In November of 2008 xRez Studio was asked to join Insight Digital on an expedition to Egypt to help create a documentary for the French Channel 3 Television show “Le secret des Pharaons bâtisseurs” on “Des Racines & Des Ailes” directed by Frédéric Wilner. Now there is an American version of this film on the National Geographic Channel called “Sunken Treasures of the Nile” The show will be airing August 3rd 2010 at 1PM.(...)
Read the rest of Sunken Treasures of the Nile (599 words)

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Post tags: Des Racines & Des Ailes, Egypt, Microsoft, National Geographic, National Geographic Channel, Photogrammetry, Photosynth, Polynomial Texture Mapping

Park visitors at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park intending to learn about the Wright Brothers often visit Huffman Prairie, an unassuming open space where the Wrights did much of their formative testing. The field, a large open expanse, challenges a visitors imagination as to how they flew there. In 2010, the park will unveil a unique and unprecedented historic interpretation tool for it’s visitors, the VR Flight Viewer, conceptualized and produced by xRez Studio. (...)
Read the rest of Dayton Aviation Heritage VR Flight Viewer (135 words)

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Post tags: Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, Huffman Prairie, On Great White Wings, Spherical Animation, Spherical Video, Virtual Reality, Wright Brothers

Yosemite Valley experiences numerous rockfalls each year, with over 600 rockfall events documented since 1850. Due to the pulverization of the rockfall mass, evaluating and quantifying rockfall characteristics has proved challenging without any high-resolution baseline imagery of the Valley walls, which could act as a useful datum for before/after comparisons. (...)
Read the rest of Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project (440 words)

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Post tags: Camera Mapping, Cultural Heritage, Curry Village, Geology, Gigapan, Gigapixel, LIDAR, Microsoft, Mircrosoft, Rockfall, Siggraph, Yosemite, Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project, Yosemite Panoramic Imaging Project

Conceptualized over a spirited conversation at a campfire in the High Sierras, Digital Storytelling has evolved to be one of Scandinavia’s leading visual effects annual seminars, co-founded by xRez Studio’s Eric Hanson and Kim Baumann-Larsen of Oslo-based Placebo Effects.  (...)
Read the rest of Digital Storytelling (139 words)

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Post tags: Digital Storytelling, Norway, Oslo

The USC School of Cinematic Arts has had an ongoing relationship w/ TBS producer Norico Wada, specifically in the Division of Animation and Digital Arts, where xRez Studio partner Eric Hanson instructs 3d computer graphics and visual effects classes. She introduced USC to the work of Mr. Masaaki Tanabe, a Japanese filmmaker who lived as a child adjacent to the famed “Peace Dome” building at the time of the blast. (...)
Read the rest of Japan-US Hiroshima Reconstruction Project (370 words)

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Post tags: Cultural Heritage, Hiroshima Reconstruction, Peace Dome

In November of 2005, xRez Team member Greg Downing was asked to take part in an intensive documentation project of the world heritage site of Tikal. Tikal is an ancient Mayan site located in a wildlife preserve in the Petén region of Guatemala. This was a special opportunity to explore the application of xRez Studio technology for world heritage and to work with teams from UC Berkeley, Cyark, and UNESCO. (...)
Read the rest of Tikal Documentation for UNESCO (279 words)

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Post tags: Archeology, Cyark, Fulldome, HDRI, Photogrammetry, Temple IV, Tikal, Time-lapse, UNESCO, VRMag

National Geographic Magazine contracted xRez principal Eric Hanson in 2006 for an artwork assignment to create the pull-out poster insert for the April 2006 issue commemorating the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. A mix of 3d modeling and matte painting techniques were used to create this hypothetical west coast city, while illustrating some of the core science of earthquake dynamics and urban infrastructure preparedness.(...)
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Post tags: Earthquake Dynamics, National Geographic Magazine, Scientific Visualization

A standard way to view a gigapixel image is with a zooming interface on a conventionally-sized computer monitor. An alternative method, though rarified, is to display and span the image across a large mosaic of montiors arranged into a single grid. (...)
Read the rest of Calit2 HIPerWall (37 words)

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Post tags: Calit2, HIPerWall, Tiled Displays

One highly compelling method to reveal the vast level of detail contained in a gigapixel image is to print it in a large format over a very long length. xRez Studio displayed a 28 foot x 4 foot gigapixel print at 300 dpi of Yosemite Valley, at the 6Sight 2008 Future of Imaging conference in Monterrey. The image shown was sourced from a 150,000 pixel render from Maya and Mental Ray, having been derived from several hundred images shot during the Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project in 2008.

LINK to 6Sight Press Release

©xRez Studio, 2010. | Permalink | |
Post tags: 6Sight, Gigapixel Print

One highly compelling method to reveal the vast level of detail contained in a gigapixel image is to print it in a large format over a very long length. xRez Studio displayed a 40 foot x 5 foot at 300 dpi gigapixel print of Yosemite Valley, dubbed the “AIE Mega-Print” at the Photo Marketing Association 09 conference in Las Vegas. (...)
Read the rest of PMA 2009 Print (39 words)

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Post tags: AIE Mega-Print, Gigapixel, Gigpixel Print, PMA

One highly compelling method to reveal the vast level of detail contained in a gigapixel image is to print it in large format over a very long length. Based on our 2008 Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project, xRez Studio printed a continuous 40 foot x 5 foot print at 300 dpi for exhibition at Siggraph 2008.(...)
Read the rest of Siggraph 2008 Print (87 words)

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Post tags: Gigpixel Print, Siggraph, Yosemite

Digital Storytelling (co-founded by xRez Studio Pricipal Eric Hanson), is an annual seminar on visual effects and story in Oslo, Norway for the last 4 years. In 2009, we staged the first gigapixel photography exhibition adjacent to the event, in the wonderful Filmens Hus complex of the Norwegian Film Institute. (...)
Read the rest of Ekstremfoto: Gigapixel Images in Print (89 words)

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Post tags: Digital Storytelling, Gigapan, Gigapixel, Gigpixel Print, Oslo, Stave Church

Ars Electronica, the world’s pre-eminent art and technology organization and festival in Linz Austria, recently completed construction of a new and remarkable dedicated building. In 2009, xRez Studio was asked to provide imagery for the January 2009 grand opening of the new Ars Electronica Center building, with our work to be featured within the central immersive Deep Space installation. The space is projected with 8 stitched stereo Barco 2k projectors, resulting in an amazing amount of detail at 4k x 4k. The audience sits on the floor that is also a projection surface or they can view the work from a balcony. Running for a 5 year duration, our work is shown daily as one of 5 featured artists providing content for the high resolution Deep Space projection area. In the first year of the installation 305,000 visitors saw our images in Deep Space. We also spoke and showed work at the Ars Electronica Festival/Human Nature 2009 as a session on Deep Space- Behind The Scenes. We were honored to be featured alongside such remarkable work of fellow digital artists.

Click here to view the embedded video.

LINK to Ars Electronica Deep Space Site

LINK to Ars Electronica Vimeo Page

LINK to Linz Gigapixel Image

©xRez Studio, 2010. | Permalink | |
Post tags: Ars Electronica, Barco, Boston, Deep Space, Gigapixel, Linz, Yosemite

In 2007 Tierra, a top Swedish outdoor clothing manufacturer, made the decision to create a new website that would vividly reflect the companies connection to the outdoors. Tierra understood the value of deeply engaging their customers. They were looking for a way to go a step beyond the status quo of outdoor product photography.

Tierra enlisted the marketing and interactivity expertise of the award-winning Swedish advertising agency Goss. Goss proposed an innovative design that would both engage the customer in a beautiful and “sticky” website to impart Tierra’s unique brand. Echoing Tierra’s relationship to the outdoors, Goss proposed embedding the product photography and catalog into various regions of a large gigapixel landscape. This interface provokes exploration of the landscape, much as their core market will do in the real world with their products: running, hiking and climbing over the landscape in Tierra outdoor gear.

Goss turned to xRez Studio for its imagery, choosing from our large catalog of gigapixel landscape photography to find the image that would perfectly convey it’s client’s message.

LINK to Tierra Site

©xRez Studio, 2010. | Permalink | |
Post tags: Gigapixel, Gigapixel Advertisement, Tierra

xRez Studio has had a longstanding working relationship with both Microsoft Live Labs and Microsoft Research, having supplied them with content and feedback for their innovative and cutting-edge gigapixel viewing technologies such as HD View, Seadragon, and Silverlight Deep Zoom. (...)
Read the rest of Microsoft Technology Alliance (68 words)

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Post tags: HD View, Microsoft, Microsoft Surface, Photosynth, Seadragon

One of the advantages of gigapixel images is the versatility they can provide for a wide range of applications. In 2008, xRez Studio was contracted to provide licensing of several panoramic images for an animated display system for the lobby of the HP Executive Briefing Center in Cupertino, CA. (...)
Read the rest of HP Executive Briefing Center Gigapixel Graphics (13 words)

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Post tags: Corporate Art, Gigapixel, HP Executive Briefing Center

Gigapixel images can provide stunningly high resolution large format prints, and are a perfect solution for corporate or hospitality-based corporate art installations. In 2008, xRez Studio was contracted to provide a large 12′ long gigapixel print for the main boardroom of the new headquarters of Intech Investment Management LLC in West Palm Beach, Florida. (...)
Read the rest of Intech Corporate Art Print (42 words)

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Post tags: Corporate Art, Gigapixel, Intech

The Digital Catalina Island Project is an ongoing effort to aid research at the USC Wrigley Institute of Environmental Research, a marine biology lab on the island near Two Harbors. (...)
Read the rest of Digital Catalina Island (62 words)

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Post tags: Bathymetry, Catalina Island, Gigapixel, Massive Software, Scientific Visualization, Terrain Modeling, Two Harbors, USC, Wrigley Institute of Environmental Research, Xfrog

“On Great White Wings” is an historic documentary produced by Aperture Films which re-creates the key events of the Wright Brothers development of the airplane. (...)
Read the rest of On Great White Wings VFX (77 words)

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Post tags: Aviation, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, Wright Brothers

“Magnificent Desolation” is an 3D IMAX feature produced by Play Tone/ Tom Hanks which faithfully re-creates the Apollo moon landings in stereo 4k high resolution. xRez Studio was sub-contracted from prime VFX vendor Sassoon Film Design for a difficult hero  shot which depicts flying through Hadley Rile, a deep trench visited by the Apollo 15 astronauts. (...)
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Post tags: Apollo 15, Hadley Rile, IMAX, Magnificent Desolation, Moon Landing, Photogrammetry, s3d, Stereoscopic

A highlight of the 2009 Art Basel Miami Beach event was Cartier’s premiere of David Lynch’s fulldome film on “Diamonds, Gold and Dreams”, shown in a 60′ custom dome pavilion. xRez Studio was contracted to produce the interstitial imagery to play between his hourly showings. (...)
Read the rest of Cartier @ Art Basel Fulldome Interstitials (39 words)

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Post tags: Art Basel, Cartier, David Lynch, Fulldome

A visual tone poem designed for the emerging fulldome planetarium format, “Crossing Worlds” utilizes spherical photography from the American desert west to immerse the viewer in a transcendent spectrum of austere landscapes. xRez Studio’s first dome format film, “Crossing Worlds” won a coveted “Domie” for Best Design in a Dome at DomeFest 09 in Albuquerque, NM.(...)
Read the rest of Crossing Worlds Fulldome Film (156 words)

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Post tags: 350.org, Canyon, COP15 Global Climate Summit, Crossing Worlds, Domie, Elumenati, Fulldome, Glendale Community College, Global Climate Summit, KlimaForum, Native American, Paul Buehler, Spherical Time-lapse

The Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is the life blood of the Western United States, both spiritually and literally.

Grand Canyon By Nature: River of Life shows the story of the Grand in stunning visual artistry as we join a journey through the heart of one of the planet’s greatest wonders. It’s a journey of adventure — and a metaphor of our journey of life.(...)
Read the rest of Grand Canyon By Nature Film (126 words)

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Post tags: Fulldome, Gigapixel, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon By Nature, Time-lapse

Just a short drive from the southern entrance route to Yosemite National Park, is a remarkable but less-visited deep-carved river gorge in the Sierra Nevada foothills. In spring of 2008, xRez Studio was contracted by BLM park manager Tracy Rowlands to shoot the beautiful San Joaquin River Gorge in gigapixel resolution for the Bureau of Land Management’s visitor center, where a 14′ long high-resolution print was subsequently installed in a new visitor center later that summer.(...)
Read the rest of San Joaquin River Gorge Visitor Center Print (59 words)

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Post tags: BLM, Gigapixel, Gigpixel Print, Print, San Joaquin River Gorge

One problem surrounding the needs of cultural heritage research is the acquisition of static on-site photography, which may limit perceived detail in the artifacts later upon inspection. One method which allows re-lighting of artifacts during research is HP Labs researcher Tom Malzbender’s work in polynomial texture mapping, or PTM.(...)
Read the rest of Native American Rock Art (146 words)

©xRez Studio, 2009. | Permalink | |
Post tags: Capitol Reef, Colorado Plateau, Gigapixel, Horseshoe Canyon, Multi-spectral, Native American, Polynomial Texture Mapping, PTM, Rochester, Rock Art, Sego Canyon, Sinbad