BEIJING - One of the world's brightest minds aims to bring to the world a new, advanced three-dimensional image technology that will leave other such technology in the shadows.

"Our new technology will be better than that used in Avatar," says Professor Yau Shing-tung of Harvard University.

"The image will be more vivid than with technologies used in previous movies. The new technology is not only quicker but cheaper."

Yau is one of the world's greatest mathematicians, having won the prestigious Fields Medal. He was once the dean of the department of mathematics at Harvard, and is now a professor there. He is also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University.

Professor Yau and his team met professionals from Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China last week, and they discussed possible cooperation to apply the technology in making a demonstration movie using the new technology.

Yau and a team started working on the new 3D technology, founded on geometrical principles, at Harvard 10 years ago. What marks it out is the extremely vivid pictures it produces.

3D technology is used not only in making movies and in Internet games but in other areas , such as medicine. Movie audiences the world over were awestruck by the technology used in the movie Avatar.

"After I watched the movie, all I could say was 'Wow'," said Shen Yiren, an IT staff worker in Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Zone. "3D technology has extended the boundaries of the human imagination."

Yau says that six years ago the makers of Avatar had wanted him to cooperate with them but he turned them down.

"I was not sure that (Avatar) would be such a big success."

Avatar's facial caption technology puts points on models' faces while the new technology uses geometric methods, saving time and money, Yau says.

Lu Xiaobo, professor in the Academy of Art and Design at Tsinghua University, said an impressive feat of Yau's technology is the vivid reproduction of facial expressions.

Zhu Hui, a lecturer at Tshinghua University, said: "It takes at least a week to build a vivid facial expression by current technology the new one seems to save a lot of time."

Yau said the cost of the technology used in making Avatar was extravagant, the film having taken 10 years to make, at a cost of nearly $3,000 a second.

"Since our technology is better than Avatar's, why not apply it to production?"

His goal is to make a 3D movie of at least 30 minutes, and possibly up to 90 minutes, using the innovation.

As a Chinese American, Yau, is also intent on making a contribution to Chinese culture.

"I want to make a short movie about Chinese mythology," Yau told China Daily. "My friends from western countries know about Greek culture, South American mythology, and even Indian mythology, but they have no idea about Chinese culture and mythology.

"Chinese culture is fantastic. Some stories also have modern allusions. For example, Houyi shooting down the suns (Houyi She Ri) echoes environmental problems."

Xu Weixin, a professor at Renmin University of China, said the new 3D technology presented an opportunity to "express Chinese thoughts to the world".

China Daily

(China Daily 09/26/2011 page4)