The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

 

Contact: Sari Krosinsky, 277-5813
Laurie Mellas, 277-5915

November 16, 2005

UNM Digital Media Garage Grand Opening Dec. 7

The Digital Media Garage, which will house high-tech facilities for the University of New Mexico's Arts Technology Center, ARTS Lab and Center for High Performance Computing, will hold grand opening ceremonies on Dec. 7 at 1601 Central Ave. NE.

The garage will provide an interdepartmental space—a neutral zone where people from all walks of campus can access technological resources, pool their diverse talents and explore the intersections between art, science, technology and business.

Text Box: Attn: Assignment Editors: The on-site ribbon cutting ceremony, tours and demonstrations scheduled from 9 – 11:30 a.m. are by invitation only but open to the media:Festivities will open with a ribbon cutting ceremony from 9 – 10 a.m. Scheduled speakers include UNM President Louis Caldera, UNM Vice President for Research and Economic Development Terry Yates, ATC and ARTS Lab Director Ed Angel, CHPC Director Barney Maccabe and Eric Witt representing Governor Bill Richardson.

From 1 – 3:30 p.m. in the Student Union Building, the public is invited to attend a panel of four national speakers prominent in the arts technology field – Donna Cox of the National Center for Supercomputer Applications and School of Art and Design, University of Indiana – Urbana Champlain; Cleve Moler, chief scientist of Mathworks and former chair of computer science at UNM; Dave Turek, Vice President for Deep Computing at IBM; and Pixar animator and UNM alumnus Mark Henne.

The Digital Media Garage will be open to the public for tours and demonstrations from 3:30 – 5 p.m. Garage facilities include an experimental dome, visualization/perception lab and experimental “black box” with a full-corner green screen, a motion-capture system and an advanced lighting system.

In producing past ARTS Lab dome projects, such as the award-winning “Gronk's BrainFlame,” animators first viewed their work in a dome setting side by side with an audience. The experimental dome enables animators to view work in progress before it is widely released.

While green screens are relatively common, a full-corner green screen is an unusual asset. It allows for greater range of motion and flexibility in how an image is filmed. A number of popular, contemporary movies have been filmed using motion-capture, including “Polar Express,” “Sin City” and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”

UNM staff, faculty and students will be able to submit proposals to use the space for specific projects. The space will also be available to support classes. For example, Hue Walker Bumgarner-Kirby, UNM Arts

Technology Center multimedia development specialist, will teach a dome animation course this spring. A second spring course offering allows students to use the facilities to work on gaming simulation projects.

About Arts Technology Center and ARTS Lab

The Arts Technology Center, a center at UNM's College of Fine Arts, is dedicated to research and artistic production in the area of emerging technologies. The ARTS Lab (Art, Research, Technology & Science Laboratory) is an innovative interdisciplinary center for developing creative relationships connecting art, science, business and technology in New Mexico's unique environment. More than eighty students have participated in ARTS Lab projects.

 

The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.

www.unm.edu