Digital Cinema Revolution

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Digital Cinema Revolution

• Presented byKen Dozier
• USC Viterbi School of EngineeringWestern
  Research Application Center
• July 27th, 2006

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Digital Cinema Resolutions
HD Video
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Old vs. New
Roadwarrior connected to Internet and to a
projector is a cinema Todays setup is a Digital
Projector (2K) and Surround Sound system
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Moral of the Story

• Billions of dollars in defense RD technology
  will eventually find their way to entertainment
  markets
• Computers, projectors, cameras are all examples
  of this trend
• Digital Cinema will be transformed as a result

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Where it all started.
Visual System Engineer.

• 1980s
• Hughes Aircraft
• F-18 Flight Simulator
• Two 40 Foot Domes
• Air-to-Air Combat
• 60 Frames per second
• Discovered IMI Design
• 6 Projectors
• Not less than 32 different processing units
• 14 CPUs
• 18 GPUs

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The Hollywood Connection
Vice President of Operations.
Digital Productions, Inc.

• The Last Starfighter, 1984

1 Cray XMP Supercomputer 2 DEC VAX 11780 120
Workstations
Images Courtesy of Universal Pictures
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Digital Productions, Inc.
National Science Foundations Supercomputing
Center for Western U.S.

• Won an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
  Sciences Scientific and Engineering Award in 1984
• For the practical simulation of motion
  picture photography by means of computer
  generated images

For the Companys work on The Last Starfighter
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Learned at DP

• Brought Computer Graphics into normal production
  schedules and budgets
• IMIs used to invent Pre-Visualization
• Used a Supercomputer to render complex images
  quickly
• Single-point-of-failure was a problem
• Finite amount of computing was restrictive
• A factory with fixed capacity

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Interactive Machines, Inc. (IMI)
President and CEO..

• Lockheed Skunkworks Stealth Fighter Simulator
  (F-117)
• Built Instructors Console and GraphicsEngines
• Raised Venture Capital and listed in Fortune
  Magazines Companies to Watch
• Entertainment Clients included Universal
  Studios, Disney Studios, Cranston/Csuri, Pacific
  Data Images, Digital Productions, Bo Gehring, Mr.
  Film, Japan Computer Graphics Lab, and ComputerFX
  London.

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Technology Innovation The Transition from Analog
to Digital Platforms

• Phase I 1996 2001 Creation of Digital
  Formats
• Phase II 2002 - 2006 Technology Integration
• Web Services, Grid Computing,
  Distributed Computing and Improvements in Phase
  I
• Phase III 2006 Beyond Transformation
• Computing Advances Transform Value Creation
  business intelligence, economies of scale,
  partnerships, and increased productivity

Source IBM Institute for Business Value
analysis, 2004
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Distribution Media Bandwidth 11
120 Gbps 12X QDR InfiniBand
Async. Transfer Mode 54 Gbps (ATM)
4 Gbps Fibre Channel
Gigabit Ethernet
IEEE 1394 / Firewire
LASER / Fast Ethernet
10BaseT / CAT 5
Microwave / Ethernet
G3 / Wireless LAN
DSL/ Cable
G2 Wireless
G1 Wireless
Source 1999 Fall Meeting, Community
Development Council, Chuck Matthews INFOWORLD,
Sept. 2000
B01-017
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Old School
Source A Data-Centric Approach to Cinema
Mastering Thomas J. True, SGI
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New School
Source Sony (http//www.sony.com)
Source Digital Vision (http//www.digitalvision.s
e)
Source Dalsa Inc. (http//www.dalsa.com)
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Projection

• Digital Light Processing (DLP)Developed at Texas
  Instruments (Used my Christie) max resolution
  (2048 x 1080)
• Ultra-high frame rate.
• Adjustable white point
• Support XYZ color space (Directors Gold
  standard)
• Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier
  (D-ILA)Developed at JVC (Licensed by Sony)
• max resolution (4096 x 2160)
• Adjustable white point
• Support XYZ color space (Directors Gold
  standard)

Image courtesy of TI
Image courtesy of JVC
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Computer

• Nucoda PC-based workstations
• HyperTransport internal busses _at_ 64 Gbps
• Up to 8 AMD processors dual core equivalent to 16
  processors
• Feeds NVIDIA GPU, which are programmable with up
  to 24 pixel shaders.
• Machines today have no fewer than 40 processing
  units

Source Digital Vision (http//www.digitalvision.s
e)
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Acquisition
Camera Dalsa Origin Output 422 16-bit linear
(12-bit log) CIF format (4096 x 2048)
Capture Codex Digital Recorder HUGE
MediaVault
Source Dalsa Inc. (http//www.dalsa.com)
Source HUGE and Codex
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Digital Cinema
Mars Rover Animation - Rendered in Pixar
RenderMan - 1080p Windows Media Player, 5.1
Surround Sound