catalysts 1) Hologram tour of MJ, Elvis & John Lennon 2) Ender game release 3) Education revenues - virtual classrooms 4) Defense simulations 5) Hollywood movie spl effects
Re: Tupac Hologram 17-Apr-12 05:10 pm The Wall Street Journal reports that Dr. Dre is planning to take holographic Tupac on tour in the coming months.
"This is just the beginning," Ed Ulbrich, chief creative officer at Digital Domain told the newspaper. "Dre has a massive vision for this."
For now, Dr. Dre is remaining quiet on his future plans for the virtual Tupac, and he's also asked Digital Domain and AV Concepts to refrain from telling the press too much about how they rendered the musician.
"He doesn't want the magic spoiled for the people who will see it next weekend," a spokeswoman for Digital Domain told the Los Angeles Times.
Still, those familiar with special effects say the holographic Tupac Shakur was created using the same concept as an old magic trick discovered in the 19th century known as Pepper's Ghost.
The trick is to have a transparent piece of material that will still reflect an image that is projected onto it, while still allowing other people on the stage to move behind the image and in front of it.
In the olden days, the transparent material was usually glass. On Sunday's performance it was Mylar, a highly reflective, lightweight plastic, stretched on a clear 30-by-13-foot screen customized by AV Concepts to descend onto the stage in seconds between sets of the performance.
If that makes the creation of a holographic Shakur seem easy, it's not -- especially because the virtual Shakur's performance was not based on archival footage.
"This is not him performing at some point, this is completely original, exclusive performance only for Coachella and that audience," Ed Ulbrich, chief creative officer at Digital Domain told Bloomberg.
And because Shakur was a real person with a devoted fan following, it was crucial to get all his mannerisms, the tone of his voice, the placement of his tattoos, etc., correct.
The company created the virtual Tupac from video footage and photos of the rapper, working on the project for about four months.
That is its own kind of magic.
Impressive Co. Videos for Investors Link to Digital Domain Media Group, Inc
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
