stereoscopic imagemaking, photography and cinematography.
• Stereoscopic & binocular vision and depth perception.
• Stereoscopic aesthetics and design.
• Interactive and real-time stereoscopic applications and virtual environments.
• Dimensional imaging and display technologies and techniques.
• Stereoscopic pedagogy and curriculum.
• Historical, cultural and social aspects of stereoscopic imaging.

We will be meeting regularly (probably every other week) to discuss topics, projects and initiatives.

Also, we have an immediate (and I mean right away!) opportunity for one or more animators for a short-term summer research project. If you are interested please get in touch with me, or come to the meeting.

April 19, 2009

Zoe Beloff: Conjuring Specters @ REDCAT

FILM AT REDCAT PRESENTS
Zoe Beloff: Conjuring Specters
Mon Apr 27 | 8:30 pm
Jack H. Skirball Series
$9 [students $7, CalArts $5]

New York artist Zoe Beloff’s unique and mesmerizing films are philosophical toys: objects with which to think. Her work has especially borne on “phantoms,” on images that are “not there,” and on a precinematic version of the virtual, created by means of a stereoscopic Bolex camera that produces spectral 3-D images. Shadowland Or Light From The Other Side, starring Kate Valk of The Wooster Group, locates a link between Victorian spiritualism and the birth of cinema in late-19th century “Ghost Shows,” where actors interacted with magic lantern slides and stereoscopic views. Charming Augustine is an experimental narrative inspired by one of Charcot’s most famous patients at the Salpétrière in turn-of-the-century Paris. It explores connections between photographic documentation of hysteria and the prehistory of narrative film: Augustine captivates the doctors with her theatrical and photogenic hysterical attacks and in the process becomes a star, the “Sarah Bernhardt” of the asylum.

In person: Zoe Beloff

“Beloff exists as the consummate time traveler, floating between the two eras of cine-technology.”
Jeffrey Skoller, Shadows, Specters, Shards: Making History in Avant-Garde Film

LINK

April 14, 2009

Device Art: A Japanese Approach to Media Art

Machiko Kusahara
Device Art: A Japanese Approach to Media Art
Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 6:00 pm

Device Art is a Japanese project that explores new ways of bridging art, design, technology, science and entertainment. Works by the team members vary from Maywa Denki's funny gadgets to Hiroo Iwata's Robot Tile (currently shown at the Milano Salone 2009) and Kazuhiko Hachiya's functioning "personal" jet glider inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's animation film. In theorizing the nature of Device Art elements of Japanese culture, such as the importance of "tools", the appreciation of playfulness, the continuity between art and entertainment, and the importance of popular culture become key issues.

The lecture will introduce the concept of Device Art and discuss questions it raises, accompanied by a wide selection of examples by Japanese artists and designers. Machiko Kusahara is a Visiting Scholar, UCLA, D|MA, Art | Sci Center and a Professor at Waseda University.

Link

March 4, 2009

"How Do We See? How Can We Visualize?"

Donald Hoffman and Martin Wattenberg in Dialogue

Friday, March 6, 2009
Noon - 1:45 p.m.
Social Sciences Building (SOS), Room 250
Lunch provided. No RSVP required.

Donald Hoffman and Martin Wattenberg will discuss the interface between the cognitive neurological processes of vision and creative strategies for visualization. What happens when inborn “visual intelligence” meets the new modes of visualization made possible by new media? How might visualization techniques reshape how we see and what we know?

Donald D. Hoffman is a Professor of Cognitive Science at UC Irvine, and author of the book, Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See. His research focuses on visual perception, consciousness and the mind-body problem, virtual reality and cognitive science. He holds a Ph.D. in computational psychology from MIT.

Martin Wattenberg is a computer scientist and artist, known for his visualization-based artwork, which has been exhibited in venues such as the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Museum of Modern Art. He is the founding manager of IBM’s Visual Communication Lab, which researches new forms of visualization and how they can enable better collaboration. Wattenberg holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from U.C. Berkeley.

Link

Parasomnia at the American Cinematheque

PARASOMNIA (DREAMS OF THE SLEEPWALKER)
2008, Rising Storm Productions, 103 min.

Director William Malone (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, FEAR DOT COM, "Masters of Horror") helms this macabre twist on the Sleeping Beauty legend. This gripping peril-packed love story not only taps into the zeitgeist of dark yet edgy romance-driven fantasies, but also pushes the familiar slasher film landscape into the more unique world of the surreal. The film is director Malone’s homage to the late Polish Surrealist Zdzislaw Beksinski, using the artist's work as the inspiration for the dream world throughout the film.

Valdemar Plusa, owner of the Belvedere Gallery and Beksinski's longtime friend and agent, will introduce the program. A panel discussion moderated by Richard Elfman (THE FORBIDDEN ZONE) on how art shapes and enriches the filmmaker’s vision, past and present, will precede the film, with director William Malone as well as legendary filmmakers Tobe Hooper, Mick Garris, Wes Craven and Stuart Gordon.

(Note from Perry: I will be conducting the interview with Valdemar before the film)

The filmmakers’ proceeds from this screening will be donated to arts organization MOCA for its continued support in providing arts education programs to the public and support for new artists.

Tickets $10, Students $8, advance tickets: Fandango

Link

Dorkbot SoCal 34

Sunday, March 8, 2009
1:00pm
warning: first day daylight savings time!
Machine Project, 1200 D North Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Presenters will include:

Dan Goods: Dan is the "Visual Strategist" for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech where he develops creative ways of communicating science. He recently has done artwork with aerogel and on a team to develop a 108-foot long data driven sculpture at the San Jose airport.

Eric Gradman and Brent Bushnell: Eric and Brent will present ArtFall: a dynamic physical simulation by drawing on a whiteboard.

Brian O'Connor: Arduino + Chumby = Fun!: The Chumby is an open-source, ambient Internet device running Linux while the Arduino is an open-source prototyping platform. Brian will show how to connect an Arduino to the Chumby and develop a simple application that monitors the environment.

Link

December 11, 2008

Ray Zone @ 502a Thursday 3-6

Sorry for the last-minute notice, but Ray Zone is visiting for our last (makeup) Stereoscopic Imaging class today from 3 to 6 in ZML, and he's bringing along a few friends. Should be some amazing 3D presentations. If you're free, come on by.

December 10, 2008

AUTOMATA & The Velaslavasay Panorama present Hoberman & Biren

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AUTOMATA & The Velaslavasay Panorama present a program of live film/performance works

Perry Hoberman: Denial Clinic
Jordan Biren: All That Passes Before You, Already in Ruins

Saturday, December 13th at 8:00 p.m.
The Velaslavasay Panorama
1122 West 24th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(213) 746-2166
http://www.panoramaonview.org/

Tickets: $12 ($10 students, seniors, and panorama members)
to purchase tickets: http://www.BrownPaperTickets.com/event/49667 or call 1-800-838-3006

SPECIAL INVITE FOR THE IMD COMMUNITY: If you'd rather, please come to the dress rehearsal on Friday night 12/12 at 8pm (it may be a little rougher, but it's a lot cheaper [free]).

Continue reading "AUTOMATA & The Velaslavasay Panorama present Hoberman & Biren" »

December 8, 2008

AE Stereoscopic Compositing

This is a quick tutorial on compositing and aligning stereoscopic movies in After Effects.

AE_stereo_instructions_1.mov

November 17, 2008

The Yes Man @ UCLA - Thursday 11/20

THE YES MEN
CORRECTING IDENTITIES WITH THE YES MEN
November 20, 2008, 6:00 pm

The Yes Men are a merry troupe of imposters who have poked fun at some of the world's biggest corporate criminals. They are most well known for impersonating the WTO– the subject of a feature film and book– but they have had dozens of other escapades fighting corporate crime with words, glue, and rubberbands.

Link

2008 EYEBEAM ROADSHOW

WORKSHOPS AND LECTURE
November 18, 2008, 6:00 pm

The Eyebeam Roadshow is what you get when you mix a rock and roll tour with the talented residents and fellows of the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, NYC. Six Eyebeam members will introduce Eyebeam and their individual work from 6 to 7pm and will give four workshops from 7 to 10pm. The presentations are open to the public, but the workshops are only available for DMA students and are limited to twenty participants. The workshop sign-up sheet is at the Help Desk on the fourth floor.

Link

November 12, 2008

A Machine Project Field Guide to the LA County Museum of Art

November 15, 2008
Noon til 10pm

On November 15th, 2008 Machine Project is seizing control of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

We will be orchestrating ten hours of performances, workshops, and events which experiment with LACMA’s encyclopedic collections and expansive grounds. Featuring over 60 projects dispersed across the seven-building, twenty-acre campus, visitors are encouraged to explore the museum in new and unexpected ways.

Projects sited throughout the museum include a robotic Netsuke head, a glow-in-the-dark unicorn, a man in a suit made of pepper cans, an audio tour of ambient gallery sounds, and a painting reproduced in flowers. A bank of elevators will be inhabited by trios of musicians including a gamelan orchestra, mariachi band, and fife and drum core. Visitors can try to solve the interactive murder mystery with clues scattered across the museum grounds. The BP Grand Court will become a temporary Mission Control Center with electronics workshops, a video feedback installation of the day’s events, and an evening screening with performances and readings. There will also be craft workshops, mobile musical aliens, gallery massages, a handout of invisible performances, replicas made from LACMA’s trash, a lost nose, and much, much, more.

LINK

2008 Sloan Science Seminar: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY

TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY: Can This Forced Marriage Be Saved?

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

1:15PM -- Screening of Minority Report (2002), directed by Steven Spielberg
4:00PM -- Panel Discussion
5:30PM -- Reception

ABOUT THE PANELISTS:

* Dr. John Underkoffler. Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Oblong Industries, Inc. Science advisor on Minority Report, Iron Man, Aeon Flux, Stranger Than Fiction. Formerly a researcher MIT’s Media Lab.

* Dr. Douglas Thomas. Associate Professor of Communications, Annenberg School for Communication. Specialty is cybercrimes, computer security and surveillance, virtual identities, hacking culture.

* Dr. B. Clifford Neuman. Director, USC Center for Computer Systems Security; assistant research professor of computer science, Viterbi School of Engineering.

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