The Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards committee has chosen 15 technical achievements for “further awards consideration.”
The list of companies with products in the running includes Industrial Light and Magic, DreamWorks Animation, Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Weta Digital.
Unlike other Oscar categories, potential Sci-Tech honors are made public, in order to allow “individuals and companies with similar devices or claims of prior art” to make their own case before the Academy.
(One shudders to think what would happen if the other nominations were open to that kind of scrutiny.)
From the AMPAS press release, the following achievements are now under consideration:
OBQ/DOALL (Industrial Light & Magic)
Queue (Rhythm & Hues)
Race Render Queue System (Digital Domain)
Qube (PipelineFX)
Misterd (Pixar Animation Studios)
RQS/Depgraph Render Management System (DreamWorks Animation)
Cue3 (Sony Pictures Imageworks)
Alfred – Job Queuing and Distributing Rendering System (Pixar Animation Studios)
XGen – Arbitrary Primitive Generator (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Expression Analysis for Facial Motion Capture (Weta Digital)
Efficient Global Illumination System for Computer Graphic Films (PDI/DreamWorks Animation)
cineSync (Rising Sun Research Pty. Ltd.)
Timecode Slate (Entertainment Technology)
NAC Servo Winches (NAC Company)
Cannon-Less Turnover System (Performance Picture Vehicles)
Final decisions on the Sci-Tech awards will be made by the Board of governors in early December. The awards ceremony will take place on February 12, 2011 at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. Last year's show was hosted by Elizabeth Banks, above. (Photo: AMPAS)
