CENTER FOR COMPUTATION & TECHNOLOGY

The Country Roads By: Thomas Moran June 2005 Back in 2001, then-Governor Mike Foster developed the Vision 2020 plan, a wide-ranging initiative aimed at increasing the economic, creative and technological skill base in Louisiana in order to attract industry. One of the most exciting ventures born of this enterprise is LSU’s Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technology, most commonly referred to by its acronym, LCAT. “People are starting to recognize the acronym and realize that this is a unique endeavor,” said Steve Beck, LCAT’s director. Paraphrasing the laboratory’s mission statement, Beck explains that the LCAT “is envisioned as a place for exploration of how Information Technology affects all forms of human expression, whether that expression is artistic, commercial, scientific, or instructional in nature. Collaborations between artists, musicians, scientists, engineers and writers will help develop new technologies and modes of communication through interdisciplinary research, activities and programs.” Beck is a paragon of LCAT creative, synergistic philosophy. When he is not overseeing the new program’s projects, you might find him grinding out notes on his “Axe,” a mixture of piano, guitar, and computer keyboard. Beck is also one of the founding members of a jazz ensemble, Guys With Big Cars, which incorporates technology-influenced improvisation. Recently, Beck had to put his “Axe” aside as he prepared for one of the largest and most public of LCAT’s recent programs: the highly successful Red Stick Animation Festival, which drew large crowds to downtown Baton Rouge this past April. Serving as the venue for the event was the new Shaw Center for the Arts, a 125,000-square-foot structure that includes a state-of-the-art performing arts theatre and an unforgettable view of the Mississippi River. In hosting the country’s largest annual festival dedicated solely to animation, Beck and other organizers hope to place the Capital City on the cultural map. “As word spreads about the Red Stick Animation Festival,” said Rich Jorn, who coordinated the Shaw Center’s Manship Theater during the festival, “you’ll see more and more creative talent flooding into Baton Rouge. It has the potential of doing for Baton Rouge what the Cannes and Sundance Festivals have done for other locations.” This year’s festival offered educational opportunities for professional and aspiring animators alike—in addition to screenings of five short films nominated for Academy Awards and family-friendly cartoons. “People had the opportunity to learn, through hands-on experience, about anatomy for animators, video game development, and acting for animators,” said Beck. Rounding out the offerings were video game designers, animation studio recruiters, and professional animators. “The question I most often get asked about the festival,” continued Beck, “is why? Why are we doing an animation festival, when there is no animation program at LSU?” Beck refers again to the LCAT’s mission statement to explain: “the animation festival is a way of presenting to the public a medium that everyone is familiar with and appreciates, but it is also a way of introducing the public to the way that the arts and technology can compliment each other. Animation is one of those activities that really serves as a convergence point for artistic expression and computer technology.” The type of people who are utilizing the most advanced technology has shifted in recent years, Beck explained. “If you look at the top five hundred super computers in the world, you’ll see the normal research institutes, but now you’ll also see Disney, DreamWorks, and other major animation studios.” These studios are using super-computers, clusters of three hundred or more computers, to render animation artists’ concepts in spectacular ways. Incidentally, LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology (CCT)—of which LCAT is a division—recently developed “Super Mike,” five hundred computers linked together and working as one. Super Mike is capable of producing, among other things, a full-length animated feature of quality comparable to DreamWorks’s Shrek. Having access to such advanced technologies provides LSU students with valuable training as they prepare to enter the workforce. Likewise, having a cluster of skilled workers trained in the latest film and animation tools could provide Baton Rouge an advantage when the major film and animation studios seek to expand. Animation is not the only medium through which LCAT seeks to blend arts and technology. “The LCAT is currently researching High Definition Video (HDV), scientific visualization, audio research for immersive environments, and Human Computer Interface (HCI),” said Beck. In the field of HDV, LCAT will be developing content for HDTV. As Beck explained, “at LSU we have scientists…who do research on colliding black holes. We plan to use the HDV lab to visualize the gravitational waves, which they are studying. The simulations and visualization we produce can help other scientists know what to look for at the observatory.” LCAT’s research into scientific visualization serves a similar purpose through slightly different means, relying upon computer graphics and animation. The end products will, according to Beck, “communicate in a visual sense the results of scientific research in ways that are both meaningful to scientists and lay people. For example, the folks at the Hurricane Center observe and predict storm surges, which is very important if there is a threat to life and property. By visualizing the data, people can see very clearly what areas are at risk.” Other LCAT research includes how to enhance surround sound systems to create a fully immersive environment, a vital step to creating believable virtual environments. “We hear so much more information than we see,” said Beck. “We are going to have to go far beyond 7.1 surround sound to make virtual reality feel like a reality.” While those involved with LCAT’s myriad projects may create product primarily for a small, specialized audience, in they process they master mainstream arts media techniques and technology. Thus, someone with LCAT experience could easily be found at a major recording label, on the production crew of the latest blockbuster movie, in the credits of your child’s favorite Saturday morning cartoon…or even writing visual arts columns [Disclosure: yours truly was an LCAT employee from June 2003 to August 2004.]. Although the research interests of the LSU Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technology vary in their methods and aims, the Red Stick Animation Festival will continue to be the LCAT’s signature event. Beck promises “next year’s animation festival will be even bigger and better.” One suspects kids of all ages are counting on it.