ARRI, Steadicam among Scientific and Technical Academy Award winners

As well as the 14 honours, the Academy is awarding an Oscar statuette to recognise all the individuals who have developed and supported captioning technology, whether open or closed

By Jenny Priestley

Published: January 28, 2025

As well as the 14 honours, the Academy is awarding an Oscar statuette to recognise all the individuals who have developed and supported captioning technology, whether open or closed

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 14 achievements which will be honoured at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards in April.

Achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures, said the Academy.

As well as the 14 honours, the Academy is awarding an Oscar statuette to recognise all the individuals who have developed and supported captioning technology, whether open or closed, for film at the ceremony.

Technical Achievement Awards will be presented to:

Essex Edwards, James Jacobs, Jernej Barbic, Crawford Doran and Andrew van Straten for the design and development of Ziva VFX, a system for constructing and simulating muscles, fat, fascia, and skin for digital characters. An artist-friendly interface that emphasises easily understood physical metaphors, coupled with a robust, physically accurate solver, has enabled a broad range of studios to bring visually rich creatures to life.

Javor Kalojanov and Kimball Thurston for the creation of W t FX's ML Denoiser. The denoiser prioritises temporal filtering using innovative optical flow techniques to preserve crucial details. Novel training strategies allow its machine learning algorithms to denoise computer-generated imagery to the most exacting standards.

Neeme Vaino for the development of Fireskin360 Naked Burn Gel. The widely available gel allows longer targeted burns directly on the skin, broadening the range of fire stunts performed across the industry.

Dustin Brooks and Colin Decker for the development of naked burn gel. Fire for Hire's gel first publicly demonstrated a naked burn, where fire appears directly on the skin, enabling a new form of safe fire stunts in motion pictures.

Attila T. fra for the creation of Intel Open Image Denoise, and Timo Aila for his pioneering work at NVIDIA applying U-Nets to denoising. Open Image Denoise is an open-source library that provides an elegant API and runs on diverse hardware, leading to broad industry adoption. Its core technology is provided by the widely adopted U-Net architecture that improves efficiency and preserves detail, raising the quality of CG imagery across the industry.

Mark Noel for adapting and enhancing the safety and reliability of transportable six-degrees-of-freedom motion base technology for motion picture use. The NACMO series of modular motion bases enables filmmakers to dynamically control simulated actions, providing precise movements, enhancing special effects, and enriching the visual experience for audiences worldwide.

Su Tie for the development of the sensor analysis and stabilisation software, Bei Shimen for the electrical engineering, and Zhao Yanchong for the mechanical design and engineering of the Ronin 2 gimbal system. Utilising three-axis stabilisation through multiple sensors, the DJI Ronin 2 has achieved broad adoption. It is controllable from a diverse set of input devices, enabling filmmakers to create complex, dynamic camera moves.

Tabb Firchau for the conception and development, John Ellison and Steve Webb for the attitude control system, David Bloomfield for the motor design, and Shane Colton for the motor driver system design of the M vi gimbals. Freefly Systems' introduction of handheld stabilised gimbals provides single-person or collaborative remote camera operation with various controllers, enabling previously difficult shots without dolly or crane-supported stabilised heads.

Scientific and Engineering Awards will be presented to:

Jayson Dumenigo for the development of the Action Factory Hydrogels. Action Factory hydrogels are engineered to allow longer burns at higher temperatures with quick turnaround times, increasing the safety and efficiency of fire stunt performances.

Thijs Vogels, Fabrice Rousselle, David Adler, Gerhard R thlin and Mark Meyer for the creation of Disney's ML Denoiser. The machine learning denoiser features a ground-breaking kernel-predicting convolutional network and temporal stability. It has been adopted far beyond its original domain of animation and is an essential tool for creating computer-generated imagery in feature films.

Nir Averbuch, Yair Chuchem and Dan Raviv for the concept, design and development of the Auto Align Post 2. Sound Radix's Auto Align Post 2 allows the blending of multiple moving microphones during film post production, eliminating phase distortion, saving significant time over manual alignment methods and raising the reproduction quality of dialogue recorded on set.

Curt Schaller for the concept, design and development of the Trinity 2 system, and Dr Roman Foltyn for the software and hardware design of its motorised stabilised head. The ARRI Trinity 2 is a body-worn system that combines a traditional inertial camera stabilisation system with electronic gimbal technology, allowing unprecedented freedom of camera movement for acquiring shots with multiple transitions that are otherwise unobtainable.

Steve Wagner

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