Camera System Creates Sophisticated 3-D Effects - New York Times

Camera System Creates Sophisticated 3-D Effects - New York Times

The Contour system discussed in this article is a motion capture system that is much more realistic than existing systems, because it has a much higher number of sample points, since it coats the actor's skin in a phosphorescent powder. The interesting component of this is that it is one step closer to the "holy grail" of animators--perceptually realistic human faces and figures.

The quest for total perceptual realism in visual media is a fascinating quest, and harks back to Andre Bazin's famous essay, The Myth of Total Cinema, in which Bazin theorizes that this quest for complete realism has been the dream since the very start of the development of visual media.

This issue of realism is one I am really interested in and plan to write more about, both here and in my academic writing. Please let me know of any interesting articles, etc. you might read concerning realism in visual media.