Big Picture With IMAX

BIG NEWS WITH IMAX

IMAX and Computer Graphics Pioneer Team Up to
Bring 3D to Hollywood Blockbusters

ANNOUNCEMENT

Digital Media Group, Ltd. — March 16, 2005 — New York, New York:

For more than half a century, every few years 3D briefly pokes its head out from the screen to startle audiences before retreating back to the archives. But, recently, public interest in 3D (for example in Polar Express/The IMAX 3D Experience, which accounted for nearly 25% of the $155 million box office for Polar Express while showing on less then 1% of screens) has shown that 3D projection technology is now fully mature and is something general audiences are ready to embrace enthusiastically.

Now, IMAX has teamed with computer graphics pioneer David M. Geshwind, President of Digital Media Group, Ltd. to bring the 3D experience to Hollywood blockbusters and other films originally produced by standard 2D production methods.

Geshwind, an inventor with numerous patents in media technology, has licensed US Patent # 4,925,294 for a “Method to Convert Two-Dimensional Motion Pictures for Three-Dimensional Systems” to IMAX, for their exclusive use in the theatrical motion picture field.

The license agreement was reached through UNIPAT, the law firm where Mr. Geshwind practices as a patent agent registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. He also established 3DMG, Ltd., a member of the Digital Media Group, to handle the license and a long-term consulting agreement with IMAX to develop technology that will be jointly-owned by IMAX and 3DMG.

Mr. Geshwind originally developed the technology as a low-cost alternative to fully interactive and immersive virtual reality, and as a way to "adapt the huge resource of existing 2D media for 3D systems, as 3D became ubiquitous. The advent of 3D has taken bit longer than anticipated, but the effective use of 3D adds greatly to the 'suspension of disbelief' that is key to entertainment films. We will bring this same realism to other fields where 3DMG/Digital Media Group has retained rights to exploit the patent, and we will soon make it available to enhance medical imaging, educational materials, scientific visualization, TV, games, the desktop, advertizing, and anywhere else digital displays are utilized."

In the early 1990s, using ChromaSynthesis™ and StereoSynthesis™ his patented process for converting 2D media for 3D displays, Mr. Geshwind first demonstrated his technology, converting a segment of the 1939 King Kong to add both color and depth.

A Senior Scientist and award winning computer animator while at the Computer Graphics Laboratory of the New York Institute of Technology (1978-1981), Mr. Geshwind has since conducted independent R&D through Digital Media Group, Ltd. in various areas of media technology including ChromaSynthesis, internet protocols, interactive video, bandwidth compression, HDTV and, most notably, StereoSynthesis.

Mr. Geshwind holds a B.S. in BioMedical Engineering from RPI, completed a Masters program at the NYU Film School, and pursues a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Psychology at Columbia University. He has also studied screenwriting with script guru Robert McKee who says, “I encourage all my students to create three-dimensional characters, but David is the first to take this advice literally.”

Revision: March 2005 - All text, graphic and design elements TM & (c) 2005 David M. Geshwind
ChromaSynthesis and StereoSynthesis TM David M. Geshwind

David M. Geshwind - DIGITAL MEDIA GROUP, LTD.
111 Fourth Avenue - New York, NY 10003