We've seen some pretty interesting work come out of Disney Research in the past, like techniques for digitally recreating teeth, makeup-projecting lamps, a group AR experience and a stick-like robot that can perform backflips. One of its latest proje...
Disney’s spray-painting drone could end the need for scaffolding
We've seen some pretty interesting work come out of Disney Research in the past, like techniques for digitally recreating teeth, makeup-projecting lamps, a group AR experience and a stick-like robot that can perform backflips. One of its latest proje...
Movie studios often want computer-generated hair to have a specific effect, whether it's a seductive toss or a careless flick that knocks something over. But there's a problem: most rough-cut simulations don't realistically simulate hair, leading to...
Humans have mastered acrobatics for centuries, but robots? They've barely learned how to jump, and Disney Research wants to fix that. It recently developed a human-scale robot, Stickman, that can perform aerial stunts with a grace closer to that of i...
Researchers at the University of East Anglia, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon University and Disney have created a way to animate speech in real-time. With their method, rather than having skilled animators manually match an animated character's mouth to re...
Augmented and mixed reality experiences tend to be solo affairs: you're either looking at your phone or wearing a headset. For Disney Research, that's not nearly social enough. Its scientists have created the Magic Bench, a blend of augmented and mix...
Seemingly every connected device has at least one wireless radio in it. However, that often requires some big compromises. Those radios often chew up a lot of power, which isn't always practical with Internet of Things gadgets that may not have muc...
Disney is taking scary clown makeup to the next level. It's using a new projection system to transform the appearance of actors during live performances, tracking facial expressions and "painting" them with light, rather than physical makeup. Called...
It's relatively easy to boost the immersiveness of virtual reality by giving you gloves or props. But how would you have someone catch a real ball when they can't see where it's going? Disney Research has an answer: its scientists have developed a mo...
When you think of sports analysis, you probably think of raw stats like time in the opposing half or shots on goal. However, that doesn't really tell teams how they should have played beyond vague suggestions. Researchers at Disney, Caltech and STATS...
Digital models of humans can be uncannily accurate these days, but there's at least one area where they fall short: teeth. Unless you're willing to scan the inside of someone's mouth, you aren't going to get a very faithful representation of someone...