Photographed in the lobby of the awesome Aardman Animation Studios.

Bristol, England
© 2011 Rob Bredow

Last week a number of the supervisors from Imageworks took a few hours to get hands-on with the latest stereo rigs and equipment. Stereo Supervisor Rob Engle led the group through some prepared material and facilitated a discussion that continued through the morning.

Many of the supervisors at Sony Pictures Imageworks have already worked on one or more stereo films. This made the discussion and the experimenting with the rigs all the more interesting.

Academy Award winning VFX supervisor Scott Stokdyk at the stereo controls. Even if you know exactly how you want to dial the inter-axial and convergence, it takes a bit of rehearsal to get used to the controls.

After a few hours on stage, the team returned to the screening room to review the results and talk about the merits of the various experiments.

It’s rare to be able to get that kind of group together in a room for a few hours to discuss and experiment with the latest in an evolving technology. Certainly one of the perks of my job.

Finally got to see Avatar tonight in IMAX 3d. I know everyone’s already said that it’s a game changer–and it is. The work is spectacular and clearly raises the bar.

Congrats to Weta, ILM and the other half dozen or so houses who contributed to the film. A job very well done.

If you’re anything like me, browsing the TED sessions online has been a constant source of inspiration across every discipline. I’ve been a fan for years and I’m quite excited to be able to be included in this years session.

If my talk makes it to onto TED.com later this summer, I’ll be sure to point out the link.

Here’s hoping Benjamin Buttons takes the statue.