In 1996, my good friend and former colleague, Gerry, contacted me. He was working for a new division, which would later be called, Dynamic Imaging. DI was creating 3D images on a 2D print. I remember vividly, Kodak having a 3D image on the cover of an annual report, I think it was in 1963. That image, or the technology behind it, had stuck with me all these years. I didn't know what it was called or how they did it at the time, but computers had made it much easier to do now. Gerry knew I was creating 3D art and wanted me to join the division. While I didn't end up joining Dynamic Imaging, they decided to contract me as an internal consultant.
First task at hand was converting the DI art creation studio from originating on film, to capturing on digital. This would save them money, time, as well as, provide more repeatable frame to frame results when capturing depth sequences. Then, I designed a more workable camera rig solution to capturing depth sequences, based on what I'd learned while creating stereo sequences in my 3D program. Gerry and I worked with one of the toolmakers in the DI lab to implement my camera rig design. Which worked better than the long rail system they had been using.
It was a great opportunity to learn how "lenticular printng" worked. Lenticular printing uses a special lens sheet to cover a print that has been "interlaced" with multiple frames from different views. A thin strip from each image is placed under each "lenticule" (the long semi-cylindrial lenses that run across or up/down on the print, depending on whether you were creating a 3D image or a motion image (animation).
This is the meduium I'd been waiting for. With DI, I created a number of small animated cards for various companies, parts of other images that needed CGI rendered images. The widest exposure any of my solo images received, was the Martell logo piece (see below) I created from scratch. It was used as tabletops and backlit wooden cask ends in bars all over the world. We made a thousands of them for Martell. DI again, was not managed well. They couldn't keep up with production because they wouldn't hire another shift of workers. Meanwhile, layoffs were going on around the company and alot of managers from other areas were being parked in the DI organization. So, DI became an extremely top heavy, which is just one of the reasons it was finally shut down in 2001.
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