14 DAY TRIAL // The team behind the visual effects in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" from New Line Cinema will from now on also use Microsoft graphics technology. The Redmond company announced that the Weta Digital production company will leverage the graphics technology developed by Microsoft research in order to enhance its graphics and special-effects. In this context, Weta Digital will license Microsoft's technology and implement it in all its multimedia productions.
"We are pleased that one of the leading visual effects companies in the world has selected computer graphics technologies developed at Microsoft Research to deliver newer, richer graphics and special effects to audiences around the world," said Louis Carbonneau, general manager for the Intellectual Property Licensing Group at Microsoft. "We believe the graphics technologies developed in our research labs to be among the best in the world, and are pleased that we can collaborate with entertainment industry leaders, through our new graphics technology IP licensing program, to bring new visual experiences to consumers".
"Last year, Microsoft showed us some new research in computer graphics that we thought would be a great addition to our toolkit," said Joe Letteri, senior visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital. "We realized that by working directly with Microsoft Research, we could develop these ideas faster and spend more time on the creative effects. It's great to be working with a talented group, like Microsoft Research, whose aim is to open up new horizons in digital imaging for filmmakers."
Academy Award-winners Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk and Richard Taylor are among the people behind the creation of Weta Digital back in 1997. The New Zealand, filmmakers subsequently became involved in making internationally renowned feature films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. Microsoft's own graphics technology will come under the spotlight at this year's SIGGRAPH in San Diego.